Chapter 15 Purple
"This lady is really good-sighted. This is the best purple pen in our store. Look, this pole is made of good purple wood. You touch, this texture, this carving, this color, I can guarantee that the whole capital is the best purple hair in my family. Look again, this nib is long and sharp, sharp and slender, and the color is clear. It is definitely the best of the top grade.
A man with a brown-pressed golden cinnamon wide-brimmed eight-treasure hat carefully took out a wooden box more than a foot long from the dark grid behind him. The wooden box was carved with a picture of a rabbit into a secluded picture, gently pushed open the lid, revealing the purple pen in the box, and saw that everyone's eyes were bright, and they were overjoyed: I met a big fish today.
From the moment Shaohua and his party entered the store, the shopkeeper began to look at the two young men dressed in gorgeous clothes, accompanied by three flower-like little women. Isn't this the living gold owner? No wonder when he got up this morning, he saw a magpie barking outside the window. I thought it was Widow Wu from the next door who finally promised to make a small one for him, so she specially dressed up and planned to buy a balm at the gouache shop opposite to make a gift.
I didn't expect that before I went out, I met such a group of Langjun women. They didn't look at the things in his store and wanted to find purple pens as soon as they opened their mouth.
He has been doing business for so long, and he has seen many dignitaries, but most of them are scholars or attendants. It is the first time for him to take the little lady into the store to buy a pen. It seems that the purpose is clear and the person who makes a good move. He thought for a moment and immediately took out the purple pen that had been treasured in the dark grid for a long time.
"How much is this?" Si Yan took over and felt that the pen was light, but the pen was lubricated, which was really valuable, and he was inevitably a little moved.
As soon as the store owner heard Si Yan's inquiry, he immediately smiled happily. Looking at Si Yan like looking at his ancestors, he said politely, "If someone next to me comes to ask, I will be rude, but seeing that Lang Jun's face is like a jade and extraordinary, I think he will be a Jinshi in the near future. I will bear to give up this pen. One hundred taels, and I will even give you this box.
"One hundred taels?" Si Yan, who is used to being rich, was also shocked, not to mention others. Shopkeeper, this is cheating! Usually, a brush only costs a few yuan. Even if you use the best yew ebony, if you open seven or eight taels, I will admit it. How dare you tell me a hundred taels?"
Li Siyan doesn't eat for nothing in the capital. He has never played anything precious. In particular, these pens, ink, paper and inkstones are basically prepared in boxes at home. If you don't specifically choose pens for Shaohua, you don't have to buy them alone.
"Fourth brother, forget it." Shaohua has never paid for anything by himself. He only knows that purple pens are expensive, but it is the first time he has heard such a sky-high price. How much are the things they bought today worth? Although the purple pen is rare, it is not so expensive.
The girls all felt that the offer was too outrageous and decided to turn around and leave.
The store owner saw Jin leave and hurriedly said, "Don't, don't go. This is really not my price. Since the little lady knows the purple pen, she should naturally know that a good pen is hard to find. Each purple pen has to go to the bamboo forest to look for the wild rabbit, take the black needle tip hair on its back, pick one piece from tens of millions of hairs, and then use artificially to make a pen. There are dozens of large and small pen and ink shops in the capital, and every family has purple hair, but many of them use side sharp hairs, that is, black wool. How many truly pure purple hairs can there be? Ask the little lady to weigh it by herself and you will know whether this is expensive or not.
The store owner said that he was proud and eager, and almost vomited his heart to show his innocence. The girls had never bought such a valuable thing by themselves, and they all looked at each other and only turned their eyes to Shaohua. Shaohua also shook her head. She just took the pen to practice. She didn't know how expensive the purple pen was. If she hadn't been punished for making mistakes and damaging many pens, her mother would have been distressed and scolding again and again, and I wouldn't have known that her favorite brush would have been so expensive.
