Song Dynasty Dreams: Marrying Zhao Pan'er at the beginning-Chapter 47 - The Vanishing Copper Coins Trick
Chapter 47 The Vanishing Copper Coins Trick
“A full hundred thousand strings of cash! If only all this money belonged to me!”
“Shut up! If you keep dreaming out loud, the officials might hear and take your life!”
“But those officials are all busy holding beauties in their arms…”
Outside the cave, two men whispered to each other.
Gao You quietly moved toward one of the chests and lifted the lid. Inside, it was packed to the brim with copper coins!
Could these be the funds that Zheng Qingtian and his people were planning to split? No wonder they used the banquet as a cover. If carts had been coming and going all day, it would have drawn too much attention! But why so many copper coins?
Wouldn’t using gold and silver be far more convenient? Gao You stared at the chests in confusion.
In reality, Zheng Qingtian and his associates would have preferred gold and silver, but the overseas merchants refused. These merchants brought goods from afar, sold them to distributors, and in return, they received a portion in gold and silver and another portion in copper coins.
However, copper coins took up too much space and were impossible to transport by ship. So they could only take the gold and silver with them and leave the copper coins behind, using them to pay off Zheng Qingtian as a form of tax.
Old Jia had told Gao You to keep an eye on Zheng Qingtian. So what if he were to stash some of these copper coins into his system’s inventory?
If the money from the illicit deal disappeared into thin air…
Zheng Qingtian, as the primary organizer, would be driven to madness trying to investigate the theft. And Old Jia’s side would be completely safe!
“Time to head back!”
Gao You had already been missing for a while. He needed to show his face. Otherwise, if Zheng Qingtian started investigating, the first person he would suspect would be the one who had been absent for too long.
______
Back at the shore, Gao You called out to the maids.
“Bring some fruit and wine!”
He took a few bites of fruit, sipped some wine, and then lazily went back into the water for another swim. To everyone else, this was nothing unusual.
Using the opportunity, Gao You accelerated, disappearing into the reeds. Re-emerging moments later, he was already back inside the cave. Swiftly, he opened the chests and stashed all the copper coins into his system’s inventory.
Keeping an eye on the time…
He stopped collecting for now and quickly swam back to the maids.
A short rest… then another round!
Repeating the cycle over and over…
By the time the sun had set, Gao You had stored away the very last chest of copper coins.
His inventory now held a full one hundred thousand strings of cash!
Zheng Qingtian was truly careless—not even once had he sent someone to check on the stash the entire afternoon. The money was gone!
Feeling bored, Gao You wandered back to the shore. Seeing that dinner had already begun, he casually found a table and sat down.
After eating and drinking his fill, he stretched lazily and yawned, heading back to his room to rest. By now, Zheng Qingtian was bound to be pulling his hair out. There was no need to keep watching him.
_____
That night, Zheng Qingtian was urgently summoned to the treasure cave by his soldiers.
“What the hell happened?”
One hundred thousand strings of copper coins had vanished into thin air!
Zheng Qingtian roared hysterically. The entire mountain was under his control.
How could someone possibly smuggle away such a massive amount of money right under his nose?
This was copper coins they were talking about. Moving them would take hundreds, if not thousands, of carts!
“Find out what happened!”
He bellowed at his men. The soldiers immediately pretended to investigate. Dozens of guards had been stationed at the cave entrance, and none of them had seen anyone enter or leave.
The money had disappeared into thin air.
That left only two possibilities.
A supernatural entity had taken it.
The money had never been transported here in the first place, and Zheng Qingtian was putting on an act to cover up his own crime.
“Search everything!”
A squad of soldiers suddenly barged into Gao You’s room, turning it upside down. Gao You frowned as he stared at them.
“What do you think you’re doing?”
“Nothing here!”
The soldiers shook their heads. The leading officer waved a hand, ordering them to withdraw, leaving behind a mess. Gao You watched their departure with little reaction. He understood how they felt.
After all, if anyone lost a hundred million, they’d probably go mad too. But while Gao You could sympathize, the other invited Jiangnan elites certainly could not! They loudly demanded an explanation from Zheng Qingtian.
The entire night was filled with commotion, but Gao You, heartless as ever, slept like a baby. He was known as the resident fool. Zheng Qingtian could suspect anyone—except him.
______
The next morning, the quality of the banquet had dropped significantly. Yesterday, it was a feast of fish and meat. Today, it was just plain congee and simple vegetables. If the missing hundred thousand strings weren’t found soon, this banquet would only get worse. Of course, Gao You did not care at all.
To ensure he wouldn’t go hungry, his wife had sent sixteen portions of fruit with him.
“Young Master!”
Fu Bo approached Gao You.
“Something big seems to have happened here.”
“I heard someone lost a huge sum of money!”
Gao You was surprised by Fu Bo’s sharp information-gathering skills. The scholars around them were still completely clueless about what was going on!
“Not our problem!”
Gao You waved his hand, dismissing him.
Fu Bo nodded and walked away.
Sun Sanniang finished serving desserts to her customers before tapping Zhao Pan’er on the shoulder.
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“Thinking about your husband?”
Zhao Pan’er was caught off guard and denied it immediately.
“No!”
“Liar!”
Sun Sanniang chuckled.
“Your heart is full of longing. Why won’t you admit it?”
“And besides, how far have you and Gao You progressed?”
Zhao Pan’er, flustered, clenched her handkerchief.
“What do you mean by that?”
Sun Sanniang leaned closer and lowered her voice.
“Do I need to spell it out?”
“When do you plan to be with Gao You?”
