Sitting in a private room, you can see everything downstairs.
Qinghe ate the exquisite fruits laid out on the table, waiting for the auction to begin.
Shen Xun looked at the fruit plate far away from him, nudged Qing He who was happily eating, and said, "Mother, I want to eat grapes."
Qinghe's lips twitched, and she stuffed a grape into his mouth, gritting her teeth as she said, "Don't call me mother anymore."
Shen Xun's eyes gleamed with cunning as he smugly ate grapes.
Qi Rong looked at this scene of 'harmony between mother and child' with a complicated expression. She knew it was fake, but she still felt uncomfortable. She put the fan on the table with a 'smack'.
Qinghe heard the noise and turned to look at him: "You want to eat grapes too?"
She picked up a piece and held it to his lips: "Here, for you."
Qi Rong suddenly smiled, her smile alluring and captivating. Qing He was stunned, staring at her in a daze.
The grapes were sweet and fragrant. Perhaps it was because someone had fed them to her, but Qi Rong, who didn't usually like sweets, was also captivated by their sweetness.
Shen Xun scoffed at this scene of deep affection, thinking to himself that those who flaunt their love will die quickly. He touched the red thread copper coin on his wrist with his palm, and his eyelashes trembled.
With the sound of a gong, the auction began.
A beautifully dressed maid, adorned in finery, stepped onto the stage. With a smirk, she announced in a sweet voice, "Thank you all for your support. The triennial auction at the charity fair is now beginning. Every item is a priceless treasure, with a starting price. Please stay tuned."
The previously noisy atmosphere gradually quieted down, and amidst great anticipation, the first item was revealed.
The brocade cloth was lifted to reveal a porcelain vase with gold floral decoration, priced at a low price of five hundred taels.
Qinghe showed little interest in porcelain, and very few people in the audience bid on it.
The porcelain was eventually bought by a man in a brown brocade robe. Qinghe glanced at the man but didn't recognize him. However, the person sitting next to him looked very familiar.
Qinghe turned to Miao'er and asked, "What's he doing here?"
Miao'er looked disgusted and didn't even want to look at them. "The Ding family is also a wealthy merchant family that deals in salt. Ding Mengchao's father, Ding Zhaoshan, is the third head of the Ding family."
Qinghe: "But they don't look like father and son, they look more like grandfather and grandson."
Miao'er said, "Ding Zhaoshan had a son late in life," her tone tinged with schadenfreude. "I don't know what sins Ding Zhaoshan committed, but he married thirteen concubines and still didn't have a single son. If he hadn't gone to Xianhe Village to burn incense and pray for a son, he might have had no one to carry on his lineage."
Qinghe: "Crane Village?"
Miao'er ate a grape and nodded, saying, "That's right. The villagers of Crane Village believe in cranes, thinking that cranes can communicate with gods and demons and manifest all things. They even built a huge Crane Shrine in the village, and people go there to burn incense every day. It is said to be very effective."
Qinghe: "Does the crane also control whether a child is a boy or a girl? Wouldn't the Goddess of Mercy who grants children be out of a job?"
Miao'er countered, "The crane was originally a reincarnation of a spiritual child, didn't you know that?"
Qinghe said "Oh," almost forgetting that the mythological system of this world is different from that of the modern world.
The auction continued, and although the later items were rare, they were of little use to cultivators and did not cause much of a stir when they were displayed. It was not until the main event of the auction that Qinghe became interested.
With the maid's enthusiastic encouragement, a beautiful and exquisite mahogany box was displayed. The lid was opened, revealing a pill inside.
Qi Rong said lazily, "It seems that this time the righteous cause has gone all out, even bringing out the Resurrection Pill."
Qinghe had read about the Soul-Returning Pill in a book. As the name suggests, it can revive the soul and spirit. Even if the physical body is dead, as long as the soul is not destroyed, taking this pill can bring the person back to life. In addition, it can also improve cultivation, increase strength, and even break through bottlenecks.
The process of refining the Resurrection Pill is extremely difficult. Even ordinary-grade Resurrection Pills are hard to come by, let alone the sacred-grade ones. Qi Rong is right; the Righteous Grounds have indeed spared no expense.
The maid announced the starting price, and everyone present fell silent, glancing around to see who was so generous as to offer 50,000 taels of gold.
Qinghe recalled the pill she had sold to Qirong, which was also a sacred-grade pill, but the price was several times lower. She couldn't help but sigh and decided to ask for less.
Qi Rong glanced at her and said, "Do you want it? I can buy it for you."
Qinghe: "It seems your money really came from thin air. Fifty thousand taels of gold is no small sum."
Qi Rong laughed and said, "A thousand taels of gold to win a smile from a beauty, and besides, a mere fifty thousand taels is nothing to me."
Now Qinghe was genuinely curious about what Qirong did, since she could talk about 50,000 taels of gold so casually.
She shook her head and said, "Never mind, I don't have the money to pay back anything too expensive."
Qi Rong gazed at her profile, and after a moment, his thin lips parted slightly as he said loudly, "Fifty thousand taels, I'll buy it."
All eyes turned to this side, their faces filled with admiration.
Some of the unwilling people stared at this side with red eyes. Their lips moved, but before they could utter "fifty-five thousand taels," Qi Rong said lightly, "eighty thousand taels."
The man's face turned red with anger, he coughed incessantly, and nearly vomited blood.
The people in the audience and the other private rooms, except for Qi Rong and the maids on stage, all had envy and jealousy in their eyes. As they watched the box containing the Rejuvenation Pill being sent up to the second floor, their hearts felt like they were bleeding. If they knew that Qi Rong only used the pill to win a smile from the beauty, they wondered if they would risk their entire fortune to get their hands on the Rejuvenation Pill.
Inside the private room, Qing was solemnly explaining a fact to Qi Rong.
"I don't have the money to pay you back."
Qi Rong: "I told you, you don't need to pay me back."
Qinghe lowered her head and smiled sheepishly, "How could I possibly accept this?" She said tactfully, "Actually, there's more than one way to repay a debt."
She leaned close to Qi Rong's ear and quickly whispered two words, then sat back down as if nothing had happened.
Before Qi Rong could react, his cheeks flushed red upon hearing those two words, the blush spreading all the way to his ears. He abruptly raised his fan to cover his face.
The contrast between someone who is usually flamboyant and unrestrained and suddenly becoming shy is strangely endearing.
The door to the private room opened, and the person who came in was the servant who delivered the pills. Qinghe checked the goods and then let him leave.
The auction continued, and after the Resurrection Pill, a specially made box several times larger was brought onto the stage. The moment the box was opened, a chill spread through the air.
Someone exclaimed in surprise, "It's actually top-grade cold jade!"
"It's still this big!"
The only effect of the finest cold jade is to nourish the spirit and soul.
Damage to the soul is a fatal injury for cultivators. At best, it can cause them to fall into a coma; at worst, it can cause their soul to be scattered. Cold jade is very beneficial for the repair of the soul. Even a piece the size of a fingernail can play a huge role, let alone a piece the size of a fist.
Qinghe was sitting on a stool, leisurely drinking tea, when he suddenly felt his sleeve being tugged.
She guessed it was Shen Xun, picked up a grape and said, "Here you go."
This time, Shen Xun didn't answer. Instead, he said to her in a deep voice, "Help me."
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