The ancient farming life of liberal arts scum

Qin Shi was even more anxious than Hu Naiqing. After hastily eating his lunch, he immediately urged a group of people to gamble on stones.

Shen Ge didn't know the way, so he specially went to the silver building to invite the shopkeeper over and ask him to lead the way.

The shopkeeper was very surprised when he heard that a group of people were going to gamble on stones. He secretly persuaded Shen Ge tactfully, and said worriedly: "There is a saying that it is difficult for a god to break an inch of jade. If the second master wants jade, why don't we just buy it directly, and save a lot of money?" effort."

Shen Ge smiled, "I didn't come here to buy jade. There are two masters who want to gamble with me. Betting on stones is just a tool."

The shopkeeper didn't persuade much, and directly took a group of people to buy jade.

The jade farm selling jade is in the outskirts of the city, and there are not many people coming and going, but the shouts and shouts are mixed together, making it extremely lively.

Chen Ge and the others looked left and right, and there were huge chunks of stones piled up in sheds, saying that there was jade inside. At first glance, they were almost the same as ordinary big stones, and some stones were even uglier. Pile them outside, even if they are given to others, they don't even bother to look at them.

The shopkeeper led Shen Ge and the others to walk in, keeping their eyes on each other and not stopping at all.

Shen Ge asked: "Aren't you going to buy stones?"

The shopkeeper whispered in his ear: "Second Lord doesn't know something. There are several stone sheds here that like to deceive people, and some stones were randomly pulled to make up for the number. These are not stones mined from the jade mining area, and it is unlikely that they will be opened if they are bought. Chuyu, we have to go to those houses inside."

"Just cheating people openly like this?" Shen Ge looked and looked again and again, at least he opened a shed here, cheating like this is no different from smashing his own signboard, how can a person be fooled twice after the first time?

"It's not a complete sham. There are really good stones in it, but they are very few. Besides, in the stone betting business, you lose nine times out of ten. If you can't buy a good one, you can't rely on others. Many people don't win the bet and just feel that they are I am unlucky, and I rarely doubt that I bought the wrong stone when I bought it.”

Shen Ge thinks about it too, those who dare to do these businesses are basically local snakes.Locals don't come here to gamble all the time, and outsiders gamble once or twice. If they don't win, they have to suffer a dull loss. Therefore, no one cares about selling fake stones.

The shopkeeper directly took Shen Ge and the others to a certain big shed in the middle.

The person in the shed came out as soon as he saw the shopkeeper, bowed and smiled and said, "Why did shopkeeper Huang come so early this time? I just bought a new batch of stones here, and the jade hasn't been opened yet. If you want it, I'm afraid you will have to wait again." etc."

"I didn't come here to buy jade this time. My uncle and the second master want to buy some stones for fun. Mr. Jia, please help me with palm eyes, and take us there to have a look."

Old Jia's beard and hair were all grizzled, and he looked at kindly and kindly. Hearing what the shopkeeper said, the smile on his face widened, "It's easy to say, what kind of stone do you want to buy?"

Old Jia has a lot of stones here, some come from the jadeite mine in the south, and some come from the Hetian jade mine in the north. People buy all kinds of stones, and even more people buy Hetian jade.

Hu Naiqing said from the side: "Please take us around, let's look at the stone first."

Old Jia quickly agreed, and enthusiastically led several people around several times.

His shed is huge, and stones of different sizes are piled up in piles, like watermelons in midsummer, and it looks very pleasing.

There is no shelter on all sides of the shed, and the light shines in, illuminating the inside brightly.

Shen Ge followed them and saw nothing. In his eyes, all the stones were almost the same.

Shen Ge and Xun Feiguang exchanged glances, they knew that neither of them knew how to gamble with stones.

Hu Naiqing was rather confident in Shen Ge, "Brother Shen, go pick a few pieces."

"What kind to choose?" Shen Ge asked, "I don't know how to read it."

"You can pick whichever piece you like, and don't care about the rest."

Shen Ge responded, and pulled Xun Feiguang in a low voice, "Brother Xun, you can pick with me."

