An extraordinary life journey through old Beijing courtyard houses

Chapter 185 Borrowing Money or Not

Just as Jiang Baobin was scratching his head, wondering whether he should go after the Liu family to explain,

To be honest, he was also quite afraid that if he didn't say something well, he might anger that person.

Snap! Give him a sword strike too!

Jiang Baobin couldn't help but shiver.

Just then, Mrs. Gao came out of the house looking dejected.

When Jiang Baobin inquired, he learned that it was because of the huge commotion that had occurred before the Lunar New Year.

Although Jiang Baobin handled everything cleanly, resulting in a situation where the people didn't complain and the officials didn't investigate.

However, the Gao family's livelihood was significantly affected as a result.

They had hoped things would gradually improve.

As a result, the landlord caused this trouble again. How could Mrs. Gao not be worried?

Well, Lao Gao went out early this morning to come up with a solution.

Mrs. Gao stayed until the afternoon, but seeing that there were still no customers, she had no choice but to leave.

Since Lao Gao hasn't come back yet, the situation is definitely not optimistic.

The fact that something happened is only one aspect; the main reason is the unfavorable overall environment.

The current state of the market can only be described as extremely depressed.

No one would believe it if I told them, but now that things are peaceful, people are actually more careful with their money.

Another point is that those with spending power either ran away or fled, and even those who stayed consciously kept a low profile.

That's why we've ended up with this result—

Even a famous restaurant might only have three to five guests a day, but it still has to make preparations.

A meal at the Huaiyang cuisine restaurant "Yuhuatai" costs 1000 yuan, while Chiang Kai-shek's favorite Shandong cuisine restaurant "Cuihualou" has been closed for several days.

The well-known "Donglaishun" restaurant has reduced its daily mutton supply from 500 jin to 50 jin.

The store used to have more than 150 employees, but now there are fewer than 100.

With the Gao family caught in the middle, and them targeting the high-end market, how could their business not plummet?

Jiang Baobin greeted her proactively, "Oh, Mrs. Gao, where are you going?"

Mrs. Gao gave a wry smile: "Don't laugh at me, but we're just taking some things from home to try our luck at the pawnshop."

"To pay the rent?"

"Absolutely."

Jiang Baobin scratched his chin, "My little wife—"

Pshaw! It was Liu Ling'er who caused this huge mess.

I was also involved in it, so I really feel bad for them.

Moreover, Mrs. Gao is very good at interpersonal relationships.

Whenever she was home, she would have someone deliver some delicious food to her every few days.

Jiang Baobin is a man who clearly distinguishes between gratitude and resentment; there's no way you can bully him.

There were several of them before, all submerged in the water to feed the fish.

But he wouldn't confide in others.

This is his late grandmother's teaching: "If you do nothing wrong, you have nothing to fear."

So he said, "Here's what we'll do, Mrs. Gao, come to my room for a moment, I have something to say to you."

The woman looked at him, quite hesitant.

It wasn't that she was afraid Jiang Baobin had any ulterior motives towards her; did he even know what kind of person he was?

come!

She was in a bit of a hurry; the things in her bag probably wouldn't be enough to pawn for enough money, so she'd have to go out and check.

However, since Jiang Baobin has invited me, I have to give him face.

After entering the house, Mrs. Gao looked around curiously and couldn't help but exclaim, "Mr. Jiang, your house is so neat and tidy, it's no less than Yuanyuan's boudoir!"

Jiang Baobin just smiled; it was a quirk of engineering students—they demanded everything be perfectly organized.

But that's not the point.

Jiang Baobin said, "Mrs. Gao, I won't entertain you any longer. Let's get straight to the point, okay?"

"Okay, go ahead."

"How much rent do you still owe?"

Mrs. Gao was stunned, and after a long while, she asked, "What do you mean?"

"It's alright, I'll lend you whatever you need."

"what?"

Mrs. Gao was taken aback, her face immediately turned red, and tears streamed down her face.

Jiang Baobin's teeth-scratching gesture was so fast! Is his emotion really that rich? Is he acting?

After a long while, Mrs. Gao finally said, sobbing, "With your words, I feel it was all worth it."

Jiang Baobin scratched his head – What? You think you're worth it?

Stop with the drama, just tell me how much you want to borrow and that's it.

Mrs. Gao's rent totaled 144 silver dollars, and Jiang Baobin lent her 100 of them.

However, he also made it clear that he was willing to lend her money, but she couldn't tell anyone, including her family.

Mrs. Gao readily agreed and left, expressing her deepest gratitude.

And the result? It infuriated Jiang Baobin!

Despite all the repeated warnings and instructions, something still happened.

The Chiang family actually came to borrow money.

No one dies without illness; they must have heard rumors.

