Future library

The star warlock who has not yet become famous is like the unsuccessful proletarian fighter who always serves others regardless of reward or hardship. The enterprising Mr. Wu Zong is one of them.

The materials processed by Lu Xu were all suitable and even tended to be somewhat standardized. This star warlock, who has little mathematical talent, is also commendable in other aspects. No wonder he can obtain many star arrays.

The proletarian astrologer Mr. Wu Zong worked until the early morning of the next day to assemble the 15 scales. Cheng Jinzhou tested them one by one to determine their accuracy.

If it were a balance produced by a factory in later generations, who cares whether it has an accuracy of 0.11 or 0.09? They would all be affixed with an iron label of 0.1 before leaving the factory. However, in the Great Xia Dynasty, balances, as valuable items, had much higher requirements in this regard.

This is why, sometimes, when the level of technological development is obviously very low, people can still complete high-precision experiments - if we try our best to remove human-caused errors, the accuracy of the tools themselves will be equal to a higher level, just like in the 18th century Lavoisier was able to use a balance to accurately weigh compounds and thereby deduce the presence of oxygen. But in the 21st century, half of the teachers at ordinary Chinese universities would not be able to repeat the experiment, even if they were given more advanced instruments.

Wu Zong's workmanship is not that good, perhaps two or three times that of Cheng Jinzhou's ability. Although the balances he finally completed reached the level of 0.1, there were only two that exceeded 0.07. Judging from the current level, the price will differ several times. .

"I'll leave this one to you." Cheng Jinzhou selected the best-performing 0.06 from a bunch of balances and handed it to Wu Zong. Normally, 0.05 is the ultimate accuracy of this type of balance.

Wu Zong was also very sleepy, so he put it away after a few refusals. Cheng Jinzhou called a carriage to take the three of them home, while he managed to get into another car and went straight to the "Shen Family Pawn Shop".

The cart Cheng Jinzhou was riding in was drawn by a mule. The big green mule walked very steadily, and even the balsa wood body rarely bumped. In the eyes of knowledgeable people, donkeys and mules are often more valuable than horses. Especially wealthy families have a tradition of collecting good mules. Because mules themselves are sterile, good mules are not like purebred horses, which can be bred from generation to generation and purchased once and for all. Even in many cases, the performance of the same male horse and female donkey will be very different.

From the perspective of vehicle comfort, because horses are too temperamental and it is difficult to reflect their speed advantages in urban life, their practicality is not as good as donkeys and mules. The latter are often larger than horses, have stable and reliable speeds, and have excellent physical strength. However, because donkeys and mules are produced by forced mating of male horses with female donkeys, the female donkey often dies during childbirth, which further causes the price of good donkeys and mules to rise. As for horses and mules, they are not popular due to their small size and shorter working life than donkeys and mules (the former is 20 years and the latter is 30 years).

The so-called tradition of a century-old family refers to the ability to spend money on things that are not necessarily needed. The nobles are the group that least pursues cost-effectiveness, so they spend large sums of money every year just to maintain a luxurious normalcy. , even when money is most needed, they rarely give up those habits that have been passed down for many years. Just like the Cheng family, perhaps in their view, the essence of life is to continue and pass on these habits.

There was a clear and regular ringing of bells on the carriage. Shi Mo followed closely on the right side of the carriage on a pony, while Meng Da Meng and Meng Da Meng drove slowly one behind the other. In most state cities, only a few privileged classes such as nobles and officials have the right to keep pace with each other. Many people saw the Cheng family flag hanging from a distance and hid. The carriage passed smoothly through the busiest middle street, heading straight towards Drive southeast of the city.

Just after the snowstorm passed, the business in the city returned to its former prosperity. The businessmen who wanted to make money also failed in their desire to make a fortune while their peers were closed. The Shen family's pawnshop, with a red flag hanging high, is located on the side of the main road. The red door is ajar, but there are very few people coming and going.

