Ch 45: Why Would I Necessarily Agree To Take Your Silver Note?

“Old Man, I don’t care who you are, get out of the way, don’t make me beat you.”

Sun Jian didn’t bother with the master and servant; his top priority was leaving.

“How dare you! You lowly commoner, you dare…”

The servant, with a delicate face, couldn’t stand it anymore. With a mincing gait, he pointed at Sun Jian with his effeminate fingers, but before he could finish speaking, the young man stopped him.

“If you apologize to me now, I can pretend this never happened.”

“If you knew my identity, you would have knelt down in fear long ago.”

Sun Jian remained defiant: “Your identity? Even if you were the Heavenly Emperor, I wouldn’t be afraid of you. There’s no way I’m apologizing.”

“Get out of the way, don’t delay my business.”

But unexpectedly, the young man laughed instead of getting angry.

“Interesting. It’s been a long time since I’ve heard anyone talk to me like that.”

“Haha, you’re quite interesting.”

Before Sun Jian could say anything, someone in the room next door suddenly started making a racket, along with the sound of things being thrown.

“Get lost! You stinking whore, you dare ask Sir for money? Sir sleeping with you was doing you a favor.”

“Sir, please, considering my devoted service, have mercy…”

“Damn it! Why should I have mercy on you, you whore!”

“You don’t know who Sir is. It’s good enough that I’m not making you kneel and beg for mercy.”

“If you dare to talk back again, believe me, I’ll kill you?”

Listening to the deafening noise and cursing from the next room, Sun Jian shook his head and sighed, saying to the young man, “Look at this, the world is going downhill. That guy didn’t pay for his prostitute, and even his words are exactly like yours.”

“Audacious! You dare…”

The effeminate servant was about to argue with Sun Jian, but the young man in green stopped him.

“Heh, I never imagined that there are people like this in Hongnong Prefecture City…”

The young man in green frowned, not bothering with Sun Jian for the moment, and instead approached the room’s door to listen.

But as soon as he got close to the door, with a “bang,” the door was smashed open by the woman’s body.

Sun Jian reacted quickly and pulled the young man in green away, thus avoiding the flying debris.

The brothel woman was lying on the ground, her clothes disheveled, her body bruised, and blood on her lips. The fall had made it hard for her to breathe, but she still looked at the man with pleading eyes.

“You bitch, why aren’t you dead yet? Get out of the way, Sir is leaving.”

The man was about forty years old, with prominent cheekbones, a pointed nose, and a sharp face – a typical villain. Before leaving, he didn’t forget to kick a vase to pieces.

“What junk, it’s in the way.”

“Stop, you can’t leave.”

“You can’t leave without paying!”

The brothel woman, enduring the pain, grabbed the man’s leg. This was her last resort.

This commotion attracted many onlookers, and even the Madam who had served Sun Jian earlier joined the group demanding payment for the prostitute.

Following that, the Hundred Flowers Pavilion guards rushed over, blocking the exit to prevent the man from leaving.

The noisy commotion continued.

“Damn, how am I supposed to get out with so many people?”

Sun Jian didn’t care about others’ business and continued to look around for an exit.

“Friend, thank you earlier.”

The young man in green clasped his hands in gratitude, his anger towards Sun Jian completely gone, replaced by a hint of curiosity.

“No need to thank me. Farewell.”

Sun Jian didn’t want to get entangled with him and turned to leave, but the young man in green stopped him.

“Hey, friend, don’t rush to leave. We’ve… uh…”

The young man in green was polite one second, then suddenly stopped mid-sentence.

Suddenly, he seemed to have seen something frightening, quickly turned aside, and hid himself, his expression becoming tense.

“Huh?”

Sun Jian was curious and looked in the direction the young man had been looking.

The hall was now crowded with people. Besides the guards and two brothel bosses, soldiers had arrived one after another, standing in two lines. A man in official robes walked out from the entrance.

The man who hadn’t paid wasn’t afraid of the official, instead he taunted, “Oh, I didn’t expect the Hundred Flowers Pavilion’s owner to be the Hongnong County Lieutenant.”

“What? Are you here to bring charges?”

“I tell you, the County Lieutenant is nothing! He’s just a minor official of the seventh rank. You don’t know who I am. When have I ever paid for prostitutes while on official business?”

“I am Liu San, Minister of Works at the Imperial Court. Everyone on the streets calls me Third Master. Even the Hongnong Prefect would give me face. Who are you?”

…

Sun Jian turned his head, looked at the nervous young man in green, and asked, “What? Do you know Liu San, or the Hongnong County Lieutenant?”

“Shh!”

The young man in green put his finger to his lips, making a “hush” gesture, then quietly pulled Sun Jian to a corner.

“Friend, do me a favor.” The young man in green said.

Sun Jian looked at him with a complex expression and after a moment of silence said, “Damn, you wouldn’t also be a freeloader, would you?”

The effeminate servant, hearing Sun Jian insult his master, wanted to say “How dare you,” but before he could speak, the young man in green covered his mouth and glared at him.

“So you know those two officials downstairs?” Sun Jian continued to ask.

The young man in green didn’t answer Sun Jian directly. He smoothly took a silver note from the effeminate servant’s bosom and handed it to Sun Jian.

“This is a silver note for one hundred taels. Do me a favor; this silver note is yours.”

What the hell?

One hundred taels?

This guy is no ordinary person; he’s so generous!

In this era, one tael of silver is equivalent to 1000 cash, and 100 cash can buy about 10 dou of millet, so 1000 cash can buy 100 dou of millet.

100 dou of millet is equivalent to more than 1300 jin.

1300 jin of millet is enough for Sun Jian and his three wives to eat frugally for half a year!

So, one tael of silver can buy 1300 jin of millet, and one hundred taels is about 130,000 jin of millet.

130,000 jin, I can’t even imagine…

This guy just gave out one hundred taels… Is this even real?

Sun Jian didn’t hesitate and quickly put the silver note into his bosom. Don’t look a gift horse in the mouth. As for the favor, that can wait.

“Tell me first, but I might not agree.”

“You…”

The effeminate servant was about to be driven mad by Sun Jian, and he must have cursed Sun Jian ten thousand times in his heart.

Why would you take the silver note if you might not agree?

The young man in green just paused for a moment, but he didn’t get angry, “Friend, you’re quite unique.”