Chapter 8: Rags to Riches (Part 2)

  How much silver is a donkey worth? This concept is quite vague.

  According to the prices in the mid-Ming Dynasty, a good horse at that time cost about 12 taels of silver, and a donkey was around 6 taels.

  During the Hongzhi period, Yang Yiqing, the governor of the three borders, was ordered by the emperor to vigorously develop horse administration, ensuring that horses and mules were available for both military and civilian use, so the market price of mules and horses in the folk was relatively stable.

  However, a donkey worth six taels of silver still caused a great commotion among the onlookers.

  During the Taizu era, strict orders were issued to ban gambling and entertainment activities among the people. Those who violated this rule would be punished. However, the national character is fond of gambling, and despite repeated prohibitions, it has not been eradicated. Moreover, the current emperor, Hongzhi, is benevolent and lenient, so the wind of gambling in the folk is quite strong, and the law is not enforced. The officials also turn a blind eye to this situation.

  Shaoxing is located in the rich and prosperous land of Jiangnan. In addition to its unique soil, climate and geographical location, another reason for Jiangnan's prosperity is that the people here are good at accepting new things. The local customs are open-minded, with advanced ideas and boldness. Think back to when the Taizu Emperor issued a decree banning maritime trade, strictly ordering that no ships were allowed to set sail, but the merchants of Zhejiang in Jiangnan still secretly built commercial vessels and traded with Japan, Korea and Ryukyu, showing their daredevil spirit of risking life for wealth.

  So for this so-called "lottery" activity of Qin Kan, the onlookers showed great interest.

  What can two qian of silver do in Shaoxing Prefecture? Perhaps it can be used to brew a pot of fresh Yuqian Longjing tea at a teahouse, or perhaps it can be used to eat a mid-range meal at the Jade Spring Tower. Now, it may even be enough to exchange for a donkey worth six liang of silver...

  It's worth the money spent.

  After a brief silence, the onlookers gradually became agitated.

  "Alright, kid, I'll give you some silver, now it's my turn..."

  "I'm coming too!"

  “…………”

  “…………”

  Qin Kan stood in front of the box, watching countless pairs of hands pass over the measured two-qian silver, countless pairs of hands reached into the box to grab a paper ball, and of course, there were also countless sighs and unwilling... renewals?

  Qin Kan smiled, and his smile was very sweet.

  His bosom was heavy with all sorts of loose silver coins, roughly estimated to be around twenty or thirty taels, which puffed out his long shirt. Qin Kan's smile on his face was like a peach blossom in March, blooming more and more brilliantly.

  Du Yan stood by, staring at everything in a daze, her beautiful apricot eyes filled with incredulity, her delicate red lips agape, and she didn't close them for a long time.

  In the midst of the hustle and bustle, Qin Kan turned his head to her with a sly smile: "Don't you think that deep down you really admire me, but don't want to admit it?"

  Du Yan's small mouth closed in vain, and she sneered with a curl of her lip: "What's there to admire about this..."

  She didn't finish speaking and closed her mouth. She suddenly realized that Qin Kan's question was very tricky, no matter how she answered, she would fall into his trap.

  Glaring at him, Du Yan sneered: "Don't be too happy too early, there are still over a hundred paper balls left in the box. What if someone wins the prize now? Then no one will buy your over a hundred paper balls..."

  Qin Kan glanced at her calmly, taking advantage of the crowd's distraction to secretly pull out a crumpled paper from his sleeve. With an air of composure, he flashed it in front of her eyes before the paper disappeared into his sleeve with incredible speed.

  Du Yan's eyes sparkled and she reacted, taking a sharp breath in.

  "You... you crumpled up that winning lottery ticket..." Du Yan's face turned bright red with anger and frustration.

  "Shh... Blocking someone's path to wealth is like killing their parents. You wouldn't be so heartless, would you?" Qin Kan lowered his voice.

  Du Yan clenched her fists in anger: "How despicable! Deceiving so many people..."

  "One is willing to hit, and the other is willing to be hit, that's all. No need to take things so seriously."

  "Aren't you afraid I'll expose you?"

  Qin Kan's eyebrows and eyes didn't move: "Don't be afraid, if you dare to expose me, I'll just say we're partners..."

  "You..."

  Qin Kan sighed and said, "As the saying goes, a thousand pieces of gold can't buy happiness. Look at these people, they're so happy after spending just two silver coins. Where else in the world can you find such a good deal? They should be thanking me..."

  Du Yan felt a lump in her chest and gritted her teeth, saying: "Who said that 'a thousand pieces of gold can't buy the master's happiness' is a common saying?"

