Chapter 301 – Crazy Bidding; The Cheng’s Trump Cards (4)
His words stirred the rest of the unaffiliated and they spoke up one by one, “Senior, we have traveled long distance to here because we would like to purchase some of the Cheng’s goods. Now it is impossible for us, the unaffiliated, to purchase anything at all. Isn’t the arrangement a bit unfair for us?”
“Exactly, senior. The Cheng’s divided up all the items into six shares, it is simply impossible for us to compete. So we have all but wasted our trips here!”
“Why can’t the Cheng’s split the times into more shares of lower quantities? If only there are more shares, we will all have an opportunity to get our hands on some of them. There are so many of us here, how will six shares ever be enough?”
“…..”
Within the canopy, the unaffiliated let out all sorts of complaints, questionings, disgruntledness, and unsettled emotions. Everything blew up like rice tossed into a pan of frying oil!
“Young Mistress, lots of activities going on outside!” giggled little Yuteng at the one interacting with the ironed-arm bear.
Cheng Xiao Xiao was still inside the dimension and had no idea what was taking place outside. She couldn’t help but ask, “Oh yeah? What is going on?”
“Hehe, Old Man Ying looks to have run into some troubles.” It almost seemed as though little Yuteng was enjoying Old Man Ying’s situation.
“No way!” Cheng Xiao Xiao was surprised, how would it be possible for Old Man Ying to run into a situation that he couldn’t take care of given his current cultivation level?
She reached out and patted the head of bear who stood much taller than her and gestured him to go rest on one side before asking, “Why? Are the guests rioting?”
“Pretty much, Young Mistress. I think you might have underestimated these guests of ours, you might want to go handle the situation yourself.”
“Oh? Do tell me what is going on!” asked Cheng Xiao Xiao, squinting her eyes.
Little Yuteng quickly brought Cheng Xiao Xiao up to speed on the opinions of the unaffiliated. Upon hearing her recounting, Cheng Xiao Xiao nodded and said, “No big deal. Nothing serious!”
“It’s no big deal to Young Mistress, but it’s a headache to Old Man Ying. I think he’s about to start tossing people!”
“Alright, I will go take a look!”
As soon as she finished saying that, she flashed out of the dimension.
Inside the canopy, the unaffiliated were still fighting the Cheng’s for a chance to make a purchase.
Watching the events unfold, Cheng Biyuan was also getting a headache. He hadn’t expected this situation but since it had been decided that this would be Old Man Ying’s show, he decided against interfering.
Many felt happy at this new development, especially Gu Junxian. He was ecstatic. As far as he was concerned, the messier it was for the Cheng’s the better. Preferably they had managed to stir up the anger from the mass and the Cheng’s would be wiped off the map overnight.
As for the power players seated in the priority section, they were more than happy to watch the drama unfold; nobody had any intention to chime in and alleviate the tensions. The dean was the only one who frowned slightly, but he also remained silent except to turn and look at Old Man Ying.
The one who was at least 100 years younger than him yet has already achieved martial monarch.
Old Man Ying looked more and more vexed and stared at the ten or so most vocal attendees. He looked like he was about to throw them out any minute now.
The tension inside the canopy became more and more heightened. The few who were very vocal had slowly quieted down, except for a few apex martial kings, being more confident in their own cultivation level, were still engaged in a staring contest with Old Man Ying.
“Are you done?”
“It was none of your business how the Cheng’s handle their matters.” Aggressive as usual, Old Man Ying’s chilling voice rang in everybody’s ears, “Buy if you can afford them, otherwise, get the hell out!”
Chapter 302 – Crazy Bidding; The Cheng’s Trump Cards (5)
Before the attendees blew up again, came a crisp and pleasant voice, “Aiya, Old Man Ying, are you trying to create more troubles for me?”
A beautiful image of a woman appeared at the same time; everybody looked toward the voice and, sure enough, standing there was the legendary Maiden Cheng.
She was wearing plain, moon-colored clothing and dress, her feature fair and her skin, the color of snow. Her shiny hair floated in the wind like branches from a willow tree.
And she was Cheng Xiao Xiao!
That name appeared inside everybody’s mind.
Under everybody’s gaze, she walked inside nonchalantly. Everybody subconsciously stood to both sides to give her a path.
Gu Junxian, however, felt surprised when she appeared. He noticed that Cheng Xiao Xiao was now also a martial spiritualist. He recovered quickly and replaced his surprise with a cold smile and more hatred.
