Chapter 4857 — Not Worth Pitying

Small wonder this young man was so seasoned—a few simple words and he had settled Lu Dachang. Formidable, the younger generation!

The white-bearded elder sighed inwardly even as he turned cautiously to Lu Dachang. "Then this Nurturing Essence Magic Gold Grass goes to you, sir? The price just now stood at eight million spirit jade..."

Strictly speaking, the whole arrangement sat badly with him—if every sale ended in this fashion, what use was there for an auctioneer at all? But there was no help for it. This was the best solution available, and far preferable to letting Lu Dachang simply snatch the grass away by brute force.

"Damnation! The brat slipped the noose!" Bao Zuoliang and Su Kesheng exchanged a wordless look. Their sole consolation was the eight million spirit jade—a sum far beyond the true worth of the Nurturing Essence Magic Gold Grass. They had failed to trap Wei Zhao, true enough, but they had still turned a hefty profit. Not a bad outcome, all told.

Then Lu Dachang's next words set their livers quaking. The old villain rolled his eyeballs wide, and the domineering air of a tyrant bore down on all present. "Your grandmother's hairy bear! Master Lin has withdrawn, so the bidding starts over! All that earlier nonsense doesn't count—don't think you can fool your Grandpa Lu!"

"This..." The white-bearded elder nearly spat a mouthful of old blood in his face. He had seen plenty of scoundrels in his day, but a scoundrel of this caliber was a first. Was there any such way of doing things under heaven?!

"What? You got a problem with that?" Lu Dachang shot him another glare, his expression ugly. An Opening-Mountain-stage titan after all—the pressure of that aura was not something ordinary folk could withstand.

"Uh... this would have to be put to the consignor first..." the white-bearded elder said after a moment's hesitation. Under normal circumstances this could not possibly be allowed—otherwise the grand auction would degenerate into a laughingstock. But he was, after all, only an auctioneer hired on temporarily, and he was not fool enough to offend an Opening-Mountain-stage titan for the sake of a temporary post.

"Hmph. Let's see who dares refuse—Grandpa Lu will skin him alive!" Lu Dachang threatened the entire hall without the slightest restraint, then cocked an eye and demanded, "Enough dithering. Out with it—who is it?"

The white-bearded elder had no choice but to hurry through the list of consignors. His gaze swept the faces in the hall and at last, with a pout of his lips, he pointed toward Bao Zuoliang, cowering in a corner.

Aiya! Seeing the white-bearded elder toss this hot potato onto his head, Bao Zuoliang's face went black with fury. Betrayed by that one gesture, he was instantly the focus of the entire hall—now everyone knew he was the owner of the Nurturing Essence Magic Gold Grass.

Damnation, I should have consigned it anonymously! A whole herd of mud-grass horses was stampeding through Bao Zuoliang's heart. Now look at this mess—not only had he failed to trap Wei Zhao, he had landed himself in the fire!

"Oh, so it's you, lad!" Lu Dachang's mouth curved in a malicious grin. Last time it was at this boy's hands that his son had come off second best, and he had kicked up a tremendous row over it. Who would have thought they would meet again today?

"Sen... Senior Lu!" Bao Zuoliang could only screw up his nerve and force out an unspeakably ugly smile.

"Since we're old acquaintances, that makes things easy. Young Bao, why don't you tell me what you're thinking? Shall Grandpa Lu take your pulse for you?" Lu Dachang leered at Bao Zuoliang with a cold chuckle.

True, the fellow was the son of his direct superior, but he could not be bothered with such ridiculous notions of obligation. Bao Fala had invited him to serve as a guest elder on the strength of his abilities, not out of any personal favor—and besides, there was no favor to speak of between them. If anything, the business with the son had bred a bit of grudge.

"This..." Bao Zuoliang's scalp crawled under that stare, and his smile was more painful to look at than tears. If he really let the old villain take his pulse, that pulse would be broken for good. The old bastard had not a shred of titan dignity about him, and his hand struck black indeed.

"Out with it! Dithering like that—do you agree or don't you?" Lu Dachang urged, his face dark with displeasure.

Wei Zhao nearly burst out laughing at the exchange. In the mortal world, one would take this for a wedding ceremony—except the pair before him were no bride and groom about to enter the hall of matrimony, but a red-haired old man and a spoiled young master.

Bao Zuoliang ducked his head, at a loss for an answer. He turned to look pleadingly at Su Kesheng, but how would a minor figure like Su Kesheng dare stand up and cross swords with Lu Dachang? If it were his father Bao Fala, perhaps—but with only the two of them here, Lu Dachang had them pinned but good.

"Fine!" Bao Zuoliang ground his teeth and nodded at last. Lu Dachang had just flung out his threats—whoever refused would be skinned alive. How would he dare say no?

"You heard him? Hurry up—start the bidding again!" Lu Dachang pressed the white-bearded elder without pause, then added for good measure, "Whoever dares bid against me, I'll skin him alive—let's see who dares defy Grandpa Lu!"

The whole hall went black in the face, everyone glancing at everyone else. Was this still an auction, for heaven's sake? This was bare-faced robbery!

At first, seeing Wei Zhao withdraw of his own accord, several others had still harbored some thought of making a bid with all their strength. But Lu Dachang's words made them shrink back on the spot. Even someone with Bao Zuoliang's backing had no choice but to swallow his losses—and their own backing was nowhere near as deep as this Young Master Bao's.

"One million—this grass is mine!" Lu Dachang declared carelessly.

The white-bearded elder, caught between laughter and tears, swept his eyes over the hall. He waited a long while and not a single soul dared make a bid. At last he had no choice but to put the farce out of its misery: "Sold—one million."

Lu Dachang laughed heartily in triumph, while Bao Zuoliang was beyond tears. What did they call going for wool and coming home shorn? What did they call losing the lady and the troops into the bargain? This was a living portrait of it, right before his eyes!

"Heh, a fine stalk of Nurturing Essence Magic Gold Grass, sold at the reserve price. He's taken a heavy loss this time," Wei Zhao said with a smile, glancing at Bao Zuoliang's aggrieved face.

A treasure of that caliber—Nurturing Essence Magic Gold Grass—was a classic case of scarcity driving up value. It had no fixed price at all in ordinary times and was seen basically only at large auctions; each time, the market depended entirely on how many bidders there were. But one way or another, a million spirit jade was a bleeding loss.

In the past, even when the bidding had not been as absurd as eight million, it had certainly never fallen below two or three million. For Bao Zuoliang to be forced into a sale at the reserve price this time was, in essence, giving it away for half nothing.

Bao Zuoliang was so chagrined he wanted to vomit blood, but his beloved Wang Xinyan had not the slightest thought of pity for him. Instead, with a measure of disgust, she said, "A person like that doesn't deserve any sympathy at all. He had it coming."