Daily life of slaying demons in the government

Chapter 29: Picking up a bargain? Not real

First grade of junior high school.

Early in the morning, a corner of the East Market suddenly became much busier than usual. Most of the time, this is a small market for eggs and game. But on the first and fifteenth day of every month, it will make room for other things.

Yang Qian was wearing a short, rough cloth outfit with a shoulder shawl draped over his shoulders. He looked left and right, looking completely curious. This look made the stall owners in this small market smile knowingly.

Young people who know nothing are like fat sheep here. It depends on who has the ability to lead the sheep and cut the meat.

"Come and see! Something that leaked out from the palace of the previous dynasty!"

"We don't sell fakes, we only sell the real stuff!"

"Waiting for the right person! I won't sell it to the unlucky one, no matter how much money you offer!"

Yang Qian had only been gone for a few days when he almost couldn't hold back his laughter. It wasn't that he had a low sense of humour, but the scenes before him really made him laugh.

"Brother, this jade elephant is of poor quality. If it weren't for the things from the previous dynasty, it would be worthless. Give me less!"

"Brother, there is nothing we can do! This thing is indeed not very good, but have you looked at the words on the belly of this jade elephant? These are the heroic words written by the emperor of the previous dynasty when he was young. How can their value be compared with that?"

"No, that's too expensive. Make it cheaper."

"No, there really isn't much left. If you don't believe me, ask this little brother next to you to take a look at this thing and see how it works."

It was like a sitcom, a perfect plot of "picking up a bargain". There were two purposes. One was to let Yang Qian know that the plain-looking jade elephant was from the previous dynasty and was "of extraordinary significance". The other was to involve Yang Qian in this "business".

There are basically two types of subsequent developments. One is that the "buyer" does not have that much money, and asks Yang Qian to pool money with him to buy the item. Then, because he trusts Yang Qian, he pawns the item with Yang Qian and goes to pool money himself, and then disappears.

One possibility is that the "buyer" and the "seller" fail to reach an agreement and part ways unhappily, and the "seller" turns around and sells the jade elephant to Yang Qian, offering the "most honest" price for Yang Qian to eat it.

No matter which one it is, the intention is to create the scarcity and preciousness of the jade elephant through "situations" and "words", as well as to arouse the greed of most people for unexpected wealth, and gradually make them lose their rationality in the face of "unexpected wealth".

Commonly known as being possessed by a ghost.

The “buyer and seller” in this “scenario” are two “ghosts” ready to slaughter the fat sheep.

This kind of thing is not uncommon in this small collection. It can even be said that it can be seen everywhere.

Picking up bargains? Where are the bargains for you to pick up? Everyone here is an expert in this field, and they are blind, so why are you picking up bargains?

The so-called "picking up a bargain" is nothing more than deliberately boasting about it so that people can use it as a topic of conversation after dinner. Anyone who takes it seriously is a fool.

But Yang Qian came here just to act like such a fool.

So Yang Qian followed suit and got himself involved in this good show. In the end, he was defrauded of a large sum of money, a total of thirty-one silver coins.

Then Yang Qian walked away holding a jade elephant in his hand amid the sneering eyes of the crowd. No one thought there was anything wrong with it, and they only envied the "buyer and seller" who had successfully slaughtered the sheep before.

But Yang Qian did not leave, but continued to walk around the market. He was foolishly ripped off twice more. In addition to the jade elephant, he also had a root carving and an old wooden bracelet.

The total price of the three items was nearly ninety silver coins.

To be honest, Yang Qian suddenly felt that the dealers here were not generous enough. He had acted so stupidly, but no one asked for a huge amount. Shouldn't they at least start with one or two gold coins to justify the risk of this deceiving business?
Yang Qian thought that the three items were enough and was about to leave. But when he suddenly caught sight of a broken sword on a stall, he stopped in his tracks. "Hey, little brother, what do you like? Just tell me, these are weapons left behind by famous and powerful warriors, and each one has an extraordinary story!"

Compared with the previous stalls, although the stall owners here are also strongly recommending and bragging, there is obviously no "situational drama" to watch, so their level should not be high.

"Boss, this axe is so fierce! What's its origin?"

"Little brother, you have good eyesight! This axe is incredible. You know the Five Thunder Palace, right? This axe was passed down by the immortal master of the Five Thunder Palace."

The axe was not the point, the point was the broken knife. In the end, Yang Qian indirectly used the broken knife as an addition to the axe, spending a total of twenty silver coins. The reason for this was to find out whether the broken knife was deliberately placed by the stall owner. It turned out that it was not.

Even the stall owner didn't know what was strange about the broken knife.

Then everyone is happy.

Yang Qian got what he wanted for twenty silver coins, and the stall owner happily slaughtered a fat sheep.

In fact, Yang Qian didn't know the origin of the broken sword. It was just that the broken sword had a very strange charm, which reminded him of the "inspiration" that often flashed in his mind when he was practicing swordsmanship. It seemed that the broken sword also had something similar.

But this was an unexpected gain. The real purpose of Yang Qian's pretending to be stupid was to personally prove the four words "cheating" to those stall owners who were making a fortune.

So, as soon as Yang Qian left the market, the stall owners and their "Mei Zi", who had slaughtered the fat sheep and had not had time to divide the spoils, were taken away by the yamen runners who suddenly came.

At first they were still shouting "randomly capture good people", but when they saw the "treasures" placed in front of them, they immediately stopped shouting.

No matter how stupid he is, he knows that he failed to slaughter the sheep and was set up by someone instead.

No need to guess, the fat sheep that I just slaughtered is definitely a person in the government, and is the bait for fishing!

When Yang Qian changed back into the captain's black robe with red patterns and appeared in front of them, these people were so frightened that their faces turned pale.

He actually treated a police chief as a fat sheep to be slaughtered? !

"They dared to sell a crudely made jade elephant as a secret treasure of the imperial court, and even fabricated the words on it.

According to the law, if the amount of money cheated exceeds ten silver coins, the punishment will be severe, and if it exceeds thirty silver coins, the punishment will be even heavier. You two are typical of colluding to cheat, which is an even greater crime. Is it not too much to send you to the border town to carry stones for five years?"

"Sir! Sir! Spare us! We are so foolish that we have evil thoughts."

The two were terrified. Going to the border town to carry stones? Five more years? It was a miracle that they could survive for three months! Five years. Even the bones were reduced to dust.

"Don't want to carry rocks?"

"No, please spare our lives, sir!"

"Then look around, can you find those things in this box that are familiar to you?" Yang Qian didn't explain, nor did he waste words. He captured these people to torture them to death, and then make them forget all the rules of the trade that they were supposed to strictly abide by, and just answer whatever he asked.

The box that Yang Qian had someone place in front of the two men was exactly the box in Yao Fang's home that contained the wooden handles that Yao Fang had collected during his lifetime.

(End of this chapter)