As the big fish came into the net one by one, Mingyue gathered the hair by her ear, raised the corner of her mouth with a faint smile, and slowly walked to the center of the layer where the purple air came from the east.
Due to the special decoration style, all the jade raw materials on the first floor are placed in the corners around the hall.
At this moment, the common people who came to watch the excitement gathered in a corner, facing the specially made transparent cabinet, pointing and talking about the raw jade inside. Some were surprised that the stone was more expensive than food, while others said that there was a treasure in the stone.
The officials disdained to crowd together with the common people. Those with poorer wealth went to the second floor to look at jade, while those with richer wealth entered the private rooms with unusual prices.
As for those nobles of noble status, they had asked the steward of the mansion to reserve seats for them early on. Now they were sitting in the best private rooms drinking tea, waiting for the main show of Purple Air Coming from the East.
When Mingyue walked to the center of the hall where there was only a high table, she nodded slightly to the waiter beside her. The waiter understood the shopkeeper's meaning and immediately lit up the largest and brightest lantern.
With the sound of a drum, a lantern as bright as daylight was suddenly lit, covering the center of the first floor in a perfect circle. The skin of the beauty standing at the table under the lamp was made to look as white as cream, attracting the attention of everyone present.
The conversation gradually died down and the scene slowly became quiet.
The beauty is also Mingyue. Today is a special day, so she is dressed very specially. She wears a scarlet cloud gauze robe, and her black hair is tied up with a jade hairpin into a cone bun on top of her head. Although she lacks the delicate beauty of a girl, she has more masculine spirit.
Mingyue said with a smile, "Today, Ziqi Donglai officially opens. To thank all the guests for coming, all jade materials are discounted by 20% today. In addition, the final price of the auction items is also discounted by 20%. I hope all the guests have a great time."
The shopkeeper was a beauty with a generous personality, which made the spectators all clamor for her generosity.
Mingyue just showed up and then left. The next person to come on stage was the host, Master Li, whom she had hired at a high price.
This Master Li was originally a storyteller in a teahouse. He was a very interesting man, with his clever tongue he could make something dead come alive. He was best at making up stories and improvising on the spot. With him in the shop there was no shortage of business.
"I guess you are impatient, so I won't waste any more time and will start auctioning the first item directly."
Having said this, Master Li clapped his hands, and immediately two waiters carefully placed an object covered with red gauze on the empty table.
"This auction item is incredible. It is said that it looks exquisite, but if you put fine wine in it and watch it under the moonlight, it will sparkle and become colorful. So some people say that this item is the essence of white jade and a rare treasure. It is said that hundreds of years ago, there was a marquis who loved fine wine..."
As he was talking, Master Li subconsciously wanted to put down the boundary square in his hand and said, "To know what happens next, please wait for the next chapter." However, his hand fell empty and he remembered that he was not telling a story now.
However, the visitors did not know that he had an occupational disease and made up a story on the spot. They also thought that the origin of this auction item was really great, and they became more and more curious.
Seeing that everyone was curious, Master Li reached out and pulled off the red gauze, opened the box and revealed the luminous cup inside.
He said with deep emotion: "Yes, this is the luminous cup. Such good things are very rare. If you miss it, you will never have it again. By the way, the starting price of the luminous cup is one hundred taels of silver, and each bid increase must not be less than ten taels. If you are interested in this item, please make an offer." Perhaps because of the previous story, there were indeed quite a few customers who were not short of money who were attracted by the luminous cup. Not to mention other things, it would be nice to buy it to play with themselves.
So there were quite a few people bidding in the audience, and in a short while the price was raised to seven hundred and fifty taels.
This price was obviously not just inflated. Any discerning person could see that it was not worth raising the price any further. The guests, who had been overwhelmed by the noise and clamor, finally came to their senses a little.
Seeing that no one was bidding anymore, Master Li closed the box:
"Seven hundred and fifty taels once, seven hundred and fifty taels twice, seven hundred and fifty taels three times. Congratulations to the guest in Room 7 on the second floor for winning the luminous cup. A waiter will invite you to have a chat after the auction is over."
Then he followed the procedure and began to explain the second auction item.
As the auction items such as famous paintings and calligraphy, lost and stolen copies of famous masters' works, precious porcelain purple gold flowing sand pots, and rare thousand-year-old ginseng were brought up one by one, the atmosphere on the scene became more and more heated, and the competition became more and more fierce.
However, for the princes and nobles sitting in the luxurious rooms on the third floor, these things were too ordinary and had no appeal at all.
Prince Heshan of the Tianzifang yawned in boredom, "The old princess of Suzhou is having her birthday soon. I thought Prince Chen's new shop would have some good stuff, so I could buy it as a birthday gift. But it turned out to be just these junk. It's really a waste of my trip."
The Prince of Suzhou from the Di House was equally disappointed. The item he wanted to bid for had to be unique and could surpass the birthday gifts offered by the illegitimate sons of the mansion. However, after looking at the items being auctioned at the auction house for a long time, he found that they were all unremarkable things that he could not present.
The nobles in the Xuan Room, Huang Room, Riyue Yingzhe Room and other rooms were also quite dissatisfied.
If it weren't for the fact that Master Li was an eloquent storyteller and these princes and nobles were also interested in his stories, they would have slammed the table and left long ago.
In fact, all these nobles came here for one thing, which was to find gifts for the old princess.
The old princess of Suzhou is about to celebrate her 80th birthday. This old ancestor is a very important character. She is the elder sister of the late emperor and the aunt of the current emperor. This old ancestor has a bad temper and once scolded the late emperor. Now she is the only one who can discipline the emperor, so her birthday is naturally extraordinary.
Even a few princes and dukes wanted to have a closer relationship with the ancestor, so that the emperor would not be able to take action against them. Moreover, once the emperor took action against them, they could ask the ancestor to plead for them.
Anyway, this old ancestor looks healthy and has many years left to live. It's a sure win if you spend some money to buy peace of mind.
It's a pity for this auction house. It has such a great reputation but has no items that people are interested in.
Just when the guests couldn't wait any longer and wanted to leave...
(End of this chapter)