Chapter 44: Is He Really a Genius?

Half an hour later, the three of them arrived at a small hut.

Wang He took a step forward, pushed open the door, and turned to make a "please" gesture toward Zhang Yunxiu.

Zhang Yunxiu nodded slightly, lifted his robe, and stepped inside.

The light inside the room was very dim, so Wang He hurriedly took out a fire starter and lit it. A bright glow instantly filled the thirty-square-meter hut.

There was no furniture or decoration inside the room, only basket after basket of blue-and-white Porcelain, talisman seals, and exquisite painting scrolls.

Wang He smiled, picked up a scroll, unrolled it, and handed it to Zhang Yunxiu, boasting, "That Tang Bohu doesn't know a damn thing about painting erotic art. Look at ours—this brushwork, this appearance—isn't it much better than his?"

Zhang Yunxiu closed the scroll, picked up a small bronze tripod, and examined it from top to bottom.

"Which dynasty is this from?"

"Pre-Qin. This is a small tripod that Qin Shi Huang used to reward his ministers; only princes and high officials could own one. Look at these patterns, this rust..." Faced with this question, Wang He opened his mouth and began his usual spiel, trying to swindle him.

Suddenly remembering that his true colors had already been revealed, he gave a sheepish smile, shrank his neck, and retreated a step.

"Are all the things you have here fake?" Zhang Yunxiu put the tripod back and asked.

"Don't even mention just me; more than half of what's on the market is fake." Wang He grinned and boasted, "Many merchants on Qipan Street come to me to stock up. A small bottle worth five taels of silver, once you weave a little-known, moving story around it, fools those 'scholars' who pretend to be refined, and they scramble to buy it at a high price."

"Ahem." Zhang Yunxiu looked awkward; he recalled that the Emperor had bought two porcelain bottles, which were likely produced by this guy.

This is what you call one willing to beat and one willing to suffer; that's how the antique industry is—you don't open for business for three years, but once you do, you eat for three years.

The main focus is on swindling and cheating.

Seeing that Zhang Yunxiu didn't speak, Wang He rolled his thick eyebrows and big eyes, and said craftily, "If you like anything, Young Master, feel free to pick and choose whatever you want from my collection."

"Do you take our Young Master for a layman? What's so good about these pieces of junk you have?" Han San narrowed his eyes and shouted sternly.

"Aren't these antiques of mine just for fooling laymen?" Wang He muttered to himself, but on the surface, he fawned over Han San, "Brother San is right. What treasure does the Young Master not have at home? Would he be lacking these pieces of junk of mine?"

Zhang Yunxiu, however, waved his hand with a smile.

These fake antiques could be marked up as genuine antiques and sold overseas.

Those bastards are likely even worse than laymen; it really is time to harvest them for a fortune.

"Wang He."

"I am here!"

Wang He bowed and stepped forward. Zhang Yunxiu smiled, patted Wang He on the shoulder, and pointed at the room full of antiques, saying, "From now on, you don't need to stay here. I'll find you a new place to work properly."

"Many thanks for the promotion, Young Master."

As the three spoke, they came outside. Zhang Yunxiu smiled at Han San, pointed at Wang He, and said, "Find a residence as soon as possible and get them all settled there."

"You can rest assured, Young Master." Han San replied respectfully.

Zhang Yunxiu nodded slightly, turned to look at Wang He, and said with a gloomy face to keep him in line, "Since you have entered my service, you must follow the rules. Do not sell any goods without my permission, understand?"

"Understood... understood." Wang He nodded like a chick pecking at rice.

Seeing that he was reasonably honest, Zhang Yunxiu said no more and led the two of them out of the alley.

As soon as they reached the mouth of the alley, they were on Chongwen Street. Zhang Yunxiu thought about the business he still had to attend to at his fourth brother's mansion, so he parted ways with the two and headed off alone.

Watching Zhang Yunxiu's departing back, Wang He straightened his posture, hooked his arm around Han San's shoulder, and said, "Old Han, I thought we were just brothers eating from the same pot; you have to look after me."

