novelraw Chapter 179 Counterfeit Silver from Foreign Merchants
Chapter 179 Counterfeit Silver from Foreign Merchants
Chapter 179 Counterfeit Silver from Foreign Merchants
Gu Tang stretched out her finger and rubbed it a few times on the silver-stained stone bricks. Soon, her finger was also stained silver.
"This is... silver powder?"
"Only the surface layer is silver powder, the inside isn't." Gu Lianshan showed Gu Tang the side where the silver powder had been removed.
Gu Tang examined it carefully and found no difference, as the color inside the "silver ingot" was also silver, looking exactly the same as the silver powder on the outside.
She asked curiously, "Where did you get this?"
"In the past, foreign merchants often passed through our area. Those foreign merchants were very wicked. They brought some kind of silver stone from somewhere, which looked like a silver ingot at first glance."
To make them look more like silver ingots, those foreign merchants coated the stones with silver powder, passing them off as silver and doing business with our local people along the way. Countless people fell for their tricks, harming many families!
Even today, Gu Lianshan is still furious when he talks about it. He glanced at the two stones in his hand and said, "These two stones were obtained by villagers who were tricked into giving them away. After they were recognized as counterfeit silver, they were thrown away."
Father was furious and picked it up, intending to use it to deceive those foreign merchants if the opportunity arose! Unfortunately, over the years, those foreign merchants have avoided our area and stopped coming here.”
In the end, Gu Lianshan's tone was full of regret.
Gu Tang's thoughts had already drifted elsewhere. The color of this thing was very similar to that of silver, and somewhat resembled aluminum and white copper, which she knew.
Of course, this thing is unlikely to be aluminum. Aluminum ore has many impurities and doesn't have such a bright color. Only synthetic aluminum would look so much like silver.
In ancient times, it was unlikely that synthetic aluminum existed.
It is highly likely to be cupronickel.
Ancient copper smelting techniques were quite advanced.
However, this is not absolute; manganese ore can also resemble the color of silver.
Regardless of what it is, in ancient times, nothing was more valuable than silver.
In my past life, there were unscrupulous merchants who used white copper to fool people. I never thought that silver could be counterfeited in ancient times, and so realistically. This is truly... a way to make money!
"You intend to give these two stones to them?"
“That’s right!” Gu Lianshan weighed the two stones with a steelyard; they weighed a little over eleven ounces. “They got off too cheaply. I’ll give them an extra ounce!”
"Won't they recognize it? Won't the silver powder fall off if I hold it in my hand?" Gu Tang picked up the stone and rubbed it vigorously, but it didn't come off!
"It can't be rubbed off. I don't know how those foreign merchants did it. Unless you polish the stone, it's very difficult to remove the silver powder from it using any other method."
That's why so many people were deceived back then.
"Such a large silver ingot is not something that ordinary small merchants can make change for. If they want to spend it, they have to go to a money exchange to exchange it for copper coins or loose silver coins."
The money exchange has its own methods for verifying the authenticity of silver. This little trick might fool us farmers, but it won't fool the experienced craftsmen at the money exchange. Giving it to them won't hurt their money; we don't need to worry about them spending it and cheating others.
Gu Tang nodded: "Then let's do as you say and give them this... 'silver'."
Gu Lianshan picked up the steelyard and took the "silver" to the main room.
Inside the main room, Gu Mei was extremely anxious, thinking that if her father Ruosi didn't return soon, she would go out to look for him.
Just as this thought crossed my mind, the curtain at the door was lifted, and a cold wind blew into the room. Gu Lianshan walked in with a sullen face.
Upon seeing him return, Gu Mei and the Zhu family all smiled and looked at Gu Lianshan's hands.
The Zhu family had never touched silver in their lives and didn't even know what a steelyard was. When they saw that Gu Lianshan only had a small scale in his hand and no silver, their smiles vanished instantly.
Gu Mei was more knowledgeable than the Zhu family. She had seen Gu Tang use this thing to weigh copper coins, and she had also heard Gu Tang introduce this thing to Gu Ping'an, saying that it was used to weigh silver coins.
Now that her father has brought this over, he must be using it to weigh silver for her!
Gu Mei was overjoyed, and her breathing became heavy.
Gu Lianshan didn't keep them in suspense. He took out the two silver coins from his sleeve and weighed them with a scale in front of Gu Mei and the Zhu family. They weighed a little over eleven taels, and he asked Zhao Shi, who was standing nearby, to be a witness.
“The Zhu family may not recognize what this is, but you should. These two pieces of silver weigh eleven taels. Please be a witness so that the Zhu family will not deny their debt once they leave this house.”
Ever since the silver appeared, the Zhu family has had no eyes for anyone else but the silver!
