Since the beginning of May, Linjiang Building has been closed to the outside world, and all up and down are preparing for the pearl meeting on the fifth day of the new year. Of the 26 pearl merchants who sent out the post, Gu all sent their children to take care of them, and many of them were the heads of the families who came in person.

Cao Hao, under the name of "Qu Gongzi", set up a private room in Linjiang Building. Listening to Wei Xin, now the shopkeeper of the [***] money village also lives in Linjiang Building and begins to provide loans for those pearl households who are short of money.

In a blink of an eye, on the fifth day of the fifth month of May, it was finally time to hold the lamp, and the "Pearl Club" kicked off.

On the first floor, facing the corridor on the second floor, where a few tables were vacated, a four-foot high platform was temporarily erected, and a half-person-high long case was placed on the platform. On the right side of the long case, there is a small copper hammer more than a foot long. On the opposite side of the table, there are more than a dozen round tables placed in a fan shape, and pen, ink, paper, and inkstones are placed on the tables. There are no more than two chairs placed next to each table, and two people from each household can attend the merchants who received the Pearl Club post.

When the downstairs was full, and the guys who greeted him upstairs also signaled that the guests in each box had arrived, Wei Xincai came down from the second floor in a bright body, walked to the back of the stage with a smile, gently picked up the copper hammer, and knocked it on the table three times. Originally, the somewhat noisy lobby immediately fell silent.

Cao Hao sat in the private room on the second floor, looking downstairs through the bead curtain with a somewhat familiar layout, and was very emotional. Just fiddling like a cat and a tiger, it even has a bit of an auction venue. came with Cao Hao, it was originally the Wei family brothers who brought Wu Sheng and others, as well as the Zheng family brothers and sisters and Cao Fang. Because they wanted to close the venue, for fear that someone would peep or make trouble, the Wei brothers and Zheng Hu took people to guard outside the building. Because Wei Xin had already gone downstairs, Cao Fang also went out to take care of him, and there were only Cao Hao and Zheng Woxue in the private room.

Zheng Woxue glanced at Cao Hao, who had a calm face, and couldn't tell what she felt in her heart. After tonight, this method of raising pearls will no longer be a secret, and she will not lose her freedom because of it. However, why is there only confusion in my heart, but there is no joy in breaking free?

Wei Xin has been downstairs to talk aloud about several rules of this conference, this "pearl meeting" a total of 27 pearl merchants from the north and south to participate, will be in the form of a secret bid for the method of raising pearls, the reserve price starts at 50,000 taels of silver, the top ten bidders will get the secret method of raising treasures. Within 10 years after obtaining the secret law, the secret method shall not be leaked in various forms, otherwise the auctioneer has the right to claim compensation according to ten times the bidding price; Even if the secret method of pearl cultivation is not auctioned in the end, it is not allowed to snoop on this matter in various forms within ten years, otherwise the auctioneer has the right to make a tenfold claim according to the average bidding price.

These are all said and said before, and they are also implemented in the copy. All the participants have signed a confidentiality agreement, otherwise they will lose their qualifications to participate.

In addition, each participating bidder must pay a guarantee of 10,000 taels of silver before today. The guarantee money is directly deposited into the [***] bank, if anyone bids at a high price and cannot pay in the end, then the guarantee will become liquidated damages to the auctioneer. On the Qian Zhuang side, in addition to providing part of the loan for the pearl households, it also guarantees the auctioneer. If the auctioneer cannot hand over the secret method of raising pearls to the other party after the auction, then [***] Qian Zhuang is willing to make a claim according to double the bidder's price.

Thinking of the 10,000 taels of silver that had only been deposited in the [***] Qian Zhuang this afternoon, Yang Mingchang hated it so much that the roots of his teeth itched. This is his family's secret method, but he has to spend money to bid, what is the reason? Thinking about these few days of rushing, he was almost half angry, that unfilial son had already married a wife and had children, and he didn't recognize him at all. The daughter also doesn't eat oil and salt, and she refuses to see her when she goes to see herself; sent Yang Ruixue to go, but ran into a wall again.

When he knew that his son had married Cao Fang's niece and went to talk to Cao Fang, Cao Fang lukewarmly gave him a soft nail, and said something similar to a threat: "Jiangning territory, who can take advantage of the Cao family, if someone wants to fight the idea of raising pearls, I am afraid that they will get into trouble!" ”

Although Yang Mingchang was slanderous, he also knew that what Cao Fang said was true, after all, he was not like other pearl merchants, he made a living under the nose of the Cao family. If he annoys the Cao family, let alone raising beads to make a fortune, I am afraid that if someone raises his little finger, his industry will not be surnamed Yang.

