freenovelworld Chapter 556: Picking Up a Lot
Chapter 556: Picking Up a Lot
The auctioneer banged his sandalwood gavel and pointed at the gray-black stones piled up like a small mountain below the stage. He shouted, "These are strange stones brought back by a caravan from the Western Regions. Starting price: five hundred taels of silver. Anyone interested?"
The audience burst into laughter. Someone joked that the stone would be suitable for pressing down a pickle jar. But for a long time, no one raised a sign.
The audience erupted in laughter. A wealthy businessman in silk at the front row held a handkerchief to his nose and said, "This stone reeks of sulfur. It's giving me a headache!"
The shopkeeper next to him shook his head and said, "That's right. If it was really a treasure, those foreigners would have kept it for themselves long ago."
Bai Wanwan looked at the ores carefully.
The fine silver-white lines on the surface of the ore are clearly tungsten ore used in modern times to manufacture precision equipment!
It is a hundred times tougher than steel at high temperatures. If forged using ancient methods, the weapons made from it can cut through iron like mud, and armor made from it is even more impervious to swords and guns.
The auctioneer's smile instantly spread from ear to ear, and before the gavel fell, he shouted at the top of his voice: "This distinguished guest bids five hundred taels! Quick! Load the car for Miss Bai!"
Several guys were busy carrying thirty-six boxes of ore out. The people in the audience looked at Bai Wanwan's leisurely back as she left, shaking their heads and laughing at her for being a sucker.
An old shopkeeper twirled his beard and sneered:
“This girl is probably too rich to handle.
We have been studying this broken stone for three months but still can’t figure out what it is, but she treats it like a treasure.”
Shen Tao sighed and said:
"Are you crazy, girl?
Five hundred taels to buy a pile of waste stone, as if the silver was blown by the wind?"
The Seventeenth Prince tapped his folding fan against his palms: "This girl, is she burning her hands with so much money?"
Bai Wanwan ignored them and continued watching the auction. This auction was quite interesting, and the items for auction were diverse, making it a great place to find bargains!
Amid the clamor, the auctioneer cleared his throat and suddenly unfolded a yellowed title deed:
"The highlight is here! Tingsongzhuang, west of the city, has six courtyards and thousands of acres of fertile farmland, facing the canal wharf in front and backed by green mountain tea gardens!
Back then, the Minister of Rites's villa had everything, including pavilions, towers, and fish ponds. Even the Taihu rocks in the courtyard were shipped from Jiangnan!
He paused deliberately, a shrewd glint in his eyes: "The starting price is one hundred thousand taels! Each increase in price must not be less than five thousand taels!"
The Seventeenth Prince's grip on the teacup suddenly tightened, causing ripples to form in the tea. "Wait—Tingsongzhuang? Isn't that where the tribute tea, Xue Jichun, was produced?"
He leaned forward to look at the unrolled land deed below the stage. The vermilion seal on it clearly marked the imperial tea farm: "The late emperor's favorite Mingqian tea was picked from the tea garden on the mountain behind this farm!"
Shen Tao gasped and went to the railing to take a closer look:
"No wonder the starting price is 100,000 taels! This farm is connected to 20 miles of tea mountains. Last year's tribute of Biluo Xueya was worth 10 taels of gold per pound!"
“But how could such a precious place be…” Before the Seventeenth Prince could finish his words, he heard whispers coming from the people sitting next to him.
A wealthy businessman lowered his voice and said:
“I heard that the original owner had committed a crime, and their house was raided and confiscated overnight.
This manor may appear intact, but in reality, the beams have long been eaten away by termites, and the tea garden in the back hill has also been infested by insects. Otherwise, why would the government be so eager to sell it?"
Shen Tao's expression suddenly changed: "Your Highness, isn't this a hot potato?"
In the corner, a middle-aged wealthy businessman dressed in lake blue silk lowered his voice, twirling his beard and saying to his companion beside him, "This Tingsong Village looks impressive, but it's actually a bottomless pit.
The century-old tea trees on the back hill have all been infected with leaf curl disease. The leaves are curled and black, and even the newly sprouted buds are a sickly yellow.
