future library.

Chapter 63 High Price
Unknown star warlocks, like unsuccessful proletarian fighters, always serve others regardless of pay and hardship.The enterprising Mr. Wu Zong is one of them.

The materials processed by Lu Xu are very suitable, and even have a tendency to be standardized.This astromancer with little mathematical talent is also commendable in other aspects, so it is no wonder that he can get many star formations.

The proletarian astrologer Mr. Wu Zong worked until the early morning of the next day to assemble the 15 scales. Cheng Jinzhou tested them one by one to determine their accuracy.

If it is a balance produced by a factory of later generations, who cares whether it has an accuracy of 0.11 or 0.09, and all of them leave the factory with an iron label of 0.1. However, in the Great Xia Dynasty, the balance as a valuable product had much higher requirements in this regard.

This is why, sometimes the level of technological development is obviously very low, but people can still complete high-precision experiments-if you try to remove the errors caused by humans, the accuracy of the tool itself is equal to a higher level, just like the 18th century. Lavoisier was able to accurately weigh compounds with a balance, and thereby deduce the existence of oxygen. In the 21st century, half of the teachers in ordinary Chinese universities would not be able to repeat the experiment, even if they were given more advanced instruments.

Wu Zong's workmanship is not good, maybe it is two or three times of Cheng Jinzhou's ability. Although the final balance has reached the level of 0.1, only two of them exceed 0.07. Judging from the current level, the price will differ by several times. .

"I'll leave this one to you." Cheng Jinzhou picked out the best 0.06 balance from a bunch of balances and handed it to Wu Zong. Normally, 0.05 is the limit accuracy of this type of balance.

Wu Zong was also very sleepy, he put it away after a few excuses, Cheng Jinzhou called a carriage to take the three of them home, while he managed to get into another car and went straight to the "Shen's pawnshop".

Cheng Jinzhou's cart was drawn by a mule. The big blue mule walked very steadily, and even the balsa wood body rarely bumped.In the eyes of knowledgeable people, donkeys and mules are often more valuable than horses, especially the aristocratic families, who have always had a tradition of collecting good mules.Because mules themselves are sterile, good mules are not like thoroughbred horses, which can be bred from generation to generation, and can be purchased once and for all. In many cases, the performance of the products of the same male and female donkeys will be quite different.

From the perspective of vehicle comfort, because horses are too irritable, and it is difficult to reflect their speed advantages in urban life, they are not as practical as donkeys and mules. The latter are often bigger than horses, with stable and reliable speed and excellent physical strength.However, because donkeys and mules are produced by forced mating of male horses with female donkeys, many times it will cause dystocia and death of female donkeys, which further increases the price of good donkeys and mules.As for horse mules, due to their small size, their working life is also weaker than that of donkey mules (20 years for the former and 30 years for the latter), which is not popular with people.

The so-called tradition of a century-old family refers to the ability to spend money on things that are not necessarily needed. The nobles are the group that least pursues cost-effectiveness, so they spend large sums of money every year just to maintain a luxurious normalcy. , even when money is most needed, they rarely give up those habits that have been passed down for many years.Just like the Cheng family, perhaps in their view, the essence of life is to continue and pass on these habits.

There was a clear and regular bell on the carriage, Shi Mo rode a pony and followed closely on the right side of the carriage, and Meng Dameng and Er drove slowly one after the other.In most of the state cities, only a few privileged classes such as nobles and officials have the right to keep pace with each other. Many people saw from a distance that they hung the banner of the Cheng family and hid in the past. The carriage passed smoothly through the most prosperous middle street and went straight to Drive southeast of the city.

As soon as the snowstorm passed, the business in the city returned to its former prosperity, and the desire of the businessmen who wanted to make money to take advantage of the closure of their peers to make a fortune also ended in failure.The Shen family's pawn shop hangs a red flag high and stands beside the main road. The red door is half open, but there are very few people coming and going.

The mule cart stopped steadily at the main entrance of the pawn shop.

