Baozi Xishi's Struggle

After a while, the waiter came over with a young man wearing a light crimson gown and with a fair face.

The man came over, glanced at the three wooden barrels filled with cabbages, then he bowed his hands in a friendly manner and said with a gentle smile: "Hello, young lady. The waiter said you want to exchange for silver."

Shen Yu smiled and nodded, pointing to the three wooden barrels, and said, "I have a few copper coins to exchange for silver."

After hearing this, the young man surnamed Tian called out to the two servants who were following behind him and said, "Come on, quickly carry the girl's wooden barrel in first."

The two assistants answered yes and hurriedly carried the wooden barrel into the money shop.

Li was worried and cried out "Ouch" and was about to follow. The young man said, "Don't worry, my lady. The money is safe in the bank. Please come in with us, young lady."

Having said that, he turned around and led the way, went up the steps, and waited for Shen Yu and his family at the door of the money house.

As soon as I entered the money shop, I felt cool and refreshed. The money shop has a large facade and is even more spacious inside. There are tables and chairs for guests under the door and windows, and the floor is covered with large, flat tiles with smooth joints that are very neatly joined.

After taking two steps, there is a tall counter in front of you, separated by a fence. The counter is very high and from a distance, you can't see the people sitting inside. You can only hear the "crackling" sound of the abacus beads.

The young man introduced himself: "My surname is Tian, ​​and I am a clerk at Huilong Bank, specializing in the exchange of small amounts of silver and money. You can call me Tian Qing, young lady."

Shen Yu smiled and said, "So it's Mr. Tian. It's like this. My family runs a food stall business. We usually collect copper coins. After saving them for some time, I took them to the bank and wanted to exchange them for silver. It would be more convenient to store them."

Tian Qing is an old hand in this line of work. No matter what status the guests are, he is always warm, considerate and polite.

He led Shen Yu and his party through the lobby, walked through a door, and went to a wing room on the left. In the wing room, Shen Yu's family's three large wooden barrels with the vegetable baskets on top were still neatly arranged and unmoved.

Tian Qing called the waiter over and asked him to serve tea to Shen Yu and the others. He said with a smile, "Miss, you have a few more copper coins. Please sit down and have a cup of tea. I will call someone to count them."

He pointed to a row of armchairs by the window.

Shen Yu smiled and nodded, then pulled the three Li family members over to sit down.

After a while, a waiter came in with four cups of tea on a tray.

Another waiter wearing a gray-blue gown similar to Tian Qing came in. Tian Qing called out, "Second Brother Xu, this girl wants to exchange silver. Let's count the amount together."

Employee Xu had a round face and looked a little fat. He smiled and nodded towards Shen Yu as a greeting, then he and Tian Qing started to put the three baskets of vegetables in the wooden barrel aside.

Shen Yu watched the two men's actions curiously, wondering how they counted the money. Would they count it in stacks of ten or fifty like I did?

But after the two of them pulled off the strings on the strings of copper coins and dumped all the copper coins into a large wooden box, when Xu turned around to get an instrument from the shelf next to him, Shen Yu exclaimed in his heart: Professional money houses are different, why didn't I think of this. "

I saw that Xu was holding a wooden plate in his hand. The plate was rectangular, about the same size as a modern chess board, and was evenly covered with shallow round holes that looked about the same size as copper coins.

I see Xu the waiter holding the plate, and Tian Qing uses a slightly curved wooden shovel to scoop up a shovel of copper coins and pour them on the wooden plate. Xu holds the wooden plate flat with both hands and shakes it left and right for a while, then tilts it. Shen Yu sees that there is a copper coin in each round hole, and those copper coins that did not fall into the round holes fell back into the wooden box.

Shop assistant Xu carried the wooden tray and poured the copper coins into a wooden box nearby. During this time, Tian Qing drew a horizontal line on the account book on the small tall table next to him.

Then Xu brought the empty wooden tray again, and Tian Qing continued to shovel money in. In less than an incense stick of time, all the money in the box was transferred to the box on the other side.

Shen Yu watched as Tian Qing finished counting and memorized the number before asking, "Mr. Xu, what kind of instrument is this? It's so clever, it counts the money quickly and accurately.

Xu, the waiter, said with a smile, "Miss, this is your first time to exchange silver at the bank, right? This is called a counting plate. There are eighteen rows of holes horizontally and fourteen rows of holes vertically on the plate. When you pour the copper coins on it, they will all fall into the holes. With this plate, you can count two hundred and fifty copper coins. It's very quick and convenient."

Yu Cheng, who was standing beside him, counted on his fingers and said anxiously, "No, no, it should be two hundred and fifty-two coins."

Seeing Yucheng's anxious look, Xu smiled gently, held up the counting plate and showed it to Yucheng, and explained with a smile: "Young man, you have learned arithmetic well, but it is not easy to count 252 coins per plate, so there are two positions in the middle without carving round holes, so that one plate is exactly 220 coins, and you can count out one string of coins in four times."

Yutao and Yucheng leaned over to take a look and saw that there were indeed two smooth and empty spaces in the middle where round holes should have been carved.

Yucheng's face flushed, and Yutao squatted beside him and bowed, smiling and saying, "Mr. Xu, my brother is young and has a quick temper. Please don't blame him. He didn't doubt that you counted inaccurately. I'm apologizing on his behalf."

Xu, the clerk, was in the bank every day, and he had seen all kinds of customers. How could he bother with a child like Yu Cheng? When he saw Yu Tao apologize, he was so anxious that his face turned red. He hurriedly said, "How could I blame you? No, I won't."

Tian Qing also said: "It's nothing. This is an instrument that only our bank can use. We don't use it normally, so it's not surprising that you find it strange."

Then he smiled and said, "Even this shovel I use has its own characteristics. Each time I shovel, I can scoop up about 260 to 270 copper coins. It is used together with this counting plate."

Shen Yu knew that Tian Qing was trying to smooth things over, so he smiled and said, "I didn't expect to see such a wonderful tool when I came to exchange money today. It has broadened my horizons."

Tian Qing breathed a sigh of relief when he saw the harmonious atmosphere. Working in a money shop is all about money transactions. Not only must every penny be earned, but the customers must also be happy and satisfied.

Tian Qing picked up the account book and reported the amount, a total of 25 strings of cash and 573 coins.

Shen Yu nodded and thought, "This counting plate is really good, fast and accurate. It took the four of us a long time to count this pile of silver and money, but they just shook it for a while and counted it all."

Tian Qing smiled and asked when he saw that the amount was correct, "How do you plan to exchange it, young lady?"

Shen Yu took out the written amount that needed to be settled at each store, handed it to Tian Qing and said, "Just divide it according to the amount on it. The one with the largest share will be exchanged for a silver ingot of ten taels of silver, plus some loose change."