Daming: The system rejected my request for salted fish

Chapter 1333

Hearing the shopkeeper's words, the accountant looked helpless, because the shopkeeper only cared about his own position.

But the helplessness towards the shopkeeper is not so bad; what's truly frustrating is what's happened recently.

For some reason, people have been coming to the money exchange to cash silver for no apparent reason lately, and each time it's a thousand taels.

Although many people exchange silver on weekdays, it's all within a certain range, and the amount is roughly the same every day.

But recently, seven or eight people have been coming every day, and each of them is bringing a thousand taels of silver notes to exchange for cash.

The money shop naturally became suspicious, but after repeated checks, they found no problems with the banknotes; they were all printed by the imperial court.

It should be noted that the banknotes printed by the imperial court had color-changing anti-counterfeiting ink, making them very easy to identify.

Once it's confirmed that the banknotes are fine, the only option is to cash them. However, the key issue is that the amount of silver held by the money shop is limited.

During this period, the cash stored in the money shops had been almost completely exchanged, and they weren't the only ones doing this.

When they first discovered they didn't have enough cash, they even tried to borrow from the money shops in the west of the city, but they were also short of cash there.

Therefore, the two managers put their heads together and directly applied to their superiors for more cash, without any further questions from them.

Suzhou is a bustling metropolis, so it's not surprising that this situation occurred. Therefore, we only approved it for them.

But who would have thought that just a few days after the silver was approved, this situation would occur again, leaving the two managers with no choice but to apply again.

However, it still couldn't hold on, and now the cash reserves are almost depleted again, which is why the shopkeeper is so worried.

He has already applied twice. If he applies again, the Ministry of Revenue will notice something is wrong.

When the time comes, we'll send someone down to investigate. If they find nothing, that's fine. But if they do find something, they'll definitely be charged with dereliction of duty.

The manager's position is a lucrative one, and he certainly doesn't want his superiors to interfere, but he has no way to deal with it now.

"Shopkeeper, someone else has come to cash out silver, another thousand taels in silver notes. Shall we cash them for him?"

Just as the shopkeeper and the accountant were looking worried and remained silent, the voice of the waiter came from outside the door.

Upon hearing the shopkeeper's words, the shopkeeper felt a throbbing in his head, and his eyes began to twitch.

After a moment of silence, the shopkeeper sighed helplessly, then said through gritted teeth:

"Exchange them! As long as the banknotes are in good condition, we'll exchange them all for him!"

Hearing the shopkeeper's response, the waiter replied somewhat awkwardly:

"But manager, we don't have much cash left in our inventory. If we exchange it a few more times, we're afraid we'll run out."

"Moreover, I remember this person who exchanges silver; he has come three times in the past five days, each time exchanging one thousand taels for cash."

"If we let him keep exchanging money like this, our money exchange will have to shut down!"

After the waiter finished speaking, the shopkeeper's eyes twitched a few more times, but he still forced himself to continue:

"Have you forgotten the rules of our money exchange? If the bills are in order, we must cash them for anyone who comes in!"

"Okay, I understand, shopkeeper!"

The waiter responded and then turned to go back to work, but at that moment the manager suddenly spoke up:

"and many more!"

Upon hearing the shopkeeper's voice, the waiter quickly stopped and turned around to ask in a low voice.

"Shopkeeper, is there anything else you need?"

"After exchanging the silver for that person, have the shop assistant secretly follow him and see where he goes with the silver."

"This... Boss, this isn't right! What if someone finds out and the higher-ups investigate... you..."

The waiter was alright; he knew to consider the shopkeeper's feelings. But now the shopkeeper was pushed to the limit and couldn't care less about that.

"Tell the guys to be careful. If we get caught, the higher-ups will investigate me, not you!"

"Yes, shopkeeper!"

Hearing the shopkeeper say this, the waiter didn't say anything more and immediately turned around to make arrangements according to the instructions.

Meanwhile, in the lobby of the money exchange, a middle-aged man dressed in fine clothes was sitting in a chair, sipping tea.

He held a teacup in his left hand and a silver note with a face value of one thousand taels in his right, with two servants standing behind him.

There was also a wooden box at the waiter's feet, which was probably used to hold cash.

It's clear that this person is the one the shopkeeper mentioned who came to exchange cash three times in five days.

However, the man's expression seemed somewhat impatient, and after putting down his teacup, he immediately looked at the pawnshop clerk.

“I said, I’m just withdrawing a thousand taels of silver! It’s never been a problem before, why do I have to wait so long now?”

Faced with this man's question, the waiter had no answer and could only say with a troubled expression:

"The money exchange is currently settling accounts, so there will be a slight delay. Don't worry, it will be ready for you shortly..."

As the waiter was speaking, the other waiter who had consulted the manager returned, so he quickly said:

"Look, here I am to redeem it for you!"

Two money shop clerks then counted the silver, helped pack it into boxes, and carried it to a carriage outside the money shop.

As the guest departed in his carriage, a figure emerged from the side door of the money exchange and quickly followed.