Nine thousand nine hundred silver taels!
Inside the domed auction hall, the air felt so tight you could strike a spark off it.
Three hundred merchants stood up from their velvet seats, craning their necks to stare at the front row where Lin Fan was shaking like a leaf in a winter gale.
For an ordinary border clan like the Frost-Pine Gu Clan, nine thousand nine hundred silver taels was equal to three full years of total revenue from every farm, timber yard, and shop they owned!
Sitting right beside Second Elder Gu Ba, Loan-Shark Boss Shark stopped cleaning his fingernails and narrowed his cold, predatory eyes at the rusty iron pot on the stage.
“Even the Third Branch’s Gu Changsheng is willing to bid nine thousand nine hundred silver for that ugly pot,” Boss Shark murmured, licking his thick lips. “Looks like you weren’t lying to me last night, Second Elder Gu. Whatever is sealed inside that green brick must be a genuine Rank 2 or Rank 3 treasure!”
Hearing Boss Shark’s words—and seeing Gu Changsheng holding up VIP Paddle #1 on the balcony. If ready to snatch the treasure away at any second—the last shred of caution in Second Elder Gu Ba’s and Lin Fan’s brains snapped completely!
Gu Changsheng definitely knows about the Thousand-Year Earth-Heart Milk! Lin Fan screamed inside his mind, his bloodshot eyes practically bulging out of their sockets. *That’s how he cured his crippled dantian and got that Three-Hundred-Year Ginseng—he must have found an ancient ruin map!
He wants to steal my Earth-Heart Milk and my Rank 3 Pill Furnace too!
Not in a million years!*
With a roar like a cornered wolf, Lin Fan leaped straight onto the velvet cushion of his front-row chair!
Waving the ten-thousand-silver Black-Shark Loan House bank draft in one hand and Paddle #14 in the other. Lin Fan pointed a trembling finger up at VIP Box #1 and bellowed at the top of his lungs:.
“TEN THOUSAND SILVER TAELS!”
His voice cracked and echoed off the brass chandeliers as he laughed wildly at the balcony:.
“Ten thousand silver in cash, Gu Changsheng! You crippled Third Branch trash, do you think selling a few ten-copper sugar bears yesterday makes you richer than our Second Branch?! That ten-thousand-silver bank draft right here is backed by every acre of Second Branch ancestral land!
Do you dare add even one more silver tael against me?!”
Down in the front row, Second Elder Gu Ba also stood up, puffing out his chest through his bandaged cheeks as he glared triumphantly up at the second floor.
In their minds, Gu Changsheng had already pushed his pharmacy savings to the absolute limit at nine thousand nine hundred silver. Either Gu Changsheng would be forced to back down in humiliating defeat right now while Lin Fan claimed the peerless treasure—or Gu Changsheng would overdraw his funds and get disqualified by the Auction House!
All three hundred pairs of eyes in the hall swung upward toward VIP Box #1.
Even Manager Qian Fugui stood at the mahogany podium with his silver gavel poised in midair, holding his breath as he waited for Gu Changsheng’s response.
Up in VIP Box #1, Gu Changsheng slowly lowered his gold-plated bidding paddle onto the rosewood table.
Wait—was he really out of silver?
No! Instead of looking angry, frustrated, or defeated, Gu Changsheng picked up his porcelain teacup, took a leisurely sip of warm jasmine tea. Stood up at the balcony railing with the warmest, most neighborly smile imaginable!
“Ten thousand silver taels for an old iron pot and a cracked brick?”
Gu Changsheng spread both hands in a graceful, magnanimous gesture and gave Lin Fan a polite little bow from the second floor.
“Well, well! Young Master Lin truly has the bold spirit and refined taste of a wealthy nobleman! Since Nephew Lin is willing to spend ten thousand silver taels of ancestral farmland money on an old pot, how could this humble uncle possibly compete with such generosity?”
Gu Changsheng smiled brightly at Manager Qian on the stage and waved his hand:.
