The Red Chamber: Starting from Saving Xue Baochai

Chapter 128 Talented people emerge from generation to generation

Was this glass mirror made by Shen Zhuangyuan?
Everyone couldn't believe their ears. How could one person be both civil and martial, and also a craftsman?
It's really weird.

"Shopkeeper Su, are you sure this mirror was created by Shen Zhuangyuan?"

Su Yu Niang nodded and confirmed: "It is absolutely true."

hiss!
The people at the scene exclaimed in amazement.

If it was just making a glass mirror, perhaps someone would say that it was just some tricks.

But since this was made by Shen Yuan, no one would look down on him, because this man was not only the top martial arts scholar, but also the top poet. Making the glass mirror was just a casual act for him.

It’s like a top student who also knows how to play the erhu. No one will think that he is not doing his job properly. They will just say that he is multi-talented and will be praised unanimously.

"If this glass mirror was made by Shen Zhuangyuan, doesn't that mean that the owner behind Jingyue Tower is Shen Zhuangyuan?"

"Does this need to be said?"

"Even if Shen Zhuangyuan is not the owner, he is still the most important partner."

"."

Su Yu Niang on the stage listened to everyone's discussion but did not say anything to clarify.

In the eyes of these people, not denying is tantamount to admitting. After today, this news will surely spread quickly.

This was also what Shen Yuan was happy to see. On the one hand, it could bring another wave of publicity to Jingyue Tower, and on the other hand, it could also deter those jealous people and discourage them from making trouble.

After digesting this information, everyone once again focused their attention on the auction.

"Shopkeeper Su, please start the auction soon."

"Yes, let's start the auction soon. We have new poems by Mr. Shen. It's only fifty taels. I'm determined to get it." A young man said in a loud voice, appearing to be very wealthy. He wanted to scare off some bidders so that fewer people would bid higher for him.

Obviously, there are many people who share the same idea as him.

"How can Mr. Shen's poems be worth only fifty taels? They must be worth at least a hundred taels. I have plenty of money, so I will definitely bid for one of them."

Before the auction even started, the young men in the audience began competing with each other to raise the price, each one more bluffing than the other. Some of them even started to show their weakness before they could scare off others.

"."

On the third floor terrace, Xiangyun pouted and said unhappily, "Humph! Brother Shen has written a new poem, but he doesn't even tell you sisters about it. He's just keeping it a secret here."

Qiu Er smiled playfully, looked at Shen Yuan and said, "Brother Shen must have written these poems not long ago, and he hasn't had time to share them with his sisters yet."

Shen Yuan nodded.

Baochai smiled and explained, "Your elder brother Shen also thought of this auction method yesterday, so he wrote the poem on the spur of the moment."

When Xiangyun and Qiu'er heard this, their eyes sparkled with surprise. Brother Shen was indeed different. He could come up with such poems the night before. It was really exciting.

On the first floor platform, Su Yu Niang took a mirror from the mistress beside her, took a closer look, then raised it above her head and said with a smile: "The new work of Shen Zhuangyuan is written on the frame, 'Autumn water is the spirit, jade is the bone, lotus is like a painting, willow is like an eyebrow'.

The starting price is fifty taels. If you want, you can raise the price."

When the people in the audience heard this, their eyes suddenly lit up.

A line of poem with only fourteen words depicts a beautiful woman, which arouses endless reverie.

"This is well-written, a great poem! I'll give you sixty taels." Someone came to his senses and made the first bid. If one got this mirror, he would be able to have sex with the coveted courtesan, Madam Liu, tonight.

"Seventy taels!"

"One hundred taels!"

"One hundred and fifty taels!"

"."

"Two hundred taels!"

In just a few breaths, everyone started bidding, and the price of the mirror was quickly pushed up to four times the starting price.

But this is not the end, just a temporary respite.

Before Su Yu Niang could ask, another offer came from the audience: "Five hundred taels!"

"hiss!"

The whole place fell silent.

Someone actually raised the price by three hundred taels at a time, directly pushing the price to a new high.

Previously, the glass mirrors sold by lottery were only twenty taels each, but now the price has been driven up to more than twenty times.

Everyone turned to look at the young man who made the offer, and asked the people around them about his identity.

Finally, someone recognized the bidder and shouted, "It's Master Wu!"

"Which Mr. Wu?"

"How many young masters of Wu can there be in Shenjing? Of course, it must be the son of the Minister of Personnel."

The space in the hall was limited, so the conversation between the few people naturally fell into the ears of everyone.

There were still people who were hesitating whether to make another bid, but when they heard that the latest bidder was the son of the Minister of Personnel, they gave up the idea. It was not worth it to offend the young master of the Wu family just for a mirror.

