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Chapter 85
Chapter 85 - Auction - Part 3
"20, 000 GOLD!"
"40, 000!"
"70, 000!"
Shouts came from everywhere within the auction theater. The bid went from 20, 000 to 100, 000 within a few seconds.
Then.
"200, 000 From the Yuan family!"
A voice came from the VIP section. Feng Ji was the one who shouted the bid which made everyone stopped what they were doing and turned around to gaze at him in admiration and awe.
"Shit! It's the Yuan Family."
"I don't think I want to offend them. I'll stop here."
"Me, too. I don't have enough gold anyway."
The bidding also paused as there was no bidding after Feng Ji declared that he was from the Yuan family.
Tong glared at Feng Ji in discontentment. He was expecting the recipe to be auctioned around 400, 000 gold or more. But because of Feng Ji and Yuan Shao's reputation, no one dared to bid further.
However, as a host, Tong could not voice out his thought. He had to continue the auction and prayed that someone came and bid for a higher price.
"200, 000 going once!"
"250, 000 gold!"
A voice came from another VIP section. It was the five fat merchants that had made a large deal with Tong. They were the prominent 5 merchants that were well-known in this city.
"Those guys want to compete with the Yuan!?"
"Are they seeking death? Yuan Shao will kill them if he finds out."
"Wow, they got the balls of iron!"
Gossips and whispers buzzed within the crowd. They glanced at both VIP sections and enjoyed the drama as the auction of this item was out of their reach.
"260, 000" Feng Ji continued to bid.
"300, 000!!"
Feng Ji gritted his teeth. The budget they had was only 350, 000 gold at the moment. He did not want to spend all of it because of a recipe, which could be easily stolen by any random workers within Tong's factory. By thinking this far, Feng Ji decided to stop.
However, because of his wicked and unyielding personality, he wanted to prank these 5 fatties a bit.
"310, 000 gold." Feng Ji bid.
"330, 000 gold!"
"350, 000 gold!!" Feng Ji bid again.
"400, 000 GOLD!!"
On the other side of the auction, the five merchants sweated bullets as they had just bid everything they had. The 400, 000 gold was all of their combined cash that they pooled together for this item. If someone were to bid higher, they would not be able to bid anymore.
Feng Ji observed the five men and laughed in his heart. He could guess that they had reached their limit, so he would not bid anymore and let these fools to take the recipe.
On the stage, Tong breathed out a relieved sigh. He appreciated the competition of Feng Ji and the five merchants. Because of that, he got the price he had initially estimated. If it went further, he would consider it a bonus.
"400, 000 gold, going once!"
"400, 000 gold going twice!"
"Four-"
Before Tong could finish his warning closure, another voice came from the audience.
"500, 000 gold! I'll make my family great again!"
A familiar catchphrase came from the chubby man. It was Te Langpu who had shouted the bid.
'Dafuq was that? Why do I feel like I have heard that phrase before somewhere?'
Tong tilted his head and wondered. He definitely heard that slogan somewhere before but he could not remember it clearly. Because of the vague memory and unclear image, Tong ignored it and continued with the auction. After this thing was done, he would try to recall it.
"500, 000 gold going once!"
The five merchants gritted their teeth in anger. If it was not because of the large deal they had made with Tong, they would have more than enough gold to overwhelm Te Langpu's bidding. They could only give up and try their luck again in the next item.
"500, 000 gold going twice!"
"500, 000 sold to the gentleman... Te Langpu?"
'Te Langpu? Te Lang Pu? Why is this name so familiar?'
Tong frowned as he said the name of the winner of the soap recipe auction. He was sure that he definitely knew this name and that catchphrase. He gazed upon Te Langpu again as if he wanted to ask who he was. Seeing the unique hairstyle and his face, the forgotten memory of over 400, 000 years ago came back.
'FUDGE! ARE YOU SERIOUS!? THAT FUDGING TR*MP!!?'
Tong wanted to draw his gun and shoot him on the spot, but it would incur a backlash from the people. Therefore, Tong decided not to kill him at this place. He would track down Te Langpu and used his [Time Stop] skill to assassinate him later if he still strolled around in this city.
