The Famous Detective of the Red Mansion

The door was opened, and two white servants came in carrying a middle-aged man and pushed him heavily onto the ground. They arched their hands and reported, "Your Excellency, the culprit has arrived.”

Sun Shaozong raised his hand to signal the two of them to step aside and looked down at the so-called ”unscrupulous merchant.” He saw that this person was in his early thirties, with dark skin and a thin body, wrapped in a coarse cloth garment. He looked more like a laborer in a black coal kiln than a wealthy merchant.

The ”unscrupulous merchant” fell heavily, but he didn’t dare to cry out for pain. He quickly got up and grabbed his head and said, “Master Qingtian is clear. I have always followed the law and have never done anything harmful!”

Pa!

Without waiting for Sun Shaozong to speak, Jia She slammed the table and shouted angrily, "You are a traitor! How dare you say ”obey discipline and law” when you cheated me?"

At this time, the black and thin profiteer saw Jia She. He was stunned for a long time, and then he said "What's the meaning of your words, Old Master Jia? How would I have the courage to deceive you?!"

“How dare you say you haven't lied to me?”

Jia She was more and more annoyed with what he said. He simply stood up, walked to the front with his stomach, kicked the thin and black merchant all over, pointed at his nose, and scolded, "What are the qualities of those five hundred pottery gold shells? Don't you know in your heart? How dare you fool me? Saying that I can earn a fortune with these!"

The thin and black merchant, seeing his eyebrows raised like this, didn't dare to get up. He only looked up at the sky, and like a turtle, stretched out his neck and cried, "You really wronged me. The golden shell has now risen to five taels of silver, and I’m only asking for four taels of silver. Isn't this possible for you to make a fortune?”

“As for the quality…”

“I have never told you that those are top-notch ”pottery, pearls, gold, and shells.”

Before he could finish speaking, Jia She kicked him up again and scolded, "How dare you continue to talk nonsense? Hurry and shut up!"

The black and thin merchant was beaten with a heart full of grievances, and he didn't know what he had said wrong.

While the Sun Brothers were listening, they couldn't help sneering. Although Jia She was now scolding one profiteer after another, he might be a hundredfold greedier than this black and thin businessman!

But after all, he was also considered an Elder, and it was not easy for them to embarrass him in public. So after waiting for him to kick a few more feet, Sun Shaozong said, "Uncle, please be calm and don't be impatient. Let me ask him a few questions, okay?”

Jia She knew that he was exposed and his face was a little hot, but after all, he was used to being "bossy." Turning back, he said, "Don't listen to his nonsense! This guy is clearly "shoddy" and insists on selling me the shell for ten taels of silver!"

The use of the word ”insisted” was really clever!

Sun Shaozong was not currently considered poor, but he could never imagine how an ordinary businessman with no background ”insisted on selling things” to the Old Elder Master of Rongguo Mansion.

And what Jia She said at the beginning seemed to be 15 taels of silver and a golden shell, right?

He was speechless for a moment, but after all, he slept with his daughter and Sun Shaozong couldn't argue with him about these things. He smiled helplessly and said, "Don't worry, Uncle. I'm not asking about these trivial matters, I'm just a little curious about the origin of the pottery, pearls, gold, and shells.”

When Jia She heard this, his wrinkled old face suddenly lit up, and a series of voices urged him, "Yes, yes! Hurry up and ask about the origin of the golden shell, and let's send people to collect some of it. Isn't it better than being a second dealer?"

Since the audit and collection of his account, this guy has completely fallen into the eyes of money. It was just that he was greedy for money, but he didn't even blink an eye when it came to spending money.

And the words that came out of Jia She’s mouth as if to ask about the origin of the pottery, pearls, gold, and shells were to rob people of their wealth, making Sun Shaozong's heart disdainful.

However, the black-faced man was very obedient. Upon hearing this, he immediately got up, and without waiting for Sun Shaozong to ask anything, he explained the origin of the pottery, pearls, gold, and shells in detail.

Originally, this so-called ”pottery, pearls, gold, and shells” was said to be a genuine item from the Western Regions, but it didn’t come from the wild and exotic regions thousands of miles away as rumored, but from the Four Guards of the Northern Regions thousands of miles away.

These Four Guards outside the Great Wall are located on the plateau of the northwest border, with a vast territory and sparse population, mainly composed of herdsmen. Although they could also be considered the territory of the Zhou Dynasty, they were rarely visited.

Therefore, it was not until a few years ago that a group of vendors selling tea bricks discovered this type of shell with copper coin patterns near the saltwater lake named ”Cuowen Lake.”

At that time, as one of the many legends in the Western Regions, this matter was only circulated among some merchants and didn’t receive much attention.

