The items auctioned by the female guests were jewelry or some exquisite gadgets, while the items auctioned by the male guests were much more miscellaneous.
There are calligraphy and paintings, bows and swords, saddles, bronzes, wood carvings, root carvings, and strange stones.
Prince Jin did not bid until the gold-inlaid bronze sword appeared.
He recognized it at a glance. It was the sword his father had always wanted. "One thousand taels."
"One thousand five hundred taels." The one who raised the price was the prince of Jiujiang. "I'm sorry, Prince Jin, but my father also likes this sword."
"Don't apologize. It will be auctioned off. The highest bidder wins. Two thousand taels." Prince Jin said with a smile.
"Prince Jin is generous. Okay, two thousand five hundred taels." The Prince of Jiujiang raised the price.
Just as the Prince of Jin and the Prince of Jiujiang were competing for the gold-inlaid bronze sword, the second round of competition between Zhao Xifang and Song Yirou had just come to an end.
Zhao Xifang repeated the same trick and Song Yirou was fooled again. There is really no cure for human stupidity.
Jiang Changning and Prince Qing's wife raised the price of the eight-petal red gold hairpin inlaid with precious stones that had been donated by the Empress.
The head of the hairpin is cone-shaped, with golden beads stacked together to form a flower. The edges of the flower are branches and leaves carved from jade slices, and in the middle of the flower are inlaid with small rubies.
Although the hairpin was good, it was only worth about five or six thousand taels of silver, but Jiang Changning bid: "Nine thousand eight hundred taels."
The Princess of Prince Qing raised the price: "Ten thousand taels."
The wife of the Prince of Sui looked up silently. The patterns painted on the ceiling of the hall of Prince Ding's Mansion were really beautiful.
Jiang Changning raised his hand, "Eleven thousand taels."
The Princess of Prince Qing refused to give in, "Twelve thousand taels."
"Fifteen thousand taels." Jiang Changning raised the price by a large margin, showing an attitude of being determined to win.
The Princess of Prince Qing calmly raised the price: "Seventeen thousand taels."
The princess of Dewang tugged at the corner of Jiang Changning's clothes and said, "Xiaoning."
Jiang Changning ignored her objection and shouted, "Twenty thousand taels." His tone seemed to be filled with anger.
The Princess of Prince Qing held the handkerchief in her hand and pressed down the corner of her lips, "Twenty-five thousand taels."
After waiting for a while, Jiang Changning didn't raise the price, but Gao Yanyun shouted, "Twenty-five thousand taels per time."
The Princess Consort of Prince Qing looked at Jiang Changning in astonishment, and saw that Jiang Changning's eyebrows were curved and he was smiling like a little fox who had stolen a chicken.
She instantly understood that she had been tricked by Jiang Changning. "Princess Jin, you can't be so timid when doing charity. It's just over 20,000 silver coins, and you're reluctant to give it away?"
"Everyone has the responsibility to do good deeds. I didn't want to stop you from doing good deeds and showing kindness, so I reluctantly gave up the bid. How could the Crown Princess of Prince Zhuang misunderstand my good intentions like this?"
Jiang Changning spoke righteously and sternly, yet showed an aggrieved expression of being misunderstood.
The beauty's eyebrows were slightly frowned, which made people feel pity for her, not to mention that Jiang Changning also pinched the Dewang Crown Prince's wife lightly.
The Princess of Prince De understood and said seriously, "Just now, the Princess of Jin spent 10,000 taels of silver to buy a pair of golden phoenix hairpins. If she really couldn't bear to part with them and didn't want to spend a penny, is there anyone who can rob the money from the Prince of Jin's mansion?"
"No matter how much money you spend, it's a token of your thoughtfulness. If the Princess of Qing thinks the price is too high, then just give it to me. I really like this hairpin." The Princess of Changshan interrupted.
The Princess of Qing had never expected these two to join in the discussion. She gritted her teeth and swallowed back her hatred. She forced a smile and said, "I don't complain about the high price. I just think it's a bit strange that Princess Jin stopped shouting after a while."