He would never forgot the insult that he had received at the Cheng’s, nor would he forgot what his mother just told him about how she was treated by the Cheng’s. He would return the courtesy of everything back to her.
He wanted to completely destroy her reputation today. He wanted her to regret deeply for what she had done, and let her know that he never should have offended anyone but him, Gu Junxian.
As everybody looked on, Cheng Xiao Xiao walked in front of Old Man Ying and a more surprised scene unfolded in front of everyone.
“Hehe, Miss, you are home. I got a lot of mystical stones today. I am sure you will be pleased, Miss!”
Old Man Ying told from the god of winter to a playful old man in front of her in no time flat. More surprisingly, this elder of the Cheng’s was fawning over Maiden Cheng, his adulation unmistakable!
“Ah, excellent, good work!” smiled Cheng Xiao Xiao, pleased.
“Hehe, Miss, don’t you worry, I’ll get you more!”
“Good, you work on that!”
The conversation between the two of them have everybody speechless. What were they saying now? But nobody said a word except to watch things unfold in front of them.
The elder of the Emperor City Cheng’s couldn’t believe his eyes as he looked at Cheng Xiao Xiao. She looked about the same as how he’d remembered her, but the aura she exuded had changed entirely. One could even say that she was like a whole different person!
Was this truly Cheng Xiao Xiao standing in front of him?
He wasn’t the only one who had that thought in his mind. On his other side was Gu Gaoyi, he was equally surprised and in shock when he saw Cheng Xiao Xiao. In his memory, Cheng Xiao Xiao wasn’t bad looking, but she was especially timid. Coming from a prominent family, she not all that outstanding of a person.
Cheng Xiao Xiao didn’t care about anyone there, her beautiful eyes swept across all those sitting on the chair and discovered some one who strongly resembled the god of longevity. She was a bit surprised; she had no idea who he was, but she felt that he was someone who should not be overlooked.
Just a quick glance at the man and she walked in front of her own father and curtsied to him, “Dad, I am back!”
“Xiao Xiao, where did you go so early in the morning?” asked Cheng Biyuan in a loving tone.
Being asked by her father, Cheng Xiao Xiao casually replied him, “Dad, I went into the mountain and found a iron-armed bear that is sentient. I went to play with him!”
An iron-armed bear?
Everybody presence gasped. And a sentient one at that? That’s at least a level 7 or 8 mystical beast. For this continent, that was an extremely rare mystical beast.
At that very moment, everybody recalled her status as a master beast tamer.
Chapter 303 – Crazy Bidding; The Cheng’s Trump Cards (6)
Before anyone said anything, the pleasantly-surprised Old Man Ying asked, “Miss, so were you able to bring him back? I want to see!”
“See? See what?” Cheng Xiao Xiao waved her hand, “You still got work to do!”
“Hehe, that’s small task. I will continue with the auction right away!”
Old Man Ying seemed very eager to find out the whereabout of the iron-armed bear so he anxiously wanted to get back to the auction. Before he could bang his gavel again, someone shouted out, “Wait a minute, I have a question for Maiden Cheng!”
“You old thing! Are you trying to cause trouble? Do you want me to toss you out?” Old Man Ying was now back to his stone-cold face.
“Let him talk!” said Cheng Xiao Xiao. She looked straight at this martial king and asked, “What is the matter? Is this still about us being unfair?”
“Exactly. Evidently Maiden Cheng is already aware of our conundrum here. We were told that Maiden Cheng was in charge of this auction in it’s entirety, so we have to ask you for an answer.”
This old man, even though he was a martial king, dare not underestimate Cheng Xiao Xiao and he was polite in the way he talked to her.
Cheng Xiao Xiao casted him a glance and said, “This was never ‘fair’ to begin with. You should have been aware of the number of attendance today. Our supplies are limited, naturally not everybody will be able to go home with something. That is to be expected!”
“Alright, Maid Cheng, that may be true, but why can’t you put aside a portion for us instead of wholesaling all of them? We weren’t even given a chance to make a purchase. It’s not like we can’t afford it!”
Cheng Xiao Xiao smiled at the question. She looked straight at the unaffiliated and said with a smile, “This is an auction. It’s only natural that we wholesale our items. We are not running a retail store here. Not to mention that we won’t have that much time to sell all of our items, so what is wrong with us auctioning our goods in bulk?”
“But….”
