The Second NPC

Refining table salt is extremely risky, but the profits are also high!

The price of refined salt in the Great Wu Dynasty is several times, even ten times, that of coarse salt, reaching up to eighty qian per jin!

The official price of coarse salt is ten qian.

Private salt is even cheaper, only five qian!

Official families, wealthy clans, rich merchants, and even Immortal Path cultivators have a huge demand for refined salt.

Especially Immortal Path cultivators, who only eat the highest grade of green salt!

Coarse salt contains too many impurities and toxins, which is unacceptable to Immortal Path cultivators!

Calculated at three jin of coarse salt yielding two jin of refined salt.

Even if purchased official salt is refined, there's a fivefold profit!

If Chen Bao directly uses low-cost private salt for refining.

That's over fifteen times the profit!

A little refining, and one liang of silver immediately becomes fifteen liang of silver!

Su Mo roughly calculated.

He gasped!

Such immense profits, even the current Empress of Great Wu would likely be tempted!

Damn it!

Still can't do it!

It's better to just let Chen Bao sell private salt honestly.

With his support, the business will naturally grow much larger. Even with a profit of just two qian per jin of salt.

It's better than being caught and the whole clan sent to the execution ground!

If a disaster like confiscation and extermination of the clan were to occur in the future, offering this method to the Empress would definitely be a trump card, perhaps even a miraculous cure for the dying!

Immense wealth lay before him, yet he couldn't grasp it!

What a pity!

What a pity!

Su Mo was extremely dejected!

Seeing Su Mo seem to be in a daze, Chen Qianyu couldn't help but poke him with the great treasure sword.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

Su Mo snapped back to reality.

He temporarily suppressed the thought of getting involved in the private salt trade. "Nothing."

"Let's go!"

These matters were for Chen Bao to discuss in person.

There was no point in talking to the female knight-errant about it.

The two entered Eight Treasures斋 together.

Antique shops mostly also engage in pawn brokerage.

When the shopkeeper saw Su Mo return so soon after leaving, bringing a young female knight-errant with a great treasure sword slung over her shoulder, his heart panicked.

He thought Su Mo had discovered the calligraphy and seal were fake and had returned to cause trouble!

But.

He had only sold them for a few dozen qian!

Even a fool wouldn't think they were real, right?

Before the shopkeeper could figure out whether to call for the sturdy shop assistants in the back.

Chen Qianyu placed the cloth bag on the counter, adopting a female knight-errant's demeanor: "Shopkeeper! Urgent help from the martial world!"

"How much silver can these gold bracelets be pawned for?"

The female knight-errant's true nature was revealed.

Su Mo chuckled inwardly.

"Urgent help from the martial world," she's definitely watched too many wuxia novels!

The shopkeeper breathed a sigh of relief.

So they were here to pawn something!

He opened the cloth bag and took a look. Inside were two heavy gold bracelets. Weighing them, he estimated they were at least five liang. Although the design wasn't great, the value of gold bracelets lay entirely in their weight!

He picked up a bracelet and bit it, then took out a magnet to examine it carefully.

Finally, he said: "A pair of crude, low-quality dragon and phoenix shaped large gold bracelets. The pawn value is twenty liang of silver, and the dead pawn value is thirty!"

Chen Qianyu frowned, "Only twenty for a living pledge?"

Seeing Su Mo chuckling beside her, the female knight-errant blinked, picked up the rather heavy great treasure sword, and slammed it onto the counter with a bang. "Say that again?"

The shopkeeper's heart skipped a beat. After hesitating, he said, "Thirty for a living pledge, forty-five for a dead pledge!"

He paused, then added, "I really can't offer more!"

"If the young lady doesn't believe me, she's welcome to ask at other pawnshops."

Chen Qianyu thought for a moment, then snorted. She glanced at the gold bracelet, her eyes showing reluctance, but finally gritted her teeth and said, "Dead pledge!"

Gold was nominally worth ten silver, but it couldn't circulate in ordinary transactions.

Only high-status individuals like officials' families and Immortal Path cultivators could use it.