The current Minister of Personnel, Wu Yuan, is the Grand Secretary of Wenhua Palace and one of the four cabinet ministers of the current dynasty, and he is at the peak of power.

Seeing this, Su Yu Niang didn't say much.

This auction was based on voluntary bidding, and Mr. Wu did not take advantage of the situation to lower the price. The bid of five hundred taels was already beyond her expectations.

Su Yu Niang ignored the comments of others in the audience and asked with a smile, "Five hundred taels, for the first time!"

"Five hundred taels, the second time!"

Having shouted this, Su Yu Niang paused for a moment to make sure that no other customers continued to bid.

After waiting for a few breaths, she continued to shout: "Five hundred taels, the third time!"

After she finished shouting, she reached out and picked up the wooden stick, then knocked on the bronze gong hanging next to her: "Congratulations to this gentleman for winning the first custom-made glass mirror in this auction!"

Although others felt regretful, they couldn't say anything because they had taken the photo completely according to the rules.

After a while, a waiter brought a glass mirror to Mr. Wu.

"Please check it, sir."

After Wu Han checked that everything was correct, the waiter carefully placed the glass mirror into an exquisite nanmu brocade box and handed it to the young man in front of him.

Wu Han took the brocade box and took out a silver note worth five hundred taels, completing the transaction.

After the waiter left, Wu Han opened the lid of the box and stared at the poem on the glass frame, lost in thought, not knowing what he was thinking.

On the platform, Su Yu Niang continued to auction the next mirror.

"The poem on this mirror reads 'If the Zen gate is broken, the beauty will be like jade and the sword will be like a rainbow.'

The starting price is still fifty taels, please make your bid."

Although this poem is not as beautiful as the previous one, it is more powerful and shows the mood better.

But bidders were not as active as last time.

"Sixty taels!"

"Seventy taels!"

"One hundred taels!"

"."

When the amount reached 150 taels, no one added any more.

Su Yu Niang was about to report the number when she heard a timid voice from the southeast corner of the hall: "Two hundred taels!"

Just by listening to the tone, you can tell it's a girl without even thinking.

Everyone looked over, but they couldn't see the person. "Which girl called out just now?" a young man asked with a smile.

After a moment of silence, under the expectant gaze of everyone, a slender hand was finally raised.

"It's me!" A young girl in a long floral dress lowered her head and raised her hand.

The girl had a long bun on her hair and looked like a maid from a wealthy family from the looks of her clothes.

"Whose maid is this? Why is she here making trouble?" someone joked.

Being stared at by so many people at once, the maid's face turned red and she was about to cry, but she still mustered up the courage to say, "I'm not kidding, I'm buying it for my uncle."

The little girl actually didn't quite understand the poem. She just heard about beauty and sword, it reminded her of her own daughter who was as beautiful as a fairy and also liked to play with swords. She must like this poem.

As soon as he finished speaking, everyone in the hall burst into laughter.

The maid let the cat out of the bag because she was too nervous. Everyone present knew that it was obviously sent by a daughter of an official family.

"This little girl is so interesting, does anyone know who she is from?"

"Why? Are you interested in this maid?"

"How can that be possible? I am just curious about who her young lady is."

This kind of thing is the most likely to spark discussion. No one in the audience is not curious about who this young lady is.

Su Yu Niang could see the maid's shy and anxious look from afar, so she didn't give the others time to joke and said loudly, "Is there anyone else who wants to bid for the second mirror?"

Originally, the popularity of this poem was not as high as before, and no one was willing to compete with a girl for something, so they simply gave up bidding.

"Two hundred taels, once!"

"Two hundred taels, twice!"

"Two hundred taels, three times!"

Su Yu Niang did not pause and started to strike the gong, saying, "Deal! Congratulations to this girl for successfully buying this mirror!"

Afterwards, both parties completed the exchange of money and goods. The maid got the mirror and did not plan to continue participating in the auction. She held the brocade box with a look of joy on her face and planned to leave Jingyue Tower.

For safety reasons, Su Yu Niang also arranged two guards from Jingyue Tower and sent a carriage to take the maid back.

Some people who originally wanted to follow and investigate the young lady's identity gave up the idea after seeing this.

Third floor terrace.

Shen Yuan looked at the scene downstairs and said with a smile: "Madam has indeed chosen a good manager."

He couldn't help but sigh in his heart that Su Yu Niang was really thoughtful and paid attention to the safety and privacy of the guests. Even in later generations, not many people had such service awareness.

