Jenny led the way, followed by Kennedy and others.
When passing by a shining display cabinet, a row of exquisite and luxurious stainless steel watches were displayed, which immediately caught Kennedy's eye.
He couldn't help but walked over and took a closer look.
Each of the watches on display is as big as the bottom of a bowl. If you really want to be more serious, compared to modern and exquisite watches, you can still watch all the watches. But compared to the clocks of this era, it is extremely exquisite.
Although the watch is "big", each shape is extremely eye-catching.
At the same time, both sides of the surface of each watch are inlaid with various rubies, sapphires and even some sparkling diamonds. Even the three "slender" clock hands have not fallen.
This exquisite and distinctive style captured Kennedy's heart immediately.
The sudden heartbeat made Kennedy feel like he had met his first love.
The watch displays embedded numbers, including Arabic numerals, Chinese numerals and even Roman numerals. They accurately divide the entire watch into twelve divisions, which perfectly divides the day into twenty-four hours, making the time setting more precise.
The slender second hand keeps moving, driving the minute hand, demonstrating the superiority of its function.
Through the clear glass of the counter, Kennedy saw that there was a label on the bottom of each watch display box, and the watch he was interested in had an Arabic numeral 10,000 on it, followed by the word "circle".
There are customers watching, so the sales beauty in front of the counter naturally has to step forward to say hello.
She spoke softly in Chinese to Kennedy, who was watching at the counter: "Hello, sir, which watch are you looking at? I can take it out for you if necessary."
Even if Kennedy and others are from the West, it does not prevent the salesperson from using Mandarin to communicate and inquire.
After all, the influence of English at this time was far less than that of later generations. Naturally, there would be no need for people to learn English in the Chinese land to communicate with the barbarians.
On the contrary, because the country has not been ravaged by the late Qing Dynasty, national self-confidence is still very high. In particular, the establishment of the Yi Dynasty and its continuous victories on foreign battlefields made the people's confidence in the country unprecedentedly high.
At this time, China's development may not be the first in the world, but its size is definitely the first in the world. Therefore, if the maritime merchants who came to China wanted to continue their lives and develop, they could only learn Chinese to communicate desperately, otherwise they would be eliminated.
Jenny naturally translated the salesman's words to Kennedy.
"Please come out and show me this watch." Kennedy pointed at his favorite watch on the counter and said.
Under Jenny's translation, the salesperson put on pure white gloves and carefully took out the watch Kennedy pointed to from the glass counter, and gently placed the display box on the counter. Then he said with a smile on his face: "Hello, guest sir. Please allow me to introduce you."
"This watch is a product produced by the Royal Seiko Factory. Each watch takes a long time from design to production. In many cases, one watch may not be produced in a year. At the same time, each watch is also made by the Royal's exclusive craftsmen. The workmanship and quality are very guaranteed.”
Kennedy gently picked up the watch and kept looking at it. (Jenny is translating the sales words.)
Whether it was the solid heaviness of the watch, the sparkling gems on the surface, or the exquisite workmanship, Kennedy was deeply attracted to it. The affection in Kennedy's heart was naturally revealed on his face.
Seeing this, the beautiful saleswoman continued: "In addition, this watch is also inlaid with red and sapphires unique to the Myanmar region of our country. The purity of these gems is of the highest quality. Therefore, it is noble and luxurious. The degree speaks for itself.”
"If the customer is satisfied, he can buy one back. Not to mention its practicality, its exquisite luxury can definitely make you distinguished in front of others. You must know that the watches produced by the Royal Seiko Factory are regarded as gifts from the emperor. "
As Jenny translated that "this kind of watch was once used as a gift from the royal family", Kennedy felt that he should not have any regrets.
"It can be used by the Emperor Yi Dynasty to reward important officials. If you can buy a piece of it, it will definitely shine at major banquets in London." When Kennedy was thinking about it, a smile appeared at the corner of his mouth inadvertently.
"How was this sold?" Kennedy asked.
"10,000 yuan." Under Jenny's translation, the salesman quoted the price.
