Buying Jewelry

After returning to the capital, Xu Qi'an returned the horse to the horse rental shop and collected his deposit. He walked out of the shop and said:

"Cijiu, go on back first. I still have something to do."

Xu Xinnian nodded without asking any questions and headed home alone along the long street.

Xu Qi'an bought a serving of osmanthus cake from a roadside stall and ate as he walked. Before long, he arrived at a jewelry shop:

The Treasure Artifact Pavilion!

The owner of the Treasure Artifact Pavilion was a licentiate. In fact, it was very common for scholars to do business, especially those from wealthy and noble families. Land rents alone could not support the extravagant living expenses of a large family.

The nobles had a hand in the capital's major shops, brothels, and other profitable businesses.

Great Feng's commerce is clearly thriving as never before, yet heavy taxes fall on the farmers. I have reason to suspect the powerful clans and nobles are up to something.

How much silver can farming bring in? If you want to get rich, you have to shear the merchants!

To give the common people better lives and fill Great Feng's treasury, there has to be reform. But with all those high officials at court, when would a petty clerk like me get a chance to speak? Hmm, I'll set a small goal: first, raise Erlang to be Great Feng's grand secretary.

Thinking of what his proud little brother would look like someday, having risen to the highest rank a subject could hold, Xu Qi'an could not help the smile tugging at his lips.

Xu Qi'an stepped into the shop, his gaze sweeping over the counter. Piece after piece of jewelry lay before him on red silk.

Hairpins, floral ornaments, hair sticks, hair clasps, dangling hair ornaments, and ornate headdresses. The variety was dazzling.

Gold pieces were the most expensive, while the price of jade depended on the type. The costly ones were worth more than gold, while the cheap ones were about the same as silver.

Xu Qi'an felt the three qian of silver in his pocket and muttered to himself that such a small sum could not buy any precious jewelry at all.

As he lamented his lack of money, his foot came down on something hard. He picked it up quite naturally and tucked it into his pocket without changing expression.

Perhaps because he had done it so naturally, no one paid him any attention.

One qian of silver isn't worth a damn. One qian of gold would be more like it.

He felt like he was browsing a luxury store in his previous life. He could not afford anything either way. The only difference was that the shopkeepers here were reserved, unlike the annoying salespeople in his previous life, who practically clung to you and wanted you to buy something on the spot.

"Shopkeeper, do you offer discounts here?" Xu Qi'an knocked on the counter.

The shopkeeper was an old man with a goatee, dressed like a scholar. He showed no surprise at the question.

The shopkeeper pointed to the wooden slips hanging on the wall and said with a smile, "If you can solve a character riddle, sir, you can have the items in the shop for half price."

This rule was a distinctive feature of the Treasure Artifact Pavilion.

Half price for solving a character riddle? Interesting. Xu Qi'an walked over to the wooden slips and glanced at the riddle: "Clouds part, the moon appears, and flowers play with shadows!"

Drawing on his extensive store of knowledge and his powers of logical reasoning, he quickly solved the riddle.

Some of these pieces weigh several qian on their own, and then there's the cost of labor...

Xu Qi'an made a rough calculation and found that even at half price, he still could not afford any particularly fine jewelry.

But he soon came up with a way.

The women who came to the Treasure Artifact Pavilion to buy jewelry all came from very well-off families and had studied for a few years. At the very least, they were not illiterate.

Women like that all had one flaw: a half-full bucket made the loudest slosh.

They considered themselves cultured and liked to put on refined airs, so they were especially taken with the Treasure Artifact Pavilion's little trick.

When buying jewelry at the same price, they preferred to come to the Treasure Artifact Pavilion for no other reason than to try their hands at the character riddles.

If a customer solved a riddle, the shopkeeper would carve the correct riddle beneath the wooden slip and give it to her along with the jewelry.

If they could not solve any, that was that. But once they solved one or two, they could boast to their close friends.

This was the shopkeeper's ploy as Xu Qi'an had worked it out after overhearing two young women talking nearby.

As expected of a shop run by a licentiate, he knew how to attract high-end customers.

"Sister Yu, I can't solve a single riddle here. They're so hard!"

"You're right, sister. The shopkeeper is a licentiate with a scholarly degree, so naturally his riddles are hard. Even ordinary scholars might not be able to solve them."

"Sister Yu, my husband said the same thing. If I could solve a riddle and take the wooden slip home, he'd surely see me in a new light."

"Dream on."

"Oh, you're awful!"

The two young ladies from respectable families had been frowning at the wooden slips for quite a while, mumbling and muttering to themselves.

They were both exquisitely dressed and made up. Presumably, they came from very well-off families and had received some education, or they would not have tried to solve the riddles.

"Ladies."

Suddenly, a man's voice sounded beside them.

The two pretty young women turned warily. When they saw the handsome, tall and imposing Xu Qi'an, their wariness eased a little, but they said nothing.

The Great Feng dynasty's customs were relatively liberal, but striking up a conversation with a strange man on the street was still considered very improper.

Xu Qi'an did not mind. He got straight to the point and stated his proposal. "I can solve the character riddles for you, ladies, but you must give me half the silver you save. If you save five qian of silver, you give me two and a half. If you save four qian, you give me two."

Hearing Xu Qi'an's proposal, the shopkeeper looked up in surprise. He studied him closely for a moment, then scoffed and paid him no further attention.

Although this man wore a scholar's robe, a closer look at his build and complexion showed that he was the sort to slap his face until it swelled just to look fat.

What scholar had anyone ever seen who was as strong as an ox and had wheat-colored skin?

That scholar's robe did not fit him at all.

At Xu Qi'an's proposal, the younger woman's eyes lit up, and she was quite tempted.

The older one was more dignified and reserved, as well as more cautious and distant. She said coolly, "Please do as you like, young master. If you really solve a riddle, I won't go back on my word."

She was distinctly distant.

"Please pick one, ladies," Xu Qi'an said with a smile.

The older woman hesitated, while the younger one was eager to try. Seeing that the older sister beside her did not object, she pointed to one of the wooden slips. "Clouds part, the moon appears, and flowers play with shadows."

Her voice was soft and gentle.

Xu Qi'an immediately said, "Neng, as in 'the capable should do more.'"

The two young ladies instinctively turned to look at the shopkeeper. His dumbfounded expression said it all.

The younger woman promptly bought a gold hairpin and clutched it happily in her hand. Her eyes sparkled as she looked at Xu Qi'an.

After putting away the wooden slip, she rolled her eyes and said in a somewhat more familiar tone, "Young master, can you solve another character riddle for me?"

"Lian'er." The woman called Sister Yu tugged at her sleeve.

"Sister Yu, we came together. It wouldn't be right for me to have one and you not to." Having said that, the respectable young lady called Lian'er looked at Xu Qi'an expectantly.

I couldn't ask for more. Xu Qi'an put on a warm smile. "No problem. Pick another one, my lady."

"Peacocks fly southeast." She pointed to a wooden slip.

"Sun!" Xu Qi'an said.

"..." The shopkeeper was dumbstruck.

"Thank you, young master."

The two young ladies picked out jewelry they liked and left the shop, thoroughly satisfied.

Xu Qi'an had extraordinary hearing and heard the woman called Lian'er say, "That young master is so talented, and tall and handsome too. He's much more sturdily built than my husband."

"Don't talk nonsense," the older woman scolded.

She seemed afraid that Xu Qi'an would hear and come over to pester them, so she pulled Lian'er along and hurried away.