After saving the Empress, I became the top scholar in the imperial examination.

Inside the Qianqing Palace, the Empress spoke solemnly.

Jia Shi'an glanced at the Empress at the head of the table, and after a long pause, nodded solemnly:

"Your Majesty... please rest assured."

……

……

The sun is westward.

The setting sun hangs behind the majestic palace with its red walls and golden tiles.

The enormous shadow of the palace pressed down on Datong Street at the foot of the imperial city.

The signboard with the four characters "Ning's Money Shop" was thus shrouded in a shadow.

However, this shadow did nothing to diminish the joy on the face of the money shop's owner.

Ning Nan stood with his hands behind his back, looked at the small money exchange, and smiled.

He invested 100,000 taels of silver in the money shop, and the basic framework was set up.

Chu Daichen, short and stout, dressed in the clothes of a shopkeeper, stood beside him with a grateful expression.

Ning Nan glanced at him and smiled, "Uncle Chu, there's no rush. Let's focus on cultivating talent first."

Chu Daichen hurriedly bowed, his voice trembling slightly, and said, "Don't worry, sir, I, I will definitely take good care of your money shop..."

Chu Daichen's voice trembled, and his eyes stung with tears.

Implicated in the Wu King's rebellion, his Wu Yue money shop was shut down by the imperial court, and the Chu family's property was also confiscated. He started selling candied hawthorns on the streets, and his family could barely afford to eat.

But he didn't expect that just a few days after his son Chu Feixiong took the provincial examination, something would happen.

This big boss—his son's classmate at the private school—actually came to him, saying he wanted to open a money exchange and invited him to be the head manager!

Chu Daichen looked extremely astonished!

For a moment, they thought that the other party, like their son's classmates at the Imperial College, had come to humiliate their family on purpose!

He suppressed his temper and made a few excuses to the other party.

But the man immediately took out a stack of papers, on which were written all sorts of things about opening a money exchange.

His gaze gradually changed when he saw these things…

On Datong Street.

Chu Daichen looked at the "Ning Family Money Shop," which had finally opened after more than half a month, and his expression was quite complicated.

He never imagined that he would actually need to use his skills again.

"Master."

Chu Daichen sighed inwardly, pulled out several palm-sized silver notes from his sleeve, and handed them to Ning Nan with both hands:

"Here's what you wanted—" Chu Daichen said somewhat awkwardly, "a 'silver note' with a face value of five copper coins."

The ten "silver notes" in my hand were of rough material, and the anti-counterfeiting measures only used a single layer of watermark.

Chu Daichen smiled bitterly to himself.

During their first meeting, the employer mentioned his name, and he didn't recognize him at first. After a while, he realized that this person was Ning Baixuan, who was famous throughout the capital!

Later, seeing that the owner knew "piaohao" (trading houses) and "qianzhuang" (money shops) like the back of his hand, he was even more shocked.

He immediately realized that this seemingly young owner was not joking when he said he wanted to open a money exchange! This gave him a lot more confidence.

But as he recruited talent and the money shop was about to open,

The employer gave him a task, saying that in addition to the basic tasks of "exchanging silver," "depositing silver," and "lending silver," there was more to it.

He also needed to print a batch of small silver notes with denominations of 'five cash,' 'ten cash,' 'fifty cash,' 'one qian,' 'two qian,' 'five qian,' and 'one liang.'

This task left him speechless.

He didn't know what the owner intended to do with such a small denomination.

It should be noted that the paper used for banknotes was special paper such as mulberry bark paper or Sichuan paper.

The price of the paper alone was more than five times that of ordinary paper, and the content on the banknotes was exquisitely crafted. To prevent counterfeiting, the patterns on the banknotes were extremely complex.

In order to carve the banknotes of "Ning's Money Shop" well, he spent a lot of money to hire three master craftsmen after the owner agreed!

Aside from the patterns, the colors on the banknotes were also created by multiple layers of printing and dyeing.

It even has the signature and fingerprint of a designated person, and there are even secret written seals, making it extremely difficult to forge.

In this way, a silver note, regardless of whether it says "one thousand taels" or "one hundred taels", is already very valuable.

The cost of a single silver note is at least 100 coins. If it's a large denomination, you'd have to hire a master craftsman or even a renowned expert to meticulously carve the Chinese characters.

Denominations of 'one tael' or more are fine, but if they are used to print 'five cash' or 'ten cash' notes, it would naturally be a losing proposition.

He reluctantly explained the situation.

The owner thought for a moment and said with a smile, "Manager Chu, you can change your mind... Hmm... The paper can't be changed. We should still use mulberry paper, but not too big, just the size of a palm."

"For the 'five-cash' banknotes, the only anti-counterfeiting measure is a stamp. After all, the paper itself is expensive, so there's no point in forging them. He's the one who's losing out..."

