Xiang Xiaoqiang opened the glass lid of the candy box, looked at it carefully for a while, then reached out and picked up one.
He immediately realized that it was not sugar. This one was heavier than sugar and not sticky at all. Xiang Xiaoqiang held the "candy" and observed it carefully. It was dark rose red, about the size of a peanut, somewhat translucent, and the surface was very rough.
It tastes very similar to the texture of candy bars.
It couldn't be a gem, right? He suddenly thought. But he shook his head and felt something was wrong. This was far from the feeling of a "gem". He looked at the light and saw that it had some transparency, but it was very poor. It looked like a gem.
A dark red pebble.
No, it's definitely not a gem... What is that? Could it be that it's really a candy bar? Xiang Xiaoqiang hesitated, then stuck out his tongue and licked it... There was no taste at all.
He put the "candy cube" back into the box and looked at the others. There were eighteen candy cubes in the box, three white, five blue, five red, and five green.
They were all about the same size, about the size of peanuts. Xiang Xiaoqiang suspiciously picked up the blue and green candy cubes and looked at them. They felt similar to the red ones, not like candy cubes, but they definitely didn't look like gems.
Xiang Xiaoqiang picked up another white sugar cube. This white sugar cube also had poor transparency and a rough surface. It looked like a rock candy, but it felt heavy and cold in the hand.
"Damn it," Xiang Xiaoqiang got impatient and cursed, "What the hell is this!... Qiu Qiu! Xiu Xiu!"
As soon as he shouted, the guards at the door immediately called Qiu Qiu and Xiu Xiu. Xiang Xiaoqiang pushed the box of candy in front of them and said:
"Let's take a look. Their company bought this for you, saying it is for you to eat as snacks... you can eat it."
"Ah, what a beautiful candy!"
Qiu Qiu smiled, reached out and picked up a red one, and was about to stuff it into his mouth. When Xiang Xiaoqiang saw that Qiu Qiu really wanted to eat it, he was very frightened, and Xiu Xiu also shouted hurriedly:
"Qiu Qiu doesn't want it!"
Qiu Qiu himself had already discovered something was wrong, so he vomited it into his hand and said curiously:
"What is this? Isn't it strawberry candy?...It's so heavy!"
Xiang Xiaoqiang laughed angrily and scolded:
"You really eat? You just eat when I tell you to, so obedient!"
Xiuxiu also said anxiously:
"Qiu Qiu, someone left this behind. I don't know why. How could I put it in my mouth? Oh, it's true!"
Qiu Qiu made a face, stuck out his tongue and said with a smile:
"Actually, my reaction is quite fast. How could I eat it? Look, I vomited it out as soon as I realized something was wrong. But what on earth is this?...Ah, I understand!!"
Qiu Qiu exclaimed, holding the "candy" in his hand, looking at the light, his eyes widening.
Xiu Xiu also picked up another candy in the box and observed it. At this moment, she raised her head and looked at Qiu Qiu. Xiang Xiaoqiang also stared at Qiu Qiu and asked:
"What is it? Say it quickly!"
Qiu Qiu looked at it carefully for a while and said categorically:
"This is ruby!"
"Hey..." Xiang Xiaoqiang was discouraged and laughed, "...do you have a ruby like this at home?"
Qiu Qiu nodded seriously:
"Yes, I have a ruby like this at home."
Xiang Xiaoqiang was dubious and was about to continue laughing when Qiu Qiu said:
"Xiaoqiang, Xiuxiu, let me tell you, this is ruby raw material, just as it was mined, without cutting or polishing. What we see in jewelry stores are finished products, these are semi-finished products."
Xiang Xiaoqiang stopped laughing, and his expression slowly turned into surprise. Upon hearing this, Xiu Xiu carefully put down the "candy cube" in her hand, for fear of breaking it.
Qiu Qiu carefully picked up each "candy" and looked at it carefully against the light. He quickly determined that the five red "candies" were all made of rubies.
"What about the blue and green ones?" Xiu Xiu was anxious. A very bad feeling spread throughout her body, as if these were not gems but bombs. "What about the white ones?"