He picked up the teacup and took a sip, his tone full of regret:
"A while ago, a tea merchant didn't believe in evil and spent a lot of money to buy a whole season of tea.
The resulting tea cakes tasted sour and astringent when brewed, and even the waiters in the teahouse found them unpalatable.”
The other man frowned, his fingers in his sleeves tapping unconsciously on the table:
"What's even worse is the termites in the beams, which appear to be fine during the day.
At night, there was a rustling sound of wood being gnawed, like someone grinding bone with a file.
The previous owner spent tens of thousands of taels of silver just on repairing the house, and finally had to sell it in a hurry because he could no longer afford it.
The two people's discussion attracted the attention of people around them, and for a while, whispers broke out from the audience.
The Seventeenth Prince and Shen Tao looked at each other, both with serious expressions.
The Seventeenth Prince tapped his folding fan lightly and whispered, "I thought it was a piece of fat meat, but it turned out to be a piece of hot charcoal."
Shen Tao nodded and said, "The most famous thing about Tingsongzhuang is this tea mountain. If it weren't for this tea mountain, this would definitely be worth more than 100,000 taels."
"Well... I'm afraid no one would be stupid enough to take a picture of it..."
As soon as Seventeen finished speaking, Bai Wanwan said directly: "Buy it for 10 taels..."
Shen Tao and Shiqi were dumbfounded. Shen Tao rolled his eyes and said:
“This spendthrift woman, the money in her hands is not money.
I just won some money today and I spent it all on this random stuff."
Bai Wanwan doesn't care about them. These are all bargains, okay?
Where can you find such a cheap villa to pick up? What's there to be afraid of termites and insects? She likes it the most.
Shen Tao and Shiqi could no longer control her.
The auction house manager smiled until his eyes wrinkled as he walked in and said:
"Miss Bai, you have good taste! To be honest, there are several other manors around this manor that are looking for good buyers, and they also have tea plantations.
It's just that the tea plantation was infested with insects today, so these people had to sell it off. Do you need any of it?"
These people are all good at doing business. Shen Tao gritted his teeth and said angrily:
"What a shame, West City Treasure Appraisal Pavilion! They're using these shabby treasures to fool people!
There's no cure for insect pests on tea trees. Last year, 30% of the tea trees died, and this year I'm afraid we won't even be able to harvest the tea stems!"
The Seventeenth Prince sneered and slammed his folding fan shut in his palm, making a crisp sound. "These people are really calculating. They only target those who don't know what they are doing."
He glanced at Bai Wanwan and said, "Even though he knew it was a hot potato, he was still so eloquent. He was truly blinded by greed."
Shen Tao was so angry that he paced back and forth, his brocade boots clattering on the floor.
"That's right, Tingsongzhuang is fine, but those barren wastelands with no grass growing on them are unlucky even if they are given away for free!
They're just trying to cheat and deceive people in every possible way, thinking this auction is just a place to sell stolen goods."
The steward's forehead was covered with sweat. He wiped his face with a handkerchief and smiled apologetically:
"Miss Bai, please take a closer look! These four farms are connected from east to west, covering a total area of 2,300 acres!
Just talking about the tea plantations, in their heyday, the mountains and plains were covered with lush green tea trees, and during the tea picking season, the mountains and plains were filled with tea girls carrying bamboo baskets on their backs!
He wiped the sweat from his forehead:
"In previous years, we could produce tens of thousands of kilograms of Mingqian tea alone, which was shipped to Bianjing and Jiangnan. But every time, it was snatched away completely.
Most of the tribute tea orders in the palace are directed here!"
He grabbed the abacus on the table and started clacking:
"Just do the math! Based on market conditions in previous years, these tea gardens could earn at least 500,000 taels a year!"
If it weren’t for the successive insect plagues that caused the leaves to turn yellow and the branches to wither, and large areas of tea trees to die, such a precious farm would be worth more than mountains of gold and silver!
Now it's only 150,000 taels! Not even a fraction of that!
You can buy it back and plant some new seedlings. When next spring comes, it will be a goose that lays golden eggs! "