Everyone looked up and saw a man in his thirties who was dressed like a wealthy person.
The man had a clear voice and a smile on his face. After stepping onto the stage, he bowed to the crowd before saying, "I am the owner of Xilai Restaurant. I was entrusted by Daoist Pingxuan to organize this auction. You may think the prices are high, but it is all worthwhile. As the saying goes, heavenly secrets cannot be revealed. Daoist Pingxuan is risking his lifespan to tell you about the treasure. You all need to exchange it in the same way. If you are unwilling to spend money, you will all have your lifespans shortened. So, Daoist Pingxuan and I are actually doing this for your own good."
The man rambled on on stage, successfully calming the crowd down. Suddenly, they felt that buying their lifespan for ten taels of silver was a very worthwhile deal.
As for those who followed Lu Baichuan over the wall and came in without paying, they are now starting to worry that not paying will shorten their lifespan.
Lu Baichuan remained disdainful, saying that no respectable Taoist priest would utter such deceptive words.
The dog looked shocked and asked his father, "People actually believe this?"
Lu Baichuan nodded: "As you can see."
Dog: ...
At times like this, the dog would sigh and say that reading more books really does have its benefits.
While it's not to say that those who read books necessarily achieve anything, reading more books can broaden one's horizons, enable one to distinguish right from wrong, and at least prevent one from readily believing a few casual remarks in situations where one would be tempted to spend their entire savings on a funeral.
This host was indeed quite capable; with just a few words, he silenced the previously boisterous crowd. Even those who did speak praised Master Pingxuan for his benevolence, saying he was willing to shorten his own lifespan to tell them the news.
Lu Baichuan pursed his lips, not wanting to say anything for a moment. He had already tried his best, and there was nothing he could do if these people didn't appreciate it.
After the situation was brought under control, the host withdrew, and then the sound of string and wind instruments came, and several dancers came on stage to perform, first to liven up the atmosphere.
Today's guests were all men, who naturally enjoyed these little tricks. Looking at the scantily clad girls on stage, their eyes shone brightly, and for a moment they forgot what they had come for.
After watching a few dances, the goatee-bearded manager came back on stage and said, "I'm sure all of you heroes understand what you want. So, let's begin."
"The first piece of news concerns the location of the treasure; the starting bid is one hundred taels!"
At first, everyone thought it was expensive, but there were also many wealthy people, and soon the price was raised to six hundred taels, which was won by a pot-bellied merchant.
Just as everyone was marveling at how many rich people there were, the second round of auction began, this time with a starting bid of 300 taels, which made everyone gasp.
The second auction was more specific, specifying whether the location was in the mountains, on the plains, or at sea.
The third auction started at 500 taels of silver. The items were things that needed to be prepared before finding the treasure, which were personally prepared by the Taoist priest.
This means they've fed the food to its mouth.
There were some clever people among them who asked on the spot, "Since the Taoist priest knows everything, why doesn't he go find it himself instead of selling this information to us?"
The man with the goatee had already considered the answer to this question, and calmly replied, "The journey is long and arduous, and not just anyone can go. Those who can afford to spend this much money to buy information are naturally not short of money. If we find more people to protect us, we will definitely be able to turn danger into safety."
Surprisingly, everyone thought it made a lot of sense. After all, no matter how powerful the Taoist priest was, he was still just a mortal. He might die on the way before he could find the treasures, so he could only sell them to someone who was capable.
Upon hearing this, many people immediately backed down. Since the Taoist priest said it was very dangerous, they decided not to get involved and that preserving their lives was the most important thing.
But many people think that it's worth taking a risk once. Whether you want to be poor for life or get rich and change your life is just a matter of a single thought.
Anyway, they've already remembered who took those photos, so they can just follow those people and they're bound to find some treasure.
It's hard to say who will end up with the treasure.
After the auction ends, the dancers will continue to perform. Those who are interested can stay, order food and drinks, and have another round of spending. Those who are not interested can leave directly, but the ten taels of silver paid at the beginning are non-refundable.
Lu Baichuan didn't linger and followed the owner to the backyard with the dog.
The servant in the backyard knelt down to apologize for failing to stop some people. The master was not very angry and waved his hand to tell them to leave.
The dog whispered, "This master has a surprisingly good temper; he doesn't make things difficult for the servants."
Lu Baichuan said indifferently, "Only a few people climbed over the wall to get in; those who did have already made a lot of money."
The dog was speechless, which seemed to be true.
I followed the master up to the attic, knocked carefully on the door, and only went in after receiving a response.
Lu Baichuan immediately hid with the dog, pressing his ear against the wall to see if he could hear what they were saying.
Inside the room, the owner of Xilailou, who had been so arrogant outside, was now very cautious, keeping his head down and not daring to look at the people sitting above. He said in a trembling voice, "I have done what you asked for. My men are already calculating the harvest. I wonder if you gentlemen would release my family?"
The person sitting up there was extremely happy, letting out a burst of loud, booming laughter.
"Don't rush! This is only the first wave. Let's harvest a few more waves first. What's the hurry? I'm not going to mistreat them!"
The leader was extremely arrogant, which made the owner furious. He had helped them with so many swindling and deceitful things. They had promised to release his family after this matter was settled, but now they were saying next time. When would this cycle of deception end?
He hesitated for a moment, then finally asked, "Could I see them?"
"Heh, you kid don't trust us. I'm not giving it to you, so what can you do about it?"
The bearded man above snorted coldly and said, "If you know what's good for you, hurry up and count out the money. That way, I might treat your wife and children better. Otherwise... humph!"
The owner of Xilailou was filled with humiliation. He had not seen his wife and children for a long time and did not even know whether they were alive or dead.
However, he couldn't afford to mess with these bandits, so even if he was angry, he had no choice but to obey their orders.
Lu Baichuan opened the paper window and peeked inside. The people inside were all dressed as bandits, rough and rude, and clearly not good people.
The dog said, "So he was coerced too."
Lu Baichuan nodded. It seemed that the perpetrators were these mountain bandits.
But after looking closely, he couldn't find the Taoist priest. Could he have kicked the bucket?
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