Chapter 2 Pawnshop
Walking out of the alley, although he didn't change his clothes, Xia Yang's heart was still a lot easier. The pen "Fun" Pavilion www.biquge.info he pretended to be natural and walked on the stone street, with a curious gaze, quickly absorbing the things of this era.
From his point of view, the architectural style at this time was naturally extremely backward, most of the houses were built of blue bricks and gray tiles, the streets were extremely narrow, and the vehicles coming and going were old-fashioned cars that could only be seen in film and television dramas.
Walking through a shop, there was a tempting aroma wafting inside, Xia Yang smelled that this was the smell of beef soup, before crossing over, he hadn't eaten breakfast, and when he smelled this fragrance, he immediately felt hungry, but he only had soft girl coins on him, and it was impossible to use them.
At this time, there were no customers in the store, and a junior who was standing at the door of the store saw Xia Yang who was swallowing saliva at the door, and hurriedly trotted over, and asked with a flattering smile: "This gentleman wants to eat beef noodles?"
Although he was penniless, he hesitated for a moment, but he couldn't help but ask, "How much is a bowl?"
Xiao Er glanced at Xia Yang in surprise, thinking that the person in front of him was wearing a suit and leather shoes, and he looked like a rich man, but he didn't expect to ask the price first to eat a bowl of noodles, but the smile on his face was undiminished: "Only 6 cents." ”
"It's cheap enough. Xia Yang had no idea about the price at that time, but when he heard that "cents" was used as a unit, he couldn't help muttering in his heart. After a deep groan, he pretended to show embarrassment: "Little second brother, I just came back from abroad, but I didn't expect that when I arrived in Shanghai, the money on my body was taken away by a thief, which is really unlucky." Where is the pawnshop in this city?"
"It turned out to be a gentleman who came back from Liuyang. Xiao Er came over with relief, pointed in a direction and said: "In front of this is the public concession, there are many pawn shops opened by foreigners, if Mr. is alive, you can go over there." If it is dead, go to the right at the intersection in front, and there is a Lu's pawnshop not far away, which is very famous, with an excellent reputation, and Tong Su is not bullied. ”
When Xia Yang was in modern times, he sold old copper and rotten iron when he was a child, and where could he tell the difference between living and dying. After asking a few words carefully, I realized that it turned out that it could be redeemed, and an interest would be charged at that time, which was equivalent to a storage fee. Death is a one-shot deal, no matter how valuable the thing is, it will always belong to someone else, so the money you get from the dead is more than the life dang.
After thanking Xiao Er, Xia Yang followed the direction he indicated, and found the Lu pawnshop after a while.
The pawnshop is not big, and there is a young man about the same size as Xia Yang sitting in it, and when he saw him come in, he hurriedly said, "Sir, do you want to be a thing?"
With a "hmm", Xia Yang took off the watch on his wrist and put it on the counter: "I want to be this watch, die, you can give an estimate." ”
"Shhh
"Forgive me for my clumsiness, I can't estimate such a valuable thing, wait for Mr. to wait a while, I'll ask the shopkeeper to take a look." The guy didn't know the bottom of his heart, handed the watch back to Xia Yang, turned around and went to the back hall to report.
After a while, his partner led a middle-aged man in a gray robe out, the middle-aged man was a little fat, and his face was quite thoughtful, giving people a feeling of trustworthiness, and he didn't look like a profiteer.
"Hey, sir, this foreign watch is rare. The shopkeeper picked up the watch and observed it for a while, only to see that the mirror was blue and had a circle of silver on the outside, and the numbers and hands of the dial inside were embedded with shining diamonds, and the strap was also made of stainless steel, which was extremely eye-catching. The whole watch is extremely exquisite, with an indescribable metallic texture, which is very different from today's foreign watches. Frightened, he lowered his voice: "Sir, why don't you follow me in and talk in detail?"
"Good. Xia Yang nodded and followed him to the back hall.
beckoned Xia Yang to sit down, and asked the young man to pour two cups of tea in, and then the shopkeeper spoke: "Mr. looks like a student who has returned from studying abroad, I'm afraid this foreign watch is not cheap to buy, right?
