Chapter 73 Settlement
Chapter 73: The Trap

Ye Xuan could clearly feel that when he asked this question, Pang Zhenkun couldn't help showing a hint of ecstasy on his face, but he tried very hard to suppress it, and pretended to be indifferent in front of Ye Xuan and the others and said:

"It's not bad at all. I heard from Miss Qiuyan that you have a lot of night-shining pearls of this quality?"

Seeing Pang Zhenkun taking the bait, Ye Xuan pretended to be respectful and said, "Not many, about six or seven."

After a pause, he added, as if to increase credibility, "These were all accumulated since my grandfather, which is why there are so many. I think I am the only one with such quality in the entire Ming Dynasty."

He sneered secretly in his heart. Even when Yang Xian's mansion was searched, only one luminous pearl of this quality was found. However, Pang Zhenkun fantasized about more. He was really greedy.

Pang Zhenkun's doubts faded slightly after hearing this. He rarely showed a smile to Ye Xuan and said, "So you are from the Dongzhu family. No wonder."

Then he changed the subject and said, "Since you have offered me this precious pearl, I will not let you suffer any loss. Just sell all your night-shining pearls to me for two hundred taels of silver each."

Looking at Pang Zhenkun's expression as if he had taken advantage of you, Ye Xuan felt nauseous.

When the Jinyiwei confiscated a house, there were special appraisers who were responsible for making a preliminary assessment of the value of the confiscated items. Ye Xuan remembered this night pearl very clearly and estimated that it was worth more than a thousand taels of silver.

Pang Zhenkun only gave you two hundred taels, and acted as if you were getting a great deal.

This is simply treating others as fools, but Pang Zhenkun is at least a fifth-rank prefect, a local emperor-like figure. Would he really be stupid enough to treat others as fools?
Sure enough, seeing Ye Xuan's hesitation, Pang Zhenkun smiled and said, "Shopkeeper Ye, don't think that my offer is low. To be honest, as long as we make this deal, we will be good friends in the future."

"Be my friend. You can't say anything about other places, but you can definitely do whatever you want in Yangzhou!"

Ye Xuan's heart moved, but he still didn't speak. He wanted to wait for Pang Zhenkun to say it himself.

Seeing that Ye Xuan was unmoved, perhaps the temptation of the Night Pearl was too great, to the point where he lost some of his reason.

Pang Zhenkun filled his lower lip anxiously, and said with a bit of regret: "Why don't you understand?"

"Think about it, did you come to me on this ship just to sell a few pearls? Don't you want to expand your business?"

"As long as we can make this deal," Pang Zhenkun rolled his eyes and said, "How about this? Every year, Yangzhou under my jurisdiction has to offer 500 high-quality oriental pearls to the palace. The market price is only five taels of silver per pearl. From now on, this business will be handed over to you, and I can give you a purchase price of ten taels per pearl. How about that?"

After saying that, Pang Zhenkun looked at Ye Xuan with full confidence.

It's no wonder that he is so sure. The market price of better quality Dongzhu is about five taels. If purchased in large quantities, the price can even be lowered.

However, the purchase price offered by Pang Zhenkun was ten taels, so the net profit was two thousand five hundred taels!

The most important thing is that this is an annual business with a steady stream of profits, not to mention that one can also hang a sign saying "royal tribute" on one's own business.

The price Ye Xuan had to pay was six or seven luminous pearls worth about six thousand taels.

But this amount of money can only be recovered in three years at most.

For merchants, this was indeed a good long-term business. Not only did they find a business that could be passed down from generation to generation, but they also had the reputation of being a royal tribute. They also established a relationship with Yangzhou prefect Pang Zhenkun, which was a huge profit.

A normal businessman would never refuse.

Ye Xuan pretended to be interested but did not agree immediately.

Pang Zhenkun seemed to be in urgent need of Ye Xuan's Night Pearl, and asked, "Shopkeeper Ye, what are you still hesitating about?"

Seeing that the time was almost right, Ye Xuan was also worried that too much might lead to bad results, so he pretended to be hesitant and said, "Okay, but if you accept my Night Pearl but then change your mind, then..."

Ye Xuan didn't say anything further, but the expression on his face was very clear, which meant: You are the official and I am the civilian, this is just empty talk, if you change your mind, then I will be left with nothing, right?

Seeing Ye Xuan questioning his integrity, Pang Zhenkun couldn't help but change his expression.

Seeing this, Qiuyan hurriedly tried to smooth things over, saying, "This is Shopkeeper Ye's first time on our boat, so he doesn't know some of the rules. I hope Governor Pang won't be offended."

Pang Zhenkun's expression improved a little after hearing this, but he still said unhappily, "So you're a newcomer. No wonder you don't know our rules. As long as you nod, I will naturally call the steward of this flower boat to be a witness."

Ye Xuan hurriedly put on the look of an embarrassed but secretly delighted small businessman, and Pang Zhenkun couldn't help but despise him when he saw this.

Soon, footsteps were heard outside the cabin and the door was pushed open.

Ye Xuan turned around and saw that it was an acquaintance, the manager who had previously stopped Ye Xuan and the other two from getting on the boat.

The steward was also surprised to see Ye Xuan. After greeting Pang Zhenkun, he said to Ye Xuan in amazement, "I didn't expect this shopkeeper to be such a capable person. He was able to do business with Governor Pang the first time he got on board. It seems that he will be a frequent visitor on our flower boat in the future."

Ye Xuan pretended to bow and said he was lucky.

After the pleasantries, the flower boat manager stopped talking nonsense and immediately picked up a pen to record the transaction between Ye Xuan and the other party, so that if either party regrets the transaction in the future, they can refer to the record.

"I believe you two are aware that our transaction is not open to the public. There is only one copy of this document, which will be kept by Huachuan." After completing the registration, the manager of Huachuan spread out the paper and showed it to the two men.

The original transaction process of the flower boat ended here. As long as 10% of the share money was handed over to the manager, it would be officially effective.

But Ye Xuan pointed at the document and said hesitantly, "There is only one copy of this document. Not to mention him, there is no signature or seal from me or Magistrate Pang on it. If we really turn against each other in the future, how can we be sure of it?"

Pang Zhenkun and the manager looked unhappy when they heard this. The manager of the flower boat said dissatisfiedly: "The owner behind my flower boat is a royal relative. How can he deceive a small merchant like you?"

Ye Xuan was shocked when he heard this, and asked hurriedly: "Which nobleman is it?"

The manager refused to say anything, but said with an arrogant look on his face: "You don't need to know this. Just know that you will never be slandered if you bear witness on our flower boat."

Ye Xuan wanted to find out who was behind this, but the person in charge refused to say anything.

(End of this chapter)