Qin Shi saw that Shen Ge was about to pick up stones, and suddenly shouted, "Wait!"

"Huh?" Everyone was confused.

Qin Shi put on a straight face, "We agreed to gamble, so we have to clarify the relevant matters in advance, which case I win and which case you win. This place is full of stones, Shen Ge can't buy them all, and in the end If the jade is drawn, then he wins."

"That's right. In your opinion, what should I do?"

Qin Shi glanced at Hu Naiqing, "If you want me to say, I don't care how many stones Shen Ge buys, as long as the jade he sells can be sold twice as much as the stones, I will admit that his luck is really good." good."

"In this way, as long as the stone he bought is worth twice the silver he spent, you will be convinced to lose?"

"Yeah." Qin Shi readily responded, and added: "As long as it is the stone that Shen Ge personally selected, I will be convinced if everyone don't help him."

Shen Ge had no choice but to let go of Xun Feiguang's hand after hearing the words.

"Choose what you like to become." Hu Naiqing added later.

Shen Ge glanced at them, then stepped forward to pick up the stone.Jia Laoer led his buddies to help him move the stones.

Shen Ge can't look at the stone skin, and can't feel the things inside. Hu Naiqing asked him to pick it, so he let go of his hands and feet to pick it up casually.

"What's the price of these stones? Are they weighed by the catty?"

"Of course not." Old Jia replied to Shen Ge's words with a smile, and pointed to him, "This pile is 200 taels, this pile is 500 taels, this pile is 1000 taels, and this pile is 2000 taels."

Shen Ge was a little taken aback when he heard that, the stones here are not so expensive, he didn’t dare to pick more, he took two stones for 200 taels, one for 500 taels, two for 1000 taels, and two for 2000 taels. The two piles did not take a piece.

"Hey, what about that pile?"

"This pile is 20 taels a piece, sir, you bought so much, and the small one will give you two yuan as a bonus."

Shen Ge's eyes lit up immediately, and he turned over the messy pile of stones and chose six of them, one of which was particularly large.

The man behind Jia Laoer came directly to pick stones with baskets.

"Selected."

Shen Ge patted his hands covered with plaster, and came over to speak to everyone.

"After choosing, we will go to explain the stone, shopkeeper Jia, do you have a place to explain the stone here?"

"Yes, yes, everyone, please follow me."

Old Jia smiled and stretched out his hand as if to invite him. He led the way by himself, and there was a business of more than 3000 taels in one go. He was very happy in his heart.

Six guys followed him carrying stones. These stones were not light, and the young and strong guys were sweating profusely after picking them for a while.

This kind of stone gambling shed has always been closed for three years, and it has been open for three years.There are not many stone gamblers today, and many people hurriedly followed Jia Laoer to join in the fun when they saw a big business coming from Jia Laoer's side.

"Hey, buy so many at once, don't just buy them randomly?"

"Maybe really, look at the skins of the few stones, none of them are good. If you want me to say, most of them were chosen randomly by these young masters."

"I didn't realize it. Look at the yellow one at the bottom. It has such a beautiful pattern. I've wanted to buy it for a long time. If I didn't have money, I wouldn't be able to get these few."

"Old rules, do you want to take a gamble?"

Shen Ge and the others hadn't said anything yet, and the group of people following behind immediately started betting with great interest.

Shen Ge listened, and they bet only three to five dozen taels, which is not a big bet, but there are not many people who are optimistic about him.

"Come on, come on, buy it and never let it go. Do you want to place more bets? Let me tell you that the one who chooses the stone is Shen Zhuangyuan."

"Which Shen Zhuangyuan?"

"You don't even know about this? In March Chunwei, there was a huge gamble in the capital. Many people bet that the number one scholar would not pass the Jinshi exam. In the end, he won the number one scholar in one fell swoop. I heard that the banker lost money!"

Shen Ge pricked up his ears to listen to them, listening with gusto for a while.Xun Feiguang held his wrist with a smile in his eyes, motioning him to follow.

With the gimmick of Shen Ge, more and more people follow behind, and more and more people participate in the gambling game.

Hu Naiqing smiled and said, "Are you going to buy one?"