The clerk standing in front of the pawn shop raised his leg and wanted to block it, but he saw the sign of the Cheng family before he gave up.Not everyone's carriage is qualified to block the main entrance of the shop.

Cheng Jinzhou was sore and limp, and walked out of the carriage rubbing the corners of his eyes. A 13-year-old child is still sleepy, and staying up late is much harder than an adult, even if the person in his skin is a guy who stays up all year round.

But the guy blinked his eyes and wondered on the steps.From his point of view, the master in the car seemed to be no different from the little kids in the village, except that he was thinner and dressed more gorgeously...

Shi Mo quickly interrupted his fantasy, waved his hand and said, "Go and ask your shopkeeper to come out."

Looking sideways at the tall and burly Meng Dameng Er, the clerk dared not speak out, bowed his body and ran to the back hall. Half of the gentlemen who came to the pawn shop were in a bad mood, and the other half were in a bad mood at any time. The clerk was beaten , the owner only cares about soup and medicine.

Shi Mo led the way, and a group of four walked into the pawn shop slowly. Cheng Jinzhou found a large grand teacher's chair, leaned on the armrest and fell asleep, regardless of whether it was good or not, just like junior high school students staying up late watching TV.The servant who served tea glanced at him secretly, feeling extremely surprised.

About five or six minutes later, there was a sound from behind the curtain, Shi Mo lightly pushed Cheng Jinzhou's shoulder, and called out in a low voice, "Third Brother, Third Brother..."

The shopkeeper, Shen Ping, walked out quickly, but unexpectedly the other party was completely incapable of finding out. Seeing this scene at first, he couldn't help laughing.Fortunately, he reacted quickly, and before he could laugh out loud, he quickly ordered: "Go and get two warm towels, I can't handle even a small matter."

Hearing the voice, Cheng Jinzhou raised his head in embarrassment, laughed twice and said, "I accidentally fell asleep..."

Shopkeeper Shen was at a loss for what he said, and it took a long time before he changed his tone and said, "Third Young Master, this time, do you want to exchange some money for turnover, or do you have something you want to buy."

He naturally remembered the 480 taels of silver that Cheng Jinzhou took away, but he didn't know how to say anything to collect debts.

Cheng Jinzhou took the towel handed by the clerk, wiped his face twice, and said soberly: "I see that you also sell astrology products here?"

"That's right, the third son is interested?" The pawn shop has always been a well-informed unit, and Shen Ping also knows that the third brother of the Cheng family is very talented in astrology.

Dr. Cheng Da nodded sleepily, and yawned, "Where is the Astrology Store in Shaonan City?"

The southeast of the city is a commercial area, but he has only dealt with this pawn shop.

Hearing him ask about the Astromancer store, Shen Ping said proudly: "The Astromancer store in Shaonan City is also owned by the Shen family. Whatever Mr. Cheng likes, the old man can call it."

There are tens of thousands of astrology commodities, and there are also some dead items in the pawnshop. Of course, he hopes to attract the source first.As for the products of the Star Warlocks, they are at the level of the Cheng family, and they don't have the ability to operate them. Only the Shen family in the capital will buy and sell them sporadically.

Cheng Jinzhou came to sell things, but he didn't want to go to the Star Warlock store.In comparison, although the pawn shop is ruthless, if it is a deadly pawn, it is not necessarily more murderous than the store. This is like a million-level Vacheron Constantin that can recover 50 yuan from the pawnshop, but it may only be 10 yuan from the brand store. , The two sides have different channels of views, and the prices are naturally different.

He hooked his fingers, and asked Meng Er behind him to put the big iron box on the ground, opened the lid with one hand and said, "Shopkeeper Shen, please have a look, these few items are worthless, how much money can they have."

The 14 balances are neatly arranged in the box, and are separated by cork.The tray was removed and stacked on the side with the weight, the unpolished dial was covered with satin, and the hands were plugged with cotton, for fear of being bent by collision.

