For five full seconds, the only sound inside the Shichahai Imperial Courtyard Auction Hall was the crackle of the charcoal braziers by the pillars.
Three hundred Yanjing real-estate tycoons, heritage collectors, and chaebol heirs turned in unison to stare at the twenty-two-year-old young man standing by row twelve.
Buy all thirty-six imperial courtyards on Lotus-Prince Street at once?
That wasn’t a single mansion. Lotus-Prince Street stretched for two kilometers along the northern willow bank of Shichahai Lake, encompassing thirty-six Ming- and Qing-Dynasty Siheyuan estates, private lotus gardens, and ancient gate-towers!
Up in the second-floor glass supervision box, State Land Commissioner Director Wen (Goodness: 84/100) adjusted his reading glasses with both hands. Beside him, nine honest municipal land-registry clerks (Goodness: 81–85/100) hurriedly opened the sealed master urban-renewal binder.
“Chairman Lin,” Director Wen said into his microphone, his voice solemn and respectful as it echoed across the vaulted hall. “Under Document No. 14 of the Yanjing Historical Axis Revitalization Plan, the State Land Commission does indeed hold the unified sovereign reversion title to all thirty-six courtyards on Lotus-Prince Street—including the underlying state land lease to Lot No. 8.”
Director Wen paused to double-check the thirteen-digit figure at the bottom of the red-header document.
