He held a corner of the rag and shook out the contents.

The next moment, he panicked and picked up the earrings that fell on the table, staring at them with bright eyes.

He didn't even have time to look up, "Girl, where did you get these earrings?"

This is the rule of the pawn shop. No matter who comes to the pawn shop, as long as it is a good item, they must always ask about the origin of the item.

Zhao Zhizhi said without changing his expression: "It's a family heirloom, so it's inconvenient to say more."

The shopkeeper put down the mental arithmetic he was holding after hearing this. He rolled his eyes and pretended not to care, "Girl, are you planning to live or die?"

There are still a lot of exquisite jade ornaments like this in the space. Zhao Zhizhi naturally plans to die. In the current famine, nothing is as important as money.

However, looking at the shopkeeper's sly eyebrows, he doesn't look like an honest person.

Zhao Zhizhi thought for a moment, then pretended to be anxious and said, "Please tell Zhang Zhangyan, what are the prices of living and dying?"

The smile on the shopkeeper's face deepened. He was an inexperienced person, so it was easy to fool him.

"Girl, wait a minute, let me do the math for you." After saying this, the shopkeeper fiddled with the abacus on the table.

After a few clicks, he shook his head and said: "Girl, if you are worthy of the job, I can only give you this number."

He raised five fingers, and Zhao Zhizhi covered his mouth in surprise, "Fifty taels?"

The corner of the shopkeeper's mouth twitched slightly, and he almost choked on his own saliva. It took him a long time to find his voice, "Young lady is joking, you can only work for five taels of silver."

Zhao Zhizhi's lips curled up secretly, and he asked calmly: "What about death?"

A flash of light flashed in the shopkeeper's eyes, and his tone was obviously more excited than before, "If you want to cheat, girl, I can double the price for you, how about ten taels?"

When he finished speaking, he covered his face with one hand and lowered his voice: "Don't spread the word. A few days ago, someone came to pawn jade jewelry in the town. It was even more gorgeous than your earrings. I only gave eight taels." Silver, this is the extra price because you have come all the way here and it’s not easy.”

Selling for ten taels of silver was a great blessing for a peasant girl.

The shopkeeper thought he had a handle on Zhao Zhizhi's psychology, which was why he was so ups and downs.

"In that case, let's die." Zhao Zhizhi made up his mind without hesitation.

The shopkeeper didn't expect her to be so direct, and didn't say a word of the prepared brainwashing remarks.

He coughed awkwardly, and excitement suddenly hit his heart, "Girl, you are so courageous, I will take the money right now."

After saying this, the shopkeeper took out a small bunch of copper keys from his pocket and looked for them for a long time before choosing one.

Taking it and turning around, there were many cabinets behind him, but his body obscured his movements, and Zhao Zhizhi couldn't see which cabinet he opened.

After a moment, he weighed the silver in his hand and turned it back, put the silver on the small scale on the table, added up the weight and evened it out before saying: "Girl, take a look, this is ten taels of silver, worthless."

Zhao Zhizhi nodded, but remained motionless.

The shopkeeper thought she was thin-skinned, so he took off the silver and handed it to her.

However, the money was handed to him, and Zhao Zhizhi didn't say anything about reaching out to take it.

The shopkeeper frowned, and just as he was about to say something, Zhao Zhizhi said decisively: "Forget it, I won't do it anymore."

These words were like a basin of ice water pouring down the shopkeeper's heart.

Zhao Zhizhi ignored his collapsed expression, reached out and grabbed the earrings, took them back, and slowly wrapped them in a rag again.

The shopkeeper's eyes widened and he stared at her movements intently. His lips moved a few times, as if he wanted to say something.

Zhao Zhizhi turned around and left without giving him a chance to speak.

Seeing her about to leave the pawn shop, the shopkeeper became anxious and hurriedly walked around the table and cabinet, catching up to her and blocking her way.

"Girl, don't leave in a hurry. Haven't we already agreed on the price? Why are you acting inappropriately again?"

Zhao Zhizhi shrugged and said calmly: "There's no reason, I just don't want to be one anymore."

The shopkeeper didn't want to let go of this easy-to-get piece of "fat", so he immediately changed his words and said: "Otherwise, girl, if you die, can I give you fifteen taels of gold?"

Zhao Zhizhi walked around him expressionlessly and continued walking towards the door.

The shopkeeper jumped up anxiously and shouted loudly from behind: "Twenty taels, no more!"

Zhao Zhizhi did not stop.

"Girl, you name a price and let me guess what to do here." The shopkeeper had no choice but to run over and block Zhao Zhizhi's way again, with a look of helplessness on his face.

Zhao Zhizhi raised an eyebrow and said bluntly: "Fifty taels."

"What did you say? Girl, you are here to rob, right?" The shopkeeper was so angry that he couldn't help but speak.

Zhao Zhizhi looked at him mockingly, "That's wrong. I didn't force you to give me fifty taels. You asked me to tell you the number. Now you accuse me of robbing. It's really a waste of money."

The shopkeeper's face turned red and green, and Zhao Zhizhi was not in a hurry, just stood there and waited for him to make a decision.

Finally, the shopkeeper gritted his teeth and said: "Forty taels."

Zhao Zhizhi shook his head, "Forty-five taels."

The shopkeeper sighed and said in a weak tone, "Okay, deal is done."

In order to prevent Zhao Zhizhi from changing his mind again, the shopkeeper completed the following procedures as quickly as possible.

After both parties signed the transaction contract, he breathed a sigh of relief.

"Miss Zhao, do you want banknotes or money?" The shopkeeper's eyes were fixed on the rag in Zhao Zhizhi's hand, and he was almost drooling without any image.

Zhao Zhizhi thought for a moment and said, "Give me five taels of broken silver, twenty taels of whole silver, and exchange the rest for silver notes."

"Okay." The shopkeeper agreed readily, turned around to open the cabinet, and quickly collected forty-five taels, "Please take it."

Zhao Zhizhi took the silver and banknotes and subconsciously checked them under his eyes.

Suddenly, she found an inconspicuous mark on the silver and the bank note.

No wonder she has good eyesight, she is too familiar with the marks above.

That was the rule set by the people of Xiaohe Village when paying tax money. In order to make it easy to identify the tax money paid by each household, everyone unanimously decided to write the name of the head of the family on the money or banknotes.

The tax money has obviously been handed over to the court, so how could it appear here.

Zhao Zhizhi thought of the twenty taels of silver she paid for her second brother.

He squinted his eyes, looked at the shopkeeper who was carefully checking whether the earrings were defective, and asked casually: "Does this silver look like new?"

After hearing this, the shopkeeper looked up and said nonchalantly: "Miss Zhao's eyesight is not very good. Yesterday, a girl about your age came to my place to pick out cultural relics. You couldn't see it at all." I know it’s money that has been used for many years.”

Zhao Zhizhi nodded thoughtfully and said, "Why does she come to your place to select cultural relics?"

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