After Grandpa Fu walked Manager Qian Fugui out to his carriage with a complimentary jar of ten-copper healing gummies for the auction house guards. Gu Changsheng closed the dining room door and sat down under the warm glow of the oil lamp. Black-Sand Market is full of rusted scrap to everyone else, Gu Changsheng thought as he adjusted his straw hat.
To my Upgrade Box, it is a five-copper clearance sale, he added inwardly.
On the scrubbed pine table in front of him lay the gold-embossed scarlet invitation to tomorrow morning’s Frost-Pine Annual Winter Treasure Auction.
Sitting across the table in his yellow bunny smock, eight-year-old Gu Nian was carefully wiping his hands with a warm towel while Auntie Qin cleared away the empty noodle bowls.
“Brother Gu,” Auntie Qin said thoughtfully, pausing by the table with a tray in her hands. “Manager Qian said Second Elder Gu Ba and Lin Fan just mortgaged the Second Branch’s last ancestral farmland to the Black-Shark Loan House for ten thousand silver taels. And right after getting that huge loan, Lin Fan went sneaking around the auction house’s back warehouse asking about Lot #88—which is supposed to be a pile of unappraised scrap iron?”
“Young Master, that smells fishier than a three-day-old mackerel,” Grandpa Fu agreed as he walked back in and hung his padded coat on the wall peg. “Second Elder Gu Ba loves silver more than his own teeth. Yesterday he nearly cried when we billed him five hundred silver for the gate, and today he lost the three-thousand-silver Central Street Pill Hall.
Why would a stingy old skinflint like him mortgage ancestral farmland for ten thousand silver just to bid on rusty scrap iron?”
“Because the scrap iron isn’t for Gu Ba,” Gu Changsheng said, tapping the scarlet auction invitation with two fingers. “It’s for his dutiful nephew-in-law Lin Fan.”
Gu Changsheng reached into his inner coat pocket and pulled out [Dad’s Plot-Spoiler Notebook].
To Auntie Qin and Grandpa Fu, the book in Gu Changsheng’s hand looked like an ordinary leather-bound household account ledger. Under Gu Changsheng’s gaze, however, the parchment pages flipped open to the exact plot node scheduled for tomorrow morning’s auction:.
[ DAD’S PLOT-SPOILER NOTEBOOK — UPCOMING TREASURE NODE! ]
* Plot Node : The Frost-Pine Annual Winter Auction (Lot #88)
* Scheduled Time : Tomorrow Morning, 9:00 AM.
* Original Script:.
1. During the final clearance round of the auction, Lot #88 is.
wheeled out: a [Rusty Black-Iron Cauldron] and a [Cracked.
Green Foundation Brick] dug out of an ancient mountain ruin,.
bundled together as scrap iron for a starting bid of 50 silver.
2. Every mortal appraiser in Frost-Pine Town thinks Lot #88 is.
worthless trash. However, Master Yao Chen (the Rank 6 Golden.
Core remnant soul inside Lin Fan’s ring) senses the truth!
3. Hidden under three centuries of rust, the cauldron is actually.
a genuine [Rank 3 Earth-Fire Pill Furnace]! And sealed inside.
the hollow center of the cracked green brick is a priceless.
drop of [Thousand-Year Earth-Heart Milk]!
4. In the original timeline, Lin Fan buys Lot #88 unopposed for.
50 silver, drinks the Earth-Heart Milk to wash his marrow and.
break straight into Rank 2 Early Martial, and gives the Rank 3.
furnace to Yao Chen to refine high-grade pills!
* Foreknowledge Decay Update :.
Because Lin Fan lost the Blood-Jade Ginseng, the Tomb Jade, and.
three months of cultivation to his own Heart-Rot tea, he is terrified.
that Gu Changsheng will bid against him tomorrow! Thus, he forced.
Gu Ba to borrow 10,000 silver from Loan-Shark Boss Shark so no one.
in Frost-Pine Town can outbid him for Lot #88!
Reading the golden text on the page, Gu Changsheng couldn’t help letting out a dry, quiet laugh.
“A Rank 3 Earth-Fire Pill Furnace disguised under three hundred years of rust, and a drop of Thousand-Year Earth-Heart Milk sealed inside an old green brick,” Gu Changsheng murmured to himself. “No wonder our little Chosen One was willing to mortgage his uncle’s ancestral fields for ten thousand silver. Even with three months of burned meridians, one drop of Thousand-Year Earth-Heart Milk would wash his bones clean and catapult him straight into Rank 2 overnight.”
