Chapter 354: A feeling of admiration surges like a river (1/2)
Chapter 354: A feeling of admiration surges like a river
Chu Xifeng had been scoping out news for the past few days and was wild with joy with what he heard. His Highness had wanted to stick his foot in when the crown prince’s wedding became such lofty news. Unexpectedly, esteemed wangfei’s gambit had saved His Highness a lot of work and effort.
“I heard the eunuchs at the palace say that the empress dowager got in an argument with the crown prince because of the betrothal gifts. Your Highness, esteemed wangfei is really too smart!”
Long Feiye leisurely finished his tea before he deigned to reply. “Mhm, she’s very intelligent.”
“Isn’t that so? Your Highness, why didn’t we know esteemed wangfei was so competent in the past?” Chu Xifeng was extremely thrilled as he anticipated the coming of the banquet.
In response, Long Feiye simply broke into a smile and didn’t say a thing. Chu Xifeng felt momentarily dazzled by the sight of his master’s mesmerizing smile. Fine, even a man like me thinks his smile is charming. It’s a shame he doesn’t do it more often.
As the sensational news went on in the midst of common chaos, Grand Concubine Yi’s birthday finally arrived. The Duke of Qin’s estate had always avoided commotion and didn’t like being disturbed by anything–no matter how earthshaking the news. Due to that, Han Yunxi chose to hold the event at one of the side palaces located in the capital’s western end. Grand Concubine Yi and Empress Dowager Li were both prominent, high-ranking figures. The former’s birthday banquet was just as stunning as the latter’s, whether it was a comparison in guests, scale, or scope. The only low note was the fact that Emperor Tianhui didn’t attend. Of course, he was still keeping an eye on things in secret.
Grand Concubine Yi had long stopped caring about affairs of the world, but her heart was still as shrewd as ever. She knew exactly how to deal with the situation. After partaking of the simple vegetarian banquet, she simply excused herself on the pretext of a chill, leaving the particulars of the auction itself to His Highness Duke of Qin. Moreover, the auctioneer was none other than the all-familiar Zhao mama. Han Yunxi and Long Feiye were the first seat on the right of the stage, while Qinwang Rong was the first seat on the left. After him sat the crown prince and Mu Qingwu. Mu Liuyue wasn’t an imperial consort yet, so she sat further back behind her brother.
Zhao mama said a pile of pretentious, highfalutin’ prattle to set the stage. She promised that she’d publicly proclaim all proceeds from the charity auction. His Highness Duke of Qin would personally distribute the money into the disaster areas. Naturally, favorable comments followed in her wake. There were also plenty of people who weren’t listening at all, but looking forward to all the items up for sale. They didn’t come just to spend money, but to pick and choose amongst different items that exceeded their price.
Unexpectedly, Zhao mama said that there were only three medicinal ingredients up for grabs!
Chaos broke out amongst the crowd. There were at least 100 people here. Were they all going to compete for just three ingredients? What was the Duke of Qin playing at?
Long Feiye had expected more items, too. He lowered his voice and murmured, “Only three things?”
“Your Highness, more than half the people attended just to boost their reputation rather than from a sincere desire to help out. Why do we need to give them a chance to promote their hypocrisy?” Han Yunxi asked by way of an answer. After all, those who spent the most at today’s auction would have their names spread far and wide.
Countless guests had ruminated over this fact, but how many of them had truly thought of the welfare of the people in disaster areas? Even if they had silver, there was no grain for them to buy! There wasn’t much grain in Tianning Country to begin with! Too much money would just be useless. The main point of today’s auction was to grab Long Tianmo’s silver!
Long Feiye looked silently at Han Yunxi before grasping her hand in his own, their fingers intertwined. Han Yunxi had been glowing with vitality and self-assurance, but she suddenly dropped her head and cracked a smile. She felt as sweet as if she’d just eaten a bit of honey. Although she’d rejected his advances at the Poison Sect’s forbidden area, she liked them immensely now, especially after they cleared up the misunderstanding between them.
Mu Liuyue’s gaze hadn’t shifted from Long Feiye the entire time. Even though he was a married man, she’d never forgotten the person she’d crushed on since young. When she saw their hands joined together, Mu Liuyue loathed Han Yunxi all the more. She silently told herself that she had to help the crown prince as much as she could. She had to make the Duke of Qin see her worth!
In the meantime, everyone started guessing about the three items up for auction. How much silver could the auction raise just from these three items alone? Unless…the items themselves were rare goods worth the value of entire cities? Many people thought of Han Yunxi and her Han Estate’s medicinal warehouse. Maybe it’s really superb medicinal ingredients!
“Zhao mama, let’s start. Take out the items,” Han Yunxi said with a smile. Instead of Long Feiye, it’d been her who spoke up while sitting with her hand entwined with his. It was as if she was Long Feiye’s representative, making her quite the impressive female host.
“Yes, esteemed wangfei.” Zhao mama beckoned her fingers, and a servant girl offered up the first item. It was covered by a red cloth on a plate so no one could tell what it was. In the midst of everyone’s curiosity, Zhao mama lifted the cloth and revealed that the plate contained nothing else but an extremely commonplace…Chinese angelica!
Nobody expected that. How much were they planning to sell that normal herb off for? As everyone broke into whispers, Zhao mama loudly proclaimed, “This is an ancient three-year-old Chinese angelica plant. The starting price will be 5,000 taels!”
5,000 taels!? Everyone was stunned! Even a ten-year-old Chinese angelica wouldn’t be worth than much! What kind of charity auction was this? It was simply extortion!
Long Feiye had no idea what Han Yunxi had prepared, but the curve of his lips betrayed his satisfaction with her choice. Everyone else was extremely dissatisfied. If the starting item had a base price of 5,000 taels already, how much would the other items be? Since there were only three things for sale, anyone who bid late wouldn’t even have enough money to buy the item anymore. Today’s auction was meant to raise money for relief efforts. If they came and spent no money at all, how disgraceful would that be? How much face would they lose if news of their actions spread?
Very soon, someone cried out, “7,000 taels!” It was none other than Mu Liuyue! She figured if she could grab the first item, she’d definitely become the center of attention. Perhaps it’d even win back some of her reputation as well.
“8,000 taels,” someone else immediately bid.
Mu Liuyue wasn’t anxious, but soon enough, the price rose into the tens of thousands.