Chapter 4857 — Not Worth Pitying
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
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."