"It's a long story. Xia Yang casually put the briefcase on the table, pretended to be indescribable, sighed and said: "I just came back from the UK, not only did I just arrive in Shanghai, but I was patronized by thieves and stole my belongings. Now that he is penniless, he is really helpless to be a watch. ”
"So that's the case, no wonder Mr. speaks Chinese so well. Through the conversation, the shopkeeper basically ruled out the possibility that Xia Yang was a liar, nodded and said: "The current situation is not good, there are more and more thieves and ruffians on the beach, Mr. is out of the house, but you must be careful." ”
"Thank you, I'll be careful. Hearing the concern in the master's words, Xia Yang felt a little emotional, the Chinese people of this era are sincere. After a few sighs, he turned back to the topic and said: "Shopkeeper, this watch is the latest handmade mechanical watch in Europe and Switzerland, the front is a mirror made of sapphire, the hands inside are also gold-plated, and the scale of the dial is inlaid with more than a dozen diamonds." And this watch is not only waterproof, but also has a luminous function, even at night you can see the time clearly, I bought it for 500 pounds, I have only been wearing it for a few months, and it is still the same as new, how much do you think it is worth?"
Where would the shopkeeper know, Xia Yang didn't know the price at this time, he just casually exchanged the unit bought by the five hundred yuan soft sister coin for pounds, and couldn't help but gasp after hearing it! Five hundred pounds, that is equivalent to more than five thousand silver dollars, even if the young man in front of him exaggerates and discounts it, it must be at least a thousand silver dollars, which is sky-high!
"Will you live or die?" asked the shopkeeper.
"Die. Xia Yang said quietly: "I have been wearing this thing for several months, and I am already a little tired of playing with it, so I will buy a new one in the future." ”
"I don't know which loser this is, I spent thousands of silver dollars to buy such a watch, and I don't care at all. ”
Hearing his words, the shopkeeper was a little suspicious, and he didn't know what kind of price to give for a while.
Originally, according to the rules of pawnshops, at least it was "half price", that is, anything taken into the pawnshop was only worth half of the original price at most. The interest on redemption is even more staggering, equivalent to usury, and many times, it is time to snicker if it can give you two or three percent. Especially at the time of chaos, if it is a black-hearted pawnshop, even Yicheng may not be able to get it. The shopkeeper has read countless people, and he can judge from Xia Yang's bearing and his words and deeds that the young man in front of him is by no means an ordinary person! Not to mention that he can afford a foreign watch of a few hundred pounds, just the other party's suit and leather shoes, and the pair of bright leather shoes on his feet, I am afraid that they are worth a lot of money. Presumably, this son's family background must be very prominent, and it also prevents him from thinking crookedly.
He couldn't help but hesitate, knowing that the average house at this time was only one or two hundred silver dollars, and the most expensive three-story western-style building in the concession was only worth seven or eight hundred silver dollars.
Repeatedly groping for the lubricated watch mirror, the shopkeeper is not sure about the true value of this watch, just look at such fine workmanship and its texture, you know that its value is very high, even in the West, it is definitely valuable!
He suddenly thought of one more thing, the handsome son is going to get married next month, isn't he worried about how to climb this handsome, and he doesn't know what gift to give. Now that I have this watch, when I send it to it, won't my face be very bright. Such a rare thing must be extremely valuable in the West, and there is no reason why the handsome man does not like it.
"How about three thousand oceans?" Thinking of this, he gritted his teeth and stretched out three fingers. This price is a rare high price, and it is not a pit for Xia Yang. The pawnshop has the rules of a pawn shop, even if Xia Yang's family regrets it later, he has something to say.
Xia Yang's face didn't change, he just nodded lightly: "Okay." ”
Ben was ready to bargain, but Xia Yang agreed without hesitation, and didn't take it to heart at all, as if it wasn't three thousand, just three yuan, and the shopkeeper was in his heart, and he looked up to him a few points.
"Sir, it's a blast. ”
After saying a little wait, the shopkeeper turned around and left, and came back after a while: "These are three silver tickets of one thousand taels, which can be exchanged by major banks, and please keep them carefully." Handing the silver ticket to Xia Yang, he beckoned the young man in the front hall in: "Go to the counter and bring in twenty oceans to Mr." ”
After a while, the guy came in with a paper bag and put it in front of Xia Yang. The shopkeeper said with a smile: "It is inconvenient to redeem the silver tickets, so these twenty oceans will be given to Mr. for pocket money." He remembered that Xia Yang had said before that he was penniless, and the twenty foreign powers were taken as personal favors.
"Thank you, shopkeeper. Xia Yang did not shirk, and after thanking him, he chatted a few more words, and then left the pawnshop.