Chapter 209 Auction

It gets dark early in Lancheng, and it was only just past 7 PM when they left the Lin family. They figured it wouldn't be too late to return to the Lin family after the auction ended at 9 PM. After calculating the time, the group rode their horses to the auction site.

With just one glance, Qi Yuxuan frowned.

"How could this be a place?"

What do you mean by "a place like this"?

Zheng Yanling gave the dancer on stage a flirtatious wink, not thinking anything of it.

She glanced at the Lin family children following behind, who were clearly amazed, and smiled. "If anyone dares to snitch..."

Lin Fei and Lin Chengyao shook their heads vigorously, repeatedly saying no, and the other two younger ones also shook their heads.

Lin Chengyao patted his chest and said, "It's alright! If we're found out, with my aunt there, my parents and grandmother definitely won't blame us!"

Qi Yuxuan: "..."

So that's what they were planning when they called her out.

As several wealthy and influential guests entered, a woman with a swaying waist, wearing only a thin silk dress in the dead of winter, came forward to greet them. Just as she was about to speak, Zheng Yanling stuffed two invitations she was carrying into the woman's full, white breasts.

"Oh dear, so you are two distinguished guests! Please call me Guan Niang."

Guan Niang shyly accepted the invitation, her face beaming with a smile. However, upon seeing that there were six people and only two invitations, she hesitated, saying with some difficulty, "Young master, this number seems..."

"Those four are servants and do not participate in the auction."

"I see. Young master and young lady, your bearing and appearance are unparalleled in the world. Even the servants serving you are so dignified and noble. I was truly blind before."

Zheng Yanling smiled and put her arm around her: "No problem, no problem, lead the way."

Qi Yuxuan and the Lin family children, who witnessed all of this, were speechless.

After walking along a long corridor and passing through two hidden doors, the space suddenly opened up before them. Separated by a silver gauze curtain, they found themselves in a large semi-circular area. At the very center of the front was a semi-circular platform, presumably where the auction items would be displayed. The rows of seats, rising in tiers, were almost entirely filled with elegantly dressed guests wearing black masks.

"This way, esteemed guest—"

Qi Yuxuan sized up the guests, but none of them seemed to be looking at them. After all, none of them were wearing masks, and if anyone wanted to, they might have noticed that Princess Chang Le was also there.

She guessed that perhaps the people inside couldn't see clearly outside, but the people outside could see clearly inside; this gauze curtain was indeed magical.

Seemingly noticing her gaze, Guan Niang led them up the steps to the side, explaining to the young girl whom they implicitly regarded as their mistress:

"This is a type of silk unique to the Northern Sea. Only one piece is obtained every ten years. The fabric is warm in winter and cool in summer, and it is also translucent but not opaque. You can see clearly on one side but not on the other. It is extremely rare!"

Qi Yuxuan did not respond.

She had heard of mermaid gauze in her past life, not because of its ability to keep things warm in winter and cool in summer or to make them easy to see, but because it was made by soaking it in a large amount of medicine. Just smelling the scent of it was enough to cause hallucinations.

Every guest seated below who passed through the gauze curtain could smell the fragrance of the silk fabric…

This auction is quite interesting. Fortunately, she was careful before leaving and had Ren Shun follow her at a distance, so that if anything happened, she wouldn't be too passive.

Once we were seated in the private room upstairs, unsurprisingly, the thing blocking our view from the window was that so-called mermaid gauze again.

Qi Yuxuan gestured to Zheng Yanling to step back a little and not get too close to the window. The Lin family children, being "servants," could only stand at the doorway, so they weren't worried about being far from the window.

Soon, the auction officially began, and several mediocre items were sold off in succession. Qi Yuxuan finally understood.

The first few items were basically fought over by the already hallucinating guests downstairs. They were just ordinary trinkets and jewelry worth at most a few hundred taels of silver, but they were being bid up to thousands of taels of silver. As for the thirty-six private rooms upstairs, there was no movement.

Knowing that the previous ten items had all been sold for several times their original value, the eleventh item, a century-old ginseng, finally saw a bid being placed in a private room—the third room to Qi Yuxuan's left.

Ginseng is not a rare or unusual thing. A hundred-year-old medicinal plant is something that ordinary pharmacies will not have, but as long as you can afford the price and have enough power behind you, there will be plenty of people offering it to you.

However, if it's urgently needed, spending some money to buy it today is reasonable, but the transaction price... seems to be much higher than the market value.

Qi Yuxuan judged that the century-old ginseng was worth at most a thousand taels of silver, but the transaction price was ten thousand taels of silver, a full tenfold increase.

She didn't dare approach the silk gauze to look at the other private rooms, and could only suppress the strange feeling in her heart, deciding to wait until the auction was over before investigating.

Zheng Yanling and Qi Yuxuan were just there to watch the fun; they didn't bring tens of thousands of silver coins with them.

Many more items were sold, until finally the last one was sold.

It was a pill placed in a brocade box, its surface almost glowing against the dark, fine velvet.

"This is the last item up for auction today, a masterpiece by Master Xiang, the Antidote Pill."

A young woman held up the pill, showing it to everyone, and then introduced it with a smile: "As the name suggests, this pill can cure all poisons and evil spirits. It is suitable for all ages and has no taboos. Starting bid: 100,000 taels."

Upon hearing the description, Qi Yuxuan gripped the armrest of the armchair tightly, almost leaning close to the silk gauze to look at the pills underneath. At the crucial moment, she regained her senses and immediately stopped.

At the same time, an unbelievable idea popped into my head.

Qi Yuxuan: "Sister Zheng, where did you get this invitation?"

Zheng Yanling was engrossed in the auction when she finally heard her ask about it. She glanced back at the Lin family children behind her and, seeing that they were all focused on the auction and not looking at them, leaned in and whispered:

"Don't tell anyone, especially my parents... I won this money this afternoon when I saw the gambling den and got a little tempted to play a couple of rounds!"

Qi Yuxuan closed her eyes.

Sure enough, what auction happened to be held on the very first night she arrived in Lancheng? And what coincidence that the invitation was delivered to her? Even more coincidentally, among the auction items were the antidote pills she desperately needed to give to the Crown Prince.

The woman who had just called herself Guan Niang took the initiative to explain the question that she hadn't asked. If she didn't know what the mermaid silk was, she would probably have reacted like many people would, out of curiosity, touched it a couple of times, or get closer to take a look.

From beginning to end, all of this was a trap set for her, just waiting for her to walk into it.

"Let's go!"

Realizing something was wrong, she decided not to stay any longer, and that the so-called antidote pill below was probably just a ruse.

Seeing her in a hurry to leave, Zheng Yanling and the Lin family children were somewhat confused.

"The auction isn't over yet, and our distinguished guests are already leaving. How have we failed to treat them well?"

A silvery, teasing voice suddenly rang out from outside the private room.