Volume 2: Chapter 7 - Stunning the Four Seats
"I'll give 20 million taels." A clear and crisp voice of a young man rang out. A figure walked towards the high platform, he had already started walking towards the high platform, clearly expressing his determination to get this treasure.
I gazed at him, the animosity and disgust in my heart growing stronger. Yes, it was that Li Tianxiang, the future master of the Li family. Looking at his smiling face made me even more disgusted, I simply wanted to kill him. There was no reason, just a voice in my heart urging me on.
Big Brother Wang looked at me and saw the killing aura emanating from my body, immediately grabbed my hand and shook it, saying: "Young Master, what's wrong with you? What's wrong with you!"
I was shocked, what's wrong with me, why do I want to kill him, he had nothing to do with me before. I desperately used the Heart Canon's technique, but it was still hard to eliminate that murderous intent, however, I could also control myself now. I smiled at Wang Ge, indicating that nothing was wrong, and only then did Wang Ge continue to look towards the high platform.
I also looked up at the high platform, where Li Tianxiang was in high spirits, happily holding "Along the River During Qingming Festival" and saying some humble words to the people below before slowly walking down from the high platform.
"Ladies and gentlemen, now is the last treasure of this year's auction. Let the person who brought this item come up to announce it to everyone!" Mr. Wang is really good at stirring up everyone's emotions, and he wants me to go up too. Well, we can also take this opportunity to promote our 'Longteng Jade Store'."
Everyone is getting a little excited, starting with the 'Green Sword' and 'Heavenly Fury Knife', which are already top-notch artifacts. The fourth item was the 'Along the River During Qingming Festival', another rare treasure. What's this last one going to be? Everyone is looking forward to it.
We were also very nervous because our "Blood Phoenix" had arrived. I smiled at Wang Ge, and didn't say a word, because I trusted my Wang Ge, and with trust, there was no need to say anything!
Wang Ge was also very calm, smiled at us and walked towards the high platform, walking slowly, as if strolling down the street.
Everyone looked at the young man in front of them, who was less than thirty years old. This guy provided a treasure that was even more precious than "Along the River During the Qingming Festival". The gaze towards him had envy, anger and greed...
The brother Wang smiled and looked at the people below, took a deep breath, and said loudly: "Ladies and gentlemen, I am Zhang Xingfeng, the steward of the young master who was just expelled from the Zhang family. Our young master is auctioning off this item today just to let everyone get to know us!"
Everyone was shocked, it turned out that the six-year-old Zhang San Gongzi who was expelled, it seems that the Zhang family and the Yuwen family back then are the same, except that the Zhang family is secretly helping Zhang San Gongzi, unlike the Yuwen family who announced it to the world. However, thinking about it, a six-year-old child can commit what kind of crime? It seems that this treasure is something that the Zhang family gave to Zhang San Gongzi. Because of this treasure, everyone in their hearts considered Zhang Xingfeng as a member of the Zhang family and decided not to offend Zhang San Gongzi from now on.
"Ladies and gentlemen, today we are only bringing one piece of jade to auction. On the sixth day of the first month, our 'Dragon Jade Store' will open, and an even more precious treasure will be exhibited. Let's let my friend announce this news later! He'll make sure everyone believes it. Now, please take a look at today's auction item - Blood Phoenix. The starting price is one million silver coins. Let the bidding begin!" Wang Ge lifted the red cloth off the 'Blood Phoenix'.
Everyone hadn't even had time to understand what he just said, the treasure had already appeared. Everyone's eyes were wide with wonder as they gazed at this extraordinary treasure.
"Ah!" "Ah!"......
Gasps of amazement kept ringing out in the hall, and everyone was already speechless about this treasure. What is it?
It is the top-grade work of jade - Blood Phoenix. Its preciousness is unimaginable, if one says that only one or two pieces of jade are produced in a whole jade mine, and it is even more rare to encounter such a piece, the jade itself is high-quality, with an internal formation of a blood-red phoenix, and because of this Blood Phoenix, it became the proof of the queen of the Yuan Dynasty, the proof of the queen! This is equivalent to the emperor's jade seal! Such a treasure has actually appeared!
"I'll give 11 million." A voice suddenly rang out. Everyone just reacted. They all started bidding frantically, some people had already forgotten whether they could keep such a treasure even if they bought it.
"I'll give you 12 million."
"I'll give 15 million."
"I'll give 20 million silver." It was that Li Tianxiang again. I looked at the luxurious room where his voice came from, and the disgust in my heart rose up again. I won't sell it, and I definitely won't sell it to you. I made a silent decision in my heart.
"I'm terribly sorry, please everyone stop bidding. The Emperor has just issued a decree to buy this treasure for 30 million, and I hope everyone will cease bidding." The Grand Steward's voice rang out, and the crowd fell silent. Who would dare bid again after the Emperor had given an order? In fact, the Grand Steward was also very frustrated. He had learned about the auction of this extraordinary treasure last night and immediately sent a message to the palace. If the Emperor had issued the decree earlier, he could have bought it privately for 15 million plus the Emperor's authority. But now, not only did they have to pay the sky-high price of 30 million, but also break the rules of the auction house. Fortunately, the price was 30 million; otherwise, others would definitely say that the auction house was dead! In business, reputation is everything, but for this extraordinary treasure, he didn't care!
