Fang Yun smiled and said, "Look, a piece of cultural treasure of a Juren scholar can't be worth more than 100,000 taels of silver in anyone's hands. But I can sell it for 370,000 taels of silver. In our Ji County, this is called eating the rich!"
Everyone laughed.
"I have become a virtual saint. I will focus on the way of sainthood in the future. If I have nothing special to offer, I will participate less in literary gatherings. Literary gatherings should be given to more outstanding young people to compete. How can an old fellow like me stay in a literary gathering? Don't think you are happy to see me composing poems today. If you compete with me for the first place in a literary gathering one day, you will inevitably curse me in your heart as 'old thief Fang Wenba'!"
Everyone never expected that the great Sage Xu would joke like this, and they burst into laughter.
"From now on, I will auction all the proceeds from the literary gathering on the spot. The spring flood is coming, and there may be disasters in various places. 70,000 taels of silver will be donated to the Ministry of Works for flood prevention. 100,000 will be donated to charity halls in various places to help poor people. As for the remaining 200,000, I wanted to buy some books or study treasures to give to students, but in the end I found that it is better to teach a man how to fish than to give him a fish. I will keep you in suspense as to what will happen to the 200,000 taels."
Fang Yun paused for a moment, scanned the room, and said, "In three days, I will entrust a merchant to hold a private auction to sell the treasures I obtained in the Holy Ruins and the Denglong Terrace. I will only sell silver, nothing else. As for what the final purpose is, let me keep it a secret. I will announce it in early February."
"Can't you tell us now? You are keeping us in suspense!" Cui Sheng said with a smile.
"We'll know in February." Fang Yun returned to his seat with a smile.
Everyone was guessing.
"The treasures that Fang Xusheng obtained in the Holy Ruins and the Dragon Platform are extraordinary. Even if they are sold casually, they are worth millions. Even an ordinary Hanhu shell is enough to make all the major wealthy families fight over it!"
"Nonsense, for ordinary wealthy families, the role of the Lake Shell is no less than that of the great scholar's treasure. However, he may not sell the Talent Lake Shell directly, he should sell the Qi and Blood Lake Shell, and then the wealthy families will spend money to transform it."
"Even if it's the blood-containing lake shells that humans can't use, it's worth no less than two million taels of silver."
"I don't think he would sell anything particularly valuable. At most he would sell some dragon bones or animal bones."
"It's hard to say. If the Thunder Stone is sold, the famous zither masters will definitely flock to it."
"A list of auction items will probably be made out tomorrow, and we will know then."
"makes sense."
"He has his own city in the ancient land, and he has a share of all the divine objects produced nearby. In addition to the gifts from the saintly families, he has almost everything he needs. It is normal for him to deal with those not-so-good things."
"Yeah, look at his pure-blooded dragon horse luxury car. And the Barbarian Marquis' private army that followed him, who can compare to him?"
"Speaking of private soldiers, even if Fang Xusheng enters Ning'an, he is not afraid of being tripped up by the Left Prime Minister! With one thousand civil-level private soldiers and two thousand noble-level private soldiers, there are so many demon generals and commanders, as well as dragon-veined demon barbarians, they are definitely capable of defeating the tens of thousands of enemy armies."
"If Fang Xusheng's private soldiers were not so strong, why would the Left Prime Minister allow the Yingyang Army to take over the defense of Ning'an County?"
"Hehe, 'the grass looks green from a distance but is not there when you get close'. 'It is not there when you get close'!"
Some people who opposed the Left Party chuckled softly.
Fang Yun received the reward for being the champion, which marked the end of the literary gathering. After another quarter of an hour, the literary gathering officially ended.
After bidding farewell to everyone, Fang Yun returned with his family. When they reached the door, the doorman announced that Tang Da, the shopkeeper of Xuanting Bookstore, had been invited and was already in the house.
Fang Yun went to discuss matters with Manager Tang until late at night and stayed overnight. The next day after breakfast, he personally saw Manager Tang off.
