Chapter 4857 — Not Worth Pitying
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
Small wonder this young man was so seasoned—a few simple words and he had settled Lu Dachang. Formidable, the younger generation!
The white-bearded elder sighed inwardly even as he turned cautiously to Lu Dachang. "Then this Nurturing Essence Magic Gold Grass goes to you, sir? The price just now stood at eight million spirit jade..."
Strictly speaking, the whole arrangement sat badly with him—if every sale ended in this fashion, what use was there for an auctioneer at all? But there was no help for it. This was the best solution available, and far preferable to letting Lu Dachang simply snatch the grass away by brute force.
"Damnation! The brat slipped the noose!" Bao Zuoliang and Su Kesheng exchanged a wordless look. Their sole consolation was the eight million spirit jade—a sum far beyond the true worth of the Nurturing Essence Magic Gold Grass. They had failed to trap Wei Zhao, true enough, but they had still turned a hefty profit. Not a bad outcome, all told.
Then Lu Dachang's next words set their livers quaking. The old villain rolled his eyeballs wide, and the domineering air of a tyrant bore down on all present. "Your grandmother's hairy bear! Master Lin has withdrawn, so the bidding starts over! All that earlier nonsense doesn't count—don't think you can fool your Grandpa Lu!"
"This..." The white-bearded elder nearly spat a mouthful of old blood in his face. He had seen plenty of scoundrels in his day, but a scoundrel of this caliber was a first. Was there any such way of doing things under heaven?!
"What? You got a problem with that?" Lu Dachang shot him another glare, his expression ugly. An Opening-Mountain-stage titan after all—the pressure of that aura was not something ordinary folk could withstand.
"Uh... this would have to be put to the consignor first..." the white-bearded elder said after a moment's hesitation. Under normal circumstances this could not possibly be allowed—otherwise the grand auction would degenerate into a laughingstock. But he was, after all, only an auctioneer hired on temporarily, and he was not fool enough to offend an Opening-Mountain-stage titan for the sake of a temporary post.
"Hmph. Let's see who dares refuse—Grandpa Lu will skin him alive!" Lu Dachang threatened the entire hall without the slightest restraint, then cocked an eye and demanded, "Enough dithering. Out with it—who is it?"
The white-bearded elder had no choice but to hurry through the list of consignors. His gaze swept the faces in the hall and at last, with a pout of his lips, he pointed toward Bao Zuoliang, cowering in a corner.
Aiya! Seeing the white-bearded elder toss this hot potato onto his head, Bao Zuoliang's face went black with fury. Betrayed by that one gesture, he was instantly the focus of the entire hall—now everyone knew he was the owner of the Nurturing Essence Magic Gold Grass.
Damnation, I should have consigned it anonymously! A whole herd of mud-grass horses was stampeding through Bao Zuoliang's heart. Now look at this mess—not only had he failed to trap Wei Zhao, he had landed himself in the fire!
"Oh, so it's you, lad!" Lu Dachang's mouth curved in a malicious grin. Last time it was at this boy's hands that his son had come off second best, and he had kicked up a tremendous row over it. Who would have thought they would meet again today?
"Sen... Senior Lu!" Bao Zuoliang could only screw up his nerve and force out an unspeakably ugly smile.
"Since we're old acquaintances, that makes things easy. Young Bao, why don't you tell me what you're thinking? Shall Grandpa Lu take your pulse for you?" Lu Dachang leered at Bao Zuoliang with a cold chuckle.