Chapter 23: Li Yunfei's Prospects

  It's not just Li Yunfei who doesn't understand the value of ancient currency, but many people don't either. Everyone sees the large amounts of silver being spent, but they don't know that the production of silver was not high in ancient times. If they were to spend money like that, they would have gone bankrupt long ago!

  As for the value of silver, most people today have no concept. In fact, ancient China lacked silver, and after reading some ancient books, it can be found that the currency value of one or two silver was quite high. One or two silver was equivalent to 1,200 to 3,000 copper coins (before the early Qing dynasty) to more than 3,000 copper coins (after the Daoguang period of the Qing dynasty). And until the end of the Qing dynasty, a catty (equivalent to 1.2 market catties) of pork cost only 20 cents, and an acre of good land cost only seven or eight taels of silver or twelve or thirteen silver dollars. A few taels of silver, a few tens of taels of silver was a big deal, having one hundred taels of silver was today's big shot, can buy more than ten acres of good land.

  In the Ming Dynasty, a commoner's annual living expenses only required one or two taels of silver, so Qi Jiguang's soldiers' military pay was only three cents of silver per day, and less than one or two taels per month. The Qing Dynasty was slightly more expensive, mainly because before the Opium War, there was a large trade surplus, and a large amount of silver flowed in, causing the price of silver to fall. Later, after a large amount of reparations, the ratio of silver to copper rose again. Ordinary people used copper coins, and at the end of the Qing Dynasty, they used copper yuan, rarely using silver as a daily transaction. Many ordinary people never saw silver until their death. Therefore, in spoken language, when expressing that one has no money (poor), it is said "no copper coins" rather than "no silver". It's worth noting that during the Wanli period, the national treasury's annual revenue was only 2 million taels, and this was a number that could be achieved after Zhang Juzheng's reforms made the national treasury rich.

  According to historical records, during the Wanli period of the Ming Dynasty, one or two silver coins could buy two stones of ordinary rice, and at that time, one stone was approximately 94.4 kilograms. Therefore, with one silver coin, you could buy 188.8 kilograms of rice, which is equivalent to 377.6 jin. Currently, the price of rice consumed by an average family in our country ranges from 1.5 yuan to 2 yuan per kilogram, and using the middle price of 1.75 yuan for calculation, it can be deduced that one silver coin during the Ming Dynasty is equivalent to 660.8 RMB.

  These two silver coins, if taken to the Tang Dynasty in terms of purchasing power, would be even more astonishing. During the Zhenyuan period of Emperor Taizong of Tang, material civilization was extremely rich, and one dou of rice was sold for only 5 wen, usually one or two silver coins could buy 200 dou of rice, 10 dou is one shi, that is 20 shi, one shi in the Tang Dynasty is about 59 kilograms, calculated at today's general price of 1.75 yuan per kilogram, one or two silver coins are equivalent to 4130 yuan in purchasing power. During the Kaiyuan period of Emperor Xuanzong of Tang, there was inflation, and the price of rice rose to 10 wen per dou, which is also equivalent to 2065 yuan in RMB.

  That is to say, Li Yunfei bought these accessories and the cost of making these earrings converted into RMB for later generations would be over two million. This is something that Li Yunfei wouldn't dare think about, unfortunately he doesn't know now, otherwise he wouldn't dare be so generous even if you killed him! However, according to Li Yunfei's thinking, this five hundred taels must weigh at least several dozen kilograms, and with so much money on his body, it's hard to say whether it's enough or not. I guess gold should be more valuable than silver, right?

  "Hey boss, is this enough? If not, I'll go back and get more!" Li Yunfei poured out all the contents of the money bag, instantly shining with gold light. In fact, these things were secretly given by Li Shimin to Li Guan's family, and then passed on to Li Yunfei to supplement his household expenses. It can be said that Li Yunfei was lucky to have such a father who thought of everything for his son, unfortunately all in secret, otherwise Li Yunfei would also know that paternal love is not much different from maternal love.