At noon, Fang Yun made a list. This time he was not going to auction off the good stuff, but only the things that were not important to him. But for ordinary wealthy families, those things were rare treasures. For example, dragon bones, roots of exotic trees, blood-containing lake shells, and the "Three Character Classic" and poems copied by Fang Yun himself.
After the auction released the list, the entire Shengyuan Continent went crazy.
In the eyes of many people, the treasures are nothing but Fang Yun’s handwritten poems are the highlight of the auction.
Although those poems were not the first ones and did not have particularly great power, they were copied by Fang Yun himself after all.
There are very few of Fang Yun's autographs that have been lost. Even if Fang Yun makes no progress in the future, the autographs of "Poetry Ancestor Xu Sheng" alone are top-notch collectibles, second only to the autographs of all saints. Not to mention the wealthy, even many aristocratic families who like to collect are willing to spend a lot of money to buy them.
Putting the "Three Character Classic" written by Fang Yun into the clan's teachings can definitely influence the entire family. The teachings of the "Poetry Ancestor" and the "Virtual Saint" that exist in the dark are enough to double the family's genius.
The teachings of the Three Character Classic combined with the luck of a semi-saint have an immense influence on a wealthy family.
Many people are even betting on it, because once Fang Yun becomes a semi-saint, the effect of personally writing the "Three Character Classic" will increase tenfold.
However, the auction set a limit, which made the Lei family very angry.
This auction explicitly stipulates that members of the Lei family are prohibited from appearing, and it is also prohibited to trade or give the auction items to the Lei family in any way. Otherwise, Fang Yun has the right to buy them back at the original price.
However, the threshold for this auction is extremely high. People from wealthy families or semi-saint families can enter directly, but if others want to enter, they must show a silver note worth 100,000 taels.
This threshold alone is enough to discourage countless people.
On the morning of the third day after the Early Spring Literary Meeting, Fang Yun, along with his family and two of the Demon Marquis' private soldiers, rode in an ordinary horse-drawn carriage to Zhuque Street, the most prosperous street in the capital.
Zhuque Street is large enough for ten horse-drawn carriages to run side by side. There are a large number of shops and buildings on both sides, and people come and go in an endless stream.
There are more people today than in the past. The heads of major families or wealthy families in Jingguo have all gone to Zhuque Street and poured into the famous Chen’s Pawn Shop.
Chen's Pawnshop is the property of Chen Sheng's family. It usually does pawning and holds two auctions every year.
After Fang Yun entered the pawnshop, he was led enthusiastically by the manager to the private room on the third floor.
Anyone who met Fang Yun along the way greeted him respectfully, and Fang Yun also greeted them with a smile.
Fang Yun was almost sent to the third floor by everyone with envious and admiring eyes. No other Jinshi in the world could have such an honor.
The auction venue of Chen's Pawn Shop was designed and built by the Mohists. It usually consists of many rooms, but if necessary, it can be quickly transformed into a huge venue in six hours. It can seat thousands of people.
At the innermost part of the auction hall is the auction table, opposite which are a large number of seats. There are separate boxes on the east, west and south sides of the second and third floors, totaling thirty-six in total.
Fang Yun went straight into the private room in the middle of the third floor.
Nunu and Ao Huang curiously lay on the railing in front of the box, looking down, one whimpering and the other laughing. Outsiders could not understand what they were saying at all, but the dragon and the fox were chatting very happily.
At this moment, there are still two quarters of an hour before the auction officially starts. Fang Yun wanted to take the opportunity to read, but people from various wealthy families have already lined up outside the door to visit Fang Yun.
Fang Yun had no choice but to meet them one by one. The people from the noble families who could come to visit him were at least Hanlin, and the people from the wealthy families who came to visit him were at least the heads of wealthy families. Those who were not heads of families did not dare to come to see Fang Yun.
Fang Yun is a virtual saint.
.(To be continued..)