Chapter 163: Auction of the Shop, Some Are Happy, Some Are Worried
Zhuifeng politely invited all the people outside into the warm hall. These people had been exposed to the cold wind outside for so long that their noses were frozen red, but they were reluctant to leave.
As soon as they entered the warm room, a warm air flowed into their bodies through their collars. Everyone stopped bending over and shrinking their necks and stood up straighter.
Several people even moved chairs to the brazier and started warming themselves by the fire. At this time, the mayor was still sipping tea in the flower hall.
Zhuifeng came up with two maids and bowed to everyone in the warm hall.
"Sorry for the long wait, my master will be here soon. Please taste this excellent Biluochun. This is my master's exclusive collection, brought from the interior. You can't drink it anywhere else."
Everyone in the room smiled immediately, looked at each other, and sat down according to their status. After the maid served tea to everyone, she bowed and left.
At this time, Qiu Shi moved from the flower hall to the warm hall.
"I'm sorry to have kept you waiting for so long. I was delayed by something just now. Please don't blame me."
As soon as Qiu Shi entered the door, he clasped his fists, bowed to everyone as he walked in, with a hearty smile on his face.
Everyone in the warm hall immediately put down their teacups and stood up to return the greeting.
"You're welcome, Mayor."
After the guests and hosts were seated, Qiu Shi didn't waste any words. After all, he had left them in the cold for so many days, and the time had come. There was no need to keep everyone in suspense any longer.
"Everyone, I know why you came to see me, but you should have heard that yesterday our town had horse bandits, and I asked the Golden Axe Gang to help suppress the bandits, and gave them 30% of the shops in this commercial center as a reward, so there are not many shops left. The land is generally so small, and so many of you want to buy it. I will offend people no matter who I sell it to or who I don't. In this case, I have thought of a compromise. Let's learn from the gang in the capital and the highest bidder wins. What do you think of this?"
When everyone heard this, they were stunned at first, and then they began to whisper to each other.
Qiu Shi didn't stop him. He just lowered his head and drank his tea with a calm expression on his face.
"The one who bids the highest wins. Isn't that based on strength? After all, we've been fighting to the point of bloodshed, and the mayor is just sitting back and reaping the benefits. What kind of thing is this?"
"Hey, Lao Hu, we are the only two here today who are weaker than Lao Zhang. What do you think? Tell me."
"What can I think? Didn't you see that Lao Zhang is already frowning? We have been freezing for days with him, and in the end we can't even have a bowl of hot soup. I feel really bad."
"I do have an idea. Do you and Lao Zhang agree?"
"What's your idea? It's already this fucking hour, you bastard, why don't you tell me what you have to say, or I'll kick you to pieces. Hurry up, it's urgent. If others take all the good spots, we won't be able to save our energy even if we have a solution."
"Hey, Lao Hu, isn't there a saying that goes 'many hands support a boat that can cross a mountain'? Although our individual strengths are not that great, the three of us combined should at least have a place, right?"
"Well, you have a good brain, I think this method is feasible, we are all good brothers, we should make money together, I will talk to Lao Zhang now."
The people below were discussing enthusiastically. At this time, Qiu Shi coughed, and everyone looked at him at the same time.
Qiu Shi put down the teacup in his hand, looked at everyone, cleared his throat and asked, "What do you think?"
"No matter what method the mayor uses, we, the time-honored brand in Changping, will definitely win."
"Manager Chen, although you guys in Changping are rich, you can't take over so many shops alone, right?"
"Then let's wait and see."
Shopkeeper Chen did not look up, but lowered his head and took a sip of tea. God was really helping him today. His mortal enemy Zhou Biao was so unlucky and went back at the critical moment. He did not care about the rest. Even if he could not take 30% of the shops, he would take 20%. He was determined to get 20%.
Once he takes over these shops, he can make a fortune by renting them or using them himself. He has heard from his relatives in the capital that the prince is now in power and is preparing to open the border to trade with neighboring countries. Once the market opens, the prices of these shops will skyrocket and it will be hard to find a shop.
"Manager Chen, you are not afraid of your tongue being blown away by the wind. With me, Zhou Biao, here, when did you become the boss?"
Zhou Biao's rough voice came from the door, and everyone in the room immediately said inwardly, "Oh no!"
Shopkeeper Chen was also startled. Why did Zhou Biao come back so soon?
"Mr. Zhou, please take a seat. You've come just in time. I've already told everyone that today's sales method is to the highest bidder. Let's start the sale now."
"Hahaha, that's great. It feels great this way." Zhou Biao's hearty laughter sounded very harsh to the ears of everyone present.
The reason why Zhou Biao is so confident is that he has the support of the Cheetah Sect behind him, so he doesn't have to worry about financial issues at all.
After Qiu Shi started, Zhuifeng immediately brought people in to bring in a rack and hung up the drawings of the trade center on it. Qiu Shi had already marked the location and shop number on it.
"Zhuifeng, you will host it."
"Yes, Master."
Zhuifeng was holding a tray with bamboo sticks on it. He placed one on the table next to each person in order.
Then he stood in front of the blueprint and said, "Gentlemen, I have placed a bamboo stick next to each of you. This bamboo stick is used to increase the price. For example, I am selling Shop No. 1 now, and the base price is 200 taels of silver. If you want to increase the price, raise the bamboo stick in your hand and quote your price. Each increase in price must not be less than 20 taels of silver. Gentlemen, do you have any other questions?"
After Zhuifeng finished his introduction, he glanced at everyone present. Seeing that everyone shook their heads, he picked up a small stick that he had prepared nearby.
"Okay, let me first tell you about the planning map of our new commercial center. There are a total of eight streets on this map, arranged in a cross shape. In the middle is a three-story building with twelve shops on each floor. The shops in the building are not auctioned, but only rented. The remaining eight streets are the main streets, and the shops there are the most expensive. You can also see the red areas on the map. These shops have been pawned to the Golden Axe Gang as compensation and will not be auctioned. The rest can all be auctioned."
Qiu Shi also marked the room that Old Lady Wan bought in red, but did not explain it specifically so as not to arouse suspicion from these people.
"My Lords, is there anything you don't understand?"
Zhuifeng looked around and saw that no one had any objections, so he announced the official start of the auction.
"The first store we sold was No. 1 on Northeast Eighth Street. This store..."
The auction lasted until midnight, and some were happy while others were sad.
But no one returned empty-handed. With Lao Zhang, Lao Hu and others taking the lead in forming a group to buy shops, others followed suit and joined forces to buy a few shops.
The two most expensive shops were the ones on the main street next to the wooden building. Each of the two shops had three rooms, and each was sold at a high price of two thousand taels of silver. Compared with these high-priced shops, the one and a half shops that Old Lady Wan bought for one hundred taels of silver were almost like a gift.
Not only did Qiu Shi finally find a source of the other half of the money he used to renovate the commercial center, he also made several times the profit.
After buying the shop, Old Lady Wan placed all the money she got from the bandits on the kang and counted the silver with the people from the second and third rooms.
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