Chronicles of the Lazy Sovereign Novel - Chapter 53

Chapter 53

Wei Yan-ho quickly dried up the sweat running down his face.

Jin Ye-ran returned. He examined the food, which showed hardly any signs of being consumed, and then discovered a chicken leg bitten once and left it on the ground.

“Isn’t food your taste?”

No, that’s… ha ha, I’m full right now…

Jin Ye-ran’s face got red as he grabbed the food table.

“I will bring fresh food, so please wait a moment.”

“What?”

When Jin Ye-ran approached without saying a word to take the food table, Wei Yan-ho instinctively grabbed the table she was trying to remove.

Get some fresh food!

The way she talked, didn’t it seem like she was going to make an even better meal?

He put strength in his hand by grabbing the food table.

– No, not that I don’t like food!

If I can’t attend our guest properly, my late father will be disappointed.

‘I’m going to die of grief, woman!’

Wei Yan-ho desperately clung to the food table.

“No! I eat it! I eat it! I was resting for a moment and I was about to eat! I eat it! I eat it all!”

Jin Ye-ran looked at Wei Yan-ho with somewhat suspicious eyes.

“Are you sure?”

I told you, I was gonna eat it.

Jin Ye-ran placed the table carefully again.

Wei Yan-ho did not miss this opportunity and frantically put the chicken and fish on the table in his mouth.

” Mmph nom nom ngh”.

Wei Yan-ho frantically devoured the food on the table. Once he put it in his mouth, he was so busy chewing and swallowing that he couldn’t even taste it. He just creaked, creaked, chewed and swallowed.

Interestingly, it seemed as if the tears continued to fall.

“Eat slowly, at this rate you’ll get indigestion.”

‘All this because of who?’

Wei Yan-ho wanted to scream, but since they were words he could not dare to say out loud, he simply swallowed them inside.

She was a formidable opponent.

Among all the formidable opponents Wei Yan-ho had faced throughout his life, she was in a way the hardest person to deal with.

“Then I’ll see you in a bit.”

Wei Yan-ho could not answer because his mouth was full of food, so he nodded. “When Jin Ye-ran left the room, Wei Yan-ho swallowed the food in a drink and let a deep sigh slip away.”

“I will not die of natural death.”

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes turned to the food table.

The clean and empty dishes vividly showed Wei Yan-ho’s heinous action. To think that he had so miserably devoured the food prepared with borrowed money by pawning his mother’s memory.

“Ughhhhh.”

Wei Yan-ho’s stomach began to stir.

The thing called consciousness, which he thought had moved away from his body when he entered Baek Mu-han cave, was now stabbing his stomach.

Finally, Wei Yan-ho rose silently from his seat.

“Wow.”

Then he walked out with difficulty.

Even when Wei Yan-ho came out, I couldn’t believe what I was doing.

From his childhood until now, no one had forced him to move of his own free will. Some had threatened him, others had negotiated with him. But now Jin Ye-ran had made Wei Yan-ho leave the room furious without any request or threat.

If Wei Jeong-han or Baek Mu-han had seen this scene, they would have shed tears and bowed to Jin Ye-ran in gratitude.

“Wow.”

Wei Yan-ho sighed repeatedly and walked to a corner. “Where he went, Jin So-ah was drying medicinal herbs.”

“So, was it?”

“Yes?”

Jin So-ah was startled when he heard a silent voice behind his back and turned surprised. There was Wei Yan-ho, with swollen cheeks.

Have you finished your meal?

I ate it clean, by the way, how many pawnshops are out here?

“Why are you looking for a pawnshop?”

Wei Yan-ho let a deep sigh escape.

I have business there. Where are they?

If you go straight there, there’s the Silver River Empeños House (Eunha Jeonjang). It’s the only pawnshop in the area.

“Thank you.”

Wei Yan-ho went with difficulty to the pawnshop, sighing deeply. Jin So-ah watched his figure with perplexed eyes.

Wei Yan-ho walked with difficulty, like a tired caterpillar, and arrived at the Empeños Río de Plata. As Jin So-ah had told him, he found a large sign without walking much. Thus, Wei Yan-ho entered a building so imposing that it seemed too big for a pawnshop.

“What brings you here?”

When Wei Yan-ho came in, someone who had been waiting approached with his hands together politely.