"Let me go and place a bet of 100 taels." Hu Qingyan took the lead in answering the question. As Shen Ge's uncle, he naturally wanted to support him.

Shao Xin also had a lot of confidence in Shen Ge, he glanced at Xun Feiguang and said, "I'm also with 100 taels."

"Me, I'm also with..." Before Yu Zuimo finished speaking, Qin Shi glared at him, the words came to his mouth and he swallowed them again. He shrank his head, not daring to answer.

"I'm with 800 taels." Hu Naiqing continued.

Shen Ge tugged at Xun Feiguang's wrist, and silently asked him if he wanted to place a bet.

Xun Feiguang didn't want to provoke Qin Shi, so he shook his head slightly and refused.Seeing this, Shen Ge raised his eyebrows and smiled, and went to bet 1000 taels himself.

The game is very simple, as long as the total price of Shen Ge's offer exceeds 7000 taels, the person who supports him wins, otherwise, the other party wins.

Now that the stone has not been opened, no one knows the result, and there is no possibility of cheating, which can be described as extremely fair.

The man who sits in the manor is the owner of one of the sheds. Although he is not optimistic about the stone that Shen Ge chose, but out of caution, the odds are not high. Except for Shen Ge, he basically buys and loses.

It is not easy to get more than 7000 taels of jade with just a few stones.

The place where the stones are dissected is by the river. These days, it is all done by hand, and the stone dissecting is also a craft passed down from generation to generation.

A few muscular men were waiting there. They were sitting there holding a big hammer and a long iron chisel. When they saw Shen Ge and his party coming, they immediately stood up to pick up the work.

"Except for the biggest one, which costs 20 taels, the rest of the stones are all [-] taels. Can the guest ask for the stone now?"

Shen Ge looked at Hu Naiqing sideways, Hu Naiqing nodded, and said with a smile: "If you're sorry, let's start with the biggest one."

"Good talk, good talk."

Several men took out the stones and arranged them, looked carefully up, down, left, and right, and selected a spot to start chiseling.

Shen Ge and the others waited patiently. They chiseled for half an hour before they finally broke through the big rock.

"It's a pity, it's all white flour and no jade."

Hu Naiqing looked closely at the big rock that was split into two, shook his head, and pointed to one of them, "Please chisel this one along the edge."

The man who smashed the stone said nothing, he spat in his palm, and immediately picked up the big hammer to chisel it at Hu Naiqing's request.

"I didn't see it. It's such a small piece. There shouldn't be anything there."

"Perhaps there may be jade beads hidden in it, but it's so small, it shouldn't be worth much."

The onlookers were whispering, the man who smashed the stone hit half of it, and suddenly someone shouted: "Jade is coming out!"

Shen Ge fixed his eyes and saw that there was a small piece of pink in the middle of the stone. The man carefully peeled off the surrounding stones. This piece of jade looked about the size of a baby's fist.

"Shen Zhuangyuan is lucky, and the first shot is pink jade."

This piece of pink jade is soft in color, translucent and extremely pleasing there.

"I think this small piece of jade should be worth a thousand taels of silver."

"One thousand and four hundred taels, Shen Zhuangyuan, you might as well sell this jade to me." Someone shouted at Shen Ge, "It happens that my wife is missing a piece."

Someone laughed at him, "Is Shen Zhuangyuan the master who is short of money, how could he sell it to you?"

Shen Ge waved his hand at him upon hearing the words, signaling not to sell.The shopkeeper of the silver building is still here, so there is no need to sell this jade to outsiders.

The person who shouted was a little regretful.

The person who chiseled the stone changed to another group, and continued chiseling. The next one had just opened the stone skin, and soon the jade came out, and the rich green color was very gratifying.

Now no one needs to talk, this piece of jade is worth at least 500 taels.

Nothing came out of the fourth block, nor did the fifth block, and a piece of sapphire the size of a human head was chiseled out of the sixth block. This large piece of jade alone is worth 5000 taels, not to mention the fineness of this piece of jade.

"Hey, I lost the bet." Someone shook his head regretfully.