Li Tianxiang gazed at the Grand Steward, his heart burning with anger. Wasn't he just an emperor? How dare he be so arrogant! If it weren't for the orders from home, I would have bought it long ago! You wait and see, this Blood Phoenix will definitely fall into my hands! Li Tianxiang had been groomed as the next master of the Li family since childhood, his possessiveness was extremely strong.
Indeed, with the wealth and military power of the Li family, they don't have to fear the emperor. However, as a family that makes a living through business, it's still better to maintain good relations with the emperor. After all, harmony is precious!
Everyone watched as the Grand Eunuch took away 'Xue Feng', unable to do anything but stare blankly, and still had to say some respectful words to the Emperor. It's really unbearable, who made him the Emperor anyway!
Uncle Zhang was already walking towards the high platform at this time, and people who knew him shouted out "Isn't that 'Bao Yu Xiang's' Master Zhang? Didn't Master Zhang get chased down by 'Bao Yu Xiang'?
"What a fool 'Bao Yu Xiang' is, he actually drove away the best jade carver! Alas, I haven't seen such good jade pieces like those made by Master Zhang for a long time!"
"I once wanted to ask Master Zhang to make a piece of jade for me, but I never had the chance!"
"Ladies and gentlemen. Our 'Dragon and Jade Shop' will be opening on the sixth day of the first month, where I and some of my old colleagues will be working as jade carvers. On the day of the shop's opening, a legendary piece of jade will be unveiled to everyone for viewing. What is this legendary jade, you ask?" Mr. Zhang stood on the high platform, addressing the crowd below.
Everyone suddenly remembered that the manager had said at the beginning that there was a jade artifact more precious than 'Blood Phoenix' appearing at the opening ceremony of the store, what is it? Is it more precious than 'Blood Phoenix', or is it a legendary treasure? What exactly is it? Since this news came from the leader of the jade carving industry, it must be true. What is it, the legendary jade artifact?
Everyone was thinking hard, but couldn't think of what it was. Nobody dared to think of the legendary 'Unhurried Jade Stone' because they had already considered it impossible in their hearts!
Uncle Zhang saw everyone's puzzled look, smiled and said loudly: "I'll tell you all, this treasure is the 'Dragon Rising' made of Wu Yu's jade, I'm lucky to have personally carved the Wu Yu jade into 'Dragon Rising', it's carved from Wu Yu's jade, yes, Wu Yu's. Not a single flaw!"
Everyone was stunned! They were all a bit dazed. Even their voices couldn't come out. Even Li Tianxiang, who always looked down on others, was shocked. What is this? The legendary Jade Stone of the Unattainable! After swallowing hard to moisten his dry throat, Li Tianxiang finally came back to himself. His strong desire for possession made him secretly decide: he must get this extraordinary treasure, no matter what the cost!
Everyone was just slowly recovering from the shock, if someone else had said this sentence, everyone would have thought he was crazy, but the one who said it was the number one jade carver! How could what he said be false?!
"Everyone, remember that on the sixth day of the first month, 'Longteng Yiqi Shop' will have its grand opening. At that time, we welcome everyone to come and visit." Zhang Da Shu and Wang Ge exchanged a smile, and together stepped down from the high platform.
The people under the stage and the guests in the VIP room all remembered a date 'January 6th'.
As I watched Zhang Da Shu and Wang Ge walk into the VIP room together, I smiled. Yes, my first step had been a success. Zhang Da Shu and Wang Ge also smiled, and everyone in the house laughed...
We were walking together on the road back to the mansion, my senior apprentice was chattering non-stop: "This auction house is too black-hearted, they actually want to charge a 1% profit, fortunately there's a limit of 100,000, otherwise we would have had to pay an additional 200,000 taels of silver! Even so, they still took 100,000 taels from us! Too black-hearted, too black-hearted......"
My big apprentice disregarded the presence of the auction house's escorts who were sending us back home and kept talking about the auction house's shortcomings. Those escorts could only pretend they didn't hear it.
My intuition clearly sensed that there were at least three groups of people following us from behind, not making a move. It seems they didn't want to conflict with the auction house either, and planned to rob us when we returned home. Well, since you've thought of my estate as a target for stealing 29 million silver notes (although historically, silver notes only existed in the Qing dynasty, but this is a fictional world, and even if it were historical, it would be different; although there are still Tang, Song, Yuan, and Ming dynasties, the Song was founded by Liu Bang after he contended with Xiang Yu for the throne. Please excuse me for the sake of plot development). I smiled - I'll let these greedy guys know what regret feels like!
We strode towards my first base, the Star Peak Manor! A few black shadows slid past behind us, flashing by in an instant! At this time, the night was already deep, and there wasn't a single thread of moonlight today, only the occasional flashes of cold light from the weapons!