“I came to recover an object”.

“What kind of article do you mean?”

“I came to recover a jade necklace that was pawned today at Seongsu Hospital.”

“Do you come from Seongsu Medical Center?”

“Yes.”

“Please come in.”

Since the time elapsed from the arrival of Wei Yan-ho until the meal was served did not pass long, his deduction that he would have been committed to the nearest pawnshop seemed correct.

The man led Wei Yan-ho into the inner room.

Wei Yan-ho followed the man inside, sighing deeply. He had no idea what he was doing.

In the inner room, someone looking like a merchant and a warm impression sat behind a large desk. Wei Yan-ho fell on the chair in front of the desk.

When the man who had led him whispered a few words, the merchant nodded enormously and dismissed the man with a gesture.

click.

When the door closed, the merchant smiled widely.

I’m Ha Dae-bung, owner of the Silver River Empeños House.

“I came to retrieve a necklace.”

Ha Dae-bung shrugged like he was worried.

“I’m sorry, but that article wasn’t sold by Seongsu Medical Hall, but pawned it as a guarantee, so I can’t give it to you.”

It was a natural answer. If they gave away items just because someone paid money, they would sell them instead of accepting them as collateral. The object only becomes merchandise when the borrowed money is not returned within the promised time.

“I’m coming from Seongsu Hospital.”

“Do you look like someone I know for the first time?”

“I came today.”

Ha Dae-bung looked at Wei Yan-ho with penetrating eyes and then denied his head.

I’m sorry, but I can’t give it to you.

Wei Yan-ho nodded.

“So, if the immediate family comes, would that work?”

“That’s right.”

“Then I will bring them. But how much was borrowed?”

“The amount is quite substantial.”

Wei Yan-ho pulled a bag of money out of his chest and threw it at Ha Dae-bung. The bag contained the money that Moon Yu-hwan had given him when he left the Grand Hanrim Academy. He had not exactly counted it, but it must have contained a considerable amount. It was probably money that Lee Wang-ya, not Moon Yu-hwan, had given him.

“Would that be enough?”

Ha Dae-bung shook his head like he was worried.

“It’s not enough.”

Wei Yan-ho’s face hardened. He snatched Ha Dae-bung’s money bag and counted the money it contained.

“Is there more than two silver nyang here?”

A silver nyang could feed a family for several months. He had offered enough money for an entire family to live for a year, and it wasn’t enough?

Had they pawned a gold ingot instead of jade?

“Of course, the amount the young woman borrowed was a silver nyang.”

“And then what?”

At our Silver River Empeños House, when removing the items, we charge three times the amount borrowed. If you do not recover them in three months, you will have to pay three times again.

Wei Yan-ho laughed impotently.

“Three times?”

“That’s right.”

“Is this usury?”

God forbid, it’s just a pawn shop rule, if you don’t want it, you can sell it.

The veins swelled on Wei Yan-ho’s forehead.

Not bad, but something was still bothering him.

– So you’re saying I can’t get it back with that money?

“Unfortunately, that’s right.”

In other words, for Seongsu Medical Hall, who had been worried about running out of rice before pawning the necklace, there was absolutely no way to get it back.

Jin Ye-ran couldn’t have ignored this.

Still, thinking of Jin Ye-ran’s feelings (unable to bear selling it and having to pawn it to borrow money), Wei Yan-ho couldn’t give up and retire just because there wasn’t enough money.

In the past, he would have collected money instantly, even begging, but for Wei Yan-ho now, with his face shining with oil for eating and sleeping well at the Great Hanrim Academy, this was impossible.

Wei Yan-ho strengthened his determination.

“Do you also accept items here?”

“Sure. As long as you pawn them and pay the loan three times. The term is three months.

“Really?”

Wei Yan-ho pulled the little sword out of her chest and placed it on the desk as if she were throwing it to the ground.

“ Lend me the remaining money with this.”

“This is…”

“It’s gold, so it should be expensive.”

With an object like this, I can lend you a gold nyang. However, when you pay for it, you will need three nyang…

As Ha Dae-bung spoke and examined the small sword from various angles, his body suddenly trembled as if it had been struck by lightning.

Ha Dae-bung, who should have been happy as he was offered an expensive item, began to sweat profusely like rain, then immediately kicked his chair, got up and prostrated on the floor.

