"Xue Jinluan, why are you meddling in this? This is my brother asking Sister Qingluan for her opinion. Do you have to interfere?"
"Don't you even know how much face you have? You're just patting yourself on the back. Why should I buy it for you?" Wei Jingran pouted, snorted in dissatisfaction, and bluntly slapped Xue Jinluan in the face on the spot.
Xue Jinluan's face stiffened. Being blatantly humiliated by Wei Jingran in front of a group of young masters and ladies from noble families, she was immediately filled with anger, embarrassment, and frustration. She was so ashamed and indignant that she couldn't lift her face, having made a complete fool of herself in front of everyone.
Suppressing the anger rising in her heart, Xue Jinluan smiled at Wei Jingran with restraint, "What are you saying, Jingran? I was just joking, why take it seriously?"
I really like this dress, but I didn't really intend for Wei Jingyue to buy it and give it to me.
Wei Jingran rolled his eyes, his words laced with sarcasm and a hint of irony.
"Oh, really? In that case, go ahead and take the bid. A thousand taels of gold is no small sum. My brother could certainly afford it, but do you, Xue Jinluan, think you could?"
After saying that, Wei Jingran seemed to realize something, and then covered his mouth and shouted exaggeratedly, his eyes flashing with schadenfreude.
"Oh, right, this isn't something you can buy for a thousand gold coins. I almost forgot, this is an auction house."
This thousand gold is just the starting bid; it doesn't mean you can win it for a thousand gold.
"Xue Jinluan, you like this dress so much, what are we going to do? How about I lend you some money?"
Wei Jingran smiled with narrowed eyes and waved to the three girls around him.
"Hurry up and help me calculate how many taels of silver this thousand gold pieces is, I'm not very good at math."
The Lin family girl, who had a good relationship with Wei Jingran, smiled and genuinely cooperated by calculating the numbers.
"Jingran, let me do the math for you. I'm pretty good at math. This thousand gold pieces is equivalent to one hundred taels of silver."
One hundred taels of silver may not sound like much, but for families like ours, the monthly allowance for young ladies is only about fifty taels of silver.
To buy this dress, based on the starting price, it would take at least two months' worth of monthly salary.
However, this is only the starting price.
In my opinion, to put it mildly, Jinluan would need at least two hundred taels of silver to get this dress.
This is just a conservative estimate.
Oh dear, if you calculate it this way, two hundred taels of silver is equivalent to four months' wages!
Jinluan, are you really willing to spend four months' worth of your monthly salary on such a dress?
But then again, the question is, do you even have that much money?
I've noticed you tend to spend money quite recklessly.
"I probably can't save up two hundred taels of silver on hand."
A young lady from a prominent family looked at Lin Yuyan in surprise, "Sister Lin, do you receive fifty taels of silver every month at home?"
At home, I only earn about fifteen taels of silver a month.
Lin Yuyan covered her lips, laughing heartily, seemingly quite surprised.
"Did I say too much? Maybe my family is just a little different from yours."
My family were originally imperial merchants. Although our business isn't as large now, we still have some savings, so our monthly allowance is naturally quite generous.
His seemingly unintentional words actually carried a hint of showing off, which everyone could tell.
Wei Jingran smiled and glanced sideways at Xue Qingluan, who was standing to the side, and asked.
"Sister Qingluan, how much monthly salary do you receive at home?"
Xue Qingluan smiled and didn't try to hide anything.
"He will receive twenty taels of silver each month."
"Twenty taels?" Wei Jingran's voice suddenly rose, and he glanced at Xue Jinluan.
"This dress probably costs two hundred taels of silver. Wouldn't that be almost a year's worth of monthly salary?"
"Xue Jinluan, please don't be sad, and please don't call a halt later."
As soon as Wei Jingran finished speaking, a voice came from a private room upstairs.
"Two thousand gold coins."
Wei Jingran burst into laughter, his body trembling with mirth.
"Oh my, that's too exaggerated. It's gone up to two thousand gold coins in one go. It seems you won't be able to get this dress tonight, Xue Jinluan. You can only admire it from afar."
Xue Jinluan gritted her teeth, looked at Wei Jingran who had been mocking and humiliating her, and gritted her teeth as she spoke into the microphone tube next to the window.
"Two thousand one hundred gold coins."
"Wow, that's amazing! Xue Jinluan, you're really rich!"
Xue Jinluan raised her chin and gave Wei Jingran an arrogant smile.
"I wouldn't dare say more, but I can definitely get three thousand gold coins."
Lin Yuyan bit her lip, glancing at Xue Jinluan with a troubled expression. This time, it wasn't a complete pretense, nor was it a deliberate attempt to curry favor with Wei Jingran and put Xue Jinluan down; she had genuinely taken a liking to her.
"To be honest, Jinluan, I also have my eye on this dress. It's a best-of-breed situation between us."
"Jinluan, you won't blame me if I take this dress off, will you?"
Xue Jinluan's face instantly turned red. These words made it sound as if she, Xue Jinluan, couldn't rob it because she didn't have money.
Xue Jinluan was repeatedly humiliated here. Even the most mild-mannered person would find it unbearable to suffer such injustice.
Her hands, hidden beneath the long sleeves, clenched tightly. For the sake of face and to salvage her dignity here, Xue Jinluan was determined to take off this gold-embroidered robe.
Otherwise, this auction house would have become a place of shame for her today.
Why should I be humiliated by someone?
He was humiliated precisely because of Xue Qingluan.
This is something she absolutely cannot do.
"Yu Yan, if I manage to take this golden silk robe, please don't blame me. Money isn't the issue; the main concern is that it might damage our friendship."
So, in the end, whoever gets it, we can't let a piece of clothing ruin the friendship we've built up since childhood.
"It's just a piece of clothing, how can that be? How can this inanimate object be compared to our feelings?"
The purpose of coming to this auction house is simply for everyone to get together, have some fun, and enjoy themselves.
"What if looking for fun turns into an enemy? Wouldn't that be a laughing stock?" Lin Yuyan smiled broadly, but inwardly she scoffed. It was all talk and no action.
What kind of best friend relationship?
Bullshit!
What's with the pretense?
Don't think that everyone doesn't know what kind of person she is.
From childhood to adulthood, we played together and always competed and fought for everything.
If others have it, Xue Jinluan must have it too.
If you can't get it, destroy what others have so that they can't get it either.
Her kites, her beaded flowers, her calligraphy practice books, her zither—all of them were destroyed by Xue Jinluan in this way.
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