But compared with the Cao family, the secret method of raising pearls is nothing!

Looking at the appearance of his daughter, what man can resist this beauty? Now she lives in the weaving mansion, and yesterday Yang Ruixue said that the Cao family was very respectful to her, which shows that the eldest son of the Cao family has a good heart. If the two of them succeed, even if the daughter is not in the main room, when she gives birth to a child and is promoted to the second room, it is not difficult to earn a life, and her father-in-law ...... "Father-in-law, look, there are a lot of pearls!" Bai Dexi, the second young master of the Bai family, who came with Yang Mingchang, opened his mouth to interrupt his dream.

The lights on the high platform were brilliant, and Wei Xin held a box and signaled to everyone: "These words, the most common question everyone asks is whether there is really this secret method of raising pearls in this world." Because this is the secret of the family heirloom and the capital to make a fortune, it is impossible for Wei to explain the mystery of the law to you one by one. However, before the official bidding, I always have to give you an explanation. Hearing is false, seeing is believing, there are box beads here, please come up to appraisal! ”

Sitting closest to the high platform was a middle-aged man, who immediately stood up when he heard the words, and said in a Shandong dialect: "I'll get started!" ”

Wei Xin smiled and invited him to the stage, called the little servant again, and handed him a jade plate. The middle-aged man first took out a silk handkerchief from his arms, wiped his hands carefully, and then took a pearl from the box in his hand, put it in front of his eyes and looked at it carefully, and then put it on one end of the jade plate and gently rolled it. The beads rolled directly to the end of the jade panling. The man's arm trembled slightly, and he grabbed a handful of beads from the box, which were also scattered at one end of the jade plate.

The room was filled with the crisp sound of pearls falling on jade plates, and everyone in the audience had straight eyes, everyone was a person who had dealt with pearls all their lives, and their eyesight had already been tempered. Those are all high-grade pearls, not to mention a box, even one will cost dozens of hundreds of taels of silver.

Seeing everyone's reaction, Wei Xin thanked the middle-aged man, asked him to return to his seat first, and then clapped his hands. Nearby, from the direction of the original back kitchen, two rows of Tsing Yi maids with trays came out, one row upstairs, one row to the lobby, and delivered the trays to each table.

Everyone looked intently, and on the tray were two sea bowls with mother-of-pearls, plus two small plates with a few pearls of different colors, and a pair of scissors beside them. There are a few large beads in the small orchid saucer, and a few small beads in the small chrysanthemum saucer. Whether it is a large bead or a small bead, it is round and smooth, with few flaws. But no one knows what this fritillary does. There was a lot of talk and speculation.

The same tray was also placed on the long case in front of Wei Xin, and he picked up the small copper hammer again, knocked it twice, and when everyone calmed down, Fang said: "Since ancient times, pearl diving has only relied on the sky to eat, even if you fish out the fritillary, if you don't have the time to remove the flesh and peel the pearls, it is difficult to know your harvest." However, here today, Wei will open his eyes with everyone and gamble together. These two large bowls of mother-of-pearl, each bowl of ten, everyone to open together, which table has the most beads and the best, then these beads will be given to the good luck of the proprietor. ”

For a while, whether it was the private room upstairs or the seats downstairs, everyone began to open the mussels on the spot. As the mother-of-pearl was opened, the crystalline and round pearls were placed in the small saucer, and the sound of inhalation was heard everywhere. How can you not be surprised? The two bowls of fritillary, one bowl is full of large beads, which is almost the same as the orchid in a small plate; A bowl is a small bead, which is similar to the one in a small chrysanthemum plate.

Everyone was excited, what does this mean? explained that he had been suspicious for a long time, and finally had an answer, this method of raising pearls does exist.

After everyone finished dialing the pearls, the little girl in Tsing Yi stepped forward to collect the tray again, and the best luck was the guest of a private room on the west side of the second floor, and a total of twenty-four large beads and thirty-seven small beads were peeled off. According to the previous agreement, Wei Xin asked people to repack the pearls into a brocade box and give them to the guest.

"Miss is really lucky, these pearls can be worth at least three thousand taels or more!" An old man with a slightly emaciated face touched his beard and said.

"Good luck? Uncle, I'm a little scared now! Sitting in the private room was the second lady of the Jiang family, the owner of the [***] Qian Village, Han Jiang, with a veil on her face, looking at the two brocade boxes in front of her and saying.

The old man was a member of the original branch of Han Jiang's mother, an old courtier in the money village, and one of the people Han Jiang relied on the most. Downstairs was already hot, and everyone had seen the wonder of raising pearls, so they naturally urged Wei Xin to hurry up and bid.