The mule cart stopped steadily at the main entrance of the pawn shop.

The clerk standing in front of the pawn shop raised his leg and wanted to stop him, but he stopped when he saw the Cheng family sign. But not everyone’s carriage is qualified to block the front entrance of the store.

Cheng Jinzhou felt sore all over, wiped the corners of his eyes and stepped out of the carriage. A 13-year-old child is still at a sleepy age, so staying up late is much harder than an adult, even if he is a guy who stays up late all the time.

But the guy was blinking and looking strange on the steps. In his opinion, the owner in the car seemed to be no different from the little kid in the village, except that he was thinner and more gorgeously dressed...

Shi Mo quickly interrupted his fantasy, waved his hand and said, "Go and ask your shopkeeper to come out."

Looking sideways at the tall and tall Meng Da Meng Er, the waiter dared not say anything, so he bowed and ran to the back hall. Half of the gentlemen who came to the pawnshop were in a bad mood, and the other half were in a bad mood at any time. The waiter was beaten. , the owner only cares about soup and medicine.

Shi Mo led the way, and the group of four slowly walked into the pawn shop. Cheng Jinzhou found a large imperial chair and leaned on the armrest to sleep. He didn't care about whether it looked good or not, just like a junior high school student who stayed up late watching TV. The servant serving tea secretly glanced at him, feeling extremely surprised.

About five or six minutes later, there was a noise behind the curtain. Shi Mo gently pushed Cheng Jinzhou's shoulder and shouted in a low voice: "Third brother, third brother..."

The shopkeeper Shen Ping walked out quickly, but the other party was completely incapable of noticing. He couldn't help laughing when he saw this scene. Fortunately, he reacted quickly. Before he could laugh out loud, he quickly ordered: "Go and get two warm towels. Even the smallest thing can't be solved."

Hearing the voice, Cheng Jinzhou raised his head in embarrassment, laughed twice and said, "I accidentally fell asleep..."

This sentence left shopkeeper Shen speechless. It took him a long time to change his tone and said, "Third Young Master, do you want to change some money this time? Or is there anything you want to buy?"

He naturally remembered the 480 taels of silver that Cheng Jinzhou took away, but he didn't know how to say anything to collect debts.

Cheng Jinzhou took the towel handed by the waiter, wiped his face twice, and said more soberly: "I see you also sell Star Warlock stuff here?"

"Yes, the third young master is interested?" The pawnshop has always been a well-informed unit, and Shen Ping also knew that the third brother of the Cheng family was very talented in astrology.

Dr. Cheng Da nodded sleepily and yawned: "Where is the Star Warlock store in Shaonan City?"

The southeast of the city is the commercial district, but he has only dealt with this pawn shop.

Hearing him ask about the Star Warlock's store, Shen Ping said proudly: "The Star Warlock's store in Shaonan City also belongs to the Shen family. Young master Cheng can go and get whatever he likes."

There are tens of thousands of astrology products at every turn, and there are inevitably items in the pawn shop that are dead for pawns. Of course, he hopes to attract customers first. As for Star Warlock products, even those of the Cheng family have no ability to manage them. Only the Shen family in the capital will sell them sporadically.

Cheng Jinzhou came here to sell things, but he didn't want to go to the Star Warlock store. Comparatively speaking, although pawnshops are very strict, if they are pawned to death, they are not necessarily more ruthless than stores. This is just like a million-level Vacheron Constantin can recover 500,000 yuan from a pawnshop, but only 100,000 yuan can be recovered from a brand store. , the two parties have different opinions and channels, and the prices are naturally different.

He hooked his fingers and asked Meng Er behind him to place the big iron box on the ground. He opened the lid with one hand and said, "Shopkeeper Shen, please take a look at how much money you can get from these items."

The 14 balances are neatly arranged in the box and separated by cork. The tray was removed and stacked on the side with the weights. The unpolished dial was covered with satin, and the hands were stuffed with cotton to prevent them from being bent by collision.