Sitting across the table, eight-year-old Gu Nian perked up his ears as he watched his father’s familiar grin appear.
“Dad, is that bad guy Lin Fan trying to buy something good at the auction tomorrow?” Gu Nian asked. Leaning forward on his elbows so the two glowing [Little Red Flower Stickers] on his chest caught the lamplight.
“Should we bring our silver tomorrow morning and outbid him?”
“Outbid a desperate gambler who is holding ten thousand silver of borrowed loan-shark money?” Gu Changsheng shook his head and flicked Gu Nian’s forehead lightly. “Nian’er, remember Dad’s household financial rule number one: never spend ten thousand silver in a shouting match on Monday.
Morning if you can buy the exact same item out the back door on Sunday night for twenty taels.”
Grandpa Fu and Auntie Qin both blinked in surprise.
“Buy it out the back door tonight?” Auntie Qin asked, her dark eyes widening. “Brother Gu, you know what’s hidden inside Lot #88?
Wait—even if Lot #88 has a hidden treasure in it, Auction House rules normally forbid selling catalogued lots before the gavel falls!”
“That rule applies to appraised treasures in the main vault, Sister Wan’er,” Gu Changsheng explained calmly, standing up and walking toward the kitchen pantry. “Did you hear what Manager Qian called Lot #88 ten minutes ago? He called it an unappraised pile of scrap iron sitting in the back warehouse that they only bundled together to clear floor space.”
Gu Changsheng opened the pantry cupboard and pulled out a dusty clay jar of three-year-old glutinous rice wine. Two stalks of dried Tiger-Bone Marrow Grass brought over from the Central Street Pill Hall warehouse that afternoon, and a fat root of aged mountain fire-ginger.
“Better yet, did you notice how Manager Qian was walking when he came through our gate tonight?” Gu Changsheng asked, setting the three ingredients on the kitchen counter.
“His left knee was swollen stiff from twenty-year winter rheumatism,” Auntie Qin answered immediately, her physician’s instincts kicking in. “Every time the cold wind blew through the door, he winced and shifted his weight onto his cane. Wait...
Brother Gu, you’re going to brew a rheumatism medicinal wine for Manager Qian right now?”
“A man who has suffered twenty winters of bone-deep knee rheumatism doesn’t care about a rusty iron pot sitting in his junk shed,” Gu Changsheng said with a warm, practical smile. “What he cares about is being able to climb the auction stage tomorrow morning without his knee feeling like it’s full of broken glass.”
Gu Changsheng tapped the silver icon in his mind and opened the three-slot interface of [Dad’s Care-Package Upgrade Box].
Right now, his account held a hefty 2,110 DP, with +2,200 DP/day rolling in every midnight.
Into Slot 1, he placed [One Jar of Three-Year Glutinous Rice Wine].
Into Slot 2, he loaded [Two Stalks of Dried Tiger-Bone Marrow Grass & Aged Fire-Ginger].
Into Slot 3, he dropped [Two Golden Jade-Dew Healing Fruit Gummies].
“System, fuse a flaw-free medicinal wine tailored to cure twenty-year winter joint rheumatism in three minutes flat,” Gu Changsheng commanded silently. “Cost: one hundred Dad Points.”
[ DAD’S CARE-PACKAGE UPGRADE BOX — MEDICINAL WINE FUSION! ]
* Input 1 : [Three-Year Glutinous Rice Wine (5 Catties)]
* Input 2 : [Tiger-Bone Marrow Grass + Aged Mountain Fire-Ginger]
* Input 3 : [Rank 1 Perfection: Jade-Dew Healing Gummies (x2)]
* Cost : 100 DP (Remaining Balance: 2,010 DP)
[ DING! 100% FLAW-FREE UPGRADE COMPLETE! ]
* Output : [Rank 1 Perfection: Fused Tiger-Bone Rheumatism Wine]
* Effect : 100% Zero-Burn Meridian-Warming Medicinal Liquor!
One warm cup dissolves 20 years of cold-damp wind-moisture.
in the knee and hip joints within 3 minutes and restores.
youthful cartilage elasticity!
Hummm!
Inside the clay wine jar, the pale yellow rice wine transformed into a rich, glowing ruby-amber liquor that smelled of toasted grain, warm cinnamon, and pine resin.