Qiu Qiu looked at the others carefully and felt a little unsure:
"I have never seen these two raw materials. The blue one may be sapphire, and the green one may be emerald."
Then she suddenly carefully picked up a piece of white "rock candy" and said in surprise:
"...Ah, I know this white one. Do you know what it is? It's a rough diamond!"
"Rough diamond?"
"Yes, it's raw diamond, uncut and processed! I have one like this at home! It's a rough diamond, absolutely right!"
Xiang Xiaoqiang and Xiu Xiu were both surprised and asked Qiu Qiu how she knew this kind of raw gemstone.
Qiu Qiu continued:
"When I was young, there was a large silver shop near the Confucius Temple in Nanjing. My father often took my mother there to buy her jewelry... Later, my mother passed away... The very next year, in 1929,
During the Great Depression, the bank had just purchased a batch of gemstone raw materials. All funds were tied up and the turnover could not be opened. The banks were tightening their money supply and no one was willing to lend money. The owner of the bank went to my father and begged me.
Dad gave him a loan.
"At that time, my master advised my dad to keep a close eye on his pockets at this time and never put money out. But my father and the boss were regular customers, and they were very familiar with each other. He was very generous, so he didn't listen.
Yes, I lent 20,000 mingyang to the bank. But no one expected that the economic depression would become more and more serious, all walks of life were closed down, and no one had the money to buy jewelry. The bank would never be able to turn around again, so
It went bankrupt. The court seized the assets. The remaining assets of the bank were the two largest, one was its real estate, and the other was the batch of gemstone raw materials.
"My father was the biggest creditor, and the batch of raw gemstones was awarded to him to pay off his debt. At that time, he could choose to have it in kind, or in cash after the court auction. Because of the economic depression, everyone wanted cash, and so did my father. But his master
He suggested to him for the second time that it would be better to get gems. When my father asked why, the master said that in this economic recession, the price of jewelry cannot be compared to one-third of the price in the prosperous period. And there will always be an economic crisis.
In the past. Since there is no shortage of money now, it is better to keep the gems in stock and wait until prosperity returns in a few years. This will be a big profit.
"This time my father listened to him and accepted the batch of gemstone raw materials. I was only thirteen or fourteen years old at the time, and I liked jewelry very much. I often pestered my dad to get those gemstone raw materials to play with. There were five in total, four
One was a ruby, relatively large, each as big as a walnut, and one was a rough diamond, the raw material of diamonds, as big as half a broad bean... Later, I accidentally broke a ruby in half, and my father got angry.
He locked it up and never let me play with it again, saying that...well, when I grow up...when I get married...hehe, it will be used as a dowry."
Xiao Nizi finished speaking. Xiang Xiaoqiang was still interested in listening and breathed a sigh of relief. She didn't expect that her father-in-law had prepared such a dowry for Qiu Qiu and that she would have such an unexpected income. Xiu Xiu listened while listening.
, while looking at the box of "candy" on the table, cold sweat gradually flowed down.
Xiang Xiaoqiang asked greedily:
"Qiu Qiu, how much are your dowries worth now?"
Qiu Qiu smiled and said:
"Last year, my father asked someone to do an appraisal. The raw materials for those few gemstones were no less than 60,000 mingyang... The economy has only gotten better in the past few years, but it is far from prosperous."
Xiang Xiaoqiang marveled that Qiu Qiu's father just listened to the master's advice and tripled his capital in six years. It seemed that the master had some skills.
...How much is 60,000 mingyang worth? It is equal to 31 kilograms of gold. Converted according to the price of gold in later generations, it is almost more than 7 million yuan.
Qiu Qiu continued to look at the raw materials of these eighteen gems, estimated and said:
"These are not as big as the rubies at my house, but the color is much better...especially these three rough diamonds, which are bigger than the ones at my house at every moment. Taken together... they are definitely worth more than the ones at my house."
.A hundred thousand mingyang, maybe?”
Xiang Xiaoqiang became really nervous and told him how the manager of Yuhuacong had left the gift. The three of them looked at each other. After a while, Xiang Xiaoqiang ordered:
"Go and invite Princess Liaoyang."
