Rebirth of the Prime Minister's Wife

Qin Zhaozhao just glanced at the gambling shop, then walked towards the bank next to her. She stepped onto the steps without looking away, and couldn't help but show off some of her official demeanor.

These steps gave me a sense of majesty when I walked out of the palace gate.

The boy who was napping at the door of the bank woke up when he heard the noise. He was responsible for selecting people to enter the bank. Only those who appeared to be wealthy were eligible to enter the bank.

When he was awakened, he didn't take a close look at the person in front of him. Just scanning the demeanor made him tense up instantly. Before he could see who it was, he immediately put on a flattering smile and greeted him.

"Miss, are you here to withdraw money or to pawn?"

As soon as he finished speaking, he saw the person in front of him dressed in coarse clothes through the lantern, and the smile suddenly froze at the corner of his mouth.

The rough shirt was something he noticed.

Qin Zhaozhao seemed unaware of his sudden change of attitude. He calmly seemed to be a regular visitor here. He just glanced at the boy and walked through the door.

"Hey, wait, you can't..." The boy quickly stopped him, but Qin Zhaozhao had already stepped through the threshold.

Maybe it was nightfall, and there wasn't a single customer in the bank.

Inside the window, a fat shopkeeper with a handlebar mustache quickly slid his fingers back and forth on the abacus. He didn't even raise his head when he heard anything, and spoke lazily.

"Sir, are you withdrawing money or pawning it?"

"pawn."

The crisp sound is as sweet as pearls falling on a jade plate.

The fat shopkeeper paused with his fingers for a while, raised his eyes and glanced at them, then lowered his eyes again, his tone a bit perfunctory.

"This bank only pawns treasures, not inferior items, nor items for civilian use."

"If you have an emergency, girl, go out and turn left. There is a rag collector next door."

Qinglian originally came in with a guilty conscience, but after hearing these words, she immediately put those emotions behind her and said in a bad tone, "Who are you looking down on here by criticizing her?"

The fat shopkeeper sneered, "I'm afraid you two girls can't scrape together a tael of silver, right? This is a serious bank, and all the customers who come here are either rich or noble."

"How dare two stinking poor people enter my bank to fight against the autumn wind? You are lucky that there are no people now. If they collide with my noble..."

The shopkeeper's cloudy yet shrewd eyes glanced at the two of them.

"I'm afraid you won't even be able to get out of here."

"Get out of here while I'm in a good mood."

Qin Zhaozhao's expression remained unchanged after being cheated on, as if he had expected it.

With the way the two of them were dressed, they really didn't want anyone to be the one to take action.

On the contrary, Qinglian looked like a cat whose tail had been stepped on, with barbs all over her body.

She slammed the table and laughed angrily, "Open your eyes and see, my girl is a serious official lady!"

"Miss Guanjia?" The fat shopkeeper seemed to have heard some big joke, and said angrily, "Oh, that little shop is still flourishing today? The shop is a small temple, and it can't accommodate your young lady. Respect the great Buddha.”

After saying that, he lowered his face, turned around and scolded the boy at the door impatiently, "Wang Qi, why don't you get out of here! Why don't you stare at the Chunfeng Tower next door all day long to see if your dog's eyes are blind? What? You dare to let cats and dogs in!"

"If you dare to let the wrong person dirty the land of my bank again, pack up your bed and get out of here tomorrow morning!"

The boy at the door was agitated, and when he heard the scolding, he ran in and crawled in. He first knelt down and kowtowed to the fat shopkeeper to beg for mercy, then turned to Qin Zhaozhao, changed his previous flattery, and tried to drive him out.

"The shopkeeper is so anxious to kick me out, isn't he afraid of missing out on a piece of business?"

From the beginning to the end, Qin Zhaozhao did not show any emotion that she should have after being looked down upon and insulted. It was as if she was just a normal customer in the bank, asking about the pawn.

She took something out of her sleeves and placed it on the counter.

The emerald green jade pendant could not hide its luster under the candlelight in the room. With just one glance, the impurities and cracks in it were almost invisible.

The fat shopkeeper's eyes suddenly widened, as if he couldn't believe his own eyes, and he quickly picked up the piece of jade and looked at it carefully.

"What a jade! It's a very good jade!" The fat face suddenly turned red with excitement. He carefully picked up the piece of jade with a handkerchief, as if he was holding a sum of money flying into his eyes. Zhicai, "If I'm not mistaken, this is Nanyang Jade!"

The fat shopkeeper's reaction was as expected by Qin Zhaozhao. She smiled slightly and said, "I originally thought that no one in this small area of ​​Xinxiang could recognize Dushan jade, but it seems that there is still someone who knows the goods."

Nanyang jade is also known as Dushan jade. If you are not familiar with jade, few people will know this nickname.Just because Nanyang jade is produced in Nanyang, most people in the world like to name it after the place of origin. Only a few nobles like to call it Dushan jade to show its specialness.

It is impossible for ordinary people to own this kind of jade, and the fat shopkeeper has seen a lot of it when he travels all over the country. After getting excited, he quickly calmed down and looked at the woman in front of him by the candlelight.

At a young age, she was beautiful, but because she was too thin, her beauty was weakened by three points.

If it takes time to mature, I'm afraid it will be another situation.

From the moment he entered the house and was verbally humiliated until he was kicked out, this person did not waver in the slightest. Even some petty officials in Xinxiang would be hard-pressed to find someone with such an unfazed attitude.

The fat shopkeeper thought a lot quickly in his mind, groping for the jade through the handkerchief with his fingers, and narrowed his eyes slightly.

If this woman didn't know anything about it, it would be enough to just raise the price to fool her.

It's a pity that he is a knowledgeable person. If he really wants to deal with this jade, I'm afraid he will have to lose a lot of money.

