The East Market is bustling with cars and horses and pedestrians.

The New Year is approaching, and the long street is full of people buying new year's goods.

Vendors set up stalls along the street, some selling Spring Festival couplets, some selling paper flowers, gold coins, and candles for worshiping the City God, and some selling bacon, sausages, wind chickens, and salted ducks, all in dazzling variety.

Chen Ji was in a busy city and suddenly felt like a festival. This was the first Spring Festival he had celebrated in this world... No, it should be called New Year now.

Chen Ji walked in front, Xiao Man jumped behind and followed.

He turned around and asked, "Why are you so happy?"

Xiaoman said with a smile: "After the young master went to the hospital, Wang Gui was angry that I contradicted him, so he demoted me to a third-class maid, and I could only take one day off from bathing in two months. And several times when he took a bath, Wang Gui

They all ordered me to wash the chamber pot, trim flowers and pick vegetables. I haven’t been out of the house for a long time.”

Chen Ji was silent for a moment: "Xiaoman, why did you sell yourself to the Chen family?"

Xiaoman replied easily: "My brother wanted to get a wife, and the family had no money. When I was nine years old, my parents sold me to someone else."

Chen Ji asked casually: "Who bought you into the Chen Mansion?"

Xiaoman said matter-of-factly: "Auntie, don't you remember? I remember it clearly. It was very cold that day, so Ren Yazi put straw in our heads and led us to stand at the gate of the Sixth Stockyard in the capital. Auntie was just passing by.

I didn't plan to buy mine because I was too young to work. But at that time, the man Yazi beat and scolded me, so my aunt took pity on me and bought me back with two taels of silver."

On the street, Chen Ji sidestepped an old man carrying a candied haws pole and asked curiously: "Why did that man Yazi hit you?"

Xiao Man whispered: "At that time, there was a family who wanted to buy me as a child bride. Ren Yazi said that I had a good face and asked for seven taels, but the other party did not agree and left. When Ren Yazi got angry, he beat and scolded me, saying that I had no

Say nice and auspicious words to the other party.”

Chen Ji asked doubtfully: "Hey, didn't he want seven taels? Why did my aunt buy you for just two taels?"

Xiao Man smiled and showed two little tiger teeth: "My aunt is very smart and patient. She haggled for an hour and cut the price down to four taels. Then my aunt found out that this man's teeth did not have official stickers, so she called someone to kill him.

Yazi was taken to prison, and those two taels were not given to Yazi, but to the official..."

Ningchao Dental Shop needs an "official stamp" to operate, otherwise you will go to jail.

Ning Lu has it written: Buying and selling requires teeth, and loading requires ports. Buying goods requires teeth, and weighing goods is fake. In cities and villages, there are various shipyards and wharves, and there are selected merchant households to pay for them. The official seals the letter book

, attach the address, name, route, trade name, number of goods and goods of the merchants and shipowners, and go to the official for inspection every month.

Chen Ji was speechless for a moment. His biological mother, Mrs. Lu, actually bought a maid at a cheap price and even gave her away. Xiaoman's shrewdness was probably not learned from Mrs. Lu...

He looked at Xiao Man carefully and said after a moment: "Just wait here while I go do something."

Xiaoman exclaimed: "Sir, can you remember this?"

"cannot."

"Good."

Chen Ji hugged Wu Yun and left, and went into a small alley. Xiao Man was left standing alone, looking around curiously, and finally his eyes fell on the donkey meat barbecue next door.

She looked at it for a long time and wanted to buy one to try, but she took out her purse several times and put it back in her waist again, reluctant to part with it.

Xiaoman just stood on the street where people were coming and going, looking straight at him without hesitation.

The clerk at the fire shop felt a little uncomfortable being stared at by her for so long: "Little girl, you've been staring at me for so long, do you want to buy one?"

Xiaoman looked at Huoshuo dreamingly: "Then I've been looking at it for so long, can you give me one?"

The waiter rolled his eyes and cursed in a low voice: "You are stupid."

At this time, under the shadow of the eaves of the alley, Chen Ji silently looked at Xiao Man's back and said to Wu Yun: "There is no problem with the logic of her language. It doesn't seem like she is lying, but she appeared too suddenly."

Wuyun meowed: "Do you think there is something wrong with her?"

Chen Ji thought: "Let's say she has a problem. I walked alone, but she didn't follow me secretly. She just stood there and waited... Let's see again."

"What are you going to do today?"

"Buy ginseng."

After saying that, he turned around and walked into the shadow of the alley with the dark cloud in his arms.

On the other side, Xiaoman was looking around when a group of eight or nine-year-old children passed by her playing Cuju.

The young children were unkempt and disheveled. When they were playing Cuju, they would bump into pedestrians from time to time. A young child bumped into Xiao Man while he was running. He was about to leave without apologizing, but Xiao Man suddenly stretched out his hand, grabbed the child's index finger and middle finger, and pointed at him.

Goodbye next time.

The toddler screamed and knelt down in response. He tried to struggle to get up, but his two fingers were tightly grasped by Xiao Man, causing him to break out in cold sweat from the pain.

But seeing his eyes stern, he took out the blade under his tongue with his other hand and cut Xiaoman's wrist.

With a snap, Xiaoman slapped the blade out of his hand and said angrily: "You're too young to learn well!"

The young boy was stunned for a moment, then begged for mercy: "It hurts, it hurts, female Bodhisattva, have mercy on me, female Bodhisattva, have mercy on me."