…
After listening to the stories of several people, Shi Shigege picked up the gems and looked at them again, frowning and saying:
"I know a little bit about these kinds of gems, but I have never come into contact with the raw materials. But generally speaking, the raw materials are worth half to two-thirds of the finished product. If Qiu Qiu is not mistaken and these are really gems, then just from the size and
Judging from the color, the total price will not be less than 200,000 yuan. If there are no big cracks and impurities inside."
Then she saw the bamboo strip bag beside her and asked:
"Is this the tea they sent?"
"Yes," Xiang Xiaoqiang said, "There won't be a check in it, right?"
Fourteen Gege didn't say anything. He opened it very carefully, took out the first piece of tea cake, gently opened the wrapping paper, looked at the old label embedded in the dark tea cake, smelled the smell carefully, squinted his eyes,
Distinguish like a wine connoisseur.
"There's no need to clip the check," Shi Shigege carefully put it down again, looking at Xiang Xiaoqiang with a gloating smile on his lips, "This bag of antique-grade Pu'er tea has been aged for nearly a hundred years, and it's probably worth 20,000 to 30,000 mingyang...
…Of course, haha, it can’t be compared with that box of candies…”
Xiang Xiaoqiang was very embarrassed, rubbing his hands on his buttocks subconsciously, and still said:
"No way...how do you know..."
There was a hint of gloominess on Shi Shi Ge Ge's face, and she said quietly:
"My grandma has several different Pu'er tea cakes, and I often brew some to drink... I clearly remember the appearance and taste of the tea from those cakes, and one of them is this kind... Tea is not produced in the north, and tea leaves
The ones that are very expensive over there have to be transported by foreign companies from the Ming Dynasty, and the price usually doubles. This is especially true for this kind of top-quality tea. I said 20,000 to 30,000 Ming yang, but it is still half the price over there."
Xiang Xiaoqiang and Qiu Qiu Xiuxiu looked at each other again.
These two hundred thousand Mingyang things, plus the two bulletproof cars, total nearly 300,000. As a princess canonized by the Ming Dynasty, Shi Shigege only earns 750,000 a year. This Yuhuacong company also
It's too generous.
But their calculations were very accurate. A military vehicle cost two to three thousand mingyang, and Xiang Xiaoqiang planned to purchase at least tens of thousands of them. This is a business worth tens of millions of mingyang. Even if it is not all given to one company, Yuhuacong may get a share of it.
There are quite a few. Compared with such a large order, several hundred thousand Mingyang is undoubtedly a drop in the bucket. In Yuhuacong's view, for a person of Xiang Xiaoqiang's status and wealth, several hundred thousand Mingyang is already a drop in the bucket.
The biggest temptation is the amount of money you can take risks.
Yes, not long ago Xiang Xiaoqiang risked his life in Beiqing for 500,000 Mingyang. But that was just his first pot of gold. People can risk their lives for the first pot of gold, but not after that. Especially Xiang Xiaoqiang now
, has mastered huge power, almost "monopolized" the Queen, and has a "mineral plan" with almost unlimited wealth... These two to three hundred thousand can make his heart flutter, but it is far from enough to bribe him.
Fourteen Gege pondered:
"If this is on our side, I can tell you clearly what to do now. But I don't know much about the unspoken rules of Ming Dynasty. However, I always feel that Yuhuacong Company only came once, and it took less than a day to
It seems a bit too... urgent to invest such a large amount of money."
Xiu Xiu also nodded repeatedly and looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang. Xiang Xiaoqiang also pondered for a moment and asked Xiu Xiu:
"However... you told me that doing these things in Ming Dynasty is very risky. If you don't do it, you will lose your reputation?"
Xiuxiu said anxiously:
"Yes, how can both parties just come up and give it away without going through a few rounds of testing? If it were in the north..."
She glanced at Fourteen Gege and continued:
"...If it were in Beiqing, as long as it was sent, out of a hundred officials, a hundred would dare to accept it, and no one would care about it at all, so he could just send it away without thinking... But in Ming Dynasty, most officials would not dare to
The person who collects and delivers the goods will be worried that the official will report it. Once the official reports it, all the money will be confiscated, and a large part of the confiscated money will be rewarded to the official who reported the report. To say the least, even if the official wants to collect it, he will have to.
