Shen Zhuo sent the students away, sitting quietly at the desk in a daze, Brother Yu went to see Gu Sanniang come back, he saw his father in front of the jade piece that he often wore on his body, and asked out loud: "Daddy, how did you take this out?" ”

Shen Zhuo came back to his senses, he picked up the jade piece and rubbed it in the palm of his hand a few times, this Pixiu jade beast was originally his mother's dowry, when he was young, he had a serious illness, his mother gave him this piece to ward off evil spirits, and then his mother went, he left Beijing with his brother, and now only his mother's old thing is left around.

Shen Zhuo put away this piece, and he asked Brother Yu'er: "Are you Aunt Gu better?" ”

Brother Yu replied: "Grandma Qin made a bowl of sugar water for her, she had fallen asleep at this time, and my sister sat with her for a long time, and then went to work in the inn outside." ”

After thinking about it, Brother Yu asked again, "When will Aunt Gu be well?" Sister Xiao Yezi washes the dishes for others every day, and her hands are frostbitten, and there is no ointment at home, and her chilblains are about to suppurate. ”

Hearing Brother Yu'er's words, Shen Zhuo was silent, Gu Sanniang had been cut off from medicine for several days, and it was difficult to take care of her body just by recuperation, besides, they still owed the Qin family's rent and silver, and Aunt Qin's family were all kind-hearted people, although they didn't come to ask for money, but it was not good to always be in arrears, and in the long run, I was afraid that Gu Sanniang would be embarrassed to live here anymore.

Shen Zhuo touched the piece, he only had this valuable thing in his hand, and now that the mother and daughter of the Gu family were in trouble, he couldn't see death without saving it, he couldn't pawn this piece out, first saved her family's urgency, and then redeemed it when he saved enough money in the future.

"Brother Yu'er, you go to Grandma Qin's house to find the little brother, Daddy has something to do when he goes out, and he will come back when he finishes it." Shen Zhuo said.

Brother Yu nodded obediently, Shen Zhuo led him to the main house, and entrusted him to Aunt Qin, and then took the jade beast out of the courtyard gate.

Shen Zhuo walked to the street, there are two pawnshops in this county, one is a Dechang pawn, the other is a pawn, this Dechang is a century-old brand, the ancestors and grandchildren have opened four or five generations, and the other has been promoted to pawn, and it has been open for two or three years.

Of course, these words are also heard when chatting with Qin Lin on weekdays, Shen Zhuo has lived for half his life, or the first time he entered the pawnshop, he found the Dechang pawn shop, only to see a curtain hanging at the door, with a big 'dang' word written on the left and right, Shen Zhuo lifted the curtain and entered the inside, facing a five-foot-high counter, separated by a window, it was dark and gloomy, and he couldn't see anything.

Shen Zhuo stood in the room, he looked around a few times, Xu because the counter was standing at the door, the room seemed a little cramped, there was a set of tables and chairs by the west wall, and a young man was sitting next to the brazier and napping, and he didn't notice Shen Zhuo coming in.

"Guest, what do you want to pawn?"

A hoarse voice sounded coldly, Shen Zhuo was startled, and when he reacted, he heard the sound coming from behind the counter.

Shen Zhuo stood in front of the counter, he handed over the jade beast in his hand, and said, "Please take a look at this thing for me." ”

When the shopkeeper at the counter heard his voice, he looked up first, and immediately recognized Shen Zhuo, and he smiled: "Who should I be, it turned out to be Shen Juren." ”

As he spoke, he heard the sound of the chair moving, and then he saw a man in his fifties coming out from behind, he walked up to Shen Juren, and said with a smile: "Come all the way against the wind, sit in the house and drink a cup of tea." ”

As he spoke, he kicked the young man by the brazier and ordered, "Go and make two hot teas." ”

The young man was awakened, yawned, and then got up and poured his tea.

Sent away the little man, and the shopkeeper invited Shen Zhuo to sit down, these businessmen have a pair of snobbish eyes, and they are closest to Brother Fang Kong, if they come to some flat-headed people, they don't even look at the right eyes, such as a decent person like Shen Zhuo, but they have to put on another face, although this Shen Zhuo is from a foreign country, the identity of the person is not fake, in case it is developed, it is impossible to say that there will be a useful place in the future, it is very respectful to him with the shopkeeper.

Shen Zhuo didn't recognize this person, he asked, "I don't know the shopkeeper's surname?" ”

The shopkeeper smiled and said, "The little surname is Lin." ”

"It turned out to be Shopkeeper Lin." Shen Zhuo arched his hand towards him, and then took out the jade beast handle, and said, "Here is a piece here, I want to ask Shopkeeper Lin to see how many taels of silver it can be worth." ”

Shopkeeper Lin took it, he got up and looked at it by the bright light, his face was shocked, he first glanced at Shen Zhuo with the corner of his eye, and then his eyes fell back on the handle, he looked at it for most of the day, and then sat back on the chair, but he still held the jade piece in the palm of his hand and looked at it carefully.

At this time, the young man had already brought hot tea up, Shen Zhuo took a sip of tea from the teacup, and asked directly, "I don't know how the shopkeeper Lin looks?" ”

Shopkeeper Lin smiled, he put the jade beast back on the table, and said with a smile: "There is nothing to say, I don't know if you want to live or die." ”

"Live." Shen Zhuo sat and waited for the quotation of Shopkeeper Lin.