"Manager Su is indeed capable." Baochai also felt that she had not misjudged him.

Shen Yuan looked at Baochai and said in a gentle voice, "There are many good horses, but few good horse trainers. Madam is the one who has a keen eye for talent."

"My husband, you are too kind." Baochai felt shy and happy.

This was the nth time her husband had praised her today. She was naturally happy, and even happier that she could really help her husband.

"I never say flattering words. Madam has indeed given me many surprises today." At this point, Shen Yuan thought of a sentence and blurted out: "Women can hold up half the sky, it is true."

This is not an exaggeration at all. At least from Shen Yuan's perspective, most of the women he has come into contact with are stronger than men, and Baochai's talents are beyond his imagination.

"I feel very happy to be able to help my husband." Baochai's face was full of tenderness.

'Women hold up half the sky,' Qiu'er murmured beside her, and the young girl also longed to help Shen Lang.

At this time, Xiangyun clenched her fist and said excitedly: "The auction of the third mirror has begun!"

The little girl was very interested in this novel auction and was also curious about Shen Yuan's next line of poetry.

On the first floor lobby, on the platform.

Su Yu Niang took the third glass mirror and said with a smile, "Sorry to have kept you waiting for a long time. Now let's continue the auction of the third mirror. The poem on the mirror frame reads 'Each generation has talented people, and each has been the leader for hundreds of years'. The starting price is fifty taels. Please make your bid."

When this poem came out, everyone was shocked.

Soon, many people began to recite: "Each generation has its own talented people, each leading the trend for hundreds of years!"

"What a poem!"

"What a spirit!"

"Does this look like something that Shen Zhuangyuan wrote for himself?"

"There is more than one talented person in every era. In the Tang Dynasty, there were Li Bai and Du Fu. Why can't I be one of them?"

"This brother is a little arrogant. Why do you think you can compare with Li Du? And why do you think you can be on par with Shen Zhuangyuan?"

"伱"

"It's pointless for you two to argue about this. Anyway, I'm determined to get this mirror! I won't give it up to anyone." After saying this, the man raised his number plate without hesitation: "One hundred taels!"

The two people who were arguing before were stunned when they heard this, but they quickly came to their senses and started bidding.

"Two hundred taels!"

"Three hundred taels!"

"."

"It's crazy! These people are crazy!"

"According to the auction rules, the price can be increased by 10 taels each time, but now these people are directly raising the price to 100 taels. When did silver become so worthless?"

As soon as the man finished speaking, someone raised a sign and shouted, leaving him stunned for a moment.

"One thousand taels!"

This loud shout shocked everyone beyond words.

this.
The price of a glass mirror was raised to one thousand taels in just a few breaths, and the price was increased by hundreds of taels at a time.

This scene really surprised Shen Yuan, and his mood became a little heavy.

There are quite a lot of rich people in Shenjing, and they are truly rich.

You know, even in a top-notch duke's family like Rongguo Mansion, the monthly allowance for the young ladies is only two taels of silver, and the highest that Lady Jia can get is only twenty taels. Although they do not only rely on this monthly allowance to live, it can also explain some problems.

At least in the original novel, the twenty taels given by Wang Xifeng were enough for Liu Laolao's family to live for a whole year, and they might even have some money left over.

Not to mention the refugees affected by the disaster in various parts of the Great Zhou. If you use it economically, one or two taels of silver may save a life and allow it to survive the entire disaster year.

And what we see today is that these young men can easily spend a thousand taels of silver to bid for a glass mirror. They are so generous that it is simply beyond limit.

It really proves what Mr. Du said, 'There is wine and meat in the rich houses, but there are frozen corpses on the streets.'

This further strengthened Shen Yuan's ideas.

On the platform in the hall, Su Yu Niang couldn't suppress the smile on her face when she heard the offer of one thousand taels.

Before today, she could never have imagined that a glass mirror could be sold for a thousand taels. She suppressed her excitement and asked with a smile, "Is there anyone else who wants to bid?"

The people in the audience looked at each other and shook their heads unwillingly.

"Could this be a stooge hired by Jingyue Tower?" someone whispered.

"It shouldn't be. Do you know who made the bid just now?"

"who is it?"

"The son of the cabinet's second assistant, Sun Ge Lao's family!"

Everyone's eyes turned to the young man Sun Yan.

After repeated confirmation and seeing that no one continued to bid, Su Yu Niang finalized the auction and the transaction price was one thousand taels.

When the waiter handed the mirror to Sun Yan, he stared at the words on the frame and said excitedly: "Every generation has its own talented people, each leading the trend for hundreds of years! Great! It's so well written!"

(End of this chapter)