Volume 3: The Richest Man in the World Chapter 64: Beijing’s power, Guangzhou’s money
After Guangxing left, Zhou Yijin suddenly asked, "Do you really want to meet... those people?"
Wu Chengjian said: "Yes... Isn't this what we thought of from the beginning?"
Zhou Yijin sighed deeply: "If only I could go... that would be great."
"Don't even think about it." Wu Chengjian said, "I don't even want to see the agent, how can they agree after seeing you?"
"But you met their faces... In their hearts, you are a dead man."
Wu Chengjian understood what Zhou Yijin meant. The nine people got together and were met by Wu Chengjian together. After the matter was done and the gold and silver were collected, according to the habits of the Qing Dynasty's dignitaries, they would definitely be silenced.
"Now that it has come to this, there is no turning back."
"He really said that!"
Sixth Master frowned.
"Yes." Guangxing bent over and replied.
"Impossible! Your Highness, there is still... I can't agree to it!" Sixth Master shouted sternly. But think about the meeting gift Wu Chengjian promised... That's a full 200,000 taels of silver... Can the other party really take it out as a "meeting gift"?
Although the amount of silver that had passed through his hands during this period was already two million, if it was divided equally, the two princes would take the lion's share, and the rest would only end up in his hands with that much.
He felt that the two princes and the other two would not agree to it, but...if they could agree...
"Impossible!" Sixth Master stood up irritably and left.
Guangxing looked at his back as he left, thinking to himself: "If she doesn't agree, then she won't agree..." Seeing that there was no one around, he took out the property deed and read the address on it over and over again.
On the way home, I unknowingly took a detour and went to that silk shop.
"Hey, sir, please!"
The waiter was very enthusiastic and invited Guangxing into the shop. While making tea for him, he asked what kind of satin he wanted to buy.
Guangxing sat down, glanced at the waiter, and thought to himself, you kid don’t even know that the person sitting in front of you is your boss. But since you are so attentive, I will reward you later.
"Let me take a look," Guangxing said. He thought that he had just received a large sum of money and was about to change his clothes. As the saying goes, good things should be kept within the family, so it would be better to give this business to himself than to anyone else. So he asked the clerk to bring out the best silk and satin for him to see.
The waiter was overjoyed and quickly put out the best silk and introduced it respectfully.
Guangxing looked at the silk and observed the flow of people. This silk shop had a good location, located on the road that officials in the west city had to take when leaving the court. It sold high-quality silk, but the people who came and went were either high-ranking officials or noble ladies. Many visitors only saw the good goods and did not talk about the price. They just ordered and left.
The more Guangxing looked at it, the happier he became. This was his own shop, so naturally the more prosperous the business, the better. However, he did not dare to reveal his identity yet. He kept muttering that it would be better not to make this relationship public, lest his superiors and colleagues come to him to curry favors. If he suffered a loss in business, he would have to ask his family to take control of the silk shop.
He returned home and was about to discuss the matter with his wife when he suddenly thought that instead of letting his wife know about it, it would be better to leave it to the concubine. However, when he was about to go to the east wing, he felt that the concubine was too old and her appearance was too rough. Should he find a new one?
I was so distracted by all these thoughts that I had no appetite for dinner.
At night, the old family member suddenly came to report: "Sixth Master is here."
Guangxing was slightly startled and hurried to welcome him into the study.
There was no one else in the study room, and the Sixth Master was in no mood to even drink tea. He said irritably, "Guangxing, do you think Wu Chengjian can really come up with that much money as a 'meeting gift'?"
Guangxing guessed a little, but he didn't dare to guarantee it himself, so he just said, "It's hard to say." He tried to ask again, "Sixth Master, did you receive the money?"
"Received." The Sixth Master thought of the one million taels of gold and silver he handled, as well as the box full of deeds, and couldn't help getting annoyed again. How nice it would be if the two million were all his: "The gold and silver are real numbers, and the antiques are all good things. There are two shops in Beijing, one in Tianjin, and one in Baoding. I haven't visited the ones in Tianjin and Baoding yet, but a servant has been to those two shops and said they are both good shops. I personally went to the two shops in Beijing this afternoon and they are also good places. And the manor in Hebei..."
Sixth Master sighed and said, "One million, no less than that!"
The boxes and cabinets of silver piled there are certainly eye-catching, but the shops that make a fortune every day are even more tempting.
Guangxing asked, "Sixth Master, which room did you get?"