“Our Third Branch only wanted a twenty-copper pot to mash dandelions in the yard. Ten thousand silver is way too rich for my blood! I concede—Lot #88 belongs entirely to Young Master Lin and Second Elder Gu Ba!
Congratulations, Nephew Lin!”
Sitting beside his father, eight-year-old Gu Nian clapped his small hands together and called out in a sweet, clear voice:.
“Congratulations on buying the big pot, Uncle Lin! Dad says nobody in Frost-Pine Town loves old pots as much as you do!”
Behind them, Grandpa Fu clicked his black-iron abacus with a solemn nod: “Ten thousand silver principal, plus two thousand silver overnight shark-interest—twelve thousand silver taels for one iron pot and one brick! What a historic transaction!”
For half a second, Lin Fan blinked on top of his front-row chair, surprised that Gu Changsheng had given up so cheerfully without a single curse.
Then a wave of overwhelming, intoxicating triumph flooded Lin Fan’s chest!
Hahaha! He ran out of cash at nine thousand nine hundred silver and is just putting on a brave face to hide his humiliation! Lin Fan thought.
Throwing his head back and laughing so loud the whole hall stared at him.
“Manager Qian! You heard Gu Changsheng concede!” Lin Fan shouted, jumping down from his chair and striding toward the red-carpeted steps of the auction stage like a victorious emperor ascending his throne.
“Drop the gavel!
Lot #88 is mine!”
Manager Qian Fugui didn’t hesitate for a microsecond.
Remembering how Gu Changsheng had cured his twenty-year knee rheumatism last night—and knowing perfectly well what Gu Changsheng had swapped onto the. Lot #88 shelf in the back shed—Manager Qian brought his silver gavel down onto the mahogany block three times at lightning speed!
BANG! BANG! BANG!
“Ten thousand silver taels to Paddle #14, Young Master Lin Fan and Second Elder Gu Ba!” Manager Qian boomed at the top of his voice. Snatching the ten-thousand-silver bank draft straight out of Lin Fan’s hand and stamping it with the Auction House’s non-refundable red iron seal before the ink could even dry!
“Payment received and verified! Under Frost-Pine Auction House Rule One, all clearance lot sales are final, as-is, and non-refundable once the gavel falls! Lot #88 now belongs to Young Master Lin Fan!”
Clap, clap, clap!
Up in VIP Box #1, Gu Changsheng led the applause with a broad grin, followed immediately by Auntie Qin, Grandpa Fu, and little Gu Nian.
Down on the center of the auction stage, bathed in the bright light of the brass chandeliers. Lin Fan stood beside the wheeled cart and looked out over the three hundred wealthy merchants of Frost-Pine Town.
For the past three days, ever since Gu Changsheng woke up before the noon execution, Lin Fan had suffered one humiliation after another.
He had been sprayed by a manure brick, tricked into eating a ten-times laxative turnip in the graveyard. Chased down the mountain with his pants around his ankles by a Blood-Corpse, dragged to the cold-water stocks by the night-watch. Forced to drink his own Seven-Step Heart-Rot tea in front of fifty shoppers on Willow-West Street!
Everywhere he walked in Frost-Pine Town, people pointed at his back and whispered about the white-robed uncle who pooped his pants on the mountain.
Today, right here on this stage, I wash away every bit of that shame! Lin Fan thought feverishly, his chest heaving with pride. He rested one hand on the cracked green brick on the cart.
He didn’t want to wait until he got home to open the brick in secret.
No—he wanted all three hundred wealthy merchants, Silk Merchant Liu, Loan-Shark Boss Shark, Qin Wan’er. Especially Gu Changsheng up in VIP Box #1 to watch with their own eyes as he cracked open this “worthless brick,” revealed the glowing Thousand-Year Earth-Heart Milk inside. Broke straight into a Rank 2 Iron-Bone genius right on the auction stage!
Turning toward VIP Box #1 with a arrogant, gloating sneer, Lin Fan raised his voice so the entire hall could hear every word:.
“Gu Changsheng! Qin Wan’er! And all you short-sighted merchants of Frost-Pine Town who laughed at me for spending ten thousand silver on Lot #88!”