"If it's ten coins, just add a simple pattern, nothing too complicated."

"Up to fifty coins, hmm... just use more paper, make it bigger, and at the same time, do a few color overprints... In short, just keep increasing the cost of these small banknotes..."

"Well, once it reaches one or two taels of silver, it's not much different from other silver notes..."

That's what the boss said.

He was taken aback for a moment, then his mind suddenly cleared, and he quickly responded.

But his brows furrowed, and he couldn't help but ask, "May I ask, sir, what is the purpose of printing these small silver notes?"

If a large number of small silver notes of "five coins" were printed, people would bring copper coins to the money shop to deposit the silver.

If everyone were to exchange for these "five-copper" silver notes, the money shop would lose several copper coins on each note.

The employer just smiled and told him to finish making it first.

Chu Daichen's heart skipped a beat, and he nodded hastily, not daring to ask any more questions...

……

sunset.

Ning Nan touched the dozen or so five-coin notes in his hand, which were noticeably rougher than real silver notes, and smiled knowingly.

"Yes, sir."

He waved to a sugar cake vendor passing by and smiled.

"Brother Xu."

The sugar cake vendor surnamed Xu stopped his stall and greeted him with a smile: "Sir, the top scholar."

Ning Nan waved the banknotes in his hand, pulled out one, and smiled at the vendor, "Brother Xu, do you believe me?"

The vendor was taken aback for a moment, then smiled broadly and said, "Who on Datong Street would dare not believe in the Scholar Jieyuan?"

Ning Nan pulled out a five-copper note, handed it to the other person, and said with a smile, "This piece of paper is worth five copper coins. I'll buy a sugar cake from you... Take this to this Ning Family Money Shop, and you can exchange it for five copper coins..."

"Well, you can also use this piece of paper to buy a newspaper with the Nancheng Daily, or you can go to Fulai Tavern and ask for a bowl of tea..."

"I can't go to Sujin Pavilion... but if I had 'five qian' paper money, I could buy a few yards of cloth..."

The vendor listened intently for a long time, but couldn't quite understand what the other person was saying. However, he did understand that the top scholar wanted to eat pancakes.

He quickly put on a forced smile and said, "Sir, if you want to eat pancakes, it doesn't cost much anyway..."

The vendor lifted the curtain, took out a half-sold sugar cake from the steamer, wrapped it in newspaper, and handed it to Ning Nan: "Sir, please have one..."

Ning Nan was both amused and exasperated. Without offering any further explanation, he took the sugar cake and then slapped a five-copper note into the vendor's hand...

Chu Daichen's eyes widened slightly as he watched this scene.

Ning Nan smiled somewhat helplessly, "Uncle Chu, please take Young Master Xu inside to exchange for copper coins..."

……

……

The next day.

At the end of the Nancheng Daily newspaper, there was a line of very small print saying that a new "Ning's Money Shop" had opened on Datong Street.

at the same time.

Many newspaper buyers in the city who used to buy newspapers in bulk for three coins and then resell them individually for five coins received a new notice from the newspaper office.

It was said that from this day forward, if one used copper coins to buy a newspaper, the price would rise to four copper coins per newspaper, but if one used small silver notes from the Ning Family Money Shop, the price would remain at three copper coins.

The newspaper buyers were all surprised and somewhat taken aback, and immediately expressed their dissatisfaction.

The newspaper clerk pointed and said, "Ning's Money Shop is right across the street."

Seeing that it was so close, everyone's anger subsided a bit. Thinking that it was only a small matter, they went to the bank to deposit a few taels of silver, and came back with a stack of small silver notes to continue buying newspapers...

A few more days passed...

The Nancheng Daily published another article, which stated that restaurants such as Fulai Restaurant, Tianjinlou Restaurant, Songhelou Restaurant, and Heminglou Restaurant, as well as cloth shops such as Sujinge, Chenji, and Qiyuejin, had posted notices.

The notice stated that anyone using "Ning's Money Shop" banknotes to eat, drink, or buy cloth at their establishment would receive a 20% discount, provided the total amount did not exceed five taels of silver...

Time passed day by day...

The small silver notes from the Ning Family Money Shop slowly seeped into Nanjing like a spring pond...

……

……

December 3rd.

Zhu Cuiwei put on her clothes and opened the window when she got up in the morning. Looking outside, she saw that there had been a strong wind all night, but no snow had fallen, which relieved her.

She gave a small yawn, rubbed her eyes, and slowly walked back to the bedside.

Seeing her husband still curled up in his warm bed, she was furious.

*Slap slap slap!* She reached out her delicate hand and patted the sleeping young doctor's face without any hesitation.

"Get up! The imperial examination is about to begin! The carriages are all ready!"