Even so, Jiang Baobin didn't give in and insisted that he had no money!

How could Aunt Jiang, her elder brother, and her sister-in-law possibly accept this?

She was about to scold Jiang Baobin, but when she saw that he was about to throw a tantrum, she quickly changed her mind.

However, they insisted that they had found out everything clearly about him lending money to Mrs. Gao.

A full 100 dollars!

Jiang Baobin was so angry he almost lost his temper. He's really good for nothing and good for making things worse!

But is he someone who gives in so easily?

He denied it outright, saying that he hadn't lent her a single penny and that he didn't have any money himself.

If you don't believe me, call Mrs. Gao over for a face-to-face confrontation.

The eldest sister-in-law didn't believe in superstitions and actually called the people over.

Who is Mrs. Gao? What kind of situation hasn't she seen?

He immediately claimed it was a misunderstanding, that he was actually talking in his sleep and the little girl Gao Yueya overheard him.

They believed it to be true and that's why they told others.

Jiang Baobin denied it, and neither did Mrs. Gao, so the Jiang family naturally couldn't do anything about it.

After uttering those harsh words, the group left in a huff.

Jiang Baobin's expression didn't change at all—threats? Pshaw! Do you think I'm afraid of you?

But he didn't give Mrs. Gao a kind look.

That's incredibly quick-witted! He agreed one minute and betrayed me the next?

Mrs. Gao quickly apologized, saying that she had not lied—

I was in a good mood yesterday and drank a couple more cups of wine. I did talk in my sleep, and the little girl heard me.

Now that things have come to this, Jiang Baobin's burning anger could only turn into a helpless sigh.

I never expected this guy to have this problem.

It didn't matter that Mrs. Gao had caused trouble; he still had to hurry and tell Jiang Daya.

Don't be foolish enough to lend them money.

She lost money, and she herself was also caught in the trap—

The girls all have money, but he, as their brother, is desperately pretending to be poor. Isn't that just fooling idiots?

×X×××X

Yang Lao Er's wolf meat pie is a success!

You could tell from how the little kids were groaning and clutching their stomachs after eating.

This guy really knows his stuff when it comes to food; I wonder what method he uses.

You can't taste any fishy or foul smell in the meat.

When asked, he would only say that his hometown was in the mountains and that his father was a cook who prepared banquets for people.

He started working as an assistant when he was around ten years old, so he naturally learned the skills.

Since it's a success, let's sell it.

The weather is thawing, and there are six or seven wolves. We can't all eat them ourselves, can we?

How big of a fire would that be?

This time, however, the roles are reversed, and Yang Lao Er has become the master chef.

Jiang Baobin became the waiter who wiped the tables and collected money.

He has a modern mindset and doesn't have as many prejudices.

They were laughing and joking, and actually quite content with what they were doing.

It's not shabby to earn money.

The meat comes for free, how can we not make money?

Another event occurred during this period: the RMB was introduced and began circulating in Beiping.

In fact, the bank was established in Shijiazhuang as early as December 1st of last year, and it was issued on the same day.

With the fall of the Kuomintang, the gold yuan naturally became worthless scrap paper.

To resolve the issue of the large amount of gold yuan notes held by ordinary people.

On the third day after entering the city, the Military Control Commission issued a notice regarding the exchange of gold yuan for RMB:

① In order to meet the needs of the people, the gold yuan will continue to circulate for another 20 days.

② The exchange rate between RMB and gold yuan is 1:10, and the exchange will begin on February 6th.

③ To provide preferential treatment to workers, students, and families in need, each person can exchange 500 gold yuan coupons at a 1:3 discount rate.

yuan.

The notice was immediately and warmly welcomed by the people of the entire city.

The redemption process was completed in just one week.

There was no other way; once the RMB was introduced, who would dare to accept gold yuan notes? So they had to exchange them quickly.

What did the North do with all those gold yuan notes? Did they just burn them like legal tender?

Haha, easy. Ship them south and disrupt their market.

Therefore, the gold yuan currency there plummeted like a cliff, depreciating all the way down.

Jiang Baobin has been busy these past few days.

Ah! Buying and selling RMB short?

Don't talk nonsense, that could cost you your head!

He's busy collecting!

Please, this is the first set! He had vaguely heard that it was quite valuable.

So on the day the exchange began, the pancake stall closed down, and he took his whole family to exchange money.

Just so that they can get number 0001, or a consecutive number.

It's okay if you don't get a number; just wait on the side and exchange with someone who has a consecutive number.

People these days are so naive; they don't understand the intricacies of things at all.

Say some nice things, or pay a little more money, and you can get it done.

They won't collect them anyway; they'll just spend them.

Just when Jiang Baobin thought that life would continue in this ordinary way...

Then one person appeared—disrupting his return to the lives of ordinary people.