Wei Xin has done enough meat, so he naturally waited for the one in front of him, and immediately asked the little guy to send a pillar of incense. One pillar of incense is limited, please bid for the secret bid, and sign, and then announce the ten winning bidders.

At this point, learning this method of raising pearls has become an inevitable trend, otherwise even if your own family does not learn, other families will learn, who will be willing to give up such a windfall. It's just that when I really picked up the pen and wanted to write the price, everyone looked different. Even if it was a Shandong man who had been on stage to identify pearls before, he had lost his straightforwardness, frowning and not knowing how to write. If you write less, you will lose a chance to make a fortune in vain; If you write too much, you have to sell your property if you can't say it, and whether you have the capital to raise pearls or two words.

The Shandong man hesitated and hesitated, and finally picked up the pen and wrote down the next number.

Yang Mingchang only felt that his brain hurt, how much should he write? 50,000 is just the starting price, I am afraid that even if it is written to 70,000 or 80,000, it may not be able to get the secret method of raising pearls on the spot.

That Bai Dexi was bent on getting his father-in-law to take this secret method, anyway, he would enjoy it in the future, and he couldn't help but look around, wanting to see the bids of others. Naturally, everyone is blocking it with their arms, where can they see half a point. Bai Dexi really couldn't have a son, so he persuaded his father-in-law in a low voice: "One hundred thousand, father-in-law, be safe!" ”

Yang Mingchang was upset, and when he saw that the people at the nearby tables heard that "100,000" were all looking over here, he couldn't help but glare at his son-in-law. Picking up the tea next to him, I wanted to calm down first, but I happened to see two small words on the tea tray. He hurriedly put down the teacup, looked around, and saw that everyone turned their heads to write bids, Fang gently stroked his chest, carefully removed the teacup, and saw the two small words "fifteen". Although he is a little painful, he is really happy in his heart, in the end, he is his own daughter, and he always remembers to mention himself.

So, Yang Mingchang glanced triumphantly at the people around who were still hesitant, took a pen and wrote a number on the paper, signed his name, carefully folded it, and called the young man in Tsing Yi not far away to pick it up.

Wei Xin saw that Yang Mingchang had handed over the secret mark, opened it as if unintentionally, glanced at it, and then glanced at the private room on the east side of the second floor and nodded.

Cao Hao happened to be standing at the door of the private room, looking at the lookout, seeing this, he was relieved, and returned to the private room with a smile.

Zheng Woxue has seen Cao Hao several times, but once she saw him in such a good mood, she couldn't help but ask curiously: "Childe is happy for the smooth bidding, the reserve price is 50,000 yuan, and the average price is more than 80,000 yuan, which is a good income!" ”

Cao Hao smiled and shook his head: "This bidding income has already been calculated, there is nothing to be happy about." I'm just glad that good and evil will be rewarded in the end! Miss Zheng, the promise I made to your brothers and sisters five years ago is about to be fulfilled, and I am happy for this! ”

"Childe ......" Zheng Woxue was still puzzled, although the first two Cao Hao heard about the Yang family's entanglement and said that he wanted to help their brothers and sisters vent their anger, but for some reason they still allowed the Yang family to participate in this pearl meeting. After all, there is a difference between public and private, Zheng Woxue doesn't want to ask much, and when he heard Cao Hao say this, he knew that he had other plans.

Cao Hao smiled and took out a booklet from his cuff and handed it to Zheng Woxue: "Take a closer look, what's the difference with your share!" ”

As a result, Zheng Woxue saw that the words "Secret Method of Raising Pearls" were written on it, but it was not one of the tenths that he gave to Cao Hao yesterday. After carefully looking at it from beginning to end, she covered her mouth in surprise, looked at Cao Hao and said: "Childe, this is missing that step, nine out of ten fritillary mothers will die, I'm afraid that the person who raises pearls will lose a lot!" As he spoke, he realized something, and his eyes couldn't help but have a layer of mist: "Childe, for our brothers and sisters......"

Cao Hao looked at her, but his expression became a little solemn: "This is also the end!" Since he abandoned your brothers and sisters for the love of money, it will be regarded as retribution for breaking the wealth in the future! It's just that since he has bad intentions, Miss Zheng must not be soft-hearted, otherwise she will inevitably be used by him! ”

Zheng Woxue nodded: "Childe put it down, Woxue knows!" ”

Cao Hao let go of a worry, very comfortable, and wanted to ask Zheng Woxue what her plans were in the future, but after all, there was a difference between men and women, so let her brother ask her. Since they are tired of their brothers and sisters working hard for the Cao family for five years, it is time for the Cao family to return-

(To be continued)