activa-t Chapter 483: Buying King Silkworms at the Ghost Market
Chapter 483: Buying King Silkworms at the Ghost Market
Ye Jintang had touched countless amounts of Yuehuajin with her hands. As soon as she touched it, she felt that the Yuehuajin on the stall felt wrong.
The real Yuehua Brocade should be as smooth as baby skin, but the one in front of me is obviously much rougher.
With the help of dim light and careful inspection, Ye Jintang finally discovered the clue.
The Yuehua brocade in her hand turned out to be a fake. The reason why it looked shiny was because a kind of processed silk thread was added to the fake Yuehua brocade, and the silk and cotton blended thread used to weave the fake Yuehua brocade was so good that she could tell it as soon as she touched it.
If it were an ordinary person, without such large-scale contact with Yuehuajin as she did, it would be difficult to tell the authenticity with the naked eye.
In the dim light of the Ghost Market, it was even more difficult to spot Yue Huajin's problem.
After leaving the stall selling fake Yuehuajin, Ye Jintang couldn't help but complain to Xiao Mo.
"It seems that you can not only find treasures in the ghost market, but also buy fakes."
"Of course, there are more fakes than treasures in the ghost market. Whether you can find a bargain depends entirely on your own ability."
Afterwards, the two of them looked at a lot of things. Antiques, calligraphy and paintings were basically all fake. The two of them even encountered a trap set up by someone. However, when Xiao Mo saw that the person was tall and strong and was not someone to be trifled with, those people did not dare to challenge him.
"Come and have a look. The giant silkworms from southern Xinjiang are only 20 taels each for one silkworm egg."
A big man with a black beard was standing on the roadside, holding a wooden box covered with mulberry leaves and selling them. A plump white silkworm, thicker than an adult's thumb, was eating the leaves diligently.
Ye Jintang also raised a lot of silkworms in her space. She watched them eat mulberry leaves every day, so she had some experience.
The silkworm in the wooden box ate the mulberry leaves voraciously, and it was obvious that it was a very capable one.
Looking at the shape of the silkworm again, it was nearly twice as big as the silkworms in her space. This was the first time she had seen such a big silkworm.
"Boss, your silkworms come from southern Xinjiang. What's so special about them?"
When the black-bearded man saw someone coming forward to ask questions, he immediately told the whole story about his relationship with the giant silkworm in a clear and clear manner.
"The silkworms in our Tianqin country are only as thick as chopsticks, so their cocoons are naturally small. The giant silkworms in Nanjiang are as big as 2 or 3 of ours, so their cocoons are naturally bigger, and the silk they produce is naturally more."
Ye Jintang raised his tentacles and smiled, "Such a big silkworm must eat a lot of mulberry leaves every day. If you want to produce more silk, you have to exchange mulberry leaves."
"This is easy. Mulberry leaves are not everywhere."
The black-bearded man didn't expect Ye Jintang to react so quickly and find out the giant silkworm's shortcomings right away.
In fact, silkworms from southern Xinjiang are not that scarce. Some people used to want to bring them to the Central Plains for large-scale breeding. However, a rough calculation showed that if they wanted to breed giant silkworms on a large scale, they would have to plant mulberry trees that were several times larger than usual.
If too many mulberry trees are planted, the area for grain cultivation will be compressed, and the government does not agree with this.
Food is the foundation of a country. If the food production is low, no matter how much silk is produced, it will be useless.
So when the merchants calculated that they were not suitable, they did not promote the giant silkworm.
As for those selling silkworms in the ghost market, they are just selling them for curiosity’s sake, and they will cheat as many as they can.
Merchants have to consider the issue of planting mulberry trees, but Ye Jintang doesn't need to. She can just clear out a corner of her space and grow enough mulberry leaves for the giant silkworms to eat.
"Boss, don't ask for 20 taels each. I'll give you 100 coins for a giant silkworm. I want all the silkworms in this box."
Blackbeard saw that Ye Jintang liked the giant silkworm a little and thought she might bargain for it, but he didn't expect her to offer 100 coins directly.
He recalled carefully in disbelief. He just said 20 taels per piece, not 2 taels. How dare she return 100 wen?
"Madam, these are giant silkworms from southern Xinjiang. We don't have them in the north. If you pay me 15 taels per silkworm, I will give them to you at a lower price. But you pay me 100 wen per silkworm, which is really insincere."
Ye Jintang was a veteran in business, and she immediately understood the hidden meaning of the black-bearded man's words.
If she really offered an unacceptable price, the man with black beard would have been angry with her long ago.
"Boss, don't treat me like a little girl who knows nothing. The giant silkworms come from southern Xinjiang, but they are not a rare species. 100 coins each, that's my errand fee."
The black-bearded man wondered in his heart whether he had met an expert.
But 100 wen is really a bit cheap, and he will lose a lot of money.
"Madam, 100 wen is too low a price. I have a box of good stuff here. How about I give you a discount of 500 wen each?"
As he spoke, the black-bearded man took out a black wooden box from the box next to him. When he opened the box, there were four very, very large silkworm eggs inside, which were four or five times larger than ordinary giant silkworm eggs.
"This is the king of giant silkworms, we also call it the king silkworm. It's a good thing. I heard that only one can emerge from hundreds of thousands of silkworms. If you like it, you can buy it and raise it for fun. The butterflies that emerge from the king silkworm are bigger than the palm of your hand and are very beautiful."
Ye Jintang was very interested in this king silkworm. It was very nice to hatch two big butterflies to entertain the children.
"Madam, I only have this box of silkworms. If you really like them, I can charge you 400 coins for each one."
Seeing that Ye Jintang was hesitant, the black-bearded man took the initiative to lower the price.
"I'll charge you 100 coins for the giant silkworms and 200 coins for the king silkworms. If you think it's okay, I'll give you the money now."
"Madam, you are bargaining with a dragon-slaying sword."
The black-bearded man still didn't open the shop tonight. Thinking that he didn't want to make a wasted trip, he finally gritted his teeth and sold it.
Rich woman Ye Jintang bought 100 giant silkworms at one time, and a box of four king silkworms.
It seems like there are a lot of them, and if they are all packed into a palm-sized box, they can't even fill the floor.
There were silkworm eggs hatching in Ye Jintang's space. She put the eggs into the space and continued to visit the ghost market with Xiao Mo.
I have to say there are so many fakes in the ghost market.
Xiao Mo took a fancy to a very nice antique vase. He also liked the auspicious pattern painted on it. But when he picked it up and took a look, he almost died of laughter.
"Brother Xiao, you really liked the Hundred Flowers Vase just now, why did you put it down again? I think the pattern on the bottom of the vase doesn't look fake."
Ye Jintang was confused when Xiao Mo pulled him away from the stall.
"The inscription on the bottom of the bottle is real, but the bottle body is fake. I said it looked a bit strange. It turns out that the painting on the bottle body was added later."
"Ah, can you fake it like this?"
"This is just the beginning. Even the most skilled appraisers in the ghost market can make mistakes sometimes."
The two chatted while wandering around the ghost market. In addition to buying silkworms, Ye Jintang also bought a lot of small things he had never seen before.
Xiao Mo bought a set of carving props and some strange woods at the ghost market.
When the two were walking back, they happened to meet the big man with black beard again. He was actually selling silkworm king eggs to people again.
Ye Jintang was so confused that she didn't know whether to laugh or cry. It turned out that the buyer is always less shrewd than the seller. She felt that she had already picked up the Dragon Slaying Sword, but it turned out that the other party had hidden it even deeper.