Tong sighed in his mind as he felt pity. He had used his [Time Stop] earlier or he would stop the time and kill Te Langpu in secret without caring about the consequences right now.
On the other side, as a former politician and a top businessman in the previous life, Te Langpu noticed Tong's facial expression and the subtle changes. He assumed that his identity as a reincarnator was more than 50% exposed. He had to leave this city if he wanted to avoid the direct confrontation.
'Hmm. Though I want to have a heart to heart talk like a civil gentleman do, the goddamn system probably tries to kill us again. Time to leave, perhaps. '
Te Langpu stood up and walked to the staffs. He asked them to settle the auction item and his gold, so he could leave the auction theater right away and left a few of his servants to deal with the minor details.
"Alright, it's time for our final item! This item will surely make everybody here drools, I guarantee you. The final item of the auction today is... the trade concession!"
The merchants got pumped up again. These people were familiar with concessions from the authorities as they usually bribed the officials to take part in it. It was the first time that a city official held a public auction openly in the public.
"In this concession, it doesn't hold one right of one product! There are salt, sugar, vegetable oil, whiskey, and... spice! All of these products that Julu government have will be sold to the right holder at 20% of the market price!"
Everyone in the theater stood up in shock. Twenty percent market price meant that the right holder could gain 400% profit by reselling everything they bought from the city government at the market value.
Feng Ji frowned as he glared at Tong.
'This brat is too bold. Giving rights to ordinary merchants can spell disaster if the right holder fails to meet the standard. Or is he expecting us to obtain the right?'
Feng Ji fell into deep thought. Then he glanced at the five merchants in the other VIP booth by accident.
'Right, those guys still have plenty of money. Zhang Tong can still rely on them. '
Thinking that Tong would rely on the five men, Feng Ji whispered to the leader of the representative.
"Please take this concession by any means necessary. I don't care if we have to loan more money for it. Just take it."
The representative nodded. He was Feng Ji's servant in disguise, so he had to follow his order.
...
Te Langpu, who was leaving, stopped his feet on this track. He turned around to glare at Tong and cursed him in his mind.
'Spice and salt? Where in this alien world can Zhang Tong acquire all of that? Julu is too far from the coast. He shouldn't be able to possess any salt mine. Or... right. I forgot that he's also a reincarnator. '
Te Langpu figured that Tong should either have a skill that could create those salt and spice out of thin air, or he had bought a large amount of them with shopping tickets.
He ignored the auction and slowly walked out of the theater.
'It's none of my business. I got what I want. I'll just create a factory somewhere and rebuild my casinos while I'm at it. '
...
The crowd dispersed and left the theater. The auction ended successfully.
Feng Ji won the concession auction by bidding 500, 000 gold. They had to loan the money from other merchants to bid for it. He immediately sent a messenger to the city hall right away that he would reserve every item they had for their next pick-up at the end of April.
Te Langpu did not bother staying in Julu for a night before his departure. He rushed his servants and left the city before nightfall with all of his winning trophies.
Despite his effort to hurry back to Ye City, an army of a thousand men stopped Te Langpu on the road. It was the army of Yuan family.
Te Langpu walked in front of his caravan. He was ready for a fight as he was confident in his cheat abilities.
Unexpectedly, a scholar rode a horse forward and greeted Te Langpu.
"My deepest apologies for stopping you at this time of the day. My name is Tian Feng. I wish to establish a partnership between us. Could you spare some of your time?"
Tian Feng had been stationing outside of Julu City since this morning. He came with the servants who attended the auction, but Tian Feng did not enter the city because he was wary of Tong.
Glaring at Tian Feng, Te Langpu nodded and sent a signal to his men to stand down.
"Yuan family, is it? What do you want from me? The soap recipe?"
"No, no. You misunderstood me. You see? Our master, Lord Yuan Shao has taken an interest in your financial abilities and your leadership. Would you be interested in working with us? We will give you a suitable compensation, lands, and noble status. As for the soap recipe, we could easily obtain it from the other sources. So you can keep it."
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