CH 5.1

Normally, Ruan Longling would get information about all VIPs who had made reservations in each yard of the Tianxia Building in advance, which included the identity, age, preferences, and taboos of each guest, to make better decisions during their stay. Some extremely picky customers filled in the information very comprehensively, but after all, it involved privacy, and there were also many customers who filled in the details incompletely. The man in front of her belonged to the latter, and the information was very limited. So she could only get some basic information. His name was Wang Chulin; he was twenty-three; the family was a wealthy one in the capital, and they engaged in the silk business.

“My lord, greetings.” After Ruan Longling greeted him, she walked around the long table and sat opposite the man. The two really didn’t have much friendship, so Ruan Longling went straight to the topic. “I heard from the maid that the young master ran out of cash and wanted to go to the Fuyuan Bank to get the silver but found that the Fuyuan Bank had moved. And now there is nowhere to get money, right?”

In fact, Ruan Longling was very familiar with these kinds of incidents. And most of them were merchants from the north. After all, in the north, Fuyuan Bank was blooming everywhere, but in the south, especially in Yangzhou, Longchang Bank was more recognized. Fuyuan Bank didn’t function here anymore.

“That’s right,” the man said indifferently.

Ruan Longling was not a very generous person, and she clearly remembered what this arrogant man said in the morning. So originally, she wanted to directly reject the man’s request to see his embarrassment. However, her eyes were unconsciously attracted by the bright green jade ring on his finger. She was very fond of jewelry and jade, and she recognized that ring as a rare beauty in the world. If she could get that, it would be very joyful. Thinking that her eyes were bright, and the corners of her lips curled up, she pretended to give him advice and said in a persuasive tone, “Actually, it’s not only from the bank that you can get money, and a pawn shop is also a good place for emergencies. I see my lord’s jade ring on the finger is not bad. Why don’t you pawn it at the Ruan family’s pawn shop first? The pawn period is ten days, and I will only charge you five cents of compound interest, okay?”

The jade ring was the imperial treasure of the Great Inner Palace. It was given by the first emperor to Li Zhulin before his death, and the kingdom was entrusted to Li Zhulin before his death. Li Zhulin never thought that such a sacred object would one day be considered unbearably vulgar.

“The relics of the elders cannot be pawned.” Li Zhulin coldly rejected this ridiculous request, lowered his upper body slightly, stretched out his slender knuckles, tapped twice on the table, sneered, and said in a deep voice, “The price offered by surname Ruan is not appropriate, right? Ordinary pawn shops only charge three cents of simple interest, but the surname Ruan’s charges five cents of compound interest. Could it be that you think I don’t understand the market and you people are deceiving customers?” There was a coldness in the corners of his eyes and brows, as if there was a cold light shooting out, and the invisible pressure was overwhelming, making Ruan Longling, who was sitting opposite, become breathless for an instant.

If this attitude were exerted on the court, all the civil and military officials of the court would probably be on their knees and kowtowing to the ground. But this action aroused Ruan Longling’s rebellious heart. ‘What is he to be angry about? Is this the attitude of asking for help? Tianxia can’t afford to entertain such difficult guests!’ “Is this called bullying customers? It’s about goodwill, so please be careful, Mr. Wang.” Ruan Longling’s face changed. “Tianxia doesn’t have credit rules, so it’s not easy to open the back door for you for no reason. It’s reasonable to give you a higher interest rate, right? And I propose such a compromise out of good intentions, but since the young master is not willing to pawn, then that’s fine. The door is there, and please go back, young master.”

It was the first time in Li Zhulin’s life that he was ordered to do such a thing. But he really had no other choice. Within a radius of ten miles centred on the Tianxia Building, all the places had been reserved by well-known literati who wanted to see the demeanour of great Confucians, and there was no other place. Moreover, Li Zhulin came to Yangzhou this time using a fake identity. In addition to secretly inspecting officials and recruiting a few talents, more importantly, there were several decrees to be promulgated that needed guidance from his mentor, so naturally he had to live with Mr. Zhou Ge. Who knew that this merchant woman would chase him away if she disagreed with him? Not even given a chance to discuss it.

‘Forget it, businessmen value profits, and this Linglong lady is just greedy for money. Money is something outside the body, since she wants it, give it to her.’ ” It’s true that I can’t pawn this ring, but I would like to ask Surnamed Ruan’s family to give me a few more days. I will let the boy go to Guangzhou as soon as possible. Within five days, I will be able to get the money back. Of course, I have no intention of ruining the world. According to the rules of the building, it is only natural to pay some additional price. So, let’s make a price.”

Both of them looked at each other without saying anything for a while.

Ruan Longling cared about money, but what made her even more upset at this moment was the man’s attitude! ‘Is he so arrogant because he has money? It seems that he can afford any price I ask.’ Ruan Linglong was so angry that she quoted a sky-high price without even thinking about it. “Okay! That’s a thousand taels a night! How about it? If you can afford the price, I’ll sweep the dust away and invite you to move in. If you can’t afford it, don’t blame me for being ruthless!”

The accommodation price at Qizhen Courtyard was one hundred taels for one night. For ordinary people, that was already a sky-high price. If it increased to a thousand taels a night, who could afford it? Thinking that Ruan Longling gave a mockery glance at the man opposite her. She stared at the man firmly because she didn’t want to miss any wonderful expressions of surprise, disbelief, or anger that would appear on his face!

Who would have thought that after a few moments of silence, there would be an inaudible sneer from the opposite side? Hearing the price, the man never frowned, never blinked his eyes, and even breathed a sigh of relief, with a hint of sarcasm in his eyes, as if there was a kind of… He looked like a victor and hooked his thin lips, saying, “Okay! According to Surnamed Ruan’s family, a thousand taels for a night, let’s make a written statement.”