Gu Changsheng sealed the clay jar with a red cloth stopper, tucked a small lacquered gift box of twenty [Jade-Dew Healing Fruit Gummies] under his left arm. Handed Gu Nian a folded canvas sack and a small wooden brush.
“Put on your outdoor coat over your bunny smock, Nian’er,” Gu Changsheng said cheerfully. “We’re going to take a post-dinner walk to the Frost-Pine Auction House to deliver Manager Qian’s knee medicine—and do a little pre-auction recycling in his junk shed.”
Gu Nian’s black-gold eyes sparkled with excitement. He slipped his arms into his warm padded coat, checked that his [Rank 1 Iron-Defense Yellow Bunny Slippers] were laced snug, and trotted right beside his father out into the crisp winter night.
[ DING! PRE-AUCTION INTERCEPTION INITIATED! ]
* Objective : Acquire the real [Rank 3 Earth-Fire Cauldron] &.
[Thousand-Year Earth-Heart Milk Brick] tonight.
before tomorrow’s auction!
* Gu Nian Stats : Darkening Meter 15% -> 14% (-1% DROP!)
* Immediate DP : +100 DP Strategic Planning Bonus (Balance: 2,110)
* Daily Income : +2,200 DP/day -> +2,400 DP/day!
Ten minutes later, father and son arrived at the quiet rear courtyard lane behind the grand three-story pavilion of the Frost-Pine Treasure Auction House on Central Street.
While the front entrance of the auction house was brightly lit with red lanterns and guarded by twelve hired watchmen preparing for tomorrow’s big event, the rear residence gate. Manager Qian Fugui lived was quiet, with only a single brass lantern hanging beside the cedar door.
Gu Changsheng stepped up to the rear gate and knocked three times.
“Who is it at this hour?” a servant boy asked through the grate, before his eyes widened at the sight of Gu Changsheng and little Gu Nian. “Ah!
Patriarch Gu!
Wait a moment, Manager Qian just came home and his knee is hurting terribly from the evening snow!”
The servant boy unbarred the cedar side door at once and bowed low, holding his brass lantern high so Gu Changsheng and Gu Nian wouldn’t slip on the icy threshold.
“Come in out of the wind, Patriarch Gu, Little Master Nian!” the servant boy said gratefully. His eyes darting to the small lacquered gift box of golden healing gummies that Gu Changsheng handed him for the gatehouse guards.
“Earlier this afternoon, my older brother at the timber yard saw Woodcutter Chen’s axe wound close up in ten seconds after eating one of your pharmacy’s golden gummy bears!
Everyone in our servants’ quarters has been talking about it all evening!”
“There are twenty gummies in that box—enough for every guard and servant on night duty to keep one in his pocket against winter frostbite,” Gu Changsheng said warmly, patting the young servant’s shoulder.
The servant boy’s face lit up as if he had just been handed a gold ingot. His personal Warmth Index ticked straight past 75/100 on the spot!
“Thank you, Patriarch Gu! Right this way—Manager Qian is in the warm study at the back of the courtyard. Ever since he walked back from Willow-West Street in the evening snow, two attendants have been pressing hot salt bags on his left knee.
He’s been groaning so loud you can hear him from the kitchen!”
As they walked down the covered veranda toward the study, eight-year-old Gu Nian looked around at the tall storehouses lining the western wall of the auction compound.
“Dad,” Gu Nian whispered, keeping his voice low so only his father could hear as his yellow bunny slippers padded silently across the swept flagstones, “which building is the junk shed with Lot #88?”
Gu Changsheng glanced toward a low, grey-brick shed tucked behind the main vault with a rusty brass padlock hanging on its wooden door and an empty gardener’s cart parked under its eaves.
“Right over there behind the plum tree, Nian’er,” Gu Changsheng murmured with a faint smile. “See the gardener’s cart and the night-soil barrels stacked by the corner? That’s going to save us a lot of shopping time once we finish curing Manager Qian’s knee.”
Gu Nian looked at the gardener’s fertilizer barrels, then looked at the canvas sack in his hand, and his small shoulders shook with silent laughter.
“Uncle Lin is going to pay ten thousand silver for what’s in those barrels?” Gu Nian whispered back, his black-gold eyes shining. “If he eats it again tomorrow, even the stray dogs on Central Street are going to run away when they smell him coming!”
“That’s why we call it a public hygiene awareness campaign, son,” Gu Changsheng replied with a completely straight face as they stepped up to the study door.