A Clash of Gods - Chapter 68

Chapter 68 Pawn Tickets
Many people complained and sighed in sorrow, but Gu Qinghan calmed down and declared casually, “All of you, don’t worry. Since the fire started in the pawnshop, our family would compensate for your losses.”

All people heard that and looked happy immediately.

“You go back to check how much you have lost. After confirming, we will pay you every penny.” Gu Qinghan looked tired. “This big fire started all of a sudden and got you implicated. I am sorry.”

Somebody laughed. “My Lady, since you said that, it will be easier to handle it. In fact, I didn’t lose much, at most three or four thousand taels of silver.” He looked back at the ruins and sighed. “A shop was destroyed by fire. It’s not easy to check.”

“Right, Mr. Lu is reasonable. The account book was burnt, and it’s difficult to check the stock.” Another person echoed him immediately. “But everybody has an account book in the brain. It’s not easy to check it clearly, but each of us has an amount roughly. We respect Marquis of Honor. Even if we suffer a loss, we won’t bother about it.”

When all people were sighing, Yang Ning came over and looked calm. “Our family appreciates your kindness, everybody. My aunt said we will take responsibility for your losses. Since you were involved, we won’t make you suffer losses again.”

Somebody who recognized the heir of the Marquis of Honor stated at once, “Since His Excellency said that, let’s just rest assured.”

Yang Ning looked at Mr. Lu and asked with a smile, “Mr. Lu, you said you suffer a loss of about three or four thousand taels of silver?”

Mr. Lu replied, “More or less. Your Excellency, relax. We have been your neighbors for many years. Your family is in trouble, and we will share your difficulty.”

Yang Ning laughed. “Thanks very much. By the way, Mr. Lu, what did you sell in your shop?”

Mr. Lu answered, “Oh? It’s a salt shop.”

Yang Ning was astonished and thought the salt was sold by the government. As far as he knew, there was a salt department in the government, with distributors in charge of distributing and selling salt everywhere in the country. It was forbidden to sell salt in private. If it was found, it would be punished severely.

Was Mr. Lu a salt seller permitted by the government?

“It’s a salt shop.” Yang Ning smiled faintly. “Mr. Lu, do you have much salt stored in the shop at ordinary times?” His eyes became sharp and he asked Manager Xu next to him, “Manager Xu, you must be familiar with Mr. Lu since he owns the shop next door.”

Manager Xu’s face was pale, as if he was battered out of his senses. Hearing Yang Ning’s question, he replied hurriedly, “I have known Mr. Lu for six or seven years.”

“Manager Xu, is Mr. Lu’s shop bigger than our pawnshop?”

Manager Xu didn’t know what Yang Ning was going to do and glanced at Gu Qinghan, to see her cold face. He had to answer, “Our shop is twice as big as Mr. Lu’s.”

“How much did we pay for this shop?”

Manager Xu looked at Gu Qinghan again, who was smart enough to understand what Yang Ning meant. She answered, “This shop is in a good location. We bought it at a cost of six hundred taels of silver that year.”

Yang Ning turned to Mr. Lu and asked with a smile, “Mr. Lu, how much did you pay for your shop?”

Mr. Lu was a smart businessman and understood Yang Ning’s intention after his questions. His eyes were not concentrated, and he didn’t reply.

“Even now, it is worth at most four hundred taels of silver.” Manager Xu calmed down. “It’s the highest price. Mr. Lu, I remember that last year, somebody wanted to buy your shop at the price of three hundred taels of silver, and you almost agreed.”

Mr. Lu explained awkwardly, “Uh… The shop is worth only several hundred taels of silver indeed, but the salt in the shop…”

“Mr. Lu, you certainly wouldn’t put priceless porcelains or ancient calligraphy and paintings in the salt shop, so nothing valuable might have been burnt.” Yang Ning looked cold. “I don’t know the salt price, but you said you have a loss of three or four thousand taels of silver. You lost two or three thousand taels of silver except for the shop. How much salt can you buy with so much silver?”

The people present were experienced businessmen and delighted in the misfortunes of others as they saw Mr. Lu in embarrassment. They thought this guy asked for an unreasonably high price, and now His Excellency made him unable to show his face with a few words, so they believed that they would claim compensation, but they couldn’t ask for a high price randomly.

Of course they were clear that salt was essential for daily life, but it was not expensive, yet with quick returns and small margins. Even five or six hundred taels of silver could make the shop full of salt, let alone several thousand taels, but nobody would store so much salt in the shop. Mr. Lu’s loss might be less than one thousand taels of silver in total.

Yang Ning stopped at a point and didn’t continue to question Mr. Lu. He glanced over the crowd and then expressed, “I am sorry to get all of you implicated. Nobody hopes something like this to happen, but since it happened, our family wouldn’t shirk our responsibility. My aunt told you that we won’t make you suffer any loss. It’s a rule in my family that we will pay off all the debts…” While speaking, his voice turned cold. “But if any of you want to plunder a burning house, I advise you to give up this plan. My family won’t owe anybody, but if anybody owes us, it might not be a good thing.”

