Chapter 10: Imperial Green

On the first page, Su Tian immediately spotted a man who appeared to be in his fifties but looked very vigorous. Moreover, his appearance and aura…

“The one walking in front must be from the Qin family,” Chen Ping said, giving Su Tian a thumbs-up. “As expected of you, big brother, you can tell right away. That’s the head of the Qin family, Qin Haitian. Behind him is the head of the Bai family, Bai Qingyun. To the right is the head of the Su family, Su Miao. As for the Tang family, it’s a bit special—the previous head died in an accident, and now the entire Tang family is under the control of their eldest young master, the youngest among them, Tang Yichen. Don’t be fooled by his youth; he’s a formidable figure.”

Su Tian nodded in understanding.

Within just a few dozen minutes, people came and went at the auction. This was a merchant-style auction, and each buyer had a booklet detailing the items up for bidding that day. Su Tian flipped through it briefly.

Inside were all kinds of exquisite antiques and jewelry, and surprisingly, even plots of land in certain areas were clearly listed with prices.

He frowned slightly and instinctively asked, “Can land really be auctioned like this? Isn’t that illegal?”

Before Chen Ping could answer, Chen Ruoxi, sitting beside them, said, “This land belongs to our Chen family. The fact that Chen Jia is willing to put it up for auction shows that this plot means little to us.” Her eyes were filled with contempt.

Su Tian was not oblivious.

He understood what her gaze implied.

Chen Ping promptly scolded his sister, “Sister! What are you doing? It’s Su big brother’s first time at this kind of auction. How could he know what these things mean? Given time, he’ll understand. You didn’t know anything your first time at an auction either, right?”

Chen Ruoxi frowned slightly at her brother, puzzled as to why he always sided with an outsider.

“You’re asking for trouble—you better watch out, or I’ll tell Grandpa when we get back.”

Chen Ping chuckled, “Sister, if you tell Grandpa about this, the one who’ll get scolded is you.” Then he ignored his sister.

Chen Ruoxi was wondering why he said that. Could Su Tian have some other identity?

Soon, everyone took their seats, but Su Tian’s gaze remained fixed on Qin Haitian below.

The Qin family…

His father’s death was undoubtedly connected to Qin Haitian.

The auction followed a familiar pattern: initially, some low-value items were presented to gauge interest.

Chen Ruoxi and Chen Ping showed little enthusiasm.

“Isn’t this auction organized by your Chen family? How come there are things you want as well?”

Chen Ping replied, “Yes, most items come from the Chen family, but we can’t provide enough, so some come from other prominent families. There are even things the Chen family doesn’t have.”

Soon, three jade stones appeared on the auction table.

On the second page, the auctioneer announced, “Hello everyone, here are three raw jade stones, each priced at three million.”

Betting on jade stones was still quite novel at an auction.

Even though Su Tian knew nothing, he understood that auction items were usually displayed openly. But with jade stones, it was different. No one knew what was inside or what would be revealed when cut. Whether one would lose or gain was a gamble.

No one wanted to be the fool.

Yet, when Su Tian turned his head, he saw Chen Ruoxi looking very interested.

Chen Ping sighed, “My sister loves this kind of challenge. Three million is nothing to her.”

The auctioneer said, “Our rule is, each person may only bid on one stone—only one chance. Miss it, and it’s gone.”

Su Tian looked carefully at the three stones before turning to Chen Ruoxi. “Miss Chen, do you trust me?”

Chen Ruoxi blinked, puzzled by his strange question. “What did you say?”

“Do you trust me?”

Did they know each other well? If he asked that, she would probably say no.

Before Chen Ruoxi could answer, Chen Ping beat her to it: “Of course, Su big brother! Even if I didn’t trust you, who wouldn’t?”

Chen Ruoxi was speechless. Her brother seemed rather foolish.

Su Tian pointed to the middle stone. “Miss Chen, bid on that one. I guarantee you’ll profit.”

She looked at the stone he indicated. It was the smallest of the three, with an ordinary surface. Even shining a light on it, nothing passed through. How could he be so sure?

“Why should I trust you?”

“You don’t have to. Everyone only gets one chance. Trusting me can’t hurt, since it’s all a gamble anyway.”

This was an auction, not a jade market, and few were interested.

Chen Ping tugged at Chen Ruoxi’s arm. “Sister! Trust Su big brother!”

Su Tian studied Chen Ruoxi’s face and thought to himself: she had been focusing on the other two stones earlier. Observing her gaze, he discreetly cast a divination. The omen showed Chen Ruoxi had a benefactor today—and that benefactor was himself. When a benefactor speaks, they are never wrong.

Chen Ruoxi was about to make at least a hundred million yuan in profit today.

Three million turning into a hundred million.

Wasn’t that enticing?

On the third page, the auction began.

“Everyone, start bidding!”

Chen Ping immediately raised his paddle, “Three million for the middle one.”

The auctioneer was clearly excited. This stone had failed to sell many times before, yet today someone had taken an interest.

“Miss Chen bids three million! Any higher bids?”

Everyone silently thought: she’s from the Chen family; better not offend her. It’s just a stone, not something indispensable.

So, no one else bid.

Chen Ruoxi effortlessly won the stone.

“Three million, any more bids? Three million once! Three million twice! Three million thrice! Sold!” The auctioneer’s hammer fell, and the stone was hers.

“Miss Chen, would you like us to cut the stone now? We have professionals and equipment on-site for that.”

Even if one lost the gamble, it wasn’t disgraceful. But Su Tian had sworn this one was a guaranteed profit.

She was curious to see how.

“Go ahead.”

“Very well, Miss Chen, please wait.”

Auction events were long, and the cutting was part of the program. The stone wasn’t large, so a small cutting machine sufficed.

As the machine whirred, the stone was slowly split open.

“My goodness! There’s green! Green jade!” The cutter’s exclamation electrified the room.

“Green? A randomly chosen stone turned out green? Impossible!”

“Miss Chen’s luck is unbelievably good!”

Everyone craned their necks to look.

The cutter looked at the two pieces in his hands, stunned. “This… this is imperial green jade.”