  Qin Kan, who was about to make a fortune, was in a great mood at this moment. He pointed his thumb at himself and smiled: "Of course it's me, this rascal."

  Du Yan couldn't say a word, she deeply felt that the seemingly weak scholar in front of her must have been struck by a master of Jianghu at the shameless acupoint...

  The purchasing power of the people in Jiangnan is amazing, after two sticks of incense, the paper balls in the box are almost sold out. Taking advantage of the remaining dozen or so paper balls, Qin Kan subtly threw the winning paper ball back into the box.

  Before long, a thin and gaunt middle-aged man with the appearance of a scholar suddenly jumped up, threw his head back and laughed loudly: "I've won! I've won! My lottery ticket has been drawn!"

  The middle-aged scholar rushed excitedly to Qin Kan's front, showed him the winning paper ball and said hastily: "Look, look! Is it me who won?"

  On the paper ball, a pig head with a strong Qin Kan painting style was smiling at him with a silly grin.

  Qin Kan hastily cupped his hands and said with a sincere face: "Brother has won the grand prize, it's truly something to be congratulated..."

  The crowd of onlookers heard that the prize had already been won and immediately let out a sigh of regret, then dispersed in twos and threes.

  The middle-aged scholar held up the pig's head, like a banner fluttering in the wind, and laughed wildly: "What a good omen, what a good omen! Finally, someone has taken the lead..."

  Qin Kan sighed and muttered: "It's just a prize, why do you talk about it as if you're a customer who has ruined the body of a young prostitute?"

  Du Yan glanced at Qin Kan with a slanted eye, waiting for the next development.

  Got the prize, where's the donkey?

  A middle-aged scholar rushed over with a speed that was too fast to cover his ears and excitedly shouted at Qin Kan: "Donkey!"

  Qin Kan's expression turned very serious: "Please respect my personality, I am not a donkey."

  "Isn't the prize a donkey? Where's the donkey?" The middle-aged scholar seemed somewhat incoherent.

  Qin Kan subconsciously glanced at Du Yan.

  Du Yan's three corpses god suddenly jumped up, clenching her fists and growling: "Don't look at me! I'm not a donkey either!"

  Qin Kan looked at the scholar with a leisurely expression and said slowly: "Brother, do you want to lead the donkey back or sell it on the spot?"

  The middle-aged scholar was so excited that he danced with joy: "It doesn't matter, what's important is the omen. Among hundreds of people, only I got it right. After the New Year, the Spring Examination will surely not disappoint me."

  Qin Kan nodded.

  Got it, what they want is a gesture of goodwill, not a prize.

  Why can gentlemen be deceived with ease? Because bookworms are all silly, especially those who aspire to become imperial scholars.

  "A donkey costs six... no, five taels of silver. Here are the five taels, take them." Qin Kan quickly counted out five taels of silver from his pocket and handed them over.

  The middle-aged scholar took over the silver and casually stuffed it into his bosom, then turned around with a smile and walked away.

  Du Yan sighed heavily: "Look at the trouble you've caused, fooling hundreds of people, and the one who won almost got driven crazy by you..."

  "Du Niang, you used the word 'play' and it made me very uncomfortable..."

  Qin Kan pulled out a large handful of silver coins from his pocket, about twenty taels, and handed them to Du Yan: "I keep my word, the twenty taels of silver that the government fined me I have collected, here you are."

  Du Yan was about to take the silver from his hand when Qin Kan suddenly withdrew his hand: "Wait! Write a receipt!"

  Du Yan cried and laughed: "You don't believe me like this?"

  Qin Kan said with a serious face: "Forgive my straightforwardness, trusting the second generation of officials is being cruel to oneself... We are not familiar with each other, and I don't hope we become too familiar in the future, so it's better to follow procedures for everything."

  Du Yan gave him a fierce stare, borrowed paper and pen from the street letter stall, and wrote down a receipt with flying dragons and dancing phoenixes.

  Du Yan's handwriting is beautiful, the words are like her, elegant and free-spirited with a hint of masculinity, between the lines there is a hint of restlessness, each word seems to be a spirit, dancing in the moonlight.

  "Take it!" Du Yan threw the receipt at Qin Kan with a flick of her wrist, while her other hand took the silver without any courtesy.

  Qin Kan was overjoyed as if he had obtained a treasure and put the receipt into his pocket, but his face didn't look too good.

  When faced with a woman who brings him endless trouble, no man's face will look good. Trouble is always trouble, and even if she looks beautiful, she's just a beautiful trouble.

  Qin Kan dislikes trouble.

  "Du Niang, let's part ways and not bother each other from now on, okay?"

  "You think I'm eager to provoke you?"

  Qin Kan smiled dryly: "It's good that you're not interested, I really don't have anything worth your interest, miss."

