Fang Yun's Exclusive Auction

Fang Yun smiled. "Look, a Provincial Graduate literary treasure would not fetch more than a hundred thousand taels of silver in anyone else's hands. Yet I sold it for three hundred and seventy thousand. Back in Ji County, we call that fleecing the fat cats!"

Everyone laughed.

"I have become a Void Sage and will focus on the Sacred Way in the future. Unless something special arises, I will attend fewer Literary Assemblies. Literary Assemblies ought to be competitions for more outstanding young people. How could an old hand like me cling to my place and refuse to leave? You may be delighted to see me composing poetry and prose today, but if one day you compete against me for the Literary Assembly's top spot, you will surely curse in your hearts, 'That old thief Fang Literary Overlord!'"

No one had expected a dignified Void Sage to joke like this, and the hall burst into laughter.

"From now on, I will auction off everything I gain at Literary Assemblies on the spot. The spring floods are approaching, and disasters may strike various regions. Of this money, seventy thousand taels of silver will be donated to the Ministry of Works for flood prevention. One hundred thousand will be donated to charitable halls across the land to help poor commoners. As for the remaining two hundred thousand, I originally intended to buy books or the Four Treasures of the Study for students, but in the end I realized that giving a man a fish was not as good as teaching him to fish. As for exactly how the two hundred thousand will be used, allow me to keep you in suspense."

Fang Yun paused slightly, swept his gaze across the hall, and said, "Three days from now, I will commission a merchant