Chapter 2488 — Consignment Sale
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
Han Xiaohu led Wei Zhao out of the stall area of the market to the gate of a somewhat secluded side courtyard. At the gate, disciples of the Law Enforcement Hall were on patrol.
"Who goes there? What's your business? This is the office of the Cultivators' Commerce Guild. If you have no business here, please leave," one of the Law Enforcement Hall disciples said to Wei Zhao and the others.
"Oh, we've come to consign goods for auction. How do we go about the procedures?" Though Han Xiaohu knew a fair amount about the cultivators' market, the hidden Han family of old had not done business, and to avoid drawing attention they had never come here to consign goods, so Han Xiaohu knew only the rough outlines.
"Consigning goods for auction, eh? Of course that's possible. Follow me," the Law Enforcement Hall disciple said with a nod.
It was not that no cultivators came here to consign goods—there were simply not many. Most cultivators still preferred to set up stalls outside and trade freely, so that they could barter directly and see whether there was anything they needed; but the proceeds of an auction could only be money.
Yet few did not mean none. There were still some—for instance, the people of the hidden You family often consigned pills and the like, for the operation of a hidden clan still required a great deal of money.
Entering the side courtyard, Wei Zhao and the other two were led into a room where a man dressed somewhat like the clerk of an old-fashioned pawnshop was sorting something. Seeing the Law Enforcement Hall disciple bring people in, he asked directly, "You have goods to consign for auction?"
Wei Zhao did not see that Heaven-rank vice-chairman here. No doubt a vice-chairman was stationed here to hold the fort and would not stoop to such trifles personally. This set Wei Zhao's mind at ease—his one fear had been that the vice-chairman would settle private scores under public cover and tamper with the auction value.
"Indeed. I have some pills I'd like to consign for auction," Wei Zhao said with a nod. As he spoke, he took the pack from his back, opened it, and laid several small bottles out one by one before the pawnshop clerk.
"Pills?" The pawnshop clerk was rather surprised at the sight of what Wei Zhao brought out. "Are you of the hidden You family?"
"No." Wei Zhao shook his head. "Does auctioning here require inquiring into the consignor's identity?"
"That it does not," the pawnshop clerk said with a somewhat embarrassed shake of his head. "It's only that in the past, only the hidden You family ever came to auction pills. As you know, this cultivators' market is small in scale—the Mystic Pill Sect would never stoop to look at it—so our former source of pills was only one. When someone suddenly came to auction pills, I assumed by reflex that you must be of the hidden You family as well."
"Heh heh, then tell me, what are the rules for auctioning?" Wei Zhao asked.
"For consignment sales, according to the rules, we take a twenty percent transaction commission on the total final sale price of the auctioned goods. So when you set your price, you must factor this in and not sell at a loss," the pawnshop clerk said.