Shopkeeper Shen bent down, looked at each other and said: "Go and ask Zhou Chaofeng to come out and hold the eye."

After finishing speaking, he smiled at Cheng Jinzhou and said, "Young old man is not good at learning, so I have to ask Mr. Chao Feng to have a look."

Chaofu is the essence of the whole pawnshop. It is reasonable to say that it can judge the value of all items. Although there are other pawnshops that separate the identification of jewelry, calligraphy and painting, etc., and set different Chaofu, they are not often used by various families.In fact, when it is difficult for the court to judge the value, it will often give a very low price, making the counterfeit products unprofitable, or only slightly profitable.In contrast, it is more difficult to cultivate a qualified court priest. If the owner's strength is good, there is often a new store with a court priest.

During the waiting time, Cheng Jinzhou took the balances out of the box one by one, divided them into four grades according to the accuracy, and finally put two pages of labels on each balance, explaining the accuracy, weight quality and other parameters.

When Zhou Chaofeng came out, what he saw was like a parade of balances, 14 neatly arranged, which made him, who was well-informed, almost exhale.

Shopkeeper Shen coughed hard, and introduced: "This is the third son of the Cheng family, Mr. Cheng, Zhou Chaofeng is the treasure of our shop, please let him have a look?"

"Please." Cheng Jinzhou got up and gave up his seat, and sat back on the teacher's chair, seeing that he was in a precarious state again.

Zhou Chaofeng was an old man in sixties with skinny fingers, but his face was still flushed. He greeted Cheng Jinzhou and sat down in front of the scale, looking at it carefully.

Shi Mo stared at him wide-eyed, afraid that something might go wrong with one of the parts. In his opinion, the balance of this iron box was a very precious thing.

After four, five, 10 minutes, Zhou Chaofeng slowly straightened his waist, and while being kneaded by the waiter, he commented in a low voice: "The structure is complete and systematic, and the work is a little hasty, but it is still a masterpiece, especially the following description. The content is informative, and I measured three balances, which are completely consistent."

He said, and continued to test the remaining balance.

Among the various things that the pawn shop comes into contact with, the goods of the astromancer are particularly expensive, and it is a compulsory course for the imperial court. Although Zhou Chaofeng cannot independently calculate the balance parameters, there is no obstacle at all to understand the content used for explanation and the accuracy of the calculation .

Shi Mo quickly pushed Cheng Jinzhou awake and hurriedly wiped his face.

"Let's make a price." Cheng Jinzhou didn't listen to Qing Chaofeng's words, but asked confidently.

Chao Feng raised his head slightly, confirmed the hint from the shopkeeper and said, "How about 100 taels of silver for each balance?"

"Damn it?"

"Yes."

Dr. Cheng Da gave a smirk, waved his hands and said, "It's not good to pay 100 for each, let's count them separately."

"Oh? How to separate?" It was shopkeeper Liu who asked. After Chaofeng quoted the price in proportion according to his hint, the rest was his job.

"Two with an accuracy of 0.1, I'll give you 70 taels of silver." Cheng Jinzhou's face was still childish and jerky, but his tone was discordantly mature: "Three with an accuracy of 0.9, each with 3 taels of silver for you, 85 I want 0.8 taels of silver for 4 of them, 100 for 0.7 of 5, and 150 taels of silver for the last one with 0.6 precision."

Simple division calculation, the price rose to 1845 taels of silver.Shopkeeper Liu hesitated and said, "Young Master Cheng, how about 110 taels per piece?"

Cheng Jinzhou shook his head gently. Star Warlock's products were always scarce, and he was from a later generation and was never shy about asking for high prices.

Shopkeeper Liu took one last look at Mr. Chaofeng, nodded in agreement, and said with a smile, "Do you want flying tickets, cash, or gold?"

1800 taels of silver, equivalent to 4 U.S. dollars, equivalent to 1985 yuan in 11, is definitely a huge sum of money when the labor force is lower than that in China at that time.

……

(End of this chapter)