Chapter Eighty Whispers

  Ye Yuqi's heart suddenly sank.

  In such a bustling scene, the astonished expressions on people's faces after seeing the golden Buddha's hand made him think that the jade carving Ye Zhuo had made could be sold for more than 3,000 taels of silver, turning a great disaster into a great opportunity for Ye Zhuo and Yu Zhuo Fang to gain fame. There was no problem at all. But unexpectedly, at this critical moment, it suddenly turned cold.

  Tao Changsheng stood in the crowd, a cold smile spreading from the corner of his mouth.

  "Excuse me for being talkative, I've been running a workshop on Yi Ren Street for 18 years and have seen a lot. But this jade carving from Yu Zhuo Fang is something I've rarely seen in my lifetime. I think it's completely worth buying back, either as a collection or as a gift for others. The material is excellent, the craftsmanship is exquisite, and keeping it will only appreciate its value." Mr. Yun said, stepping forward. In this situation, Ye Yuqi naturally couldn't speak up, otherwise, it would seem like he was begging people to buy it, and the jade carving wouldn't be able to sell for a good price. Now was the time for his old friend to come out and help him speak up.

  Ye Chou gazed at Ye Yu Zhang in the crowd and let out a soft sigh.

  Yun Lao Ye Zi and Li Da Shu, who are not related to the Ye family, can still help out in every way, busy running back and forth. But Ye Yu Zhang, his own brother, hides far away, without even showing his face. It seems that the relationship between people has nothing to do with blood ties.

  "Doesn't everyone look down on this jade carving of mine?" Ye Yuqi saw that still no one spoke, and he felt somewhat disheartened.

  "That's not the case. The jade carving of Old Ye is very good, whether it's the material or the craftsmanship." Finally, someone named Wu Yu spoke up among the crowd. "I bid 1,800 taels of silver."

  These people, in the presence of Nie Bowen, still came forward to inspect the goods, naturally with a sincere intention to buy this jade carving. It's just that everyone had an idea in mind, which was: The Ye family encountered a great difficulty and urgently needed to raise funds. At this time, they were selling things at a lower price. But now looking at this scene, wanting to buy at a low price is not possible. However, the golden Buddha's hand is indeed beautiful and worth collecting. So they thought about seeing what prices others would offer before making their own decision. Apart from this reason, there was another reason: Nie Bowen and Du Haoran had also inspected the goods. If they took a fancy to this jade carving and started bidding, wouldn't that offend Master Nie? It's better to let someone else take the lead. With such an idea in mind, no one was willing to speak up.

  Now Wu Yu has made a move, others have nothing to worry about and start bidding competitively:

  "Two thousand one hundred and twenty."

  "Two thousand three hundred taels."

  "Twenty-five hundred taels." The bidding soared all the way up.

  At this price, there was a moment of silence on the scene. No one was in a hurry to bid again. Two thousand five hundred yuan had already reached their ideal psychological price. If they bid higher, the jade carving would not be worth it.

  However, at this time, Ye Yuxi's heart had already calmed down. Even if no one else bid again, with these 2,500 taels of silver, plus the other jade carving being sold, and adding the over 100 taels of silver earned from the workshop recently, and borrowing a bit more than 200 taels of silver would be enough. As long as the Ye family's house and workshop were still there, this debt should also be repaid soon.

  Nie Bowen sat down. Seeing that no one was bidding, he glanced at Du Haoran with a slanted eye and slightly raised an eyebrow, as if hinting for him to bid. However, Du Haoran seemed not to have noticed, picked up his tea cup and took a light sip, probably thinking the tea leaves were not good. He furrowed his brow slightly before putting down the cup.

  Nie Bowen thought Du Haoran hadn't seen his signal, so he leaned towards Du Haoran and whispered: "You insisted on coming in to help the Ye family, didn't you? Why aren't you bidding now? Be careful or Miss Ye's jade carving will be bought by those people, and you'll regret it later."

  This time, Du Haoran didn't pretend he hadn't heard. However, he also didn't have any special reaction, only giving Nie Bowen a faint glance before withdrawing his gaze again.

  Nie Bowen saw Du Haoran ignoring him and could only shrug his shoulders, saying nothing.

  Xie Yunfeng, who was sitting on the other side, had been somewhat restless since he knew that the golden Buddha's hand came from Ye Zhuo. He sat there in a daze, staring blankly into space. It wasn't until Nie Bowen leaned over to talk to Du Haoran that Xie Yunfeng seemed to be startled awake, forcing himself to calm down and making small talk with Nie Bowen: "Is the young master also interested in this golden Buddha's hand?"

  Nie Bowen smiled and said vaguely, "This jade carving is not bad." After finishing, he seemed to suddenly remember something, and pointed to the steps with his chin, asking Xie Yunfeng, "Do you know this Ye family?"

  Xie Yunfeng's heart skipped a beat, he looked up at Nie Bowen and saw that his expression seemed to be just casually asking, so he put his mind at ease and nodded: "I know him."

  "Do you know who is Miss Ye's jade carving master?"

  "This is still unknown to me." Xie Yunfeng secretly let out a sigh of relief. Nie Bowen and Du Haoran were also acquaintances of Ye Zhuo, if they had the same thoughts about Ye Zhuo as he did, then his proposal to Ye Zhuo and subsequent withdrawal would likely offend them.

