dognovel Chapter 1100 The Earliest Bank
Chapter 1100 The Earliest Bank
Su Xing's gaze fell on the desk of the staff member who was writing the handwritten bill. There was a sign on the desk that read "Handwritten bill 20 yuan".
The price is indeed not expensive.
Buying souvenirs in scenic spots is indeed something that many tourists like to do.
But the tour guide and the behavior of this ticket experience store were really unpleasant, so she didn't plan to spend the money.
Not only Su Xing, but Cheng Xiuning, Sun Pengfei and others also have the same idea. They refuse to accept brainwashing and refuse to waste such money.
Seeing that the students didn't respond, Sister Li continued to persuade them, "This bill of exchange has the effect of attracting wealth and changing luck. It really works!"
Su Xing frowned, she looked at Sister Li and said in a calm voice, "Can I withdraw the money from this draft?"
Sister Li was stunned, then she said "Ah?", unable to react to what Su Xing meant.
Su Xing asked again: "I mean, can I withdraw cash for this draft?"
Zhang Caifeng and the others had already understood the purpose of Su Xing's question, and they couldn't help but smile.
Sister Li looked at Su Xing with a strange look in her eyes, "This... is of course not possible..."
She muttered to herself: This little girl looks pretty, but has she used all her intelligence to buy her looks?
Su Xing's tone remained cold. "Since it can't be exchanged for cash, it's just like waste paper. What's the point of having it?"
"This..." Sister Li was a little unconvinced, "How can it be useless? Didn't I tell you that this bill of exchange can bring wealth and good luck?"
"Ah……"
The one laughing wasn't Su Xing, but Sun Pengfei. He interrupted and said, "Sister Li, so you're not taking us to a banknote bank attraction, but a temple? Are these banknotes talismans? Are they blessed?"
When Sister Li heard this, her face immediately turned red. "No...it's just a souvenir..."
Cheng Xiuning, who was standing by, waved her hand and said, "We don't need this. Please take us to the next attraction."
Sister Li reluctantly took them upstairs.
He couldn't help but sell them, "If you don't like handwritten bills, you can buy some gold and silver ingots. They look beautiful at home and have good meanings."
Su Xing and the others were getting a little impatient listening to Sister Li's sales pitch.
The prices of those fake ingots and copper coins range from twenty, fifty, to one hundred, and there are all kinds of prices.
If you really like it, you can buy it home as a decoration, but this sales method is so annoying.
Su Xing asked innocently again, "Are those ingots real gold and silver? Are the copper plates real ancient coins?"
Sister Li's mouth twitched. "How is this possible?! How can something worth only a few dozen or a few hundred be real gold, silver, or genuine ancient coins?"
Su Xing said: "Since it is fake, why should we exchange real money for fake money?"
Sister Li: "..."
She had already understood that this beautiful girl had done it on purpose, but she couldn't say anything to refute it at the moment.
Cheng Xiuning, Sun Pengfei and others couldn't help but laugh out loud.
At this time, another boy shook his head and said, "The workmanship and materials of those gold and silver ingots look like the things we only use during the Qingming Festival and the Zhongyuan Festival in my hometown..."
He was afraid that he would be beaten if the shop owner heard what he said, so his voice was not loud, but it was loud enough for several people nearby to hear clearly.
This time more people laughed.
There were also a few tourists who were closer to them looking over and smiling.
Sister Li: "..."
Her face turned red and blue, becoming increasingly ugly.
"Don't say that," Su Xing perfunctorily advised his classmate, then said to Sister Li, "Sister Li, I remember we booked a ticket for a pure tour and explanation, which doesn't include admission to the store, right? We've already been here for a long time."
Cheng Xiuning also said: "That's right, it's already noon, we haven't finished visiting the attractions yet, and we haven't even had lunch yet!"
Zhang Caifeng said, "We have to go see the 'See Pingyao Again' performance this afternoon. If we delay any further, we'll run out of time."
Sister Li was stared at unkindly by several young men and didn't dare to dawdle any longer.
She said, "Let's go. There's another attraction called Rishengchang Bank. Do you want to visit that attraction first, or go have lunch first?"
A few students briefly studied it and made a decision.
"Let's visit one last attraction before we go have lunch."
Sister Li said, "Okay, let's go."
Everyone finally left this so-called "Piaohao Cultural Experience Store" and got back on the sightseeing bus to Rishengchang Piaohao.
Everyone had a good impression of the tour guide Sister Li before. They chatted and laughed with her in the car and learned the historical stories of this ancient city from her.
But after the "experience store" incident just now, several students were very dissatisfied with Sister Li and no one wanted to pay attention to her.
Sister Li put on a fake smile and said a few words to liven up the atmosphere. Seeing that the tourists on the bus didn't respond, she shut up awkwardly.
A few minutes later, the sightseeing bus stopped and everyone got off.
They looked up and saw the plaque above which read "Rising Sun Chang Ji".
This is the famous Piaohao Museum, which is also the earliest bank in my country.
Sister Li worked hard to adjust her work state, led everyone into the ticket office, and began to explain.
Although some of Sister Li’s behaviors are unpleasant, it should be said that her business ability is still good.
"Rising Sun Bank was founded in 1823, around the third year of the Daoguang reign of the Qing Dynasty. It was my country's first bank and is known as one of China's earliest private banks. Its predecessor was the 'Xiyucheng' pigment shop. At the time, with the development of the commodity economy, the settlement method of cash transportation was becoming increasingly outdated. Lei Lutai, the shopkeeper of 'Xiyucheng' pigment shop, keenly spotted the business opportunity of inter-regional remittances. With the support of his employer, Li Daquan, he invested 300,000 taels of silver and converted the pigment shop into a bank, naming it 'Rishengchang', which means 'the rising sun brings prosperity'..."
"The Rishengchang Bank was a highly successful operation. From its founding in 1823 until its conversion to a bank in 1932, it generated profits of 1500 million taels of silver over a period of 108 years. The bank's interior layout was also exceptionally sophisticated. The front yard we're in now is the business hall. The east counter was where procedures were handled, and the west counter was where cash was withdrawn. A 'scale' was placed on the counter in the west counter for weighing silver. Bankers even composed a 'silver song' to identify the quality of silver."
"Bills of exchange have various anti-counterfeiting measures, such as handwriting, watermarks, seals, and even secret seals. Secret seals are a code system that uses Chinese characters instead of numbers. For example, 'Beware of counterfeit bills, don't forget to carefully examine the seals' represents the twelve months of the year, 'It's laughable that the world is so cruel, but Heaven is the most fair...' represents the thirty days of a month, and so on..."
Su Xing and others followed Sister Li through the Second Street Gate and arrived at the middle courtyard.
"This is the office. To the east is the accounting office, equivalent to the current finance department, responsible for accounting and handling the bank's cashier duties. To the west is the letter room, a dedicated place for writing letters. All internal communications within the bank are transmitted via letters. These letters are numbered, copied, and written in code..."
Rishengchang Bank was also very strict in selecting and employing people, following the principle of 'employing people from the same hometown rather than relatives'. Apprentices were required to be between thirteen and eighteen years old, five feet tall, of good appearance and appearance, articulate, proficient in abacus and regular script, and had to be guaranteed by colleagues and have a clean record for three generations.