He is worried that someone has set up a trap for him. If he falls into a trap and someone gets the handle, he will be finished. Therefore, both parties would not dare to make such a deal without full understanding and repeated trials."
Shi Shigege glanced at Xiuxiu, nodded, and said to Xiang Xiaoqiang, that's about it.
Well, Xiang Xiaoqiang understands. One side does this kind of thing secretly, and the other side does it openly. Although it happens on both sides, the degree is very different.
He stood up, stared at the valuable things on the table, touched his chin, and said word by word:
"That is to say, someone wants to set up a trap against me...who is it? Xiuxiu!"
Xiu Xiu was startled, her face turned pale with fright, and she murmured:
"Sir, no...it's not me..."
"I didn't say it was you," Xiang Xiaoqiang glanced at her and said, "Go and ask the security team to secretly investigate Yuhuacong Company for me!"
Xiuxiu ran away quickly, and after a while, Stomachache came back with her. Stomachache had heard Xiuxiu tell her what had happened, and ordered her to go down to conduct a secret investigation, and then also came to the commander's office.
Now several of the People's Guard's top think tanks were gathered together. Qiu Qiu couldn't say anything, so he poured tea for them nearby.
Everyone agreed that someone must be using Yuhuacong Company to set a trap for Xiang Xiaoqiang and want to get Xiang Xiaoqiang. Xiang Xiaoqiang raised a few questions: First, with his current status, the crime of accepting bribes alone can bring him down.
?
Several people, including Qiu Qiu, looked at Xiang Xiaoqiang in surprise.
"Why can't we defeat him?" His eyes widened with a stomachache, "If we can't defeat him, are there still so many people setting traps for political opponents?"
Xiang Xiaoqiang looked at everyone's expressions and realized that in today's Ming Dynasty, this crime is also a very serious crime. His consistent experience is that as long as he does not lose power in the officialdom, it is very difficult to get people offended by the crime of corruption.
of.
Fourteen Gege added:
"It's not necessarily true now. What Zi Teng was talking about was before the coup, and now after the coup. Many powers are now out of control... Lord Xiang has your majesty's trust after all. If your majesty wants to protect you, no one can touch you.
.But after such a fuss, it will definitely greatly damage your Majesty’s image in His Majesty’s heart. And this is your biggest support at present, and what makes others jealous the most. This may also be the other party’s purpose. Even if it doesn’t work this time, the other party will
They will also set up a trap to frame you for the second and third time. As for whether you can be convicted in the end, it is not important. What is important is to cause an uproar and make your Excellency disgraced. Whether it is with the people or with Your Majesty.
.”
Several people nodded, agreeing with her analysis. Xiang Xiaoqiang asked a second question: Aren't the other parties afraid that he would report directly after receiving the gift? In this way, they would not only lose hundreds of thousands of dollars, but also be punished.
The order will also be completely ruined.
Fourteen Gege also analyzed:
"The other party didn't send cash, gold and silver, and checks, but these two strange things... These two things are very valuable, but most people don't recognize them. Needless to say, Pu'er tea.
If Qiu Qiu didn't have the same kind of candies at home and she recognized them, who among us would have known that they were rubies, sapphires, and diamonds? Of course, we would soon find out that they were not candies, but after all
What it is, I can’t figure out for a while. Therefore, it is difficult to think of reporting it in a short time.”
Xiuxiu looked at everyone and said hesitantly:
"Yuhuacong is just a company, and I have no grudges with you, so I shouldn't be the mastermind. But, who can take advantage of such a big company as Yuhuacong? If Yuhuacong Company does this, it will probably be lost.
A business worth tens of millions of yuan will still be stigmatized as a bribe. Who can afford such a high price?"
Shi Shigege thought for a while and admitted:
"Yes, that's a problem."
At this moment, an officer from the security team came in with the materials and whispered something into Xiang Xiaoqiang's ear. Xiang Xiaoqiang made a sound of "ah" and said to Xiang Xiaoqiang:
"Sir, who do you think is the major shareholder of Yuhuacong Company?"
"who is it?"
"Zheng Yucong!"
Xiang Xiaoqiang was stunned, and his mind suddenly brightened.