Lin Fan tapped the cracked green brick on the cart with his knuckles.
“A frog at the bottom of a well only sees mud and stone, while a true dragon recognizes peerless heaven-and-earth treasures at a glance! You think this is an ordinary rusted pot and a broken brick? Open your dog eyes wide and watch closely—because what is sealed inside this ancient green brick is worth ten times the ten thousand silver I just paid!”
In the front row, Second Elder Gu Ba leaned forward eagerly, his swollen cheeks trembling with excitement: “That’s right! Show them, Nephew Lin! Show that Third Branch brat what real vision looks like!”
Beside Gu Ba, Loan-Shark Boss Shark also stood up and took two steps closer to the front of the stage so he could get a clear look—and make sure he got his twelve-thousand-silver cut!
Around the front three rows, Silk Merchant Liu and a dozen curious traders leaned forward out of their seats, squinting hard at the cracked green brick on the velvet cart.
“Could there really be a rare jade core or an ancient pill sealed inside that old brick?” Silk Merchant Liu muttered, adjusting his spectacles and taking a step closer to the stage steps. “Even Patriarch Gu bid nine thousand nine hundred silver for it just now—maybe the Second Branch really did stumble onto a blind treasure!”
“Stand back, Merchant Liu!” Second Elder Gu Ba barked arrogantly. Waving his pudgy hands to shoo the other merchants away while stepping right up to the edge of the stage himself so nobody could snatch a single drop of his nephew’s prize.
“This Lot #88 belongs to our Gu Clan Second Branch!
Even the dust that falls off this brick is worth more than your silk shop!”
On the stage, Lin Fan raised his right hand high above his head.
Faint wisps of Rank 1 Mid Blood Qi gathered around his knuckles. Inside his head, he was already picturing the moment the green brick split open: a fragrant. Glowing halo of Thousand-Year Earth-Heart Milk would float into the air, the three hundred merchants would fall to their knees in awe, Qin Wan’er would regret siding with the Third Branch.
Gu Changsheng’s smile up on that balcony would freeze into bitter ashes!
Even Master Yao Chen inside the black iron ring woke up fully and extended his spiritual sense out of the ring for the first time that morning to watch his host claim the prize.
Wait a second, Master Yao Chen suddenly frowned inside the ring. His full Golden Core spiritual sense penetrated past the thin outer layer of [Real Earth-Fire Rust Scrapings] and touched the core of the pressurized clay brick six inches below Lin Fan’s fist. *Why is there no jade cavity inside this brick?!
Why is the center full of pressurized gas and—NO! STOP YOUR FIST, YOU IDIOT!*
Up in VIP Box #1, however, Gu Changsheng had already quietly reached over. Pulled the heavy velvet privacy screen half an inch forward to shield Gu Nian and Auntie Qin from the angle of the stage. Handed each of them a fragrant honey-orange gummy bear to hold near their noses.
“Nian’er, Sister Wan’er, Grandpa Fu,” Gu Changsheng said calmly, counting down on three fingers. “Take a deep breath right now, and hold your noses in three... two...
one.”
Down on the center of the stage, half a heartbeat. Master Yao Chen’s frantic mental scream could register in his ears, Lin Fan planted his boots wide. Leaned his face and open mouth right over the cracked green brick so he could catch the very first splash of “Thousand-Year Earth-Heart Milk” on his tongue.
Slammed his Rank 1 Mid fist straight down onto the center of the brick!
“BREAK FOR ME—AND REVEAL THE DIVINE MARROW MILK!”
[ DING! TEN-THOUSAND-SILVER TIME-BOMB BRICK TRIGGERED! ]
* Target : Lin Fan (Face positioned 8 inches above brick!)
* Secondary : Second Elder Gu Ba & Front-Row VIPs (3 feet away!)
* Payload : High-Pressure 100-Day Fermented Skunk-Cabbage &.
Public Latrine Night-Soil Geyser!
* Gu Nian : Darkening Meter 13% -> 12% (-1% DROP!)
* Daily Income: +3,400 DP/day -> +3,800 DP/day!