Shao Yunan learned that the big boss of the ‘Butterfly Jewelry Pavilion’ seemed to have come from the capital in the Yongxiu Region from the two beggar elder brothers. He seemed to own several stores starting from jewelry, cloth, catering and so on. Yizhang Xuan, the largest restaurant in the Yongxiu region was also owned by this man, but this was not the reason why Shao Yunan chose the Butterfly Jewelry Pavilion. It was also said that the big boss was a kind man. During the New Year’s holidays or disaster years, Yizhang Xuan restaurants would distribute porridge and they also built an important bridge in the Yongxiu. So in short, the big boss not only knew how to do business, but also looked like a good character.
If you wanted to do business, you had to choose the right partner. Shao Yunan had no authority and no power.The modern world business was all about relationships, let alone the ancient times where human rights were not protected in the slightest. To put it bluntly, Shao Yunan just wanted to find a suitable thigh to hug. The big boss from the capital had thicker thighs than a local boss. He couldn’t say what kind of relationship he would have in the future with the big boss, but as long as he cooperated with him, it would give him more than a few points of protection. Of course, he will not blindly hang himself on the tree.
Boss Zeng politely took Shao Yunan to the second floor. There were also several shelves on the second floor, but no matter the color of the jade or the delicacy of the gold and silver jewelry, they were all one or two grades higher than those on the first floor. Shao Yunan just glanced at them before following the shopkeeper into a room, which should be boss Zeng’s office.
“Please sit down.”
“Thank you.”
Shao Yunan sat with Boss Zeng across a tea table. Not long after, the shop clerk came with tea. Shao Yunan was really a little thirsty, so after saying a greeting, he picked up the celadon teacup, plucked the tea lid twice and took a sip. The tea here was all decoction tea which was rarely drunk in modern society. Few people drank it, but Shao Yunan was incapable of accepting it.
After moistening his lips and throat, Shao Yunan put down the teacup and pulled out a black velvet bag from the cloth pocket in front of his chest. Boss Zeng looked twice at the ‘velvet’ bag in his hand and immediately directed Shao Yunan to another long table. Shao Yunan got up and went over to the table, then shopkeeper Zeng took out a piece of wool skin. Shao Yunan emptied the contents of the velvet bag and spread it on the white woolen leather, while the eyes of boss Zheng changed.
“This is…”
Shao Yunan did not answer immediately as he took out the three jade pendants in the velvet bag and placed them on the table before saying, “Emerald four seasons jade pendant. Four have the meaning of four seasons of peace; three for winning fortune, prosperity, and longevity; and two symbolize love between mother and child. This jadeite is harder than ordinary jade and also has a peculiar color.”
“This set of pendants was my husband’s strange encounter and if it wasn’t for an urgent need for money, I would not take it out.” Looking at the set of rare jadeite jade, with its rare shape, how much money would they be worth? How many students wished they could win one of the top three scholar positions and how many women wished to have a son? These two items alone were enough to attract a lot of business opportunities.
It was only during the Qing Dynasty that jadeite entered the country from Burma. But in this world there was still no jadeite in the great country of Yan and only locally produced nephrite. It’s color could be mainly white, blue, green, and yellow, with rare black and purple. The country of Great Yan also did not yet have vegetables such as beans, so it’s shape could still be called strange.
Shao Yunan has his space in hand and now he has money. His favorite thing at ordinary times beside eating, drinking, and playing was storing goods and materials in his space. There were a lot of gold, silver and jade articles stored in Shao Yunan’s space and he usually put all the valuables he got in it. For a while, he was poisoned by doomsday novels so he collected all sorts of supplies. If it wasn’t for the fact that he transmigrated to the ancient times, his collection in the space and things in it would allow him to live here in style for two lifetimes.
He had the jadeite four seasons pendant in three colors, white, violet and another color. All of them were bought on the Burma jade market where there were many kinds of jade. The spirit stone tonic in the space also has the effect of improving the quality of ordinary jade, so even ordinary jades could turn into top quality jade after absorbing the spirit stone tonic for a period of time.