The Sixth Master said with a spit, "Which one? How could it be mine! They all call..." He didn't say anything else, just shook his head, "I just got some jewelry, which is better than nothing."
In fact, those jewellery are also very valuable, but they cannot be compared with those in shops.
Guangxing asked again: "Then...what did Wu Chengjian ask for?"
The Sixth Master said, "Originally, the two princes refused outright after hearing this, but after seeing the gold and silver deeds, they hesitated again. Now the young prince said that it's okay to meet, and the old prince is still hesitant, but the one in the palace... refuses to come out! He said it would break the rules. Besides, don't you see what time it is now!"
Guangxing thought about the silk shop, and suddenly he asked, "Have the goods been sent to the palace?"
"No..." Sixth Master's heart moved: "You mean..."
"Hearing something is different from seeing something, after all." Guangxing said, "Maybe if he sees something, the one in the palace will agree."
Master Liu hesitated for a moment and said, "Okay! I'll try it!"
There was no movement on the second day. On the third day, Liu Ye came again and said to Guang Xing, "All agreed."
Guangxing was surprised and delighted: "Did you agree?"
"Hmm." The Sixth Master grumbled, "Send Wu Chengjian here in three days. For the nine nobles, three will be paid 500,000, four will be paid 300,000, and two will be paid 200,000. If one or two taels of silver is missing, let him slit his own throat and throw him outside Yongding Gate to feed the dogs."
There are towering trees in the yard. These two trees are obviously several times older than the yard. I don’t know whether the builders built the yard based on the trees or transplanted the trees when building the yard.
Guangxing stopped at the gate of the courtyard, and another servant led Wu Chengjian in, pointing to the gate in the middle: "Go in."
There were two people standing at the door. They searched Wu Chengjian from head to toe before letting him go.
The room was large and deep, but all the windows were closed. Only the colored glaze on the ceiling let in some light. Although it was daytime, the whole room was dark.
Nine chairs were placed on the upper floor and nine people sat on them.
Wu Chengjian walked forward, still quite far away, and the Sixth Master, who was sitting at the edge, shouted, "No manners! Kneel down!"
Wu Chengjian hesitated for a moment and finally knelt down.
The ray of sunlight leaking through the small glazed skylight just hit his face, allowing the nine people sitting on the chairs to see Wu Chengjian's eyes, ears, mouth and nose clearly.
An old female voice said, "Oh, this is Hao Guan. I never thought that he would be such a young and handsome young man."
Wu Chengjian didn't dare to raise his head, but just looked up slightly. The deep hall and dim light made it impossible to see the faces of the nine people. He only vaguely saw the man who had just scolded him for being "unruly" sitting on the far left. This man was the Sixth Master who had once broken into Guangxing's house. Wu Chengjian had heard a few words from him in the study.
Then there were several nobles on both sides whose faces could not be seen clearly, and who Wu Chengjian probably did not recognize even after seeing them clearly. As for the three in the middle, two were dressed in princes' attire, one old and one young. The old one sat in the middle and the young one sat on his right. There was also a man sitting to the left of the old prince. From his clothes, it seemed that he had no official title, but was just dressed like a rich man. The old female voice just now came from him, so Wu Chengjian guessed that it was a eunuch.
He responded and said, "Thank you for the compliment, eunuch."
The Beile on the far right shouted, "Wu Chengjian! Be careful with your words!"
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "This is the land above and the sky below. There must be people arranged by you all around. Can Wu's words reach the ears of the eleventh person? If not, what is there to worry about?"
The eunuch chuckled, and the sound sounded like a night owl in the dark. Except for the two princes, everyone else also laughed.
"What a great boy, what a great boy." The old eunuch praised, but the praise did not make people happy.
Wu Chengjian said, "I have been blessed with a great opportunity to meet you all, so I have prepared a small gift for you. The gift should be presented in person, but it is outside and a bit heavy. I am not strong enough to move it in. Could you please ask your family to move the box in, and I will present it to you personally?"
The two princes looked at each other. Actually, since the things were in the farm, they couldn't fly away, but it would be good to see it with their own eyes.
The Sixth Master rang the bell, the door opened, and a servant walked in. The Sixth Master gave two instructions, and the servant ran out. After a while, eight people, eight at a time, came in with twenty-four boxes of different sizes.
After the boxes were brought in, the servants left.
The old man smiled and said, "There are quite a lot of things. They are indeed quite heavy."