“No buts!” Cheng Xiao Xiao cut him off, “I know what you want to say but you can only blame yourself for not coming prepared. With your age and experience, you should understand the different between a public sale and retail. All public sales sell in bulk. So if you want to attend and can’t afford the bulk cost, you could have organized and formed a group prior to pool all your resources together to compete. Then you can divide up the goods according to each person’s contribution. That way you will be able to have an opportunity to make a purchase.
“If you can’t even think of that, how could you cry about us being not fair here? I don’t think the problem lies with us being unfair; I think it’s because you weren’t smart enough to come up with a solution. If you have organized into a 100 or 200 people group, you might be able to win one or two bids. Afterall we have 6 shares of each item, and you won’t have to leave empty-handed. Am I right?”
“…….”
Listening to Cheng Xiao Xiao, all the unaffiliated felt ashamed. They understood that Cheng Xiao Xiao was telling the truth, they simply didn’t have a solution to their problem before the start of the event.
Those in the priority section were surprised. All the disturbance from the unaffiliated was quelled by Cheng Xiao Xiao with a few words from Cheng Xiao Xiao. And she was able to make everybody speechless!
They must admit that this Maiden Cheng was not somebody one could overlook.
Zhu Xiangyu was staring straight at Cheng Xiao Xiao the entire time. The young woman who were able to handle the potentially dangerous situation with ease made him felt very unsettled.
Zhu Xiangyu was a prideful man. He was over 20 years old and way passed the marriage age. He has yet to find a woman that he was interested in. He didn’t want just a trophy wife or a wife of high standing. He didn’t want someone who’s all emotions and no intelligent. He wanted his partner in life to possess beauty, intelligence, and wittiness. He would not accept someone who’s missing even one of those qualities and he has yet to meet anyone like that in this life time.
___
Chapter 304 – Crazy Bidding; The Cheng’s Trump Cards (7)
Right at this moment, the woman in front of him gave him the illusion that he had finally met someone fitting his criteria.
“Okay, this was our very first public sale. And, indeed, you were not able to bid on anything. We will make an exception as this was your first time.”
As soon as she has finished saying that, all the disappointed unaffiliated perked up and shouted excitedly, “Maid Cheng, what do you have in mind?”
“Maiden Cheng, does that mean we will all have an opportunity to buy from the Cheng’s?”
“Maiden Cheng, please share your ideas, quickly!”
“……”
Everybody shouted out urgently and Cheng Xiao Xiao smiled brightly, “Calm down. A portion of you will have the opportunity to purchase, not everyone. We don’t have that much inventory to sell to everyone. Now it’s all down to your luck!”
“…..”
The mass stopped asking questions and just stared at her with their eyes widened and ears perked, fearing that they’d miss even one word.
“You still remember that bamboo stick that you have purchased with one mystical stone? There’s a number on each of the bamboo sticks. If your stick has “2” or “8” in it, you will have the opportunity to purchase from us!”
“2 and 8? Look, quick!”
Those who didn’t think much of the bamboo sticks immediately looked for their own bamboo stick to see if they have the opportunity to purchase from the Cheng’s.
“HAHAHA, I have a ‘2’!”
“Oh my lord, I have an ‘8’!”
“I have a ‘2’ also!”
“’8’! ‘8’! I have an ‘8’!”
“Dang! I have neither ‘2’ nor ‘8’!”
“That’s so unfortunate! I don’t have ‘2’ or ‘8’ either!”
“Awwww, man. How am I so unlucky? I would take either ‘2’ or ‘8’…..”
“…..”
Everybody started shouting with their bamboo sticks in their hands. Some were happy, naturally some were not. Those were the only two expressions that one could find among the attendees right now. The happy ones wanted to jump up in the air and the distressed ones were full of disgruntledness and misery.
That being said, they have nothing else to complain about after losing out on the last chance of getting their hands onto something.
The problems did not lie with the Cheng’s, so no matter how unreconciled they felt, they dare not more any more noises, nor make a scene.
Anyone who dare to make a scene at this point would risk angering all other attendees. Never mind the Cheng’s wouldn’t just remain silent, even the ones cheering right now would probably not let the trouble-maker off easily.
Zhu Xiangyu looked down on his own bamboo stick and saw “88”. An odd feeling crossed his mind. So he has the opportunity to buy from the Cheng’s as well. He’d no longer need to join in the bidding.
Once again, he was fully amazed by Cheng Xiao Xiao’s tricks in pacifying everyone. Yes, this was the very first time this prideful young man from a prominent family appreciated a young woman.