Si Yan was a little moved by this, because purple hair is so difficult to find, so there are so few people who learn cloud curls. It is rare for Shaohua to have this talent, and it is expensive. Anyway, the account room is not unable to pay.
was about to open his mouth and saw the Shaohua dress, which was colorful and slowly walked out of the crowd. The shopkeeper also said that Shaohua was moved and was happy, but he heard Shaohua say, "Since the shopkeeper said that the purple hair is taken from the back of the wild old rabbit, he must also know that the rabbit has a difference between north and south. The northern rabbit is resistant to cold, and its body is mostly covered with fur and warm, while the southern land is hot, so the rabbit's hair is hard to dissipate air and dispel heat. The rabbit only receives it in August and September a year. It is soft and hard in the north and hard in the south, and the pens are also different. Therefore, the purple tip is as sharp as a cone and as sharp as a knife, and the southern rabbit is naturally better than the northern rabbit.
Shaohua said, and the shopkeeper secretly wiped his sweat once. He thought that he could slander this group of rich men and gentlemen in their words, but he didn't expect to meet people who really knew the goods.
"I have used a lot of purple pens, all of which are taken from the hair on the back of Nantu. I don't know where the purple pens are taken from?"
She didn't want to show off, but the other party was so low-key and ignorant that she thought she didn't know the goods. Shaohua looked at the shopkeeper with a smile and anxiously turned the crystal jade wrench on his left index finger and said to himself: I don't know how many people have been cheated so that a small pen and ink shop owner can buy such a superb jade wrench.
"That's all... I'll give you a cheaper price, ninety taels, and it can't be less." What else can he say when he meets such a guest?
"Hail, let me see." Yichen also saw the doorway, immediately understood what Shaohua meant, and also came over. He picked up the purple pen, looked carefully, and then sighed and shook his head, "Although the pen is good, it's a pity."
"This pen is definitely made of good yew. I didn't lie to you about this!" The shopkeeper was afraid of being bargained again, so he picked up the wooden box and compared it. "Look, this box is also made of yew, the same fir as the pen."
Shaohua did not intend to buy it. He just wanted to suppress the momentum of the shopkeeper, but when he saw Yichen also get involved, he couldn't help but be puzzled.
"I believe that the workmanship and carving of this box is not expensive to put it in an antique store." Chen praised the pen box and asked the shopkeeper to regain some face. "But the material of this rod is far less than that of the box. I think it is taken from the twigs, but this box uses a solid tree trunk."
"Eighty taels, no less." The shopkeeper suspected that it was not a magpie but a crow that stopped at his window in the morning.
"Shopkeeper, how much does it cost to sell this wooden box alone?" Shaohua smiled cunningly and looked very interested in the wooden box.
"This is not just for sale!" The shopkeeper shook his head resolutely. With this wooden box, this purple one can be so expensive.
"How about I pay seventy taels?" Yichen opened his mouth.
"Brother!" Yan Sui was shocked and offered 70 taels for a useless wooden box. Even if his family has money, he doesn't spend it like this. He has to let You's mother be blamed when he goes back.
The shopkeeper was obviously also scared and hesitated for a long time, as if he had a life-and-death struggle. Finally, he said ruthlessly, "70 is seventy. Give Xianyin, and I'll wrap it for you."
"Good." Yichen nodded and turned to untie the money bag around his waist.
Shaohua was shocked and quickly reached out to stop it for fear that Yichen would be wrong. Brother Yichen, I don't like this wooden box. However, Yichen also smiled cunningly at her, and then took a ten-liang crossover and put it on the stage, handed the purple pen placed aside to Shaohua, and turned around and was about to leave.
The shopkeeper was wrapping the wooden box. Looking back, the pen on the stage was missing and he hurriedly shouted, "Hon! Where's my pen?"
Yichen turned around and said, "Didn't I give you the money?"
The shopkeeper picked up the ten taels of hand, rushed to the sky and roared at them, "I have a hundred taels of purple pen, and you only gave me ten taels. Give me back the pen quickly, or I will pull you to sue the office."
