A moment later, a young attendant brought up a brocade box.
Zhao Yu opened it and displayed its contents to everyone. Inside was a pair of translucent jade horses.
"Oh!"
A wave of gasps swept through the audience.
Clearly, the pair of jade horses was worth a fortune.
"Everyone, I'm sure you've all heard the story of the jade horses. Our Stone Snake Chamber of Commerce went to great lengths to acquire these treasures. They're the perfect appetizer for tonight's auction!"
Zhao Yu spoke in a ringing voice, smiling.
The connoisseurs in the audience began whispering among themselves. Shen Han wasn't interested in the jade horses, but he still heard some of the rumors about them.
It was said that the jade horses had once been tribute to the Imperial Court.
Several decades ago, the crown princess had lost them during an outing. The Imperial Court searched for them for a long time without success, and could only announce that it would no longer claim ownership of them.
"I can't believe the Stone Snake Chamber of Commerce got its hands on the jade horses!"
"That chamber of commerce really is something!"
"I reckon the price won't be low."
Zhao Yu watched the audience's reactions, then smiled and waved his fan. "Let's not waste any more time. The starting price for this pair of jade horses is six hundred taels of silver. Let the bidding begin!"
Six hundred taels... Shen Han was at a loss for words.
"I'll offer six hundred and fifty taels!"
"Six hundred and eighty!"
"Seven hundred and twenty taels!"
For a time, bids rose and fell throughout the audience.
Of course, nearly everyone hoping to buy the jade horses was a wealthy merchant or gentleman. Not a single martial artist made a bid.
After a round of bidding, the jade horses went to Customer Number Eleven for eight hundred taels.
Next, Zhao Yu brought out several more items.
Calligraphy, paintings, antiques, and the like were all sold for similar prices.
In the blink of an eye, half an hour had passed.
More than half of the twenty-nine items had been sold.
The atmosphere in the hall grew increasingly heated. Zhao Yu announced, "All right, next up is a martial arts manual."
At his words, the martial artists in the audience immediately stirred with excitement.
Zhao Yu gestured to an attendant. The attendant understood at once and handed him a small booklet.
Here it comes!
Shen Han watched without blinking.
Zhao Yu raised the booklet and introduced it. "This is a lightness skill called Wind-Thunder Steps, which our Stone Snake Chamber of Commerce happened upon by chance.
"Anyone who practices martial arts knows how important footwork is.
"Once you master Wind-Thunder Steps, the sea is wide enough for fish to leap and the sky high enough for birds to fly. You could say it'll take you wherever you want to go."
"Vice President Zhao, enough talk. What's the starting price?"
One martial artist had already grown impatient.
Zhao Yu smiled. "The starting price is nine hundred taels of silver."
"Fine, nine hundred and fifty taels!"
The martial artist immediately raised the bid by fifty taels.
"I'll add another forty!"
"One thousand taels!"
"I bid eleven hundred taels of silver."
The bids for this lightness skill rose like wave after wave, pushing the auction to an undeniable climax.
Zhao Yu was naturally quite pleased.
As the organizer, he wanted the price to go as high as possible.
So those customers at the tavern really did have reliable information. There really was a lightness skill manual up for auction... Shen Han thought.
He didn't bid.
First, the silver on him wasn't even enough to meet the starting price. He had no right to call out a bid.
Second, he was after a cultivation technique. A footwork manual wasn't something he was considering for now.
"Twelve hundred taels!"
Just then, Daoist Xuanyang, who had remained silent until now, stood up.
He patted the curved saber at his waist and swept his tigerlike gaze across the hall. "I'm Daoist Xuanyang, and I must have Wind-Thunder Steps. Please do me the favor of letting me have it!"
The room fell silent.
As expected, no one bid again.
"Congratulations, Daoist Xuanyang, on obtaining the Wind-Thunder Steps manual for twelve hundred taels."
Zhao Yu spoke quickly.
Daoist Xuanyang paid with a bank draft and took the manual from Zhao Yu. After leafing through it, he left the Spirit Snake Pavilion immediately.
Before long, another half hour passed.
One item after another was sold. Only the final three remained unseen. Quite a few people had bought something they wanted, but even more knew full well that they would have to leave empty-handed.
"Next, we have another manual."
A small booklet appeared in Zhao Yu's hands again.
But compared to the Wind-Thunder Steps manual, this one was much more worn, and plainly had several damaged sections.
Zhao Yu said, "This is a cultivation manual called Ancient Sun Technique. Practicing it allows one to refine Pure Yang True Qi.
"The auction begins now. The starting price is two hundred and fifty taels."
A martial artist immediately challenged him. "Vice President Zhao, why is the price so low?"
Two hundred and fifty taels was the lowest price of any item that evening.
Zhao Yu showed the manual to everyone again. "Our Stone Snake Chamber of Commerce never deceives its customers. Take a look for yourselves. This manual is incomplete. I examined it and found that nearly thirty percent of its contents are missing, so the chamber of commerce certainly can't ask an exorbitant price."
"Incomplete?"
"How are you supposed to practice it, then?"
"Exactly..."
Several martial artists who had been interested immediately lost their enthusiasm.
Seeing this, Zhao Yu hurriedly said, "Even though it's incomplete, it's not impossible to gain insight from it."
Despite his repeated explanations,
few were willing to bid on an incomplete manual.
Zhao Yu had no choice but to ask, "Does anyone need this Ancient Sun Technique?"
He called out twice, but no one answered.
Could it be that it was going to go unsold...? Zhao Yu's expression turned unpleasant.
"I'll offer two hundred and fifty taels."
At the crucial moment, Shen Han raised his hand and named his price.
It was all the money he had.
If anyone outbid him, he would have nothing left to offer.
He had chosen to bid for a simple reason: an incomplete manual was no problem at all for his clone!
The Angry Dragon Divine Fist had been missing three moves, yet his clone had still filled them in automatically, practiced them to perfection, and even ground them out to the perfected stage in a short time. Surely the Ancient Sun Technique wouldn't stump his clone either.
Any other bids?"
Zhao Yu let out a huge sigh of relief.
"No more? Congratulations to Customer Number Thirty-Two on winning this Ancient Sun Technique manual!"
He immediately confirmed the sale, as if afraid Shen Han might change his mind.
Shen Han went up to the stage, paid Zhao Yu two hundred and fifty taels of silver, and accepted the manual.
As he returned to his seat,
two young women suddenly entered the hall at a leisurely pace. One wore a white dress and had a graceful figure, a slender waist and full curves, and a bright, captivating face. The other attended her carefully and was likely her maid.
They also had a number placard: seat number one hundred and nine.
By now, the auction was nearly over.
Thanks to Zhao Yu's efforts, the final two items were sold as well, and the auction came to a close. All in all, the Stone Snake Chamber of Commerce had made a fortune.
Everyone rose to leave.
The two young women had arrived late, and they were also the last to leave.
"Miss, it seems the item we wanted was bought by someone before we got here..."
"Yes, but I'm determined to have it!"
"What should we do now?"
The white-skirted girl smiled faintly. "I have a plan. Yang Liu, go rent a carriage first."
"Yes, miss!"
"We were only one step late. The world really is full of surprises!"
The next moment, a meaningful smile appeared at the corner of the white-skirted girl's lips.
Before you continue