Qin Zhaozhao looked at the sky and saw that the time was almost up. He stretched out his hand towards the shopkeeper and said, "If the shopkeeper can't afford it, then give it back to me."

"Hey, girl, what you said is wrong." Seeing that she wanted to take the jade pendant back, the fat shopkeeper quickly put the jade pendant behind his back, with a fake smile on his face, and the flesh on his cheeks squeezed out his shrewd eyes, "I Although the bank is small, its business is huge, let alone a piece of Nanyang jade, even if it is Hetian jade, I can compete with it."

"I wonder how much the girl wants to pay?"

Although the shopkeeper said this, his fingers moved in Wang Qi's direction.Wang Qi understood, quietly stepped back and closed the door, looking at Qin Zhaozhao's master and servant with a sad look.

Qinglian always guarded against this group of people as if she were on guard against thieves. When she saw Wang Qi's actions and malicious eyes, her face changed slightly.

The fingers under her sleeves poked Qin Zhaozhao, and she leaned closer and said in a low voice, "Girl, they have a problem."

Qin Zhaozhao seemed as if he hadn't heard anything, and negotiated the price with the shopkeeper with a normal expression, "Dushan jade is produced in small quantities, so it is expensive. It is usually made into jade articles with a weight of at least one kilogram."

"Although this jade pendant is not as good as a large piece of jade, it is also carefully carved by the skillful hands of craftsmen. Dushan jade's best quality raw stone can be sold at the highest price of 300 taels of gold at the Shengjing auction house, and this is made from its essence. The jade pendant..."

Qin Zhaozhao stretched out two fingers and shook them, not panicking or out of breath, "How about 200 taels of gold?"

Qinglian was dumbfounded on the sidelines.

You know, the most money they have touched in the past few years has not exceeded five taels.

The fat shopkeeper twirled his mustache and narrowed his eyes slightly, "This price..."

Before he could finish speaking, Qin Zhaozhao interrupted directly, "Of course, the final price of the pawned items is decided by the bank. I wonder how much the shopkeeper thinks it is worth?"

Naturally, it is a high-priced treasure!The fat shopkeeper roared in his heart. This thing may not be noticeable in Shengjing, but anywhere outside Shengjing, it is enough to make people grab it and break their heads.

But of course he wouldn't explain this, and just pretended to hesitate, "Young lady doesn't know something. The pawn market for jade has declined recently, and now the price is..."

As he spoke, his fingers quickly moved the beads on the abacus. After a few clicks, a number appeared.

"It's only worth 30 taels."

The price has more than doubled.

Qin Zhaozhao chuckled, and his clear eyes were like blades quenched with cold light, which made the shopkeeper panic.

"Shopkeeper, are you kidding me?"

"If Guizhuang is not interested in this business, someone will take it." Qin Zhaozhao stopped laughing and planned to reach out and take back the jade pendant.

Just as she made some movement, Qinglian beside her suddenly screamed in surprise and was held captive by Wang Qi, unable to move.

Qinglian couldn't get away, so she yelled at these people, "Okay, you are here in the name of a bank, but it turns out that there is a nest of roosters and dog thieves living in it, bah!"

"When I came in just now, I was looking down on others. I did such an animal thing, but I still have the nerve to put on airs for my girl!"

Although he knew that the current situation was not right, Qin Zhaozhao couldn't help but curl his lips.

Qinglian's mouth is really a treasure.

The fat shopkeeper was criticized by Qinglian for being worse than a beast, and his face immediately darkened. He threw the abacus, and the beads rustled on the ground and rolled at Qin Zhaozhao's feet.

"Lock this woman to the backyard."

Qin Zhaozhao's eyes were cold and he turned around sharply, "Are you trying to take it by force?"

"Ahead is the Yamen. Aren't you afraid that I'll get in front of the county magistrate?"

The fat shopkeeper came out slowly with his hands behind his back, and the jade pendant hung directly on his waist. Hearing this, he smiled more and more brazenly, "Yamen? County magistrate?"

"You can go ahead and file a lawsuit with the Yamen. If the county magistrate accepts your complaint, I will cut off my head and let you kick it."

After finishing laughing, the fat shopkeeper walked up to Qin Zhaozhao, looked at that face, and his thoughts took another turn.

"The little lady looks good when she is born. If she takes care of her, she will probably look even better."

He lowered his voice and said, "You are still showing your face here in the middle of the night. I guess you are not a virtuous person in your heart. You might as well follow me and be popular and drink spicy food. Isn't it worth more than being a jade pendant?" "

Qin Zhaozhao looked at him quietly for a long time, then slowly showed a smile.

The shopkeeper also smiled, and without asking her to answer at all, he stretched out his hand and slowly untied her collar.

But before he could reach the softness he wanted, the fat shopkeeper saw with his own eyes that his outstretched arm suddenly disappeared from sight, and was folded back in a strange posture. There was only a bone crunching sound, and his whole heavy body was shaking. Fall down in a controlled manner.

Before the pig-like howl could be heard, Qin Zhaozhao quickly grabbed a ball of rags and stuffed it into his mouth to gag him.

Her sleeves flicked slightly, and a sharp edged dagger was pressed against the fat shopkeeper's neck.

The cold seam blade connected with the place where the pulse beat most obviously, showing a strange madness.

Qin Zhaozhao almost used up all his strength to suppress the fat body and the veins on his arms, but she remained calm on the surface, even with a condescending look in her eyes, as if she were looking at a dead object.

"Since the jade pendant can't be pawned at your bank, how about I exchange it for another one and let the shopkeeper estimate the price."

There was a faint smile on her lips, and the cold feeling all over her body was a chill that could not be driven away no matter how many candles were lit.

"How about just taking it as your life?"