Chapter 91: A Project to Make a Fortune

Zhang Pu did not care much about the fifty thousand yuan, but Liu Yingde, that old fox, could not sit still. This was especially true because he and Zhang Pu were on the same side. Whether Zhang Pu was truly acting as his grandson or, by age alone, could have been his grandson in everyone else’s eyes, it made no difference; in this matter, he bore responsibility and could not allow these two young people, locked in a bidding war, to keep making a scene. Otherwise, he would leave some of the so-called sober-minded people present free to jab at his spine and accuse him of indulging a reckless youngster!

Of course, Liu Yingde did not dare say anything to Zhang Pu, but with the blond young man on the other side, he could certainly take measures.

Soon, Liu Yingde sent one of his men over to speak to the blond youth, trying both threats and inducements to make him stop. But the man Liu Yingde sent returned very quickly and reported that the brat, bewitched by the enchantress on stage, was utterly impervious to both softness and force.

Liu Yingde finally blew his top.

At last, without seeking Zhang Pu’s approval, he went into action himself.

By the time the steel-reinforced rod had been bid up to eighty thousand yuan by the two of them, the blond youth suddenly fell silent.

Liu Yingde had finally gotten to him personally. With his old fox’s cunning, he naturally had a thousand ways to deal with a blond-haired young man still wet behind the ears and far too inexperienced to be truly capable.

As Zhang Pu secured the steel-reinforced rod, he was finally able to notice Liu Yingde’s little maneuvers. For a moment, he could not help admiring him: the ginger really was spicier when old.

At the same time, Zhang Pu gave Liu Yingde a verbal promise: he would not shortchange him for this contribution.

The latter immediately stroked his beard and laughed with quiet satisfaction.

After the affair over the steel-reinforced rod passed, Zhang Pu very quickly kept his word to Liu Yingde. Not long afterward, he helped him win another item Liu Yingde liked.

After that, Zhang Pu also bid on some medicinal herbs he currently needed, though not the ones he had truly set his heart on.

What disappointed him a little was that, until the very end, this auction still never produced the kind of spirit stones he most wanted this time.

Liu Yingde comforted him, saying that perhaps spirit stones would appear at the next auction.

Zhang Pu only smiled and accepted the consolation for what it was.

This auction seemed somewhat disappointing, but in truth it was not entirely so. Setting aside the steel-reinforced rod, the medicinal herbs, and the item Liu Yingde had won, Zhang Pu’s mind at the end of it had even begun to stir with thoughts of making money—

He had noticed that some inferior pills, refined by no one knew whom, had actually sold surprisingly well at the auction. The auction house had hyped them up as if they were miraculous elixirs, treasures that were just short of granting immortality, capable of curing every disease under heaven. And since many wealthy people today feared death and dreaded old age, it was only natural that they had fallen for the trap.

Of course, these pills were not as bad as Zhang Pu inwardly judged them to be. If their effects were truly that worthless, then there would have been no second market for them after the first sale.

He had also heard Liu Yingde say that every time such pills were auctioned, the event became extraordinarily heated.

Clearly, there was a huge market for pills.

Yet Zhang Pu also knew that the quality and efficacy of these things could not possibly compare with what he was about to refine.

What had now taken root in Zhang Pu’s mind was the idea of making money through alchemy, and even through talismans and medicinal water, using his current Floral Sea Inn as the production base, then bringing the finished goods to this auction house to be sold, until wealth flowed in without end.

In truth, when he first set up the Floral Sea Inn, had he not already had such a plan? He simply had not expected that the things he meant to produce would one day generate such enormous profits at auction. But now he had seen it with his own eyes.

When Zhang Pu later told Liu Yingde that future auctions would be the cash machine of his Floral Sea Inn, the older man was indeed startled.

Yet deep down, Liu Yingde still had some misgivings that the pills Zhang Pu refined might not be as good as the ones sold at the auction. After all, Zhang Pu was so young—could he really be that impossibly capable at everything?

But the thought in Liu Yingde’s heart, though he did not betray the slightest trace of it on his face, was not something Zhang Pu could fail to see, given his current cultivation and their close proximity.

So Zhang Pu reassured him, patting him on the shoulder like a brother and telling him that the quality of his pills would be nothing short of extraordinary.

Naturally, Liu Yingde would not contradict Zhang Pu, even if he thought the young man was simply boasting. Aside from waiting to see for himself, he felt he had no other choice.

The auction ended, and they collected their belongings and went out.

Outside the auction hall, Zhang Pu and the others ran into an “acquaintance.”

Why put it that way? Because the girl in violet had made quite an impression on Zhang Pu.

At that moment, Zhang Pu saw that the violet-clad少女 was actually walking with a young man.

Just then, the voices of a few people pointing and whispering behind that pair reached Zhang Pu’s ears.

He heard that the young man was the maker of the piece called “Beautiful Town.”

Ah! So this was the poor, artsy young man rumored inside the auction hall!

And after listening more carefully to the people’s covert discussion, Zhang Pu finally understood: the violet-clad girl had bid so relentlessly against the elderly overseas Chinese for that artwork because of love.

Did Zhang Pu feel a trace of emotion? After a thousand years in the world of cultivation, even matters of life and death among mortals had long ceased to stir his heart. Even a love like this could not make a ripple in his present mood.

He glanced again at the young man and woman ahead, unmistakably a pair of lovers, and with a faint smile in his heart, he was just about to turn and leave with Liu Yingde and the others when, in the next instant, he froze.

In that instant, with the keen supernatural perception of a cultivator, he sensed that the artistic young man was suffering from a terminal illness. He knew that if no divine physician intervened within this period, the youth might not live much longer.

Life and death, to Zhang Pu now, meant nothing at all. He could even look on it as though he were watching an ant die, without the slightest tremor in his heart.

But this time, something about the artistic young man seemed to strike him as if with a jolt.

Liu Yingde had already taken a few steps away, but when he noticed Zhang Pu standing still, he hurriedly turned back. Following Zhang Pu’s gaze, he saw the pair of young people ahead, and he also recognized the girl in violet.

“Wait,” Zhang Pu said to Liu Yingde. “There’s something wrong with that young man!”