Seeing the look of anticipation on Zhong Lingyun's face, Hong Chen smiled bitterly and pinched his eyebrows: "I'm afraid I can't agree to this, I have a good relationship with the Jiang family's brothers and sisters, once when I was collectively targeted by six families, the Jiang family supported me without hesitation..."

Seeing Zhong Lingyun's expression darkened, and the expectation on his face quickly turned into disappointment, Hong Chen smiled bitterly again, and after thinking about it, he said: "I have a suggestion, since the six provinces contain X province and Y province, why don't I be a middleman, how about the Zhong family and the Jiang family form an alliance?" This will also be more certain. ”

This time it was Zhong Lingyun's turn to smile bitterly: "The bidding for the Lingshi Mine is a big gamble, and this year is a big year once every five years, it is not an exaggeration to say that it is related to the rise and fall of a family, and the shortlisted families will have allies, but they are basically the closest in-laws of the eldest son and eldest daughter of the two families, or the interests are heavily bound..."

said, exhaled a breath: "Besides, the Jiang family and my Zhong family are shortlisted at the same time, even if there is a gap between each other, but it will not be very big, who is the main and who is the auxiliary, I am afraid that no one will give in, investing tens of billions of dollars is equivalent to the ticket fee, the success or failure of the bidding lies in the warriors, who would be willing to let the fate of their own warriors be in the hands of others?" ”

For Zhong Lingyun's words, Hong Chen was not surprised, when Jiang Tao came to him for an interview, he also emphasized the importance of the Lingshi mine bidding for a family, which involved a lot of interests, the water in it was deep, and all kinds of taboos also increased...

However, he was still a little puzzled: "I heard the Jiang family say that the bidding for the Lingshi Mine is a big gamble, the winner takes all, dozens of big families in the six provinces participate, half of which is actually focused on participation, but it costs billions, and the family warriors have to take risks, does it make sense?" ”

Zhong Lingyun looked at him, was silent, and pointed to his feet: "My Zhong family has such a piece of spirit stone mine, or eighteen years ago to the main family borrowed four third-grade martial artists to take it, for this reason, my Zhong family pays twenty percent of the profits to the main family every year for a period of ten years, in addition, the annual maintenance cost of this spirit stone mine is not less than one billion..."

Speaking of which, she bought a small pass: "Master, guess what, what was the valuation of this spirit stone mine at that time?" ”

"Eighteen years ago... Billion? ”

“......”

"Five billion?"

“......”

"Two billion?"

"Eight hundred million."

Zhong Lingyun made a gesture of grabbing: "Even today, the official valuation of the bid is magnified by 20 times, and it will be around 15 billion, and the total cost of my Zhong family's spirit stone mine is not less than 40 billion, the spirit stone mine is truly priceless, unless the family is lonely, no one will sell it." ”

After that, he took a deep breath: "For more than ten years, my Zhong family has given birth to four third-grade martial artists because of this spiritual stone mine, my father, the deceased second uncle, Fu Youyou, and me, in addition, more than a dozen second-grade martial artists have also been cultivated, if there is no such spiritual stone mine, it is estimated that I am the only one who can be promoted to the third grade, and the number of second-grade martial artists cultivated will also be reduced by more than half." ”

"If a family wants to expand beyond a province, if it wants to become a regional-level or even a national family, the scale of assets, high-grade martial artists, and the number of martial artists, all three are indispensable, especially the latter two, without a spirit stone mine, it is impossible to achieve it at all."

"The family that can be shortlisted for the bidding is standing at the top of the province, and at the same time the development is also at the bottleneck, if you want to break the bottleneck, the spirit stone mine is indispensable, yes, even if there is a slight opportunity, it will never let go, of course, if you invest like this every year, the families are also difficult to bear, the spirit stone mine bid once a year, but there is a big year in five years, it can also be understood as a big gamble, and today is just a big year."

Hong Chen showed a sudden look, people go to high places, and a family is the same, when the ceiling is covered on the head, it will try to break it, and it will even become an obsession, not hesitating to risk falling from a high place.

It is human nature not to know how to be satisfied, there is no such thing as good or evil, and it is precisely because of this that human beings stand out from the natural law of natural selection, become the master of this world, and develop this world step by step into what it is today.

The so-called contentment and happiness are just a kind of self-appeasement for ordinary people...

