Guo Jing's reaction was completely within Li Jie's expectation. No matter how novel the preserved egg is, it is just a small business. It won't make a lot of money. It's better to have a steady stream of money.
Li Jie followed Guo Jing to the inner courtyard and asked calmly: "Uncle Guo, I would like to ask where you got so much money?"
Guo Jing nodded calmly. He was not surprised that Li Jie could guess his thoughts. After spending so many days together, he knew his nephew quite well. He was no less intelligent than Ronger.
"Uncle Guo, please take a look at this."
As Li Jie spoke, he took out a beautifully shaped box from his arms.
The box is carved from the finest nanmu. The reliefs on the surface are extremely delicate. It is heavy to buy. Guo Jing is not an inexperienced person. This box alone would cost dozens of fakes. The value of the things inside must be even more.
high.
When he opened the lock, he saw a small ornate copper item placed inside. Guo Jing's face became even more confused. Although the copper item was valuable, it did not need to be packaged in such an exquisite box.
"Uncle Guo, please turn over and take a look."
Hearing this, Guo Jing subconsciously picked up the copper products in the box and flipped it over. An extremely smooth mirror came into view. Different from the commonly used copper mirrors, this mirror was as clear as crystal, with every detail on the face even
The pores on his face were clearly visible. It was the first time that Guo Jing saw himself in such a real form in the mirror. His face was full of astonishment and he spoke in an uncertain tone.
"This...this...is this what you did?"
Li Jie shook his head first, and then nodded: "This mirror was not made by Guo'er, but came from overseas. According to the merchant who traded with me, this mirror was made by a man named
The city of Venice is thousands of miles away from our country."
To make a mirror, you must first have glass. Making glass is actually not difficult, and the process is not complicated. It is mainly made of sand, trona, limestone, and quartz. Standing on the shoulders of giants, we wanted to create countless mirrors during the Southern Song Dynasty.
Stained glass is not too difficult.
Due to environmental factors, the actual output of glass is not high. Instead of selling pure glass, it is better to further process it to make mirrors. This will obviously be more profitable. The main material for modern mirror production requires silver nitrate. If you want to
It was not impossible to produce silver nitrate during the Southern Song Dynasty, but it was just too troublesome.
The technique Li Jie chose is the Venetian mirror-making method. The main materials are mercury, glass, and tin foil. It is relatively simple. First, a layer of tin foil is tightly attached to the glass, and then the mercury, which is mercury, is poured. Because mercury
It can dissolve tin very well, and then form a viscous silver-white liquid "tin amalgam" on the glass. The tin amalgam can adhere tightly to the glass to form a mirror.
Although the quality of the glass mirrors made by Li Jie is not as good as the mirrors of later generations, it is still a blockbuster in contemporary times. Once it was launched, it quickly attracted a lot of attention, and those who loved beauty did not hesitate to spend a lot of money to buy it.
If it weren't for the fact that there is a mysterious master behind this force, and the volume of Li Jie's shipments each time is very small, this business would have been taken away by someone who wanted to do it. The deterrent power of the master is still very powerful, and those who
Those who are interested in snatching this business are powerless, and the truly powerful forces do not want to offend a grandmaster because of these profits.
In just two years, Li Jie earned 200,000 yuan from the mirror business alone, which was no less than the income from sugar production. This was because he deliberately controlled the shipment volume, otherwise the profit would definitely exceed that from sugar production.
Of course, he didn't dare to increase shipments rashly, otherwise he would attract real giants. Those forces were not afraid of the grandmaster's intimidation. The key was that the blacksmith was only a temporary worker, not one of his own. He could occasionally be asked to help a few people.
It's okay if you're busy, but in a critical moment, I'm afraid it won't be reliable.
Guo Jing glanced at Li Jie suspiciously. It is not an exaggeration to say that a mirror like this is worth tens of thousands. There are many rich people in Lin'an City, and it is not necessarily even more expensive. Although this explanation is a bit far-fetched, it is not impossible, as long as Li Jie has it in his hands.
With all these factors in mind, it is not difficult to buy this house.
"That being the case, I will believe you for the moment. I won't ask you how you know this businessman. I believe you have your own sense of discretion."
"But, Guo'er, Uncle Guo will give you a piece of advice. A gentleman loves money and gets it wisely! If I learn that you earned ill-gotten wealth in the future, don't blame Uncle Guo for being unkind!"
After saying this, Guo Jing was about to return the box in his hand to its original owner, but Li Jie pushed it into his hand.
"Uncle Guo, let's consider this mirror as a gift from my nephew to Aunt Guo."
Guo Jing frowned slightly. If Li Jie had given him some rare treasures, he would not have refused. But this mirror was worth a thousand dollars. How could he accept such a valuable thing from a junior for no reason?
"Guo'er, it's too expensive, you'd better take it back."
"Uncle Guo, why don't you ask Aunt Guo for her opinion?"
"No! I can't accept it!"
Just when the two of them were giving in to each other, Huang Rong's clear voice suddenly came to their ears.
"Brother Jing, what are you doing?"
Mu Nianci and Huang Rong were walking slowly towards this side. They happened to see the two of them pushing and shoving, so Huang Rong couldn't help but ask a question.
When the two of them came to the side, Guo Jing explained the cause and effect. Huang Rong took out the mirror in the box and looked at it carefully. Is there any woman in the world who doesn't love beauty? What's more, Huang Rong is a combination of Zhong Ling and Yu Xiu. She is naturally beautiful.
Now that I see this mirror, I can’t put it down.
However, Huang Rong also knew what kind of temper her husband was. She had never even heard of such a mirror, let alone seeing it. The price must be high. When she was in a dilemma, Mu Nianci spoke up at the right time.
"Brother Guo, sister Rong, just accept it and treat it as a gift from Guo'er. I also have one of these mirrors, and there are many more at Guo'er's place. It's not a rare commodity."
Huang Rong already liked this mirror very much, so Mu Nianci's words were like the last straw, so she simply accepted it.
"Thank you, Sister Mu!"
After saying that, she secretly glanced at Guo Jing. Guo Jing had a look of helplessness on his face. Rong'er agreed too suddenly and didn't give him any time to react.
'That's all, that's all. Since Ronger likes it, just accept it. I'll make it up to you if I have the chance in the future.'
At this time, Guo Jing was not as generous as he was at the beginning of "Shooting the Condor". He couldn't afford to spend tens of thousands of dollars at once. He and Huang Rong didn't have any fixed property, so their income was really limited. They had lived in seclusion on Peach Blossom Island for almost all these years.
I don't have any big expenses, and my life is pretty good, but I can't be called rich.