Chapter 356: The Duke of Qin is the worst (2) (2/2)

Her words were utterly superfluous. Of course they’d call for an imperial physician if Grand Concubine Yi fell ill. It was obvious that the empress dowager was stalling for time. Han Yunxi wasn’t so patient, and wanted to force her and Li Leyuan to hand over their silver. But before she could tell Zhao mama to formally end the auction, Long Feiye held her back.

“No rush,” he said.

No rush? What’s he planning now? Is there anything left to do? The auction had been a complete success, and they’d made their opponents suffer massive losses! Han Yunxi had no idea what Long Feiye was thinking, but she was quite willing to wait and see. Long Feiye didn’t pay much attention to the empress dowager as she chatted with everyone else. None of the guests dared to act as arrogantly as Long Feiye, but paid the old matron her due respect. Time passed quickly with the ensuing conversations. Soon enough, the young eunuch that had been sent to the imperial uncle’s estate returned with news.

“Esteemed Empress Dowager, the imperial uncle said that he’d be able to wrangle together half the money by the end of today. The other half should be prepared within 10 days,” the eunuch reported honestly. Actually, he wanted to add that the imperial uncle had smashed everything breakable in his study before saying these words. He had nearly grabbed a saber to run here himself, just so he could kill a certain clueless boy.

The empress dowager, Qinwang Rong, and crown prince all released a breath at these words.

“It’s good that there were no big problems,” the crown prince said mildly.

“Although the cost was high, at least we’ve taken the entire share of public opinion. Once news of this spreads, the Duke of Qin’s name will have no choice but to fall behind the crown prince and imperial uncle’s estate,” Qinwang Rong sighed with emotion.

Perhaps that was their only comfort in the entire business! They’d sacrificed so much, but they’d accomplished their only goal in the end. The crown prince’s 200,000 tael items hadn’t been won in vain, either.

“Exactly so. Crown prince, send some people to spread the news when we return. Don’t let those taels be spent in vain!” the empress dowager urged. The three of them privately rejoiced, more scared than hurt.

Since they’d gotten news from the imperial uncle’s estate, the empress dowager didn’t delay any further. She smiled and said, “It’s getting late. Since Your Highness Duke of Qin has no further items up for auction, I think we should all disperse.” There was a provoking tone to her words. Nobody else dared to speak up, so the empress dowager sighed and said proudly, “The crown prince and imperial uncle’s estate have hearts all dedicated to the people and disaster victims. They gave money generously with an open hand and all the fortune of our Tianning Country!”

At her words, many of the people present rose to their feet with compliments until they were singing the praises of the duo. Han Yunxi felt a little unsatisfied at these turn of events. Although they’d taken their money away, she still felt like it wasn’t enough! When she looked back at Long Feiye, she saw that he had no objections to the current festive mood. Instead, he had lowered his head to talk to Chu Xifeng. Han Yunxi was starting to wonder if she’d imagined him saying ‘No rush’ in the first place.

The previously happy Zhao mama now felt a little unhappy as well. She was too lazy to hear more of their hypocritical words, and seized a chance in the lull of the voices to proclaim, “Ladies and gentlemen, the charity auction has now concluded. The total sum raised was 2,400,000 taels of silver. All of it will be donated to the Board of Revenue to distribute amongst the various disaster areas and buy the people grain! May Your Highness Crown Prince and third young master hand over half of the sum within today, and the other half within 10 days!”

The crown prince immediately stood up. “Definitely!”

Li Leyuan stood up as well, presumptuous to the extreme. “It can all be paid today. Why wait 10 days? This is but a modest contribution to the fate of the disaster victims.”

Though the empress dowager dearly wanted to whip that brat a round, she was still willing to let him show off at this moment. Since they’d already spent the money, they might as well flaunt their wealth to their heart’s content. It’d be good if they ended up making the Duke of Qin and company feel nauseous.

Many others chimed in with Li Leyuan’s suggestion. Zhao mama had said the auction was over, but there was no way for her to control the crowd. At this moment, Long Feiye slowly rose to his feet. He hadn’t spoken a single thing throughout the auction, besides answering one of the empress dowager’s questions. But his silent rise to his feet made it impossible for anyone to ignore him. Silence descended upon the crowd–even the empress dowager shut her mouth! Long Feiye allowed the stillness to continue as he grasped Han Yunxi’s hand and led her along.

“Zhao mama,” he said mildly, “Your lordship will be contributing 5,000,000 taels of silver to the relief efforts. Leave word with the Board of Revenue that the silver will be arriving shortly.”

Everyone was floored by his words! A direct donation?

That’s right! Even if they didn’t participate in the auction, they could donate money all the same! Nobody said the donations had to be done via auction bids!

5,000,000 taels!

In a flash, the crown prince’s 400,000 taels and Li Leyuan’s 2,000,000 taels paled into significance! They were nothing before this sum! So much for swaying public opinion in their favor. So much for winning the people’s hearts! Even the totals of their contributions combined couldn’t match up to Long Feiye’s 5,000,000 taels!

Moreover, they’d been forced to offer those sums because the auction bids had driven them up. It was nothing like someone who’d donated out of his own will! What did it mean to be domineering and generous? What did it mean to be rich and powerful? What did it mean to feel for the common people and work to relieve their plight? This was the true meaning of all those things!

The imperial uncle’s estate spent so much silver and ended up winning no attention from it at all. Here was the ultimate loss to top all losses!

It took Han Yunxi some time to recover her senses. When she did, she laughed secretly into her sleeve. “Your Highness, you’re so wicked!”

Long Feiye’s lips rose into a slight curve as he led her out of the room. His silhouette made for a legendary memory at the auction hall. This should be the true ending of the auction, after all. As for the expression on the empress dowager and crown prince’s faces…