Young Master, Don't Show Off - Chapter 17
[Chapter 17: Making a Fortune]
Making a Fortune Every Day The backyard of the Zhaiyue Building.
The Zhaiyue Building is located in the center of the capital, covering a large area. In addition to the main building facing the street, there are gardens, rockery, ponds, pavilions, and some small pavilions behind it.
Lin Xiu stood in front of a well, with several buckets of well water placed at his feet, and the waiters of the Zhaiyue Building kept drawing water.
Because the weather was too hot, under the scorching sun, the well water soon lost its coolness.
Lin Xiu washed his hands and then put his palms on the water surface in the bucket.
After a burst of cold air emanated from the bucket, the water surface began to freeze rapidly.
Soon, the whole bucket of well water was frozen into a block.
The shopkeeper of the Zhaiyue Building watched this scene and couldn’t suppress his excitement.
This summer is unusually hot. It is not an exaggeration to say that ice is more expensive than gold. Ice used to cool off is in short supply and hard to find. As long as they keep this person, you can imagine how their business will be in the next period of time.
For the Zhaiyue Building, this is not just a matter of profit.
When other restaurants were like steamers, the Moon-Picking Tower was the only summer resort. It could please those nobles and bring endless benefits to the Moon-Picking Tower in the future.
Compared with these, a few dozen or a few hundred taels of silver was nothing.
After freezing several buckets of water in succession, Lin Xiu sat aside to rest and wait for his energy to recover. Although it was much easier to freeze ice directly from water, it was also a big consumption if it was done many times. It
was not that he had not thought of using other ideas, such as using the principle that saltpeter dissolved in water absorbs heat, but on the one hand, this method was not efficient in making ice, the output was extremely low, and it was easy to be copied by others. Using ability directly was not only more convenient, but also extremely efficient.
And this method could not be copied by anyone except Lingyin.
At this time, a waiter from the Moon-Picking Tower had already chiseled out the ice in the bucket and put it in the ice jar.
The ice jar was a tool for the rich people in the capital to cool down. It was a square object that looked like a tripod. There were small holes around and at the bottom. As long as the ice was put in, the cold air would come out of the holes and circulate in the room.
In later times, ice cubes were worthless even in summer.
However, Daxia was the same as ancient China. There was no summer ice-making technology here. All ice cubes were stored in ice cellars in winter. By summer, they had melted and consumed a lot. The more ice cubes were used, the more expensive it was. It was not an exaggeration to say that ice was as expensive as gold. Ordinary families could not afford it, including the Lin family in the past.
Therefore, even if ice cubes were not so scarce in previous years, a piece of ice cube with a volume similar to that of a bucket would generally cost about one or two taels of silver, which was the monthly expenses of a family of five with meat every meal.
Lin Xiu sold this bucket of ice to Zhaiyue Tower for five taels of silver, which was five times the usual price of ice. However, Lin Xiu believed that Zhaiyue Tower would never lose money, and would even make more than him. In the end, Zhaiyue Tower still took advantage.
However, Lin Xiu did not care about these. Silver could not be earned inexhaustibly. Directly cooperating with Zhaiyue Tower saved him most of the troubles, and naturally he would lose some benefits. He was mentally prepared for this.
An hour later, Sun Dali walked out of Zhaiyue Tower with Lin Xiu, holding a wooden box.
Lin Xiu’s face was pale, his steps were weak, and he looked like his body was hollowed out. In fact, his body was indeed hollowed out. Although freezing a bucket of water would not consume too much energy, he froze fifty buckets in an hour, and now he couldn’t squeeze out a drop of energy from his body.
But the harvest was also huge.
In the box held by Sun Dali, there were thirty silver ingots of ten taels each.
Adding the fixed fifty taels every day, Lin Xiu earned three hundred taels of silver in an hour. It was simply a fortune. If he saved a little, it would be enough for his family’s expenses for several years.
This is the advantage of a magician. Even if most people with special abilities do not surrender to the court, they can use their own abilities to become rich and have no worries about food and clothing for the rest of their lives.
Sun Dali held the box and walked with a silly smile: “Three hundred taels of silver, it would be nice if it could be like this every day…”
Lin Xiu shook her head. It was impossible to do this every day. The weather would soon turn cold, and such days would not last long. The silver would be earned less and less every day. This winter, the powerful people of Daxia who had suffered losses, as well as the major stores in the capital, would definitely stock up ice in retaliation. By next summer, the price of ice would inevitably fall sharply. By then, it would not be so easy to make money by making ice.