Exchanging it at a money house wouldn't yield much more, and might even be less!

Not long after.

Chen Qianyu, carrying the silver, left the Eight Treasures Pavilion with Su Mo. She turned to Su Mo and said, "I need to go back and find my father."

"Where are you going?"

Su Mo nodded and smiled, "You go ahead."

"I also need to go back to the yamen."

Chen Qianyu nodded, but after taking a couple of steps, she suddenly turned back.

Her pretty face flushed slightly, looking a bit embarrassed. "Um, um..."

"Su Mo... young master..."

After stammering for a while, she finally gritted her teeth and said, "I want to be your handyman!"

Su Mo was immediately taken aback. "You want to be a handyman?"

Judging by her attire, she was clearly meant to be a chivalrous female knight-errant. Why would she suddenly decide to become a lackey of the government?

This was not the right direction!

Chen Qianyu took a deep breath, puffing out her chest, her pretty eyes looking straight at Su Mo. "Just tell me if it's possible!"

Such a... scale!

Su Mo gasped.

Then he smiled, "It's not impossible!"

"But I don't accept just any helper!"

"I need to assess you!"

Chen Qianyu was a bit confused. "Assess me how?"

She was a dignified female knight-errant, skilled in martial arts and peerless in swordsmanship. Did she still need to be assessed to be a subordinate clerk at the yamen?

Su Mo thought for a moment. "If you become a helper, you'll be part of the yamen."

"Let me ask you."

"If your father commits a crime, and the authorities order you to apprehend him, will you arrest him or not?"

The female knight-errant blurted out, "Of course I won't arrest him!"

"He's my father!"

Su Mo snapped his fingers. "Congratulations! You passed!"

"When my leave is over, I'll take you to the yamen to register you in the case files!"

"From now on, you'll be a lackey... helper of the yamen!"

Chen Qianyu...

Chen Qianyu left in a daze.

Su Mo couldn't help but chuckle.

It seemed there was still hope for her.

A female knight-errant's moral bottom line was quite flexible, and she had potential for development.

He didn't want a female knight-errant overflowing with a sense of justice by his side, otherwise, the lightning would strike sooner or later!

As the female knight-errant's figure completely disappeared, Su Mo returned to Eight Treasures Pavilion. "Shopkeeper, I want to redeem my pledge!"

"The gold bracelet I just pawned."

The shopkeeper...

Are these two young people trying to mess with me?

Do they really think I'm easy to bully?

Who doesn't have some background when dealing with antiques and pawnshops?

The shop owner has connections at the yamen!

He coughed twice, "Young man, that gold bracelet just now was a dead pawn; it cannot be redeemed."

Su Mo rummaged through his money pouch and placed the yamen runner's Badge on the counter.

"Say that again?"

A moment later, Su Mo, carrying the brocade box containing the calligraphy scrolls and seal, headed towards the yamen.

It was already noon, and the yamen was closed.

Xue Shan was resting in the inner quarters of the back yamen.

Su Mo didn't want to alert anyone and took a detour towards the side gate of the back yamen.

However, before he even reached the side gate.

He heard a commotion from the top of the back yamen wall.

He looked up.

A scholar, dressed in scholar's robes, climbed over the high wall.

The delicate scholar sat on the wall, looking fearfully at the wall, which was over a zhang high, and dared not jump down.

He turned and happened to see Su Mo passing by. He hesitated, gritted his teeth, and said, "Brother... "

"Could you... could you help me down? I would be eternally grateful!"

Su Mo blinked.

And blinked again.

He wasn't mistaken!

The person climbing over the wall had terrible disguise skills; it was obvious at a glance that he was a fake scholar.

On her head, a yellow exclamation mark flashed, like a giant light bulb, impossible to miss!

I'm not used to asking for votes; I've always just focused on writing, but the stats are dismal, too ugly to look at, so I have to ask! I hope my brothers can lend me a hand if you have monthly votes, okay? Also, in the last chapter, the description of the female knight-errant Chen was a bit off, but after modifying it, it feels amazing. You can go take a look.