Chapter 84 – Auction – Part 2
Tong did not lie when he said that this whiskey was not easy to come by. With two magic cooking utensils he had, he could only make enough to fill one 100-liter-barrel per one day. Furthermore, the ingredients for the recipe were rare and expensive. For one barrel, it cost him 1,000 gold!
However, Tong had found the alternate way to get his hands on such rare beverage in this era by using one cheat.
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[Create Food] LV.5 (35,450/160,000)
- Create a food product or raw food ingredient.
- 10,000kg of food can be created from one usage.
Skill Cost: 1 Lifespan
Skill Restriction:
- Host cannot create a food that host has never eaten before.
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At first, he did not know that he could make any beverage with this skill. One day when he was drunk after his beer session, he attempted to create a whiskey to fill his cup for a laugh. Because he thought that he had eaten a certain Thai food in the past which used a small amount of whiskey as an ingredient, it was worth a try.
Surprisingly, it worked!
After that day, he went crazy on dual-cultivating with Hua Shi as if he was a beast in season, which delighted the perverted girl. It eventually ended up as their common daily routine.
As a result, Tong continued to put more EXP into the [Create Food] skill and increased its level to 5, which would yield ten tons of any ingredient or food of his choice.
With a sacrifice of one year of his lifespan, he could fill up a hundred 100-liter-barrels with whiskey! Such hax was luxurious!
He planned to max out this skill as soon as possible. Once it reached a higher level, food problem would become a joke to him.
…
"Second warning that I can give you. Within these barrels, the taste will be different because of the containers, the brewing process, and the age of the whiskey. Therefore, each of them is unique of its kind! I will remind you again, what I had served you was part of the content of this barrel right beside me. Before we auction for the next barrel, I will let everyone has a sample cup again."
The ears of the crowd perked up. The merchants licked their lips, and their eyes were filled with desire. Their interest in the drink increased.
"Now, I won't waste your time anymore. We will start bidding for this barrel. The starting price will be 100 gold."
Half of the audience sucked in cold breath. The starting bid was too high!
One common jar of wine only cost 10 coins, and twenty jars, which had an equal amount to a hundred-liter barrel, were only 200 coins, or one-fifth of a gold. Yet this whiskey was 500 times more expensive than the common wine!
The audience turned silent for 20 seconds. No one was willing to bid for the overpriced whiskey.
Despite the awkward atmosphere, Tong still smiled and waited in patience.
Then …
"100 Gold!"
Te Langpu made the starting bid himself. He had drunk much more expensive beverage in his previous life. For something that is a little more expensive than the common goods, he did not mind about the price. He cared more about the rarity of the product.
Moreover, he felt nostalgia when he drank the sample cup. He wanted to buy one for himself.
'These fools don't know how to properly spend money! They all collect a bunch of useless junks! If they want to buy something valuable, buy something that you can consume!'
Te Langpu mocked the confused crowd in his heart.
"300 gold!"
A voice came from the VIP section. One of the five merchant representatives raised the price while the other four sat back and relaxed. The five of them formed an alliance, and they agreed that they would share the content of the barrel with each other after they won the auction.
Te Langpu glanced at the five fat men. He opened his mouth and about to call out another bid, but a voice came from another VIP section.
"1,000 gold!"
Everyone turned around to look at the bidder. The crowd was shocked the moment they saw the bidder's face.
"Isn't that person …?"
"T-They came too?"
"When have they arrived!? How come I didn't know about this!?"
The well-informed merchants recognized the person immediately while the rest managed to guess the backer of the bidder, the Yuan family!
'Well, they sure got guts.'
Tong was already aware that the Yuan family also participated in this auction, but Tian Feng sent a no-name servant to attend in his steed with a squad of bodyguards.
Even if he was just an ordinary servant, the man still looked impressive from the sight of onlookers.
Behind the leader of the representative, there was a middle-aged man who tried his best to act timid and pretended to be a servant. Tong recognized the person right away. Furthermore, his name in Tong's radar map could not be falsified.
'You truly are bold, Feng Ji. Don't you know that I can kill you at any moment in this city?'
That man was Feng Ji, the one who had plotted against Tong in the battle of Anping. However, business was business. Personal grudge could be settled later.
"One thousand gold from the Yuan family! Going once!"
Tong confirmed his bid and accelerated the auction process.
"Going twice!"
"1,500 gold!" Fat men alliance bid.
"2,000 gold!" Yuan family representative bid again.
"5,000 gold!!"
Te Langpu shouted which caused everybody to look at him in awe. For the sake of the unique drink, he was willing to go this far.
Te Langpu snorted. He did not care about this much money. If he felt like it, he could get over 100,000 taels of gold within a day with his [Midas Touch] skill.
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[Midas Touch] LV. MAX
- Turn every object that you touch into gold.
- The host can limit its power to a part of the host's body.
- All part of the host body can turn any kind of attack into gold.
Skill Cost: 5 Lifespan per one second of activation.
Skill Restriction:
- Only Te Langpu can use this skill.
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It was a skill that was created based on the Greek myth. The skill worked the same way as Tong's aura skills, which required an activation to be used. Te Langpu created this so he could have an easy time in the new life.
By touching a person with this skill, an adult with the weight of 70kg would be turned into 1,800 taels of gold in an instant. He could even turn a random shack in a slum and convert it into 10,000 gold on the spot!
With his kind of skill in his arsenal, he was willing to bid at any price for the thing he wanted.
Tong stared at Te Langpu to scan him from head to toes. Afterward, he marked the person on his radar map. Tong would have the spies and his Illuminati members research the background of Te Langpu later.
"5,000 gold. Going once! … Going twice! … Sold at 5,000 gold!! Congratulations!"
Te Langpu chuckled as he mocked the other bidders. They were too naïve to know the true value of this whiskey.
…
The other four barrels were all won by Te Langpu with the price of 5,000 gold each, which caused everyone to notice him. They finally realized that he was a prominent figure in Ye City.
The servant of the Yuan family took note of him. He whispered to a servant nearby to report this matter to Tian Feng.
The five fat men only glanced at Te Langpu, and then ignored him. The whiskey was just a side dish. They paid more attention to the main course, which was the soap recipe.
Then a scroll was brought out on the stage.
"The next item is what everyone is here for, the soap recipe!"
The crowd buzzed with noises and their eyes glittered with greed. The soap that had been circulated in the market was expensive enough to attract them. If they were to become one of the manufacturers of such an item, they would become rich in no time.
"In this recipe, it contains all information about the ingredients used, the process of the making, and the tools that are necessary for the manufacturing. As you know, the current soap market price is 40 taels of gold for one bar. It is not a cheap product at all. So owning this trade secret will definitely give you opportunities to get into contact with more nobles and wealthy family in the future."
Tong poured oil into the fire to flame the excitement and desire from the audience further.
Everyone in the auction glared at Tong with greed and cursed him in their mind as they wanted Tong to start the auction of the item already. They had decided to go all-in with this item long before they had arrived here.
"The starting bid for this item is 10,000 gold. The bid increment minimum is also 10,000 gold. First bid, please."
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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GOT IT