Xiaoman looked at the passers-by on the left and right, and when he saw no trace of the figure, he turned to look at the child: "You dare to steal my Xiaoman's things, will you die? Bring me your wallet!"

The toddler took out a light blue satin purse from his arms: "Here you go."

Xiaoman let go, put his hands on his waist, and said angrily: "Get out!"

…

…

Dingchang Pawn Shop.

Chen Ji crossed the threshold, and behind the high counter, the old shopkeeper with white hair and beard squinted his eyes, looked out of the small hole, and said lazily: "What do you want to do... Ouch, sir, why are you here!"

After saying that, the old shopkeeper jumped off the chair, quickly opened the side door and welcomed Chen Ji in.

He angrily yelled at the waiter: "What are you still doing? Showing tea to your Excellency."

Chen Ji waved his hand: "There's no need for tea, I have something else to do. What happened to the ginseng I asked you to collect for me earlier? How many ginseng did you receive?"

"Sir, please wait a moment." The old shopkeeper bowed and went to the side room. Together with the waiter, he brought two long red rosewood wooden boxes. When he opened them, he saw forty ginseng branches arranged in them, and the beards were bound by gold threads.

On red silk cloth.

The old shopkeeper explained: "My lord, I told you earlier that after Bailu Pavilion was sealed off, the imperial court would definitely sell off its property. The villain found someone to take care of it and took forty-two in one go!"

Chen Ji stretched out his hand and gently stroked each ginseng stem from the air: "Is this all the stock in Bailu Pavilion?"

The old shopkeeper looked embarrassed: "It's not easy for a villain to get so many. At such a low price of fifteen taels a piece, many medicine shops are grabbing them."

Chen Ji hummed and pointed at two of them: "I don't want these two, I want the rest."

The old shopkeeper was stunned: "Why don't you want it, sir?"

Chen Ji glanced at him: "The quality is not good."

The old shopkeeper wondered: "You just stretched out your hand and you are sure that it is the wrong year? I have been running a pawnshop for more than 40 years and have never had any problems with ginseng. Is this ginseng grown or wild ginseng? Is it old enough?"

The villain can tell at a glance that it is absolutely unmistakable. You said you wanted the villain to buy it at the beginning, how could you refuse to accept it after buying it? Although the pawnshop of the villain is small, there is something behind it..."

Chen Ji stretched out his hand and passed in front of the old shopkeeper's face: "Sixty-one years old."

The old shopkeeper's eyes widened: "Are you really capable of finding out the age of a villain?"

Chen Ji smiled and said: "Not only do I know your age, but I also know that you have two sons in your family who work in the government office, one is a pen clerk and the other is a police officer. Your son who is a police officer patrols the Dongshi wharf all year round and likes to take advantage of others.

Blackmail, do you want me to send someone to take them in for questioning?"

The old shopkeeper was as silent as a cicada.

Chen Ji took out the string of Buddhist Tongbao given to him by Chen Wenzong from his arms: "Forty ginseng branches, fifteen taels each, totaling six hundred taels. I have here a Buddhist Tongbao worth one thousand seven hundred taels."

The old shopkeeper said: "Please wait a moment."

After that, he took out a bunch of Buddhist Tongbao from the backyard warehouse: "Sir, this Tongbao is worth one thousand one hundred taels."

Chen Ji asked casually: "Is this Buddhist Tongbao real or fake? Is it one thousand one hundred taels? You are not bluffing me, are you?"

The old shopkeeper glanced at him cautiously. How come this gentleman didn't even know about this? Could it be that he just became an official?

The shopkeeper smiled apologetically and said, "Look, this Tongbao has a total of eighteen beads. The first six represent which temple it came from, the middle six represent who it was given to for easy traceability, and the last six represent the amount."

The shopkeeper continued: "One of the anti-counterfeiting methods of this Tongbao is that the first six, the middle six, and the last six are carved by fixed monks assigned by Tuoluo Temple in Luocheng, Yuanjue Temple in Beijing, and Qixia Temple in Jinling. The brush strokes and blade edges cannot be imitated.

At this point, the shopkeeper took a glass magnifying glass and pointed it at the beads: "The second is the secret code. If you look carefully, there are actually extremely small scriptures engraved on this Tongbao. More than a hundred characters only occupy an area as big as a grain of rice. Most people

It can't be done. Moreover, only Buddhists know the scriptures corresponding to these more than 100 words... In short, once you get your hands on this Tongbao, it is easy to distinguish between genuine and fake ones, and the texture is completely different."

Chen Ji understood that in ancient times, merchants in Jin Dynasty also used handwriting to prevent counterfeiting of banknotes, which was not unusual.

As for the micro-engraving technology, it is just like the banknotes he used. Touch the raised dots of the Braille, take a look at the watermark, and then touch the material. It is easy to identify the real banknotes and the fake banknotes, because the textures are different.

He thought for a moment: "If someone also mastered the method of micro-carving, wouldn't it be..."

The shopkeeper panicked: "Sir, please be careful, your idea must not be known to Buddhists. Besides, nowadays, those who know how to carve miniatures have been taken away to become monks. This craft has been lost among the people!"

Chen Ji smiled, picked up two wooden boxes and went out: "Don't be afraid, it was just a joke."

By the time he met Xiaoman, his hands were empty.

Chen Ji bought two pieces of donkey meat and burned it and handed it to Xiao Man: "Eat it."

Xiaoman's eyes were shining: "Did Young Master buy it for me?"
To be continued...