"How much is this?" Listening to Jenny's translation, Kennedy asked her puzzledly.
"This is the latest currency unit of the Yi Dynasty. Ten thousand yuan refers to ten thousand silver coins③, which is equivalent to ten thousand taels of silver② in this country." Jenny replied.
"Approximately how many pounds is this?" Kennedy continued.
"This...I'm not very clear about it. I need to ask professionals to find out." Jenny tried to convert, but found that she couldn't do it.
"Jerry, do you know how much this is in pounds?" Kennedy turned to Jerry, who was looking at his watch.
At this time, Jerry made some calculations in his mind and replied: "Probably more than 3,300 pounds⑤!"
"Oh, my God, it's so expensive," Kennedy said in surprise.
More than three thousand three hundred pounds may not sound like a lot, but once you understand its purchasing power at the time, you will understand its value. You know, the average British farmer's income at this time was only about thirty pounds a year.
"It is indeed a product given by the royal family, but it is expensive. But it is worthy of me." After thinking about it for a while, Kennedy quickly felt relieved.
Expensive, for sure, but relatively speaking.
Compared to a powerful aristocrat like Kennedy. Ordinary people may not be able to accumulate wealth in a hundred years, but they can easily take it out.
The gap between the rich and the poor in society is often so wide. Otherwise, there would be no sentence like "The wine and meat in the rich family smells bad, and the roads are frozen to death."
Of course, the vast majority of wealthy people’s bulk consumption is definitely not based on pure enjoyment, but on the benefits it can bring to themselves.
Kennedy was no exception.
Buying this watch, Kennedy can not only satisfy his favorite, but it may not be an investment.
Its workmanship and origin determine that its value will not depreciate significantly. On the contrary, it may increase in value as an antique in the future.
When wearing it, it can improve one's social status, make others believe in one's strength more, and facilitate business and trade. The effect of this is far beyond its value.
So even though the price was so expensive, Kennedy felt that he should buy it.
Note ①: Considering the issue of recovering the north in the future, the Mandarin language of Yi Dynasty is still set as Mandarin. After all, it has been passed down for a long time and cannot be changed rashly. Of course, Mandarin is used more for teaching and communication, and dialects from various places will not have much impact.
②: New definition of Yi Chao quality: The weight of one liter of water at 4°C is set as one kilogram, which is 500g. One pound is divided into ten equal parts, that is, one tael is 50g.
The definition of temperature is: ice water mixture is set as 0℃, boiling water is set as 100℃. The period is subdivided into one hundred equal parts for the temperature setting.
③: New monetary policy of the Yi Dynasty: Currency is divided into metal coins and banknotes.
Metal currencies are silver coins and copper coins.
One silver coin = 1,000 copper coins.
Silver coin: one yuan, five jiao. One circle = 2 pentagons
One yuan is worth one tael of silver (weight 27g, containing 93.5% grained silver 24g, copper 3g)
Copper coins: one coin, five coins, ten coins, fifty coins, one hundred coins.
Paper money: one cent, five cents, one cent, five cents, one dime, five cents, one yuan. One centimeter corresponds to one copper coin, and so on.
The banknotes use the latest fiber paper color printing technology and are waterproof and washable. However, taking into account the concerns of the people, the court currently collects the money voluntarily and does not enforce it.
Paper money can be exchanged for metal currency at any time at any royal bank or court bank.
④: Here we use data from the British East India Company’s tea trade with China from 1722 to 1833. British trade with China uses Spanish silver dollars as the conversion, as follows: 1 pound = 3 taels (official silver), 1 tael (37.3g) = 1.388 silver dollars (Spanish silver dollars)
1 pound ≈ 2.24 taels (yiguan silver), 1 tael (50g) ≈ 1.86 silver dollars (Spanish silver dollars)
1 tael (燚)≈1.34 taels (clear)
⑤: At this time, Jerry did not know the latest currency unit of the Yi Dynasty, so he only used the data from the past trade with the Manchu and Qing Dynasties to convert.