  "These... these gold leaves!" The boss didn't know what to say! Apart from a few silver coins, the rest were all gold leaves. This guy was really rich, but he also didn't understand the principle of not showing off his wealth. In fact, he had wronged Li Yunfei, who didn't even know the value of these gold leaves. The value of gold is originally tens of times that of silver, and since they were made into such exquisite gold leaves, their value would be increased by dozens of times. Moreover, using gold leaves was also a symbol of status.

  The shop owner had seen wealthy people before, and he had also seen officials and nobles, but paying with gold leaves was a first for him. He was even more certain that Li Yunfei's identity was unusually noble. "This... this is enough!" The boss trembled as he picked up the five gold leaves, which were treasures to him, absolutely precious and worth keeping. Looking at the perfect lines of the gold leaves and their clear texture, he had made a huge profit!

  "Huh? Is this enough?" Li Yunfei didn't expect that just these few leaves would be worth 500 taels of silver. Looking at the dozens more, Li Yunfei couldn't help but wonder how a steward could possibly have so much money. However, since it was arranged by his father, he estimated it wouldn't harm him.

  "Yes! Young master! Actually, you're still at a loss. Let me ask you, is there anything else in the store that you like? If you do, just take it!" The shop owner quickly put the gold leaves into Li Yunfei's pouch. He wasn't unwilling to give them away, but rather, he couldn't afford to offend someone of this stature as a mere merchant.

  "Really!" Li Yunfei's eyes narrowed, and he slid the folding fan back and forth under his chin, giving him a unique flavor that made Xiao La Jiao and Li Qing Shu look at him with bright eyes. "How about this? I want to cooperate with you to do jewelry business, maybe we can open stores all over the country!"

  "Just think about it, when the time comes, De Bao's store name will echo across the land, and every girl who buys jewelry will come to your store to buy it! Think about it!" Li Yunfei thought that Li Guanjia wasn't doing business, so why not do a big one? When the time comes, let Li Guanjia manage, Xiaolian manages the account, isn't this great? And I'll be a carefree young prince!"

  "This... is this possible?" Li Yunfei's words made the shop owner a bit bewildered, this can't be right! He swore he had never had such big ambitions, but now if Li Yunfei supported him from behind, it shouldn't be difficult with his identity!

  "How can it be impossible? You saw the painting paper I gave you earlier! I told you that those were all painted by me. As long as you cooperate with me, I guarantee that De Bao will become the leader of the trend in the Tang Dynasty!" When Li Yunfei said this, his whole body radiated infinite momentum, making everyone reevaluate him. This wasn't Li Yunfei suddenly changing, but rather his confidence as a 21st-century person. Things that would be popular in later generations shouldn't be impossible to handle for these ancient people!

  "This King of Qin has a unique charm when he's confident!" Little Chili Pepper thought to herself as she gazed at Li Yun Fei, never expecting this man to have such a side, previously thinking him to be just a weak and feeble guy!

  "Brother Yunfei is indeed an extraordinary person!" Li Qingyu's eyes were fixed intently on Li Yunfei, and with such a domineering aura, it was absolutely not something that ordinary people could possess!

  "Alright! I'll do it!" The boss finally gritted his teeth and agreed to the matter, thinking about those beautiful earrings. It's not a question of whether this will work or not, but rather how capable this young master is! "Young Master, please tell us how we can cooperate?"

  "This is it! I'll let someone talk to you when I get back, but this profit sharing must be settled first!" Li Yunfei didn't expect things to go so smoothly either. Since the matter was settled, they had to discuss the profit sharing properly!

  "Ah, young master is joking! From now on, our store will have to rely heavily on you. You provide the design and we'll give you a certain amount of money. It's only fair that you get the lion's share. How about this: 70% for you and 30% for me? What do you think?" The shop owner had the self-awareness to know that this person must have come up with this idea on a whim, and if he didn't take advantage of this opportunity to cling to this powerful leg, then he would be a fool. It may seem like 30% is a small amount, but if it's true what Li Yunfei said, then he'll make a huge profit!

  "It's settled then!" Li Yunfei wiped the cold sweat, he had originally wanted to say 50/50 split, but didn't expect the shop owner to be so easy-going. Since he said it like that, there was no reason for him not to agree! The details later on would be left to Li Guanjia to discuss. He really didn't have this kind of ability, maybe he could still provide some strategic advice from behind the scenes!

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