"It's okay, it's okay, there are wins and losses, it's all very well. Old man Jia, will your house open tomorrow? I'll go to your house tomorrow to buy jade, don't you forget it."

Old Jia smiled happily and cupped his hands, "Master Qin, just come, and my younger brother welcomes you at any time."

Old Jia sold so many jade-containing stones with a little distress before, but now he doesn't care about his distress when many people greet him. Stones are always sold, and it would be great if he could win fame.With this reputation, they can rely on this big tree to make money in the future.

Shen Ge's head was beaming, Qin Shi's face was a little green, as soon as this piece of jade came out, he knew he had lost.

"It's 11 yuan in total, and there are five yuan left. It's getting dark, so why don't we open tomorrow?" Hu Naiqing suggested with a smile on his lips.

He was in a great mood just now when he won the bet.

"Let's open this one again, this one is a bit big, it's hard to pick." Shen Ge pointed to one of them.

The quality of this stone is not very good, it is full of corroded holes, Shen Ge passed by several times and did not want to take this stone, but there is always such a voice in his heart urging him to take it.

The man who chiseled the stone looked at it and found that this kind of stone was very easy to dismantle, so he agreed without hesitation.

One hammer, two hammers, and the third hammer, as soon as the chisel went down, the man who chiseled the stone felt that the chisel had sunk into something soft, which didn't feel like jade.

With some doubts, he mended a few hammers beside it, and chiseled a crack in it.

"what is this?"

"Yellow? Could it be topaz?"

"No no no, it's not topaz, it's gold!"

As the crack grew bigger, people around shouted.

"What a big piece of dog's head gold! Look at it! It's really a dog's head gold!"

"Good fellow! This is the first time I've seen Goutoujin at such an advanced age!"

Hu Naiqing didn't think that Shen Ge would buy a dog's head gold even if he bought a stone. He went up to it with some surprise, picked up this large piece of dog's head gold and weighed it, "This piece of dog's head gold is estimated to weigh ten catties. .”

Xun Feiguang squatted down to look at it, picked it up and tried it, and said calmly: "It's up to five catties, and the bottom is full of stones."

Five catties is enough to make people enviable. The dog head gold can not only be used as gold, but it is a great auspicious offering.

"Old man Jia, did you help pick these stones? You are so lucky."

Old Jia smiled cheerfully, his heart was terribly depressed, Chen Ge could pick and choose from him at will, and the stones that had already been opened would earn so much, if adding those that hadn't been opened, it would be at least 2 to [-] taels.

Even though he knew that the sale of the stone was the buyer's business, Old Jia still felt a little uncomfortable.

It was getting late, and the rest of the staff from the Stone Silver Building came over to pick them up, and Shen Ge and the others also went back to rest.

Hu Naiqing looked at Qin Shi and said with a smile, "Are you convinced?"

Qin Shi nodded angrily, and said in a rough voice: "Being Mr. Five Years is Mr. Five Years. You can build the academy first and then talk about it."

"It's going to happen very quickly. Young Lord Qin just needs to be ready to teach and educate people."

Qin Shi snorted coldly, and hid in his room as soon as he returned to the courtyard.

Shen Ge quietly asked Hu Naiqing, "Mr. Hu, have you counted everything?"

Hu Naiqing is good at fortune-telling, and his calculations seem to be quite accurate. Shen Ge knew his skills a long time ago, so it is not surprising that they can win.

Hu Naiqing nodded and said with a smile: "The one who knows me is Brother Shen."

Xun Feiguang glanced at him from the side, and he immediately put away that look and moved away from Shen Ge.

At night, when only Shen Ge and Xun Feiguang were left, Shen Ge asked with a smile: "Brother Xun, I think your piece of gold is at least ten catties, why did you say it was only five catties?"

"Say less, to avoid jealousy and spread some rumors."

Shen Ge didn't expect that Xun Feiguang, who always didn't care about these things, would think of these places, so he couldn't help being a little funny, "So you just opened your eyes and lied to them?"

"The sky is so dark, how many people can see clearly? It doesn't matter." Xun Feiguang didn't care.

Shen Ge was amused.