  Since they had taken an instant dislike to each other, the two naturally had nothing more to say.

  Qin Kan patted the remaining silver in his bosom, estimating that there were still over ten taels left, and this result made him ecstatic.

  The unlucky time has passed, the official fine has been paid, and the dozen or so taels of silver that were stolen yesterday have also been recovered.

  The same eternal truth - a clever person will never starve no matter where they are.

  One person was amused for a long time, Qin Kan suddenly turned his head: "Why haven't you left yet?"

  Du Yan angrily hummed: "Are the roads in the city yours? Do you care whether I walk or not?"

  Qin Kan sighed and muttered to himself as he gave her his third conclusion.

  "This woman is not only vicious and morally bankrupt, but also has a very thick skin..."

  Two people walked a distance, one in front and one behind. Qin Kan stopped, Du Yan also stopped. Qin Kan walked again, Du Yan followed, her cheeks puffed out, glaring at Qin Kan's back, making him feel a chill run down his spine.

  A very eerie feeling, as if I'm carrying a meat bone and being stared at by a dog, then followed all the way...

  Fortunately, this awkward and weird coexistence did not last long.

  Before he had taken a few steps, Qin Kan's shoulder was tapped by someone. He turned his head to look and it was the middle-aged scholar who had won the prize earlier.

  "Anything else, brother?" Qin Kan raised an eyebrow.

  The middle-aged scholar's eyes were somewhat hollow, and from just now until now, he had been acting a bit nervously.

  "Just now, the crumpled paper I won... what's drawn on it?" The student's face was filled with a strong desire to learn.

  "The prize has been cashed out, what's it to you?"

  The young scholar shook his head, with a stubborn persistence: "No, let me take another look at that crumpled paper..."

  Qin Kan quickly pulled out the crumpled paper with a pig's head drawn on it and handed it to him. This person looked a bit abnormal, lunatics are like women, both represent trouble. With one troublesome person already by his side that he couldn't shake off, Qin Kan didn't want another trouble.

  The student unfolded the paper ball, on which a very abstract cartoon pig head was smiling at him with a silly grin.

  The scholar stared for a long time, suddenly took in a mouthful of cold air, and shouted out loud: "Alas! What is this thing? It's ugly enough to kill me!"

  Damn it...

  The usually refined and elegant Qin Kan suddenly felt an overwhelming urge to swear loudly in the street.

  Du Yan, who had been following Qin Kan, let out a snort of laughter and then burst into loud, unbridled guffaws.

  Qin Kan glared at the scholar with an unpleasant expression: "What do you mean?"

  The scholar didn't even look at him, with two fingers pinching a corner of the paper ball and the other hand pinching his nose, the expression on his face was as if he had been fed a lump of shit, only not vomiting on the spot.

  This expression is more hurtful than pointing at one's nose and scolding their mother, Qin Kan's head started smoking.

  The scholar was obviously lacking in insight, and he became so absorbed in his sorrow over the deformed pig's head that he couldn't extricate himself.

  "Ah! Could it be a donkey?" The scholar was astonished, and then his expression of disgust became even stronger: "Is this a donkey? Can a donkey grow to be like this?"

  Qin Kan had just opened his mouth when the scholar cut him off with a look of indignation: "How can you draw a donkey like that? All things in the world have their own spirit and form, this is blasphemy against all things!"

  This guy doesn't know what he's doing, actually carrying a pen and ink tank with him, regardless of Qin Kan and Du Yan's expressions, squatting down to start modifying that pig head picture on the street.

  With a few strokes, the abstract pig head was transformed into a donkey head by the scholar. The donkey's two ears drooped down, its face stretched long, vivid and full of spirit.

  Qin Kan and Du Yan were both shocked by the grand scene.

  The scholar looked left and right for a long time, only then nodding in satisfaction. He roughly slapped the painting on Qin Kan's chest and angrily said: "Do you see? This is what a donkey looks like! What you drew was simply a pig!"

  Qin Kan touched his nose and calmly said: "What I drew earlier was a pig anyway..."

  The scholar was stunned for a moment, staring intently at Qin Kan for a long time, and suddenly bent down to cough violently.

  Qin Kan smiled with his eyes narrowed.

  This guy looks a bit abnormal, but he seems like a good person...

  He cupped his hands and asked politely: "May I ask your esteemed name?"

  "Cough, cough, cough... I am Tang Yin from Suzhou, with the courtesy name of Bohu, alas!"

  "Cough, cough, cough..." This time it was Qin Kan's turn to cough, and he coughed even more violently than Tang Yin.

  P.S: Collect and recommend... Must remind everyone every day, I'm worried that you all have poor memory.