The shopkeeper glanced at him, and felt a little funny in his heart, he was used to seeing all kinds of people who came to pawn, such as those who entered this house, all of them were hunched shoulders, and even those who were sneaky, for fear that people would see that they were here to pawn things, but this Shen Juren was frank and indifferent.

"The jade piece is the best Hetian jade, and the carving is also fine, if Shen Juren really wants to be, we are willing to pay one hundred and eighty taels of silver."

Shen Zhuo was a little surprised, he knew that the pawnshop was low in price, but he didn't know that it was so powerful, when he was a child, he heard his mother say that he had spent thousands of taels of silver to buy this rough stone that day, and later specially invited the Yuan family of Qiucheng to carve this jade beast piece, and he didn't want this pawnshop to be willing to bid more than a hundred taels of silver.

The shopkeeper Lin saw that Shen Zhuo was not satisfied with the price, and he said: "Shen Juren, you also know the rules of the pawnshop, no matter how good you are, you can't give it according to the original price, and the opposite Rongsheng gives more, but I guess it's only a dozen taels of silver, but you are a living person, and the interest rate of Rongsheng is high. ”

Usually the shopkeeper Lin is mostly dealing with some clothes and hairpins, but today suddenly came such a rare thing, naturally I want to negotiate this deal, the shopkeeper Lin saw that this thing is Shen Chu's love thing, so he said: "Our Dechang Xing's interest money is one and a half cents, no matter how long you are in the period, when you rely on the pawn ticket, you will be returned to you at all, Shen Juren, things are placed here, and there is no mistake." ”

Shen Zhuo groaned slightly, and then pushed the piece in front of Shopkeeper Lin, and said, "Bother Shopkeeper Lin to write me a ticket." ”

Now the shopkeeper Lin froze, and he had to spend a lot of effort to persuade Shen Zhuo to treat the jade piece as their place, but who knew that he didn't even pay back the price, so he nodded directly.

According to the laws of the imperial court, anyone who is worth more than ten taels of pawn goods needs someone to guarantee it, so as to prove the identity of the original owner of the pawn, which is also to prevent the servants of some large families from stealing the things of the master's family to pawn for profit, but Shen Zhuo has a meritorious name, but it is better to find someone to testify, so the shopkeeper Lin called the guy to get pen and ink, and quickly wrote a pawn ticket for Shen Zhuo, and agreed to pay the current period for one and a half years.

Shen Zhuo looked at the pawn ticket, and pressed his handprint, Lin Shopkeeper quickly took out the silver ticket, Shen Zhuo counted, and it was not bad at all, so he left the pawnshop without looking back.

With the money in his hand, Shen Zhuo went straight to the pharmacy, the prescription he had prescribed to Gu Sanniang before was already familiar with it, and he didn't have to follow the list, he opened his mouth and reported the various medicinal materials he wanted to catch to the guy, the guy was a little familiar with this prescription, and thought about it for a while, isn't it the prescription that the little girl took a few days ago.

The guy grabbed the medicine, and Shen Zhuo asked again: "Do you have ginseng here?" ”

Hearing that he was going to buy ginseng, the man looked at him, and saw that he was wearing this washed and yellowed old clothes, and he didn't look like a person who could afford to eat ginseng, and he asked, "Ginseng is precious, I don't know how many years you want it?" ”

Shen Zhuo replied: "Can there be twenty or thirty years? ”

The young man nodded, and then called the shopkeeper, the shopkeeper was an old man with a beard, he heard that Shen Zhuo wanted to see the ginseng, so he took out a few boxes, and said: "These are twenty or thirty years of ginseng, may I ask which one the guest fancies?" ”

Shen Zhuo somewhat understood the market, he glanced at it, pointed to a chopstick-length ginseng with well-preserved roots, and said, "That's it." ”

The shopkeeper put away the rest of the ginseng and said, "The guest has good eyesight, this ginseng has just been sent over for more than ten days, although it is only about 20 years old, the medicinal properties are nothing to say." ”

Shen Zhuo asked the price again, and the shopkeeper quoted sixty taels of silver, and Shen Zhuo paid the money to the shopkeeper without blinking.

If you want to talk about this ginseng, Shen Zhuo bought it for Gu Sanniang to eat, ginseng is a great tonic medicine, if a few days ago, Shen Zhuo was afraid that she would not be able to make up for it, but it is just right to use some ginseng these days, first there is no money, but now that he has money in his hand, Shen Zhuo will not feel distressed.

When he returned to the Qin family compound, the doors and windows of the West Chamber were closed, thinking that Gu Sanniang was still resting, Xiao Yezi was not at home, Shen Zhuo did not go to the West Chamber, and when he sent the medicine, he had to be pushed by Gu Sanniang again, and this ginseng, with the hen is the most nourishing, Shen Zhuo even spent the ginseng money, and where would he look at the money of a few hens in his eyes, but there is only one end, Gu Sanniang, the background of his family, knows it clearly, he suddenly has a wide hand, if Gu Sanniang asks, how should he reply to her, thinking of this, Shen Zhuo was embarrassed again, he sighed secretly, doing a good deed like him and looking forward to the future, I am afraid that he is also the first person in ancient and modern times.