Auction Begins

While Zheng Qian was exchanging everything valuable on him for silver notes, the news of Tongyang County Magistrate Fang Yujie's death had already reached Ziyang City and was spreading throughout the entire city at astonishing speed.

If he had merely been an ordinary county magistrate, the news naturally would not have spread so widely.

But Fang Yujie was clearly no ordinary magistrate. He was the Prefect's son-in-law, and the Prefect's daughter had died alongside him.

In Xishan Commandery, the Prefect was heaven itself.

Now, someone had actually stabbed this heaven, so it naturally caused a tremendous uproar.

Unfortunately, two days had passed, and no one still knew who the culprit was.

Zheng Qian had naturally heard the news being spread everywhere, but he did not care in the slightest.

Not only did no one know that he had done it, even if they did, they would not be able to find him anytime soon.

Besides, with his strength, so what if they found him? They simply could not hold him.

Time was the most merciless thing in this world. No one could make it stop.

Before he knew it, five days had passed in the blink of an eye.

For these five days, Zheng Qian had only done one thing each day: eat, drink, play, and enjoy life.

The city, however, had long since descended into chaos. First, the marriage between the Li Family and the Prefect, which should have taken place half a month later, was postponed.

After that, all the city gates were placed under martial law, and everyone entering or leaving the city was subjected to strict inspection.

Large numbers of City Guard soldiers, private troops from the great families, and Prefect's Mansion troops also launched attacks everywhere, frantically searching the entire world for the culprit.

Although these people were like headless flies with no target whatsoever, their efforts still had some effect.

In merely five days, they had captured more than a dozen wanted criminals with murder cases to their names.

Among them were even two experts who had reached the Innate Realm. They had actually been caught as well.

It had to be said that Prefect Mu Tingzhou had gone all out this time.

Unfortunately, not one of these people was the real culprit.

And now, five days had passed, and the auction had officially begun.

"Zhao Family Auction House? It really is impressive..."

In front of a three-story, ring-shaped building occupying more than ten mu of land, Zheng Qian looked at the large characters above the entrance and murmured softly.

This was precisely where the Four Great Families were about to hold the auction.

Judging from the name, it should belong to the Zhao Family, one of the Four Great Families.

Although the auction house had only three floors, each floor was more than five meters high. The entire building had gray brick walls, green roof tiles, and elaborately carved beams and painted rafters. At a glance, it was clearly not a place ordinary people could afford to enter.

And that was indeed the case. An invitation was required to enter the auction house.

The method of obtaining an invitation was also simple: deposit one thousand taels of silver.

Although the thousand taels could be reclaimed with the invitation after the auction ended, that was still one thousand taels of silver.

An ordinary person probably could not earn that much money in their entire lifetime, much less use it to exchange for an invitation.

And this was only the most ordinary Bronze Invitation, which allowed its holder to sit in the first-floor hall.

Above it was the Silver Invitation, which granted access to the second-floor private rooms, and the Gold Invitation, which granted access to the third-floor private rooms.

The Silver Invitation required a deposit of ten thousand taels of silver. As for the Gold Invitation, money alone was not enough. One also needed sufficient strength and status. Moreover, it was not sold to the public; the organizers personally delivered it to the recipient.

Zheng Qian did not want to reveal too much about himself, so he merely exchanged one thousand taels of silver for the most ordinary Bronze Invitation.

Before long, he entered Auction Hall One without a hitch with his invitation in hand. With an attendant leading him, he arrived at the seat matching the number on his invitation—Bing 35.

According to the attendant, the auction house had a total of five auction halls, and Auction Hall One, where he currently was, was the largest.

Auction Halls Two and Three were the same size, each roughly half the size of Auction Hall One.

Auction Halls Four and Five were only about a quarter the size of Auction Hall One.

In addition, the seats in all the auction halls were divided into three grades: "Jia," "Yi," and "Bing."

All the seats in the first-floor hall began with the character "Bing," while those on the second floor began with "Yi," and those on the third floor with "Jia."

There were also three items on the table in front of Zheng Qian's seat: a pot of steaming, fragrant tea; a plate of attractively presented pastries; and a plaque bearing his seat number.

The tea and pastries were provided free of charge by the auction house. The plaque was a bidding sign—when he wanted to bid, he only needed to raise it and state his offer.

Whether in his previous life, his current life, or in simulations, this was Zheng Qian's first time attending an auction. Everything about it filled him with curiosity.

Based on his observations, the first-floor hall of Auction Hall One had only about two hundred seats. Each seat was independent and quite spacious; even two people sitting together would not feel cramped.

From the second floor onward, there were only private rooms. There were roughly fifty Yi-grade private rooms on the second floor, while the third floor had only twenty Jia-grade private rooms.

As for what the private rooms actually looked like, he had no way of knowing.

At this point, less than an hour remained before the auction officially began. Half of the two hundred seats in the first-floor hall had already been filled, and people continued to enter.

As for the private rooms on the second and third floors, they had entrances and exits separate from those of the first floor. Zheng Qian therefore had no idea how many people were seated inside, or who they were.

Time flew. In just over half an hour, the originally sparse seats in the first-floor hall had already been filled more than halfway.

At this moment, some people were whispering among themselves, seemingly discussing the auction items that were about to appear, while others craned their necks in anticipation of the auction officially beginning.

Finally, amid everyone's anticipation, a robust old man with a goatee strode onto the auction platform at the very front.

"Everyone!" The old man's voice was deep and magnetic, echoing leisurely through the spacious hall. "This old man is Song Tao. I imagine many of you present know me, but I see there are still many unfamiliar faces in the hall, so I might as well introduce myself."

He paused, swept his gaze around, and then continued, "I am Song Tao, and I have the honor of serving as the chief auctioneer of this Zhao Family Auction House. I will be presiding over today's auction."

The old man's tone was humble, yet it revealed a sense of confidence and professionalism.

As his voice fell, many people in the hall immediately began shouting for him to start quickly.

The old man named Song Tao merely smiled and nodded at this, then continued speaking:

"Very well! I will dispense with the unnecessary formalities. Welcome, everyone, to today's auction. I hope you can all find a treasure you desire here.

"Now, the auction officially begins. Let us welcome today's first item: one Meridian-Opening Pill!"