  "She... " Nie Bowen looked up at the stairs and said in a low voice, "Is she engaged?"

  Xie Yunfeng's heart, which had just been put at ease, was raised again. However, he quickly covered it up with a forced smile and said, "I really don't know." His eyes stared at Nie Bowen's face, "Nie Gongzi isn't interested in this Ye young lady, is he?"

  Nie Bowen smiled slightly and didn't respond. He picked up the teacup, brought it to his lips, wanting to take a sip. But remembering Du Haoran's expression when he drank tea earlier, he put the cup down again. His eyes fixed on Yun Lao Yezi who was talking on the steps, seemingly having no intention of speaking with Xie Yunfeng anymore.

  Xie Yunfeng gazed at Nie Bowen, his heart engaged in a fierce ideological struggle. After a long time, he gritted his teeth and leaned in close to Nie Bowen, saying: "Nie Gongzi, I've heard that..." He finished this half-sentence with a very conflicted expression.

  "What was that?" Nie Bowen turned his head around.

  Xie Yunfeng seemed to have made up his mind: "As for Miss Ye, her fate is not good." He added another sentence, "I heard that was said by Master Airen."

  "Hmm?" Nie Bowen's face stiffened, and he turned to glance at Du Haoran before nodding at Xie Yunfeng: "Thanks for the reminder."

  "Nie Gongzi doesn't need to be polite. Since I know about it, I naturally want to remind you." Xie Yunfeng said with a smile.

  Nie Bowen cast his eyes on the stage, sizing up Ye Zhuo for two seconds before falling silent. Xie Yunfeng had no choice but to pretend to be focused as well, watching Cloud Old Master speaking on stage, completely unaware of Du Haoran's disgusted glance at him.

  On the steps, Old Master Yun was persuading: "...two thousand five hundred taels, which is the price of this red jade. Now with its exquisite design and extremely skilled craftsmanship, this jade carving has far exceeded that price. And with the craftsman's current skills, even if he is not yet famous, he will inevitably have opportunities to rise in the future. At that time, it will be impossible to buy a masterpiece by a jade carving master for two thousand taels of silver. So, everyone should look at this jade carving with foresight."

  This remark has hit the soft spot of those who are looking for goods. In fact, everyone wants to buy this piece of jade not only because its material is good and it has a preservative value, but also because of its design and craftsmanship. If the craftsmanship of carving golden Buddha hands can become famous, then the value of this jade carving will have a lot of room for appreciation.

  "Two thousand seven hundred taels." The outsider merchant named Wu Yu was again the first to make an offer.

  Immediately someone followed up: "Two thousand seven hundred and fifty taels."

  "Two thousand eight hundred taels."

  Yue Yuqi couldn't help but reveal a joyful expression upon hearing this number. If this jade carving could be sold for such a high price, then the other jade carving wouldn't be less than 300 taels of silver either. A great disaster was instantly transformed into nothingness by Ye Zhuo's clever move.

  On the contrary, Tao Changsheng, who had been standing in the crowd with a look of expectation similar to that of Ye Yuxi, glared at Nie Bowen and Du Haoran with some annoyance, and growled at the man, "Leave." He turned around and squeezed out of the crowd.

  "Two thousand eight hundred, is there a higher price?" Cloud Old Master has taken on the role of auctioneer and continues to persuade, "The raw material for this jade carving, that young master Wang spent three thousand two hundred pieces to buy. Although Master Luo's craftsmanship wasted some jade material, the re-carved golden Buddha's hand is clearly more vivid and exquisite than Master Luo's work. Its value has far exceeded that of the Celestial Maiden Presenting Peaches, even if it costs three thousand two hundred or three thousand three hundred pieces, it would be worth it. Not to mention, as the jade carver gains fame, it will have an even greater appreciation in value, everyone must not miss out on this opportunity. Two thousand eight hundred, is there another bid?"

  Yun Lao Yezi's words of encouragement were followed by another person calling out: "Two thousand eight hundred and fifty taels."

  "Twenty-nine hundred taels." Wu Yu glanced at the man with a provocative gaze, and with a flirtatious movement, she unfolded the fan in her hand and slightly raised her chin.

  The man bidding against Wu Yu was a middle-aged man wearing a sky-blue long gown. He looked at Wu Yu's complacent appearance, hated it so much that his teeth itched, and couldn't help but shout again: "Two thousand nine hundred and fifty taels." Not to be outdone, he didn't care about the extra fifty taels of silver anyway, this time he must bring down this despicable person. Besides, didn't Old Master Yun say earlier? This piece of jade carving is worth over three thousand taels just for the material, plus the design and craftsmanship, it's worth at least three thousand three hundred taels.

  Wu Yu's face showed a hesitant expression when he heard the price, and the fan in his hand stopped fanning the cool breeze, even using the fan bone to scratch his head. Finally, when Old Man Yun asked if anyone would add more money, he gritted his teeth: "Three thousand taels."

  When Wu Yu made this expression, the azure man knew he was at his last gasp. He raised his head and shouted: "Three thousand one hundred taels."

  Thank you to Miao Miao for the two garlics, thank you to Nong Nong Tou for the peace symbol, thank you... Kaixin Yu Fish and exit98's pink ticket! If you like this work, welcome to vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets. Your support is my greatest motivation.