Yan Sui and Wanhua looked at the shopkeeper's fat head and big ears, and their round and strong bodies suddenly ran over with a depressing deterrent, and they were so scared that they hugged each other tightly. Si Yan was excited and immediately ran up and blocked in front of Shaohua with Yichen. Shaohua hid the pen behind him, poked his head beside Yichen, and said with a smile, "Shopkeeper, you should be honest in business. You just said that you would buy a pen and get a box for 100 taels, and then you gave us 20 taels. I just asked you how much this box is, and you have to ask for seventy taels. So, this one is only ten taels. Isn't it wrong to give you ten taels of sex?"
"Who told you to write ten taels?" The shopkeeper was a little dizzy by Shaohua's words.
"Then let me ask you, is the pen and box eighty taels?" Shaohua asked.
"That's right." The shopkeeper thought for a moment and nodded.
"Do you want this box of seventy taels?" Shaohua secretly changed the word.
"I want!" Why don't you want seventy taels? No matter how good the wood is, if there is such a small box, thirty or fifty taels are up to the top.
Shaohua shrugged his shoulders and said carelessly, "That's enough."
"Oh. No!" The shopkeeper broke his hand and counted it. The number was right, but why did he feel that he was still cheated? No, no, it's still eighty taels! Here is the box. You give eighty taels and I'll let you go."
Shaohua sighed and looked helpless. He pushed away Si Yan and Yichen and stepped forward. Yichen was worried and wanted to stop him. Shaohua turned around and smiled at him. Yichen's heart palpitated slightly and his body paused. Shaohua came forward to pick up the shopkeeper's box. The shopkeeper looked at her cautiously and dared not let go. Shaohua was rude and pulled hard. The shopkeeper thought about the girl in front of him, who was less than half of his weight and was no match for him, so he let go.
"I'll ask you again, and you'll listen." Shaohua took the pen in one hand and the box in the other, put it together and said to the shopkeeper, "Such a set of eighty taels, you can leave with cash silver, right?"
"That's right, cash, you can't pay on credit!" The shopkeeper affirmed.
"The box is seventy taels, and you also need to give cash money. Can't you pay on credit?" Shaohua lowered his hand with the pen, secretly hid the pen in his sleeve, and held the box and shook it in front of him.
"Yes, I have to give it to cash!" The shopkeeper nodded seriously.
Shaohua also nodded, put the box solemnly in the shopkeeper's hand, and said seriously, "A set of eighty taels and seventy taels of boxes, so ten taels of pen, right?"
"Yes, ah, no!" As soon as the shopkeeper exited, he immediately reacted and was fooled by Shaohua again, and his face immediately turned red like pig liver. Why do you have so many intentions at a young age?
Shaohua looked at him pitifully and said innocently, "I don't have it. You always don't calculate well. You should be honest in business. You just said it right, and now you regret it. Why don't we go to see the official and ask the government to hear how you calculated this account?
"Okay, it's just on the way to Jingzhao Mansion. I'll ask Wan Lu to take you back first. Don't let your second aunt worry." Si Yan deliberately high-fiveed.
As soon as the shopkeeper heard this, he immediately knew that the person in front of him was a son of the official family. I'm afraid he would not be able to benefit from seeing the government this time.
"Come on, forget it, I bought it for you at a loss. Don't stun me anymore." The shopkeeper held his head like a frustrated rooster, turned around, and muttered to himself, "That was definitely a crow this morning, or there would not be two plague gods in a row."
Shaohua smiled proudly. Hearing the shopkeeper's self-spoken, he couldn't help but wonder: "Who is the other plague god?"
"Who else can be, the young master of Xingyongbo Mansion!" The shopkeeper said angrily, "Go quickly. I'm going to close the door. I have to worship God today. It's too unlucky."
"Xingyongbo Mansion?" Shaohua was confused.
Si Yan pushed the girls out and couldn't stay here for a long time. If this matter is publicized today, I'm afraid that he will be nagging to death by his second uncle and aunt. However, as soon as I saw it today, Shaohua was already treating each other with new eyes and kindly explained: "It's Yan Kaizhi's brother, the eldest brother, the second brother and the prince, who are known as the four gentlemen of Shengjing."
"Yan Kaizhi?!" Shaohua lost his voice and screamed.