Mrs. Liu made a face full of grievances, but unfortunately, Old Lady Bai didn’t look at her. She turned around and went inside the house. In there, she found her two sons arguing about who should keep the jade pendant.
Old Lady Bai stepped forward and took the jade pendant to Bai Erzhu, then hand it over to Bai Dazhu. She said with a confident tone: “Dazhu is much bigger and taller. It is safer if he keeps the jade. But then, as long as you two will not meet robbers on the road, it is just the same. No matter how much money you can get with this, just bring them all back.”
Bai Erzhu felt bad, but what can he change? He could only go with his older brother to the town. The two didn’t dare to take a break. There was about 30 miles away from the village up to the town. If they will not hurry, the sky will get dark before they could return back home.
*
In Chen Ji’s Pawnshop.
After seeing and inspecting the jade pendant that was handed by Bai Dazhu, the shopkeeper’s facial expression drastically change. He couldn’t even react for a long time. This texture, this feeling, this looks, this was not something that ordinary people can have.
He has been collecting goods for many years in Qingyuan Town. He had received some good treasures. But only today, he has seen such a valuable item.
The shopkeeper took a glance at the two brothers outside the small window. The two brothers look poor. Their face was full of greed. At that moment, the shopkeeper felt pity for the jade. Obviously, this jade pendant doesn’t belong to them.
How did they get it? He didn’t ask, or more likely, he didn’t dare to ask. Right now, they went to the pawnshop to sell it, and that very pawnshop was his.
The shopkeeper awkwardly said to the two brothers: “Although this jade looks exquisite, if you look closely, you will find a crack. I can’t offer you a big price.”
Bai Dazhu’s face sank. The smile on his face disappeared immediately. He busily asked: “How much can you give us? Tell us the price.”
The shopkeeper simply reached out his arm and took 20 silver coins. Then, he placed it in front of the small window: “20 silver coins, this price is reasonable. If you’re done thinking, you can take them away.”
When he heard that he could take away the 20 silver coins, Bai Dazhu immediately smiled. He thought he could only get one or two pieces of silver coins. It’s great that he could get 20.
“Well, I think it’s good.” Bai Dazhu busily said.
The shopkeeper’s lips curved into a smile. His smile was full of sarcasm. Sure enough, these people don’t know how good was their item.
The Shopkeeper pushed the silver coins out of the small window. Then, while writing a pawn ticket, he deliberately asked: “Where did you two brothers come from?”
Bai Dazhu replied back: “We are from the Huangtou Village, my surname is Bai. Just mentioned my name Bai Dazhu in the Huangtou Village, no one there can’t recognize me.”
The Shopkeeper wrote down those information in another book. The jade pendant looked very precious. If this event provokes someone in the future, at least he could explain how he got it. And he could provide the source.
Bai Dazhu and Bai Erzhu took the 20 silver coins and pawn ticket, then they went out the pawnshop. When they saw a meat stall on their way, they decided to buy 2 pounds of meat. They haven’t eaten enough for many days, today is a good time to eat some meat.
As the saying goes, people fear to get famous like pigs fear fattening up. If you have money, don’t show it off, but Bai Dazhu does not care about this. He has never touched such a large amount of silver before, the air entered his brain, he deliberately shouted at the meat seller: “Butcher, if you have change for 10 silver coins, go on with your business, okay?”
The young man, who was selling meat raised his eyes and looked at Bai Dazhu. Then, he smiled and said: “Dage, if I don’t even have change for 10 silver coins, how do you expect me to continue my business?”