The Associate Dean, was the only other one in the priority section who would be able to make a purchase from the Cheng’s other than Zhu Xiangyu. Nobody else was lucky enough judging from their looks of disappointment.
“Don’t be too excited just yet. I have something else to add!”
Cheng Xiao Xiao’s words made everybody quiet again, “Even the ones that can purchase from us still have a limit on how much they can purchase. In addition, everybody can only buy up to two types of goods. And, be careful of your bamboo sticks and don’t lose it. We will only be going off the bamboo sticks!”
Her requests did not bring about any objections. Her reminder immediately made these cultivators raised their guards and be more cognizant of their surroundings and worry that someone would attack them for their bamboo sticks!
Chapter 305 – Crazy Bidding; The Cheng’s Trump Cards (8)
After everything was settled, Cheng Xiao Xiao handed the event back over to Old Man Ying, who continued with the auction of the race. Cheng Xiao Xiao walked back to the seat prepared for her by the servant and sat down.
“Xiao Xiao, did you run into any incidents on your trip to look for the iron-armed bear?” Cheng Biyuan wasn’t concerned about the auction and asked his daughter softly.
Cheng Xiao Xiao lifted the corners of her mouth and smiled, “Dad, I am perfectly fine right here, aren’t I? An iron-armed bear won’t be able to hurt me.”
And she wasn’t entirely bragging when she said that. When she arrived in the territory of the iron-armed bear, she did not the attack from the iron-armed bear; it just looked curiously at the human who appeared suddenly.
Ever since it was born, Cheng Xiao Xiao was the first human the iron-armed bear had encountered. There was no memory of in it of human slaughtering mystical beasts so he had no animosity toward her.
Cheng Xiao Xiao hadn’t expected the should-be-irritable giant bear to not attack either and just like that, the human and the bear locked eyes for the longest time before they started communicating with each other.
After communicating through her spiritual senses, she noticed that the sentient iron-armed bear has the intelligent roughly of a 3-year-old child and it didn’t know much. Other than the instinct to cultivate and look for food, it didn’t much thoughts or memories on its mind.
So Cheng Xiao Xiao pulled out the tricks that one would use on a child to lure it into her dimension. Once the iron-armed bear had entered the dimension, the thick mystical qi made the bear even happier. It liked the place; not only did it have other sentient mystical beasts, it also have Yuteng, the fairy. The bear, who had always been lonely in the deep parts of the mountain, was mesmerized entirely.
Cheng Xiao Xiao easily lured the little bear into the dimension and had no urgency to rush home. She made another round in the mountain and collected several other types of herbs before she slowly headed home.
Cheng Biyuan didn’t take his daughter’s words seriously. He didn’t think it’d be so easy to tame a level-7 mystical beast. He only said softly, “As long as you are alright!”
The conversation between the father and daughter weren’t loud but everybody seated heard them clearly. Everybody had different thoughts from the dialogs yet they all have the same look on them – a deep cautiousness.
“Oh, right, Xiao Xiao. This is the dean of School of Divine Condor, he saved my life once!”
Hearing her father’s introduction, she who had a bad impression of those from School of Divine Condor frowned slightly. But when she heard that he had saved his father once, her expression finally softened and she nodded at the old man and cupped her hands at him, “Junior is Cheng Xiao Xiao. Greetings, Dean!”
“The maiden of the Cheng’s was alright. You are already a martial spiritualist at your young age. You are certainly as talented as your father little BIyuan!” said the dean with a tender look.
Cheng Xiao Xiao’s look stiffened for a bit. This was the first time she heard someone referring to her father as “little BIyuan”, she couldn’t help but felt curious about his age, “How old are you, Dean?”
“Xiao Xiao!” Cheng Biyuan objected. His daredevil daughter was probably the only one who’d ask the dean his age point blank.
The dean did not think much of it; contrarily, he quite appreciate Cheng Xiao Xiao’s forwardness and speak what was on her mind.
“I am around 300 years old, young lady. Do you now agree that I can refer to your father as ‘little Biyuan’?”
“Ugh…..”
Cheng Xiao Xiao was speechless!
Three hundred years old! That was enough to witness the rise and fall of an entire era. Yes, he was indeed old enough.
He also shared his level of cultivation. The old man was also a martial emperor, but without breaking through to the next level, a 300-something year old martial emperor wouldn’t have too much time remaining.