Until last summer, a certain vendor had a sudden idea and, while selling tea bricks, purchased a batch of shells with written words from local herders. They named them ”pottery, pearls, gold, and shells” and tried to sell them in the Capital.

Unexpectedly, this object became famous in a single battle and was highly praised by many gentry. In just two months, its value increased dozens of times, some of which could distinguish the content of the text, even more than a thousand times!

As soon as this news spread, knowledgeable merchants immediately rushed to the vicinity of ”Cuowen Lake” to import the goods. This thin and black merchant was one of them.

“I’m afraid of delaying the market for too long, only receiving four to five hundred items of good quality, and casually bringing back over a thousand inferior items.”

Upon hearing this, Sun Shaozong asked again, "How much of the ”pottery, pearls, gold, and shells” is with written words?”

“Reply to Your Excellency, the true ”pottery, pearls, gold, and shells” can be said to be one out of ten”

“I brought back these two thousand small coins, and the ones with words are only three, and they all have a vague shape with words that are not worth much.”

Seeing Sun Shaozong's disbelief, he quickly explained, "Local herdsmen often keep shells with written words as rare items. That's why the person surnamed Hu only imported over a hundred at once. He probably didn't expect the ”pottery, pearls, gold, and shells” to be so valuable. It was too late to regret it now for the batch that he sold away at a cheap price.”

Speaking of this, the thin and black merchant couldn't help but gloat a bit.

In this way, this ”pottery, pearls, gold, and shells” could really be called a scarce resource.

Sun Shaozong pondered for a moment and then asked, "Nowadays, the price of this ”pottery, pearls, gold, and shells” changes every day. Not to mention the medium quality, even those defective products have risen to four coins of silver per piece. Did you collaborate with the vendors to raise the price?”

“Master Qingtian is decisive.”

The black-handed man knocked his head on the ground and complained, "I’m unaware of the others, but I’m just a wandering merchant. How could I have such skills?”

“Originally, I just wanted to make a fortune with the help of ”pottery, pearls, gold, and shells,' but later, I found that the real golden shell was difficult to find. I was unwilling to return empty-handed so that’s why I tried to accept some ordinary goods and wanted to earn some hard money.”

“Who knew that when I arrived in the Capital, I found out that many vendors were the same with me? Thousands of ordinary goods were piled up together, but were sold easily.”

“There was no choice but to sell those golden shells to others at a low price.”

“Because the person who bought the golden shell seemed to know each other well, I kept it secret at the time that I’ll only be able to sell those inferior goods fully, but secretly left behind 500 pieces of slightly better quality.”

“As expected, after summer, not to mention ordinary golden shells, even the prices of those defective products have doubled and gone up.”

“I think he has a plan and wants to take advantage of it to make a fortune, but…”

At this point, the thin black businessman looked depressed again and peeped at Jia She.

Someone was indeed manipulating this matter!

Sun Shaozong's spirit was lifted, and since there was a ”mastermind,” the Criminal Investigation Department once again thoroughly investigated this matter, which made it much more legitimate.

It was just that he didn’t know who the mastermind was, but in just a few days, it had created such momentum that even some gambling houses in the Capital could endorse this golden shell.

“Let me ask you.”

Sun Shaozong was wondering about the identity and background of the ”mastermind," but Jia She hurried to ask, "Now if I send someone to collect some golden shells near the lake, can I still have time to sell them?"

“This..”

The black and thin merchant hesitated for a moment before shaking his head and saying, "The quantity of these golden shells is limited, let alone most of the gold wires on the shells are disorderly and not even considered any golden shells. If we go to purchase them now, we may not be able to find too many.”

Jia She immediately sat back in his chair like a deflated ball.

Sun Shaozong saw that Jia She was no longer interested, so he ordered the guard to take the thin black businessman to the Criminal Department to transcribe the confession again. He also told Lin Delu and others to focus on the identity and background of the "Mastermind."

Clang!

At this moment, they could hear the sound of a gong outside, the "Sun Public Case" act was about to officially begin.

The first person to appear was not the protagonist ”Sun Shaozong,” but rather Liu Xianglian and several scholars. Seeing them sing in the background, they began to engage in a rhythmic ”argument.”

Everyone was drawn to it, while also waiting for Jiang Yuhan to speak up and raise his voice.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, the door of the room was suddenly pushed open heavily by someone. Jiang Yuhan, dressed in a theatrical costume, burst in and called out anxiously, "Brother Sun, please take a step to speak.”

How could he still have leisure to talk to himself at this moment?

Sun Shaozong didn’t neglect and quickly followed Jiang Yuhan out of the private room. However, when he saw Jiang Yuhan reaching out and gripping his wrist, he excitedly said, "Something's wrong, Brother Sun! Zhu Er, who played the carpenter, was stabbed to death by someone just now.”