When Lin Xiu and Sun Dali returned home, they happened to see A Yue holding a brocade box and walking outside. Lin Xiu asked, “Sister A Yue, where are you going?”
A Yue had been with Mrs. Ping’an for a long time. She was a few years older than Lin Xiu. When she saw Lin Xiu, she stopped and said, “Madam asked me to take these things out and pawn them to exchange for some silver to subsidize the family expenses.”
Lin Xiu walked over, opened the brocade box and looked inside. She found some jewelry inside, including jade bracelets, gold hairpins, earrings and the like.
At this time, Mrs. Ping’an came out and said with a smile, “Xiu’er is back. It’s hot outside. You should stay at home more these days. It’s best not to go out.”
Lin Xiu noticed that the jade bracelet on her hand was gone, and the gold hairpin on her head was replaced with a wooden hairpin.
Lin Xiu said to Ah Yue, “Put these jewelry back first.”
Zhou Yun stepped forward and said, “These things are useless, why not pawn them first to supplement the family income.”
Lin Xiu smiled and said, “Don’t worry about the silver, Dali…”
Sun Dali walked forward with a simple smile and opened the box in his arms. In the sunlight, the neatly arranged silver ingots made Zhou Yun dizzy. There were
probably hundreds of taels of silver. She looked at Lin Xiu in shock and asked, “Xiu’er, where did this silver come from? You can’t do anything bad…”
Although the Lin family was in decline, they were still among the powerful and wealthy. The clerk of the Qinglisi was also an official in the court. If they wanted to get silver, there were countless ways, but none of them were the right way.
Lin Xiu knew what she was worried about and comforted her, “Don’t worry, mother. I earned this money by myself. If you don’t believe me, ask Dali.”
Sun Dali immediately said, “Madam, I can testify that this was really earned by the young master’s hard work!” Zhou Yun
didn’t believe it at first and said, “Don’t collude to deceive me. What did Xiu’er do to make so much money in such a short time?”
Lin Xiu had no choice but to explain in detail, “Mother, have you forgotten that I have awakened my supernatural powers? The weather has been so hot these few days that ice is hard to find in the royal capital. I just used my ability to help Zhaiyue Tower make a lot of ice. This is the reward they gave me.”
After finally making her believe, Zhou Yun looked at the rows of silver ingots in the box and still couldn’t believe it, “But, but This is too much…”
Lin Xiu smiled and said, “Don’t worry, mother. Every penny I earn is clean. You and dad can enjoy life at home in the future.”
Then, he said to A Yue, “Sister A Yue, wait until it’s cool outside, and you and mother can go out for a walk. She has worn her jewelry for a long time, and it’s time to change it to a new batch.”
A Yue’s eyes curved into a crescent moon and said, “Okay, young master.”
Zhou Yun was a little depressed. She looked at Lin Xiu with guilt and said, “Xiu’er, it’s because your parents are incompetent that you use magic to do these things…”
In any dynasty, magicians are of noble status and will be supported by the court or various forces. There are very few magicians who lower their status for silver and do these humble things. Lin
Xiu held her hand and said nonchalantly, “What are you talking about, mother? It’s not shabby to make money with your own ability. You should keep this money first, and there will be more and more in the future…”
…
A trace of cool air came out of the ice mirror, making the whole room exceptionally cool.
Zhou Yun put away the silver, walked slowly to the table, and said to her husband: “Master, have you noticed that Xiu’er has changed…”
Lin Ting nodded and said: “I also think that he actually asked to cancel the engagement with the Zhao family. Hasn’t he always been looking forward to this?”
“That’s not what I’m talking about.” Zhou Yun shook her head, a trace of relief and a bit of heartache appeared in her eyes, and she whispered: “Xiu’er has grown up…”
She was pleased with her son’s growth. Even if they were gone in the future, he could live well with his own abilities.
What she felt sorry for was that he was just eighteen years old. Most of the powerful children of his age were still at the age of riding horses and enjoying the benefits of their fathers, but he had already supported a family.
Lin Ting also sighed slightly and said: “It’s all because of my incompetence as a father…”
Zhou Yun held his hand, and his expression suddenly became relieved, saying: “In fact, this may not be a bad thing. At least when we are a hundred years old, we don’t have to worry too much…”
Yesterday, his body was hollowed out. After a nap, Lin Xiu was revived with full blood.
The next day at noon, after lunch, he and Sun Dali went out together and headed for the Zhaiyue Tower.
As soon as the two of them entered the gate of the Zhaiyue Tower, a figure in white clothes paused for a moment on the street, and then followed them.
(End of this chapter)
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