As soon as the words fell, Han San pulled a long face, retracted his iron elbow, and jabbed it into Wang He's chest, snorting, "What kind of thing are you to be calling me brother? From now on, call me Third Master, understand?"

"Third Master." Wang He clutched his chest and cried out bitterly.

That's more like it.

Han San glanced sideways at Wang He, clasped his hands behind his back, raised an eyebrow, hummed a little tune, and swayed as he walked away. The autumn days grew deeper, and in the blink of an eye, the day for the "Treasure Hunt" to begin arrived.

That day, Zhang Yunxiu got up early, put on a thick cotton robe, and headed straight for Erlang Street through the mist.

After several days of rotating publicity, plus the small stake and the large prize,

even though it was early morning, the whole of Erlang Street was already filled with many people looking for excitement.

Zhang Yunxiu looked from afar; the crowd was like a river, noisy and bustling, and on several small platforms already set up, a young servant in green stood on each.

The servant on the far left was a sharp-tongued, clever-looking youth. Seeing people watching, he shouted at the top of his lungs, "Take a look, come and see! One wen won't make you lose out, won't make you get cheated. What can you do with one wen? Buy a skewer of candied haws?"

"It's different here. If you're lucky with one wen, it can instantly become fifty wen. By then, you'll be able to buy several catties of good meat."

"Tell me, is this prize big or not?"

"Big!" the commoners below the platform shouted along.

"Then what are you waiting for? Why not hurry up and take out one wen to buy a few catties of good meat to take home?" The servant clapped his hands and, in an extremely seductive tone, pointed to the box beside him, "Of course, if you think the one-wen stake is too small, over there, ten wen becomes five hundred and fifty, one hundred wen becomes five taels..."

There is never a shortage of greedy people in this world.

After this round of agitation, merchants, peddlers, and laborers all took out their silver and coins to try their luck for a good prize.

In an instant, the entire Erlang Street became lively and bustling, with shouts reaching the heavens.

The rules were also very simple: write down a number between one and one hundred. Every time you pay, you get a ticket with the year, month, and session number written on it.

Then, wait until there are one hundred people.

Then the servant reaches into a sealed small box to draw; whichever number is drawn wins the prize.

Of course, the numbers in the hands of the commoners would certainly not be repeated.

Seeing that things were progressing quite smoothly, Zhang Yunxiu let out a long sigh of relief, walked straight to a teahouse facing the street, sat down, and quietly enjoyed this grand show.

Perhaps the income before his eyes was not much, but the Great Ming was so vast; over time, it would surely be a very considerable sum of money.

There was another benefit to this: the commoners who won the prize would all feel that this silver was gained for nothing.

They couldn't help but celebrate in style.

In this way, it could also stimulate consumption.

Time flew by, and in the blink of an eye, the sun shifted to the west, but the enthusiasm of the pedestrians on the street remained undiminished.

Zhang Yunxiu yawned and was just about to get up when Zhang Fu came running up with a thud-thud-thud, holding an account book in his hand.

Seeing Zhang Yunxiu, he immediately said excitedly, "Young Master, today we earned a total of five hundred and fifteen taels and one hundred wen."

"Over five hundred taels? It seems the wealthy households in the capital have been quite supportive," Zhang Yunxiu said in surprise.

He had not expected that in a single day, there would be over three hundred taels; this must be merchants in the capital sending money to curry favor with him.

However, he did not refuse; this could be considered normal business.

Honest with young and old alike, it could not be counted as bribery.

Zhang Fu, however, paid no mind to such things, only saying with eyes shining, "Just one location in the capital is five hundred taels a day, so that is fifteen thousand taels a month, and one hundred and eighty thousand taels a year."

"If we look at the whole world, how much money would that be in a year?"

Hiss. You motherfucker really are a math genius.

Zhang Yunxiu looked at Zhang Fu strangely, speechless, and simply told him to put the silver away before walking home.

(End of this chapter)