Upon hearing that the silver weighed eleven taels, they were not angry at all that Gu Lianshan thought of them that way. Smiles returned to their faces, and they repeatedly said that they were not the kind of shameless people.
Gu Lianshan ignored them and only let Zhao Shi look.
Zhao examined it carefully for a moment, then nodded to the Zhu family: "This is a steelyard for weighing silver. The silver weighs a little over eleven taels, that's correct."
The Zhu family members grinned from ear to ear, and Old Madam Zhu even stepped forward to take the silver: "Everyone says you have a sharp tongue but a soft heart, and now it's just like that. You said you'd give ten taels, but you still love Mei-ya, so you gave her an extra tael in the end..."
His outstretched hands caught nothing; Gu Lianshan took the silver back and put it in a money bag.
Old Mrs. Zhu stiffened, unable to resist her greed, and shamelessly continued to ask Gu Lianshan for money: "This is Mei's dowry. She's still young, and I dare not leave so much money on her..."
"Grandma! What nonsense are you talking about!" Gu Mei grabbed Old Lady Zhu with a dark face, her voice shrill: "This is my dowry money! No one is allowed to touch it except me!"
Grandma Zhu regained some clarity and quickly smiled apologetically at Gu Mei: "You're too young and haven't managed a household before. I'm afraid you'll squander the money, so I'll keep it for you. If you need money, I'll give it to you, or you can ask your mother-in-law for it..."
Upon hearing this, Madam Yan was immediately enraged. That old hag was indeed cunning! She wanted to seize the silver while also eyeing her own private savings!
Bah! Do you really think everyone else is stupid?!
Yan Shi's mind raced, and she stood with Gu Mei: "Mother, what are you doing? This is Mei's dowry money. I, as her mother-in-law, am not even jealous of my daughter-in-law's dowry money. How could you, as her grandmother, do such a foolish thing!"
When her daughter-in-law humiliated her in public, Old Mrs. Zhu's face immediately darkened.
Before she could even reprimand Yan, Gu Mei shouted angrily, "If you're so greedy for my dowry money, then I won't marry you! With this money, I can still get married even if my reputation is ruined!"
Upon hearing this, the Zhu family members' expressions all changed.
Grandpa Zhu immediately started yelling at Grandma Zhu: "You shallow-minded brat! That's Mei's dowry! What family would covet their daughter-in-law's dowry?! If word gets out, won't you lose all your face?!" Grandma Zhu was stunned by the scolding, but at this moment she also realized that she had been too hasty and angered Gu Mei, making her think about not getting married.
With a slap on her face, Old Mrs. Zhu, ever the flexible one, actually slapped herself and humbly begged Gu Mei for forgiveness.
"Grandma has never seen money before, and she was blinded by greed and did this foolish thing. Don't hold it against Grandma. This dowry money is yours, so take it quickly. Grandma promises she won't do it again!"
Seeing that her mother-in-law knew what was important, Yan breathed a sigh of relief and also smiled apologetically, saying, "Your grandmother is confused, let's ignore her. Just for your fifth cousin's sake, we can't say we won't marry her again, it will hurt your fifth cousin's feelings."
Upon hearing Yan mention Zhu Youshou, Gu Mei's expression softened, and she glanced towards Zhu Youshou.
Zhu Laosan noticed Gu Mei's gaze and hurriedly pushed his son in front of everyone, saying, "Your fifth cousin has always been thinking of you; otherwise, he wouldn't have come with us on such a cold day."
Zhu Youshou was somewhat at a loss, his pale face flushed slightly, and he murmured, "Cousin Mei..."
Zhu Youshou inherited Yan's looks; he was handsome and had a straight back. Among the emaciated Zhu family, he was neither fat nor thin, which made him look even more refined and gave him the air of a scholar.
That's exactly what Gu Mei liked about her.
Gu Mei glanced at Zhu Youshou and didn't say she wouldn't marry him again. However, she thoroughly enjoyed the Zhu family's groveling and fawning over her, so she vented her anger by saying a few more harsh words, which made the Zhu family even more speechless. They kept apologizing and saying nice things, and their words were full of flattery and praise.
After enjoying the Zhu family's flattery, Gu Mei felt much better. She reached out to take the money bag, but her father looked at her, and her good mood immediately vanished by half.
His calm, expressionless eyes held no emotion, as if he were looking at a stranger.
This made Gu Mei very uncomfortable.
She pursed her lips, grabbed the money bag, opened it in front of her father, and poured out the silver ingots inside, her smile impossible to hide.
After looking at the silver, she put it back in her purse, stopped looking at her father, and turned to the Zhu family members, ordering them to follow her to the east wing to help her pack her clothes and bedding.
She's taking everything from her house with her!
The Zhu family had no objections. The Gu family was well-off, and their daughters wore and used decent clothes and other items, which were better than those of the Zhu family.