"Princess Jin, I didn't shout just for your sake." Princess De said with a smile.
Princess Chongyue said with a smile: "Princess Qing, please don't be so ungrateful. You should thank Princess Jin."
The Crown Prince's Consort of Prince Qing, who was holding back her anger, said with a fake smile, "Thank you, Princess Jin, for giving way to me."
"You don't have to be polite, Princess. It's my duty." Jiang Changning smiled and brightened the whole room.
The Princess of Qing felt it was irritating, so she looked away and forward.
After marrying into the Qin family, she realized how difficult it was to integrate into the circle of noble ladies.
It's really not easy for Jiang Changning to get along well with these people.
If she had not offended Jiang Changning that day, with Jiang Changning's introduction, it might not have been so difficult to make friends with these noble ladies.
Just as Xie Baoyin was reflecting on herself, Gao Yanyun took out the second piece of jewelry donated by the empress dowager, a red gold and pearl begonia crown.
The corolla is made of gold wire, with a crabapple flower on the top and a mesh around it. Thumb-sized pearls are evenly embedded on the gold mesh.
Gao Yanyun praised the flower crown as usual, "The base price is 10,000 taels, and the minimum increase is 500 taels."
After a moment of silence, someone started to bid: "Eleven thousand taels."
"Twelve thousand taels."
This crown is so exquisite, and this is a good opportunity to please the Queen Mother, so I can’t wait and see.
The bidding was quite fierce, but Jiang Changning did not participate. He calmly used a silver stick to pick up apple slices and ate them.
The apples bought from Prince Ding’s Mansion are pretty good, very sweet and juicy.
Jiang Changning finished eating one slice and was about to take the second one when she noticed Song Yirou looking at her. She raised her eyes and smiled, "The apple is good. Princess Ningxia can have a taste."
Song Yirou said with a straight face: "I don't like eating apples."
"Apples are good for your brain." Zhao Xifang's words indirectly involved Jiang Changning and Song Yirou.
Jiang Changning responded very quickly, "Then Princess Yu has to eat more."
Song Yirou didn't seem to understand and didn't react.
Zhao Xifang did not respond, but raised her hand to bid, "Eighteen thousand taels."
Song Yirou hesitated again and again and did not dare to raise the price. Zhao Xifang had already raised the price twice, so she was a little worried.
"Twenty thousand taels." The Princess of Changshan raised the price.
Zhao Xifang raised her hand and said, "Twenty-one thousand taels."
"Twenty-three thousand taels." Jiang Changning raised the price.
Zhao Xifang glanced at her and said, "Twenty-four thousand taels."
Song Yirou wanted to raise her hand but didn't want to. While she was hesitating, the price had already been called up to thirty thousand taels.
In the end, the crown was bought by Princess Baling for 32,000 taels of silver.
Then, the Princess of Prince Ding came out to auction the items taken out by Prince Ding’s Mansion. After a round of bidding, the six items were finally sold.
Gao Yanyun came up for the third time to auction the jewelry donated by the four ladies in the palace.
When she took a picture of the jewelry that Concubine Song took out, Zhao Xifang raised the price twice, but stopped shouting under Song Yirou's murderous gaze.
Jiang Changning laughed and said, "I only heard Princess Yu bidding, but I didn't see her winning a single item. Could it be that none of these items appealed to you, Princess Yu?"
Zhao Xifang's heart tightened. "These jewels are all made by the emperor. They are rare and good things. I also want to buy them back, but I don't have the financial resources. I can only sigh in despair."
"The Prince of Yu's Mansion is spending more than it earns. Princess Yu should have told us earlier. We are all from the same clan, so we won't stand idly by. We will help if we can." The Crown Princess of De said anxiously.
"Yes, Princess Yu, don't be embarrassed." Jiang Changning said seriously.
"My family is not short of money. Thank you both for your kindness." Zhao Xifang bit her back teeth and tried hard to keep a smile on her face.