The shopkeepers looked at one another speechlessly and thought, “It’s said that the heir of Marquis of Honor is an idiot, but it seems to be wrong.”

“Good point!” Laughter came from behind Yang Ning, and a sarcastic voice expressed, “It’s the family rule of Marquis of Honor to pay off all the debts. Your Excellency, you inherit the family rule and you are to be congratulated.”

Yang Ning turned around and saw several people striding over. The one in the front stood erect with a long sword on his waist. The sheath was bound with golden silks, and there was a beautiful jade pendant hung on the sword tassel. He looked like a young master at the age of about twenty-five or twenty-six.

This man looked unfamiliar, and Yang Ning had never seen him. Judging from his clothes, he was a man from a noble family. Nobody knew where he came from.

The man stepped forward and looked Yang Ning up and down, continuing with a smile, “Your Excellency, I haven’t seen you for a long time. I heard that you were kidnapped the other day, and I really care about you. Later I heard that you returned home in safety. Congratulations.” He glanced at Gu Qinghan and his eyes lit up. He moved a step forward and got close to her, saluting. “You must be the third lady in the mansion of Marquis of Honor, right?”

Obviously, Gu Qinghan had never seen this man. She frowned. “Who are you?”

“My name is Dou Lianzhong, and my father is Dou Kui.” The man squinted and smiled, but his eyes fell on Gu Qinghan from head to toe and didn’t turn away.

Gu Qinghan stated indifferently, “Oh, you are Lord Dou’s son. Young Master Dou, why did you come here after midnight?”

Yang Ning also looked Dou Lianzhong up and down and thought this guy looked like a play boy. Seeing the comer unable to take his eyes off Gu Qinghan’s nice hour-glass figure, he knew this guy was not a good person.

“This fire was really big.” Dou Lianzhong glanced at the broken tiles and sighed. “My Lady, where did the fire start? Did it start from your pawnshop?”

Gu Qinghan’s beautiful face became cold, and she asked, “Young Master Dou, how did you know that the fire started from the pawnshop?”

Dou Lianzhong laughed immediately. “My Lady, don’t get me wrong. I don’t have the ability to foresee anything. But His Excellency was talking about the compensation, so I thought the other shops were implicated.” He ran his eyes over the crowd and then asked, “My Lady, what can I do for you?”

Gu Qinghan responded with no emotion, “We won’t bother anybody with our family issue. Young Master Dou, thanks for your kindness.”

“My Lady, you are welcome.” Dou Lianzhong moved one step closer to Gu Qinghan. “I am His Excellency’s old friend. His business is mine. If you need my help, just tell me. Don’t be distant.” He smiled at her. “We are all family. If you stand on ceremony, you just treat me as a stranger.”

Yang Ning knew this guy must be related to the heir of the Marquis of Honor. Seeing that the guy got closer to Gu Qinghan step by step, Yang Ning suddenly reached out his hand to grab Dou Lianzhong’s wrist. Dou Lianzhong was caught off guard, and before he had reactions, Yang Ning had pulled him away from Gu Qinghan.

Dou Lianzhong looked furious, but Yang Ning grasped his wrist and smiled. “It’s you. Did you really come to help after midnight?”

Dou Lianzhong looked at Yang Ning’s smile and couldn’t lose his temper. He wanted to shake off Yang Ning’s grip, but he found that his wrist was controlled by Yang Ning’s hand with much strength, which made him in pain. He frowned. “Loosen your grip first.”

“What? You don’t know me now?” Yang Ning laughed. “Didn’t you say that you are my old friend? Why can’t I shake hands with you?”

Dou Lianzhong pulled a long face. “Even brothers would straighten out their accounts and shouldn’t owe each other. I am here on business. Loosen your hand.” He struggled hard, and this time Yang Ning let him go while asking, “On business? What do you mean?”

Dou Lianzhong glimpsed at Yang Ning with disgust and then turned to Gu Qinghan, smiling. “My Lady, I passed by the street in the neighborhood and heard that there was a fire, so I rushed here and was afraid that your pawnshop would be burnt. What I feared really happened. Look at your pawnshop…” He sighed and shook his head.

“Young Master Dou, I have many things to do. If you need something, just tell me.” Gu Qinghan’s beautiful face was cold. “If you have nothing to do, you’d better leave first.”

Dou Lianzhong stretched out his hand to his sleeve and took out a stack of notes. Shaking them in his hand, he asked complacently, “My Lady, look at these. Are they pawn tickets from your shop?” He gave the tickets to Gu Qinghan. She received them and turned the pages to have a check. Then she wrinkled her brows more tightly and raised her head, asking, “They are pawn tickets from our shop indeed. Why are they in your hands?”

“My Lady, you are joking.” Dou Lianzhong laughed. “I pawned something, so you gave me a pawn ticket. Since I have left some stuff in your pawnshop, of course I have the pawn tickets.”