“My lord, I did not recognize him and dared to speak nonsense!”

“What are you talking about?”

The sweat continuously dripped from Ha Dae-bung’s face to the ground.

“I, I said nonsense…”

Ha Dae-bung was completely insane.

If what he saw was true, he was now in the jaws of a tiger. Moreover, in the bloody jaws of a hungry tiger who hadn’t eaten in a month.

The pattern engraved on that small sword was undoubtedly the symbol of the Censorate. A pawnshop specializes in money-related business. To do such work, one had to know more about the imperial court and the martial world than anyone else to avoid being taken by surprise.

‘Of all things, the Censorship…’

What kind of place was the Censorship? Was it not the place where officials who squeezed out the people and the merchants and criminals who tormented them were captured and punished?

If the first administrative objective of the Censorate was government offices, the second was the factions of the underworld and the third was commercial establishments such as the Silver River Empeños House.

“What are you talking about?”

But this clueless guy was still fooling around.

What should I tackle first? Subestimating a silver and white jade necklace worth ten nyang silver to three nyang? Or carrying out a usury where the borrowed money triples in three months?

There were too many rapes.

Ha Dae-bung sweated profusely and forced a smile, but that smile was no different than a crying face.

“My lord, although the interest I received is a little high, since there are so many who pawn things and never come to recover them, to compensate for the losses, it is inevitable…

Wei Yan-ho bowed his head.

“Is interest high?”

“…”

Now that I think about it, if you have to pay triple in three months, what percentage is it?

Ha Dae-bung shook his hands frantically in shock.

How can it be! Six percent! Anyone who collects such usury should be eliminated! We are definitely not six percent.

“Did you say three times?”

That’s calculated as a simple interest! We use compound interest!

“Compound interest?”

Calculated as compound interest, our interest rate is only four and a half percent!

“Four and a half percent… is that reasonable?”

“Exactly!”

Ha Dae-bung’s face was illuminated when he heard that it was reasonable. But after hearing what followed, his face, illuminated, began to darken quickly.

“If it is a compound interest of four and a half percent per month, what is the annual interest?”

“What?”

“Calculate it.”

Ha Dae-bung’s mind was running.

“That’s not much. At most, six hundred percent…

“Oh?”

Wei Yan-ho smiled.

Six hundred percent a year? Not forty percent, but six hundred percent? Sixty times?

Ha Dae-bung’s blood was frozen. If he calculated it that way, it wasn’t usury, it was practically extortion. He had to solve the situation somehow.

“But my lord, that amount is…”

Six hundred percent, I’ve never heard of six hundred percent. Not six percent, not sixty percent, but six hundred percent?

But if you think about the real price of that story, it’s not much. That silver white jade is worth at least ten nyang silver, so it’s only sixty percent!

Wei Yan-ho’s eyes shone.

“Is it worth ten nyang?”

“…”

Ha Dae-bung’s face was now pale as a corpse.

“Hey.”

Ha Dae-bung shuddered and shrugged at Wei Yan-ho’s call.

“Yes!”

Why don’t you stand up?

“No, I…”

“Do you want me to hit you before you stand up?”

Ha Dae-bung immediately stood up.

Wei Yan-ho nodded and patted Ha Dae-bung on the shoulder.

“Are you good at business?”

“Head…”

Not only do you swallow a ten-nyang item for lending one, but you also charge sixty times the annual interest to whoever wants to return it. Ha! This is called business, right?

“Head, well… my lord.”

Tuk!

Wei Yan-ho stretched out his finger and elbowed Ha Dae-bung in the eye.

“Oh!”

Ha Dae-bung rolled through the floor covering his eye.

“Are these bastards trying to rip me off right now?”

He had traveled all the way from the Grand Hanrim Academy to the Seongsu Medical Center, but the medical consultation was in decline and the doctor was bankrupt. Furthermore, Wei Yan-ho, who had left the medical center, had to cross a li on his own initiative for the first time in his life.

All that frustration exploded.

Wei Yan-ho roared and raged wildly.

I’m gonna figure this out here today!

“Please, my lord!”

“Lord the one above!”

On that day, the roof of the Silver River pawnshop, considered one of Hubei’s three great pawnshops, rose to the sky.

Even a lazy person knew the value of the money.