Zhong Lingyun hesitated and whispered, "Master, can I take your proposal as an alternative?" ”

Then he quickly explained: "There are still more than two months before the bidding, it is not imminent, wait for a while, I will communicate with the old man and them, and there will be a final decision one month before the bidding at the latest." ”

Seeing that she was a little weak-hearted, Hong Chen nodded and smiled, he originally mentioned it casually, and he was not demanding, for Zhong Lingyun's sake, it didn't hurt to be a "spare tire".

Seeing that Hong Chen was not unhappy and agreed very happily, Zhong Lingyun secretly breathed a sigh of relief, and then changed the topic: "Master, I will take you to the treasury tonight, and if you have any medicinal materials that you can see, just take them away, and treat them as apprentices to make up for the apprenticeship." ”

Hong Chen suddenly became interested, rolled his eyes, and quipped: "What if you see it all?" ”

Zhong Lingyun was slightly stunned, and Shui Ling's eyes blinked.

Hong Chen also winked at her.

The master and apprentice, with big eyes and small eyes, were silent for a while, and Zhong Lingyun suddenly said: "Master, I'll rub your shoulders for you." ”

Hong Chenwaner: "Okay." ”

......

There was no big banquet for dinner according to Hong Chen's wishes, so the four brothers and sisters of the Zhong family accompanied Hong Chen to have a family banquet.

During the banquet, the four brothers and sisters took turns to salute Hong Chen several times, and Hong Chen did not refuse to come, the atmosphere was quite pleasant, and they were really relieved of their suspicions.

After the meal, Zhong Lingyun led Hong Chen to the warehouse.

"Red shirt flower, ebony teng, thousand willow leaves, ice beard monk fruit, health parrow...."

There is only a small one in the warehouse, with an area of no more than 50 square meters, but the stored medicinal materials are all high-quality, more than 100 kinds of B-grade medicinal materials, more than 30 kinds of A-level medicinal materials, seven or eight rare medicinal materials, and a quasi-earth treasure-level medicinal material, Hong Chen's eyes swept over, his eyes were as bright as stars, and his heartbeat unconsciously accelerated.

On the side, Zhong Lingyun looked at Hong Chen's saliva about to flow out, and said weakly: "Master, you leave me a little." ”

Only then did Hong Chen realize that he was a little out of shape, but he didn't care, and frowned in displeasure: "What, reluctant?" ”

Zhong Lingyun flattened her mouth: "Don't dare." ”

It's not that you are willing, not that you don't dare, that is, your heart is not willing.

Hong Chen pointed at her, wanting to teach a few words of the master's majesty, and finally shook his head silently, and spent half an hour selecting two A-grade medicinal materials, one rare medicinal material.

"Master, you only see three things?"

"Well, seeing that you are reluctant, how dare I pick more."

"I didn't..."

"I don't dare."

As he spoke, Hong Chen simply turned around and walked towards the outside of the warehouse, and Zhong Lingyun followed with a depressed face.

Leaving the warehouse and walking all the way back to the courtyard, Zhong Lingyun wanted to speak several times, until he reached the gate of the courtyard, and then whispered: "Master, are you angry?" ”

"Don't dare."

"You're obviously angry."

"Oh, where did you see that?"

Hong Chen looked at Zhong Lingyun with a smile, the latter was entangled, and gritted his teeth: "Master, I'll wait for someone to pack all the medicinal materials in the warehouse and send them over." ”

Seeing that she looked serious, Hong Chen couldn't pretend anymore, and waved his hand: "Okay, your master, am I the kind of person who is insatiable?" ”

Then, he raised the three wooden boxes in his hand: "Disciple filial piety to the master, I have no doubt about it, but after all, these medicinal materials belong to the Zhong family, not yours, and they are useless, so let's do it, I will refine some pills in return." ”

Without giving Zhong Lingyun a chance to refuse, Hong Chen sent the required raw materials, more than a dozen kinds of medicinal materials, to Zhong Lingyun through Yunxin.

The next day, Hong Chen didn't close his eyes, and refined a total of ten pills, five of which could help the half-step product to officially advance to the first grade, and the other five could help the first-grade martial artist improve to a realm.

The Zhong family had killed eleven martial artists, plus three wealthy and benevolent people, and the number of martial artists had plummeted by more than half, which was in urgent need of replenishment.

Hong Chen also helped as much as he could.

On the morning of the third day, a dragon head phoenix flower promised by the Zhong family was finally handed over to Hong Chen, and after lunch, Hong Chen offered his farewell.

This time he came to the bull market, half a month before and after, he had to hurry back to Qingshi, and in a few days, he would go to the provincial capital.