621: Mobile phones enter the ancient market

“telephone?” Bao Xingchao frowned, looking at the item in Ning Buxiu's hand with confusion.

It was just a piece of square jade, nothing special could be seen, and it had such a strange name.

“Could it be that you want to use this thing to get me to buy it under the guise of purchasing it, thereby siphoning a large amount of money from my County Office?!” This was the only thing Bao Xingchao could think of.

Having been in a high position for so long, it wasn't as if no merchants had cooperated with him.

Among them, he had done many things like this: forcefully setting a high price for a worthless item and then requiring a certain group of people, such as Students in the academy or small vendors, to buy it.

However, this fellow in front of him had set his sights on all the officials of his Five Directions City!

Even if only a hundred taels of silver were siphoned from each person, it would amount to a full two hundred thousand taels of silver, equivalent to a quarter's tax revenue of Five Directions City. It had to be said, he was too greedy!

“Siphon money?” Ning Buxiu nodded inwardly, but on the surface, he shook his head and said, “The County Magistrate should have misunderstood.”

“Actually, for this 【Ye Ning One Ultimate Edition】 in my hand, our Ning family's official price is only one tael of silver.”

“There are also lower-spec flagship and ordinary versions, priced at one hundred copper coins and thirty copper coins respectively. No matter which version the officials of Five Directions City buy, as long as they pay for it themselves, it will suffice.”

“Our Ning family are honest and law-abiding businessmen, how could we possibly think of siphoning money from the County Office? The County Magistrate is overthinking.”

“Only one tael of silver?” Bao Xingchao looked at the square jade in Ning Buxiu's hand again.

If calculated by equivalent value, one tael of silver could buy roughly a piece of jade like this.

It was just that there were some processing fees included.

For a moment, the Middle-aged Man was a little confused.

He didn't understand why this fellow, not for money, not for fame, and even at the cost of leaving a bad impression on him, insisted on making their County Office personnel buy one of his items. What was it for?

“Yes, only one tael of silver. How is the County Magistrate considering it?”

Ning Buxiu's words pulled the County Magistrate's thoughts back.

And Bao Xingchao looked at the jade block in the other party's hand, then thought of the murderer who killed his son still at large, and said with a hint of ruthlessness in his eyes, “I agree to this condition. Now, can you tell me where the murderer who killed my son is?!”

Ning Buxiu nodded: “Qingchao District, Baiyao Shop.”

Under the misty sky, last night's rain had turned into water vapor and was rising.

In the air, there was a bit of stuffiness.

Qingchao District.

“Bang!”

The sound of the courtyard gate being broken echoed through the street.

More than a dozen constables with sabers at their waists, full of imposing manner, rushed into the courtyard gate.

Before long, two Men were dragged out like little chicks.

“Lord, Lord, I've been wronged!” Brother Yao of the herbal medicine shop cried out in terror, his face full of fear.

And the thin, small Man beside him had a face of ashen despair.

“Stop talking nonsense, if you want to plead your case, go plead it at the County Magistrate!” The constable holding Brother Yao increased the strength in his hand significantly.

Not long after.

The two were escorted to the County Office, watched by passersby on both sides of the road.

After the two entered the main hall of the County Office, the Man at the entrance, who couldn't prove that Wang Er had stolen his wife because there was no evidence, was still crying and shouting.

“Lord, everything this little Man says is true. Wang Er and that cheap person must be punished!”

The constable standing by the door listened impatiently: “You don't have any evidence. Our Lord is so upright and honest, do you want him to torture those two people you mentioned into confessing? The County Magistrate of our Five Directions City is not a barbarian from some other place, he won't resort to private torture.”

“Ah! Ah!!!”

Suddenly, within the County Office, the two people who had just been pressed in, their extremely miserable cries and roars, like wailing spirits, echoed out.

At the entrance of the County Office, it was strangely quiet.

Patrol Department, Ninth Division.

More than ten constables, after handing the two over to the County Office, returned to the headquarters to rest.

After a while, the old constable came before everyone. Behind him were two comrades carrying something.

“Hand out the items.” The constable said to the two deputy officials behind him.

Subsequently, the deputy officials distributed pieces of stone from the cloth bags they were carrying on their backs.

“What is this? Stones?” Among the constables, a young Man of only seventeen or eighteen looked at the item in his hand with confusion.

“This is called a telephone. The County Magistrate requires everyone to be equipped with one.” The constable explained, “Yours are the ordinary version, costing 50 wen. The money has been deducted from your salary.”

“50 wen? Just to buy a stone?!” Among the constables below, someone had a look of disbelief.

“What's the point of carrying a stone around? 50 wen is enough for me to get a new handle for my saber!”

“That's right, isn't it better to buy two roasted chickens for fifty wen and eat them?”

Below, the constables discussed, filled with indignation.

“Alright!” The constable raised his voice, directly overpowering everyone.

The sharp Aura emanating from him indicated that this person was at least a skilled swordsman.

Seeing his subordinates quiet down, the constable then spoke to comfort them: “Don't be so dissatisfied.”

“This thing is called a telephone.”

“However, it is indeed just a stone, but there's nothing we can do, this is an order from the County Magistrate.”

“I've been quite good to you, only buying you the ordinary version of the telephone, saving you a lot of money.”

“Later, you'll see the Eighth Division next door, their constable directly arranged mixed jade telephones for those constables below, immediately deducting two hundred wen from them!”

After the old constable's words came out, the constables below also felt their mood balance out quite a bit.

It's not the lack, but the inequality that causes concern.

With a comparison, it was acceptable.

They even felt happier realizing they had paid less.

“This thing doesn't seem to be just a stone…” In the crowd, a person who was focused on examining the item in his hand suddenly clicked on the map on his hand.

This action also attracted the attention of several constables nearby.

“Huh? A map can appear on this stone, how is that done?”

“Wow, I have it too! How strange!”

The things on the telephone were very simple at the moment, and naturally easy for people to understand.

“There's something else here that can be clicked.” Someone noticed the dialing software next to the Small Grass Map.

After clicking it, what appeared was a request to fill in information.

Name, age, gender, work status…

Name: Xiaonian

Age: 17

Gender: Male

Work: Constable

The young Man hesitated, and typed in his information.

Immediately after, a string of characters suddenly popped up on the stone slab in his hand.

“Congratulations, you have successfully registered as the 33rd user. You are now rewarded with the telephone number: 12***”

“After activating the dialing function, you will have five days of free talk time.”

“User's work has been detected as constable, and the user's number has been set as one of the official report numbers.”

“Hiss, it says on here that we can use this telephone to talk even when we are very far away, that's interesting.”

The people around them were like primitive people eating bread at this moment; they hadn't eaten the bread, but they had bitten into the bread's packaging.

The superficial taste within greatly increased their desire to explore.

Similar situations were unfolding among the official personnel throughout Five Directions City.