Wu Chengjian opened two of the large boxes. Inside the boxes were silver ingots cast into gold ingots, layer upon layer. Each layer weighed hundreds of pounds. Wu Chengjian took out a layer of silver ingots with great difficulty and placed them under the light leaking from the glazed skylight. The light shone on the silver, and the light suddenly became lovely.
Wu Chengjian took out a layer from the box and stacked it on the ground. He took out twelve layers, and then the gold was underneath. The gold was also divided into several layers, and each layer was cut into three plates. Wu Chengjian took out one plate after another and stacked them on top of the silver. Suddenly, it was golden and the light was even more lovely.
Wu Chengjian stacked up the gold and silver in the two boxes and said, "The total value of this gold and silver is two hundred thousand taels of silver."
Then, he opened the third and fourth boxes and fiddled with them as usual: "This batch also has 200,000 taels."
The next eight large boxes were not bigger than the previous two, but the ratio of gold to silver had changed, with less silver and more gold. "These eight boxes, equivalent to silver, are 300,000 taels per box, for a total of 1.2 million taels."
After moving out six boxes of gold and silver, Wu Chengjian was already out of breath, and the remaining three boxes were smaller.
Wu Chengjian opened the box, and inside was golden yellow, all gold!
The young prince said, "Okay, no need to move."
The old prince said, "Move! Why not move! I have never seen so much gold and silver in one go!"
So Wu Chengjian moved out the gold in the three boxes and put them in the front. These boxes of gold and silver weighed hundreds of thousands of taels, tens of thousands of catties! They were piled up on the spot, giving people the feeling of a mountain of gold and silver!
After Wu Chengjian finished moving the gold and silver, he walked over to the pile of gold and silver and stood there. The sun was setting outside the window, and the dim sunlight shone through the small glazed skylight, and was very dim when it came in. The gold and silver reflected the dim light, and projected it on Wu Chengjian, making him look different. Just now, Sixth Master scolded him for not knowing the rules, but now he even forgot to scold him and knelt down.
Wu Chengjian said with a smile: "This is Wu Chengjian's greeting gift to all the distinguished people. We Cantonese people may be a little tacky, but please don't despise it and accept it with a smile."
The old prince suddenly laughed: "Vulgarity is good! I like tacky! Haha, good, good!"
This hall was suddenly filled with more than three million worth of gold and silver. The room was filled with gold and silver, and the stench of copper was not enough to describe it.
Not only the old prince, but everyone in the room had never seen so much gold and silver in one go - although Wu Chengjian's previous three transactions were worth a total of four million, they were all separate items, and included antiques, shops, manors, etc. How could they be as exciting as the room full of gold and silver at this moment?
The Qing treasury only had 40 million taels a year, so this was close to 10%. If it was at the end of the revenue and expenditure period, there might not even be so much gold and silver in the treasury!
The hall was silent, and two of the nobles even breathed heavily.
One of the nobles couldn't help but grumble: "Damn it...they're from Guangdong...they're just so rich!"
After a while, these nobles finally calmed down. The old prince said, "Wu Chengjian, you offer such a generous gift. What do you want from us? Tell us now."
Wu Chengjian smiled and said, "This is not a generous gift. I just said that this is a greeting gift from Wu Chengjian to all of you nobles."
The prince on the right couldn't help but take a breath. The young prince was young and naive, so he couldn't help but ask, "What do you mean?"
Wu Chengjian laughed and said, "What I mean is that this is just a small amount of money. In Cantonese, it's worthless."
Two nobles murmured at the same time: "Little money... Little money..."
The Sixth Master couldn't help it: "Wu Chengjian, it's rare that you can come up with this much money, but don't brag too much! Be careful not to brag too much, or we will take the money without doing anything."
"That's exactly what happened." Wu Chengjian smiled. That smile made the nine nobles who had always looked down on these Guangdong barbarians no longer able to see through their true colors. They heard Wu Chengjian say, "How powerful the Forbidden City is, Guangdong people who have never been to the Forbidden City dare not imagine. How much wealth there is in Guangzhou Bay, Beijing people who have never been to Xiguan Street dare not imagine!"
The second half of this sentence was too arrogant, but he said it while standing in the midst of the gold and silver, and the nine nobles were unable to refute or rebuke him for a moment. They just listened to Wu Chengjian continue:
"Here are more than three million taels of gold and silver, which are the gifts from Wu Chengjian to all of you. I don't ask you to do anything for me, but you are willing to condescend to meet a mere merchant like me. This honor is worth it to Wu Chengjian."
This statement greatly praised the nine people present - before today, they never dared to think that their face could be worth a room full of gold and silver!