After a while, Shen Ge suddenly remembered, and said in a low voice: "I heard that there must be a treasury where the dog's head gold is produced, Brother Xun, why don't we send someone to investigate it?"

Xun Feiguang was thoughtful, put on his clothes on the spot and got up to write a letter, and then called Shaoxin to tell him to quickly pass the letter to Bailiyi.

"I've heard this before, let Bai Liyi find out first, whether there is dog head gold or not, we will talk about it later."

Shen Ge nodded.

The shopkeeper of the silver building secretly asked someone to open the remaining few stones, and opened up three more pieces of emerald. The total value of these gold and jade was more than 5000 taels.

"This money is easy to earn." Shen Ge sighed, thinking back then that he worked so hard, writing story books day and night, and only earned two to thirty taels a month, but he was very satisfied with that little money.

Nowadays, he can earn tens of thousands of taels of silver a day, but he doesn't feel much.

Hearing his emotion, Hu Naiqing warned him seriously: "A person's luck is always counted. If there is more here, there will be less at the other end. Your luck is good, but you can't abuse it. You can invest all your money in money. Even the best of luck will fail."

Shen Ge nodded and said with a smile: "I know, just to put it bluntly, I won't really bet on stones to make money."

"That's fine."

Shen Ge and the others stayed in Huaiyang Mansion for four days. During this period, Shen Ge was inspired, and drew a few more jewelry patterns and sent them to the shopkeeper of the silver building, "I drew these in the past two days. Shopkeeper Huang, see if it can be used. If it’s not right, let it go.”

The shopkeeper looked it over carefully, and said with a smile: "It can be used, Er Ye, the styles you draw are novel and beautiful, and the jewelry you make will be sold out soon."

"That's good, don't just wait for me to draw, see if there are other people who are good at drawing jewelry pictures, if there are, you might as well recruit them, and give them more money every month."

The shopkeeper nodded in response.

These days there is no such thing as a designer, and most of the creative jewelry craftsmen are jewelry craftsmen, and there are only a few kinds of jewelry styles, and there are relatively few innovations.

This is an important reason why the batch of jewelry drawn by Shen Ge sold very well, and the other reason is that he is handsome, and girls would rather come to his silver house because of his reputation.

After passing through Huaiyang Mansion, they arrived in Kyoto within a few days. The group was very tired and did not talk, so they returned home.

Shen Ge is still on vacation and doesn't have to go to the court to report, while Hu Qingyan doesn't even have time to rest and is about to go to court.

Shen Ge rested at home for several days, and people from the Silver House in Kyoto sent news that the jewelry was ready, and Shen Ge hurried over to get it.

The material of the jewelry is the piece of pink jade that Chen Ge opened earlier. Hu Naiqing said that carving Guanyin with pink jade has the effect of attracting peach blossoms. Hearing this, Shen Ge specially entrusted this piece of jade to a master and asked him to carve a small Guanyin come out.

The master craftsman's hands are extremely fast, and this Guanyin is a small piece, so it was carved in a few days.

Hu Qingyan was moved after getting Guanyin, but smiled on his face: "How can I wear such a large piece of pink jade on my body?"

"What about pink jade? It will be effective if it works! Besides, uncle, you can stuff it into your clothes, who will see it then? I didn't let you hang out." Chen Ge stared at Hu Qingyan and hung the jade around his neck , "It's just a small piece of pink jade. I even wore a collar two years ago, so I didn't say much."

"You were young two years ago, what's so special about wearing a collar?"

"Isn't this just a comparison?"

The collar Shen Ge mentioned was the one given to him by Xun Feiguang. To show his rarity, he actually wore it for a while, but was often questioned later, so he gave up.

Hu Qingyan dotes on this nephew the most, seeing his insistence, he immediately hangs the pink jade around his neck, "Is this the way to go?"

"It's done, Uncle, don't take it down, Brother Hu said it's useful, you'll know it after wearing it for a while."

Hu Qingyan was about to ask what's the use, but Shen Ge didn't give him a chance, gave him the jade, said that he still had an appointment with Xun Feiguang, and then slipped away.