noveltune 0017 Gold Ingot
0017 Gold Ingot
These mountain folk, who can't even afford to eat, actually managed to produce such large gold ingots, and they even brought out three of them.
No matter how I think about it, something just doesn't feel right!
Zhu Shiting picked up one of the gold ingots and weighed it in his hand. It felt very heavy. Upon closer inspection, he saw a crooked inscription on it and asked, "Where did this gold come from?"
Zhou Ren respectfully replied, "Your Excellency, the gold was all stolen by my elder brother and me from a wealthy family in Wenzhou Prefecture, risking our lives."
According to the second-in-command of Zhoujiazhai, the family they robbed, surnamed Zhang, was quite prominent. They were a first-class, well-known family in Wenzhou Prefecture, with thousands of acres of fertile land and countless servants.
Some members of the clan even passed the imperial examinations and became high-ranking officials in Nanjing, frequently receiving imperial rewards from the court.
Taking advantage of the family's birthday celebration, the two brothers led their clansmen to storm in and plunder a lot of gold and silver treasures. It was during that incident that the elder brother, Zhou Gang, was shot by a musket.
As for why these gold ingots were not spent, this involves the legal provisions of the Ming Dynasty regarding "gold-flower silver".
In the early Ming Dynasty, the "Great Ming Decree" stipulated that commoners could not use gold, and even for jewelry, they were only allowed to wear a pair of gold earrings.
Gold was too valuable and difficult to divide, so it rarely circulated among ordinary people. It was mainly used for the royal family, national treasury storage, or as a reward from the court to officials as their salary.
Towards the end of the Ming Dynasty, the ban on gold and silver was relaxed, and silver could be used freely. However, wealthy families would use gold as a "bottom-of-the-box" treasure.
Even if gold ingots were available for sale in the market, they mostly circulated among the gentry and officials of Wenzhou Prefecture.
To put it simply, these gold ingots only served as currency in the local upper class. Ordinary people were restricted and could only hide them secretly if they were lucky enough to obtain them.
The people of Zhoujiazhai had become outlaws, and without travel permits, household registrations, or identities, plus the three coins they stole were imperial gifts, they had no way to sell them or dare to take them.
If the authorities discover these stolen goods, both the buyer and the seller will be imprisoned and punished.
After learning the reason, Zhu Shiting showed an "I see" expression, thinking to himself, "Isn't this a case of suspected large sums of money with unclear origins?"
Similar cases existed in the real world he lived in. During that period of rampant telecom fraud, there were countless cases on the internet involving people being arrested for things like money laundering, money lending, and buying gold bars for telecom fraudsters.
If the funds received involve money, fraud, illegal fundraising, or other illicit gains, the bank account will be frozen in no time.
In a country with a highly information-driven and cashless society, fund supervision is virtually ubiquitous.
This served as a wake-up call for Zhu Shiting!
He realized that if he wanted to take high-value items from the late Ming Dynasty era and convert them into cash in the real world, he had to be more careful.
It's best to find a legal and reasonable business project and then package the profits accordingly.
Otherwise, if a small-time driver like him were to suddenly acquire a huge sum of money from an inexplicable source and become a millionaire, Uncle Hat would 100% come knocking on his door.
With this thought in mind, Zhu Shiting reluctantly put the wooden box handed to him into his robes and looked at everyone, saying, "With this gold, I can use it to grease palms and make connections. I can go to the Heavenly Court to ask some fellow immortals for some elixirs and medicines to bring down to the mortal realm."
"However, whether Zhou Gang can be saved afterward depends on how strong his fate is."
As soon as he finished speaking, Zhu Shiting vanished into Jiyun Village in a flash, leaving Sun Lu, Zhou Ren, and the others waiting anxiously.
……
In modern times, inside a closed warehouse in Xie'ao Village.
Zhu Shiting, who was teleported back carrying the wooden box, grinned from ear to ear as he held the three gold ingots.
"We've struck it rich!"
"Gold prices have skyrocketed lately. Even if I don't sell them as antiques, melting down these three gold ingots and turning them into ordinary gold would be enough to make me rich."
Holding three gold ingots, Zhu Shiting excitedly danced around in the deserted warehouse.
Early in the morning, he went to Ruixian Mall to buy shoes, clothes, iron pots and other daily necessities. Later, he also went to the farmers' market and bought two pork racks. In total, he spent nearly 2 yuan.
Originally, he was feeling a pang of conscience. He thought that he had made over 100,000 yuan yesterday from the jade hairpin, and he would use it to improve the food in Jiyun Village and the lives of the Sun family, so that he could live with himself and also solidify his base in the late Ming Dynasty.
To everyone's surprise, just two days after being transported to the late Ming Dynasty, they returned with a Ming Dynasty gold ingot that was even more valuable than the jade hairpin they had received before.
No matter how you look at it, Zhu Shiting made a huge profit from this unintentional deal!
"We need to sell these gold ingots cautiously and see if we can save Zhou Gang first."
"I can't afford to ruin my image as an all-powerful god."
After a few minutes, Zhu Shiting regained his composure from his smugness.
After thinking for a while, he drove away from the warehouse and took the wooden box back to his room, where he hid it in his bedside table.
No one usually comes into his room. Even when his mother wants to clean, she will ask him in advance if he needs it. After thinking it over, he decided that the safest place to keep these three gold ingots for the time being is at home.
Then Zhu Shiting used a VPN to bypass the Great Firewall and browsed some surgical videos on YouTube about treating gunshot wounds.
Gun control is very strict in China, while Americans have been practicing Iaijutsu for many years and have extensive experience in treating gunshot wounds.
Not only are there educational videos from well-known hospitals and clinics, but you can even use AI translation to find out which medications are listed in the videos for various symptoms.
After browsing through the list, Zhu Shiting was amazed by what he had learned and casually copied down some of the drug names and their effects on a sticky note.
After that, he drove to the neighboring town of Taoshan and found a small, unfamiliar clinic. As soon as he entered, he said to the young doctor in charge, "Doctor, a worker in my factory stepped on a sharp piece of iron and his foot is inflamed. He said his family used to be a folk doctor, so he gave me a prescription and asked me to come and get the medicine for him."
As he spoke, Zhu Shiting handed another prepared note to the other party.
"Why didn't you just ask him to come and see for himself?"
"Tetanus is a serious condition!"
The young doctor took the prescription on the note with a suspicious look and glanced at it. It listed saline solution, penicillin injection, syringes, scalpel blades, gauze, wound healing spray, and painkillers such as aspirin.
The young doctor could tell at a glance that this prescription was written by a professional, and it was all for minimally invasive surgery, and the symptoms matched perfectly.
"That worker is rather stubborn and wanted to save money. He said he had just received a tetanus shot and thought it was a small wound, so he wanted to treat it himself," Zhu Shiting said with a forced smile, making up an excuse.
"Ugh, they're really risking their lives for money. How can they ruin their bodies like this?"
The young doctor complained a few times with disdain after hearing the prescription, and then went to get the medicine.
Because there are many forging factories that make hardware and auto parts in the surrounding towns, some workers who come from impoverished areas grit their teeth and endure the injuries they get in the factories, trying to avoid going to the hospital as much as possible. This small clinic also sees similar cases of workplace injuries on a regular basis.
In addition, clinics in rural areas do not have as strict a regulatory environment for common prescription drugs and medical devices as those in cities; they can sell them for money.
Therefore, the young doctor did not ask too many questions and quickly wrote out the required medications and equipment for Zhu Shiting.