The reason why Shao Yunan took out a set of jade pendants was because they were not available in this world and because this set of pendants was the cheapest one from his jades. As for his future plans, he would still take a special set of jadeite jade that was not available here to offer. As for the gold and silver, Shao Yunan had collected before. They were all gold and silver bars engraved with ‘XX Bank’ and simply could not be taken out.
Boss Zheng carefully checked them one by one and took a white jade handle to test the sound. He also compared it against the light outside the window to see the color. After half an hour, boss Zheng put down the pendant and looked at Shao Yunan with burning eyes. “Does master Shao still have such jadeite jade?”
Shao Yunan smiled bitterly. “My husband and I are both from farming families. If my husband hadn’t had a strange encounter when he was in the army, we wouldn’t have this.” Boss Zeng’s eyes were filled with pity as he held out his five fingers. “Five hundred taels. I’ll buy this set of pendants and the style of these four seasons.” Shao Yunan felt ecstatic as he said sincerely, “Since the shopkeeper is so sincere, I won’t haggle. I will take this five hundred taels. It’s a deal.”
Boss Zeng did not expect the other side to act so decisively and showed some hesitation. “It’s surely clean, right?” Shao Yunan nodded. “Of course. Even if I wanted to steal, I don’t have a place to steal from. Boss Zeng certainly knows the market more than me.”
This was the main point. Boss Zeng really believed in his eyesight. This kind of jade really had not been seen in Yan. It was because he had never seen anything like this, that he offered such a high price. Five hundred taels of silver was a large amount, even for boss Zeng and it was even more astronomical for ordinary people.
The reason why boss Zeng opened his mouth and gave a high price of 500 teals was because of a hunch that this young man who claimed to be a ‘farmer’s son’ was certainly not a simple person. His words and actions were unlike any son from a farmer’s family. With this first transaction, boss Zeng wanted to show his intention of friendship.
“I need to write a deed. You can’t reveal this style to others.”
“No problem. However, if it is spread from the Butterfly Jewelry Pavilion, I can’t be held responsible.”
“Of course.”
Once the shopkeeper got up and went to find someone to write the deed, Shao Yunan rubbed his face vigorously. Unexpectedly, 500 taels! It was worth 500taels! He bought this pendant for two thousand yuan! 500 taels was definitely worth a lot of money. He thought it would be good enough if it sold for 100 taels. The ecstatic Shao Yunan, of course did not think much of selling this rare item that he wouldn’t be able to buy, even if he had 500 taels of silver in the future. Not to mention how much money would be earned in the name of the imperial examinations and births, after four seasons pendants were launched by the Butterfly Jewelry Pavilion.
The four seasons pendant style model was simple, but since the Butterfly Jewelry Pavilion had some family background, even if other families followed the trend, Butterfly Jewelry Pavilion would still earn a lot of money. In fact, it would be Shao Yunan who suffered a loss, but he did not care about it at all.
In the time it took to brew a cup of tea, boss Zeng came back with two deeds in his hand. Shao Yunan read through them and finding nothing wrong, signed them. Great State of Yan characters were mainly simply traditional Chinese characters, many of which Shao Yunan could read, but not write. The ones he didn’t know he had to guess, but most of the characters he could read very easily.
Shao Yunan’s mother came from a scholarly family and his grandfather researched the tea ceremony. Shao Yunan was also nurtured since childhood and when he gained the space, he planted some tea, fruits, vegetables, and grain in it. When he was at school, he started a tea business and then when he went abroad, he became infatuated with wine and started a wine business with his friends. Therefore, Shao Yunan liked tasting tea and wine, and the taste of things produced in his space was naturally incomparable to anything else, gaining him a bunch of foodie friends.
When tasting tea, the piano, chess, calligraphy, and painting was an essential part of the deal, so over time Shao Yunan was also inculcated with certain pretentious characteristics, brush writing being one of them. Looking at Shao Yunan’s writing, boss Zeng became even more sure of his suspicions. Having been in business for decades, boss Zeng developed his own eyesight.
Edited by: Jaisland
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