Shopkeeper Shen bent down, looked at it and said, "Go and ask Zhou Chaofeng to come out and take care of it."

After saying that, he smiled at Cheng Jinzhou and said, "I'm not good at learning, so I have to ask Mr. Chao Feng to take a look."

The court tribute is the essence of the entire pawn shop, and it is reasonable to say that it can judge the value of all items. Although there are other pawn shops that separate the appraisal of jewelry, calligraphy and paintings, etc. and set up different court services, they are not often used by each shop. In fact, when it is difficult for the court to judge the value, it will often set the price very low, making the counterfeit products unprofitable, or only a small profit. In contrast, it is more difficult to train a qualified Chaofeng. If the owner is strong, there will often be a new store if there is a Chaofeng.

While waiting, Cheng Jinzhou took the balances out of the box one by one, divided them into four levels according to accuracy, and finally placed two book-page-sized labels under each balance to explain the accuracy, weight quality and other parameters.

When Zhou Chaofeng came out, he saw 14 scales that looked like a parade, which made him almost exhale.

Shopkeeper Shen coughed hard and introduced: "This is the third son of the Cheng family. Mr. Cheng, Zhou Chaofeng is the treasure of our store. Can he please take a look?"

"Please." Cheng Jinzhou stood up and gave up his seat. He sat back on the Grand Master's chair and saw that he was in a shaky state again.

Zhou Chaofeng was an old man in his 60s, with skinny fingers but a rosy face. He greeted Cheng Jinzhou and sat down in front of the scale, looking at it carefully.

Shi Mo looked at him with wide eyes, fearing that there was something wrong with one of the parts. In his opinion, the scales in this iron box were extremely valuable items.

After a full forty or fifty minutes, Zhou Chaofeng slowly straightened up, and while letting the waiter knead it, he commented in a low voice: "The structure is complete and systematic, and the work is a little impatient, but it is still a fine product, especially the following instructions. The content is very detailed, I measured three scales and they were in perfect agreement.”

He said, continuing to test the remaining scales.

Among the various items that the pawnshop comes into contact with, Star Warlock products are particularly expensive, and they are also a required course for Chaofeng. Although Zhou Chaofeng cannot independently calculate the parameters of the scale, there is no obstacle to understanding the content used for explanation and calculating the accuracy. .

Shi Mo quickly pushed Cheng Jinzhou awake and hurriedly wiped his face.

"Make a price." Cheng Jinzhou didn't hear Qing Chaofeng's words, but asked confidently.

Chao Feng raised his head slightly, confirmed the shopkeeper's hint and said, "How about 100 taels of silver for each scale?"

"Dead?"

"That's right."

Dr. Cheng Da laughed, waved his hand and said: "100 per piece is not good, let's count them separately."

"Oh? How to separate?" It was shopkeeper Liu who asked. After Chaofeng quoted the price in proportion according to his hint, the rest was his job.

"Two with an accuracy of 0.1, I'll give you 70 taels of silver." Cheng Jinzhou's face still had a childish jerkiness, but his tone showed a discordant maturity: "Three with an accuracy of 0.9, I'll give you 85 taels of silver each, 0.8 4 of them cost 100 taels of silver, 5 of them with 0.7 accuracy cost 150, and the last remaining one with 0.6 precision costs 300 taels of silver."

After simple division calculation, the price rose to 1845 taels of silver. Shopkeeper Liu hesitated and said, "Mr. Cheng, how about 110 taels per piece?"

Cheng Jinzhou shook his head gently. Star Warlock's products were always scarce, and he was from a later generation and was never shy about asking for high prices.

Shopkeeper Liu took one last look at Mr. Chao Feng, nodded in agreement, and said with a smile: "Master, do you want flying tickets, cash, or gold?"

1,800 taels of silver is equivalent to 40,000 US dollars, equivalent to 110,000 yuan in 1985. When labor costs were lower than in China at that time, this was definitely a huge sum of money.

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