Once we bring those things back, we might be able to get some things we like from Gu Mei.
At this moment, the Zhu family only had eyes for Gu Mei and completely forgot about Zhao Shi.
Zhao watched helplessly as the Zhu family left her in the house, her face dark with anger!
How can you forget about the matchmaker after the deal is done?
The Zhu family should never ask her to act as a matchmaker again!
Taking a deep breath, Zhao calmed her anger and stood up to say goodbye to Gu Lianshan and her third uncle.
This matter had nothing to do with Zhao Shi, so Gu Lianshan didn't hold a grudge against her. He nodded to her and saw her out.
Gu Lianshan stopped at the corridor. Zhu Laosan's oxcart was parked in the courtyard. Zhao Shi got on the oxcart without any ceremony, wrapped herself in the quilt that Zhu Youshou had brought with him, and coldly watched the commotion in the east wing.
Third Uncle followed closely behind and stood together under the eaves. He moved his lips slightly and asked Gu Lianshan in a low voice, "Is there a problem with that silver?"
Gu Lianshan paused, a slight smile playing on his lips, and replied in a low voice, "I knew I couldn't hide it from you. There's definitely something wrong with that silver..."
Third Uncle glanced at him and said nothing.
He knew it! This adopted son of his was very stubborn and wouldn't listen to reason. Gu Mei was siding with the Zhu family and plotting against the family. His son couldn't tolerate this kind of behavior.
Not only did Ke Ren not beat Gu Mei up, but she also did as Gu Mei wished and actually took out ten taels of silver!
He had been pondering this matter for a while, and the more he thought about it, the more something seemed off. He felt there was something fishy going on.
Sure enough, he was right!
It was rare for someone other than his daughter to be able to guess his thoughts, and Gu Lianshan was very happy.
He continued, "I raised Mei to this age, and now I've fulfilled her wish by letting her marry into the Zhu family. As her father, I've done my utmost. From now on, consider her dead. After I send that brat Lai An away, the four of us can live a peaceful life together..."
His third uncle glanced at him sideways: "A family of four? You're not going to remarry?"
Gu Lianshan is only thirty-four years old this year. He is not too old and is in the prime of his life. He is also quite good-looking and has a daughter who can earn money at home.
The person was adopted from the Gu family at the other end of the village. There was no mother-in-law in this family, only a father-in-law with an excellent reputation. If they wanted to arrange a marriage, they could marry a virgin.
The reason no one is coming to the door now is simply because the news of Zhang's divorce has not yet spread widely. In a few more days, once the news of Zhang's divorce has spread far and wide, there will be a long line of people wanting to marry Gu Lianshan!
Thinking about all this, the third uncle was somewhat uncertain, wondering if his son would remarry.
"If you want to..."
"Stop!" Gu Lianshan's eyes widened, and his voice rose a notch.
"I dare not marry again! Think about it, I've already married two wives, and they were both ruthless and vicious! If I were to marry another vicious woman, how could our family possibly have a good ending?"
These words left the third uncle speechless. Indeed, his son's marriages to Zhu and Zhang were so bad that no one could say a good word about them.
"If you don't want to marry, then don't. But you need to think this through carefully. Don't suddenly bring a wife home."
Gu Lianshan chuckled twice. If he dared to bring a wife home without warning, he didn't know about others, but with his second daughter's temper, it would be the least of his worries—it would cause a huge uproar!
Speak of the devil, and he appears. Gu Lianshan was thinking of Gu Tang when he caught a glimpse of someone coming out of the west wing.
Just then, Gu Mei also finished packing her things and came out of the east wing.
And so, the two sisters stood, one in the east wing and the other in the west wing, staring at each other from afar.
Gu Tang didn't want to pay attention to her, only glancing at her before walking along the corridor towards the main room. Little did she know that her behavior had angered Gu Mei again.
Gu Mei, her face dark, turned and headed towards the main room.
Perhaps it was because she was about to leave the Gu family, or perhaps it was because she had signed a letter of severance, but Gu Mei felt that she would no longer be a member of the Gu family, no longer have to suffer Gu Tang's temper, and no longer have to be afraid of Gu Tang beating her. From now on, the Zhu family would stand behind her and support her!
Thinking of all this, Gu Mei straightened her back and yelled at Gu Tang, "Siya, we've been sisters for over ten years, how come you run away as soon as you see me!"
Gu Tang rolled her eyes at her: "Yes, we have indeed been sisters for more than ten years. Every time I burn incense and pray to Buddha, I often ask all the gods and Buddhas in the sky, what sins did I commit in my past life to be punished by being your sister? If I had to choose, I would rather be reborn as a cat or dog than be your sister!"
These words showed no mercy to Gu Mei, and even insulted her as being worse than a cat or dog!