Chapter 487 — The Auction Begins
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Fatty Lai's invitation was a red one, except that he had gotten his hands on invitations for all three days. The one sent to Guan Xuewen, by contrast, was gold — proof enough that Guan Xuewen stood on equal footing with those great families!
The items up for auction, too, grew more precious with each passing day. The first day's lots were rare enough, but their reserve prices generally fell between a few hundred thousand and two million, never exceeding two million.
Though the invitations came in different grades, the auction hall had no fixed seating; once inside, people simply took seats at random, and families and friends on close terms tended to sit near one another. And since the hall boasted far more seats than the crowd could fill — not even a third of them were taken — there was no worry at all about finding a place.
Wei Zhao, Guan Xuewen, and Fatty Lai picked a sparse corner and sat down.
Before long the hall filled up, people trickling in one after another as every family sent its representatives — though as a rule, the heads of the great houses did not put in an appearance.
The lights dimmed by degrees; up on the auction stage several spotlights flared to life, and a man of about thirty emerged from behind the curtain. The hall fell silent at once.
"Welcome, distinguished guests, to the annual auction hosted by the Yu family!" The man bowed politely, and the room erupted in thunderous applause.
"The Yu family?" Wei Zhao's brow lifted slightly. A flicker of excitement crossed his usually placid face, then he composed himself again.
"Boss, the Yu family is the biggest and one of the most mysterious of all the great houses. They rose within the last decade, yet in one leap they became first among them!" Fatty Lai explained in a low voice. "With the Yu family, it's best not to offend them if you can help it. But with your standing, boss — heh — even the Yu family would court your favor, wouldn't they?"
"Oh? Is that so?" Wei Zhao smiled faintly. "Who's the man up front?"
"His name is Yu Haitian. He's not of the Yu family's core — only a collateral branch — but he's still someone outsiders scramble to curry favor with, a man trusted to stand alone on the outside and handle the family's auctions," said Fatty Lai.
Wei Zhao drew a deep breath and nodded quietly, then smiled. "I doubt our paths will cross."
"True enough — the Yu family keep to themselves, and no one really knows what they're up to, though they've got a finger in plenty of businesses. It's just that the people they send out to manage things are never from the core," Fatty Lai said with a chuckle and a shake of his head. "Let's just watch the auction. Our Life-Extending Detox Pill actually got scheduled for today — these people have no eye for quality, they don't know a good thing when they see one!"
At the thought of the Life-Extending Detox Pill's reserve price being set at one million, Fatty Lai felt a pang of irritation. A treasure like that, worth only a million? Wasn't that a swindle?
"Ha, it's nothing," Wei Zhao said, shaking his head. "A million is already more than I expected. After all, no one knows about it yet — its effects have to be tried before anyone believes."
"I suppose you're right." Hearing this, Fatty Lai stopped fretting. "By the way, boss, if you've got your eye on anything, just tell me and I'll get it for you!"
"All right." Wei Zhao did not stand on ceremony. At an auction like this, there was no telling when he might come across something he truly wanted — and at least one item today he was determined to have.
Wei Zhao had already looked over today's catalogue. The third lot was a torn parchment scroll — a damaged map. To an ordinary eye, it was perhaps an old, worn map, worth little even as an antique, interesting only for its novelty.
Most crucially, the map was plainly only a fragment, not a complete chart at all, and thus good for nothing — of scant value either as a collectible or in practical terms.