“The gentleman’s letter…”
Luo Lan could not help a flutter in her heart, yet her face remained calm as she examined the sealing wax and opened the envelope.
To her disappointment, the handwriting at a glance was still Tang Xiaobei’s.
As a qualified shopkeeper, Luo Lan quickly suppressed the stray thoughts, unfolded the letter, and read on.
Halfway through, her expression grew increasingly grave.
After folding the letter away, Luo Lan’s mood remained unsettled for a long while.
“Can the gentleman really produce crystal glass beads?”
Luo Lan looked at Tang Fei, her voice trembling slightly as she asked.
Tang Fei did not reply. Instead, he opened the bundle he carried, carefully took out a wooden box, and handed it to Luo Lan.
“This is what the gentleman asked me to give you.”
Luo Lan received it with both hands and gently placed it on the table.
She checked that the seal was intact before opening it.
At the bottom of the wooden box lay a thick board with two rows of small hollows carved into it. Each hollow held a glass bead. The largest were about the size of walnuts, the smallest only as big as peanuts, and they came in several different colours.
“The gentleman has truly made crystal glass beads!”
Even though Luo Lan had been mentally prepared, seeing them with her own eyes still made her breathing quicken involuntarily.
Back when Great Kang was still powerful, many Western Region merchants came to trade and brought crystal glass beads from the West.
Their perfectly round shape and crystalline transparency were rare among gems, instantly captivating large numbers of nobles and officials, and soon they were wildly sought after.
Now the trade routes from the Western Regions had been cut off by war, the value of crystal glass beads had soared ever higher, and in recent years they had become increasingly scarce on the market. Even those with money might not be able to buy them.
The most valuable tribute the Eastern Sea envoys presented to the Great Kang emperor was a set of crystal glass beads seized from pirates.
When Chen Ji took one out and bestowed it upon a duke, that duke was so moved he led his entire family to kowtow towards the palace.
Such precious crystal glass beads, and now Jin Feng had sent a whole box!
Luo Lan struggled to calm herself, carefully closed the lid, and called towards the door.
“A-Xia, go fetch Brother Iron Hammer at once!”
…
After the first batch of black knives was auctioned, Luo Lan acquired a much larger residence not far from the chamber of commerce and, following the plans Jin Feng provided, converted it specifically into an auction house.
By now, the Jinchuan Auction House had made a name for itself in the capital. Not only did it sell West River Bend black knives, many people also consigned treasures there for auction, and the house took a corresponding fee.
This was the first auction house in Great Kang, and interest was enormous. Every auction drew huge crowds, with never enough seats.
Buying the wooden building that housed the auction house and fitting it out had already cost a great deal of silver. Moving to an even larger place was clearly impossible, and Luo Lan could think of no good solution, so she wrote to Tang Xiaobei and Jin Feng for help.
Who could have expected Jin Feng to reply with a suggestion to introduce a ticket system.
In plain terms, one would need to buy a ticket to enter.
When she first read this proposal in the letter, Luo Lan thought Jin Feng had gone mad.
Which business begged customers to stay away by making them pay to come in?
Yet Jin Feng insisted strongly, so Luo Lan gritted her teeth and put it into practice.
The result was far better than expected. Far from harming business, the auction house’s success rate actually rose.
Only later did Luo Lan understand.
Whether it was the black knives or items consigned by others, prices often ran to hundreds or thousands of taels of silver. Those with real purchasing power did not care about the cost of a ticket.
Even the best private boxes could be paid for with what they casually spilled.
The ones who minded the ticket price were mostly idle loafers who came purely for the spectacle and made the auctions rowdy and smoky.
Many wealthy and noble customers with genuine buying power had felt the events were too low-class because of these idlers and had stayed away.
The ticket system instantly kept those loafers outside the door and greatly raised the prestige of the auctions.
What Luo Lan never expected was that Emperor Chen Ji heard about the auction house and came in person out of curiosity.
The emperor’s personal attendance was worth more than any advertisement.
The auction house already enjoyed a good reputation. After the emperor visited, business boomed even more.
Luo Lan was clever. The day after the emperor left, she announced that the finest private box would never again be rented out to the public and would be reserved solely for His Majesty.
Yet she immediately tripled the price of the two boxes on either side of the emperor’s.
Even so, those two boxes were booked solid well in advance of every auction.
Ticket prices for other boxes and seats in the hall rose accordingly.
Before each auction, Luo Lan would select a few items, display them in advance at the Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce window, and build excitement.
After receiving the glass beads, she immediately removed the previous display items and replaced them with her own glass beads.
All the glass beads that had appeared in Great Kang until now were green and not very transparent.
The three Luo Lan put on show were each a different colour and had good clarity.
As soon as they were exhibited, they instantly drew the attention of passers-by.
“Come quickly, the Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce has new treasures on display!”
“What are you looking at? Can you afford anything from Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce?”
“I may not be able to buy, but can’t I at least look and learn?”
“Good heavens, what kind of gems are these? They’re gorgeous!”
“They look like crystal glass beads, don’t they? I once visited Young Master Liu’s house and saw a crystal glass bead. It was similar, but Young Master Liu’s was much smaller and not nearly as beautiful as this one!”
“Brother Cui, are you teasing me for never having seen crystal glass beads? I’ve never seen one, but I’ve heard people say they are all green. Look at these three: one purple, one blue. How can they be crystal glass beads?”
Before Luo Lan could explain, the crowd had already started arguing.
Some insisted they were crystal glass beads, others said they were not.
“Miss Luo Lan, tell us, are these crystal glass beads or not?”
Unable to reach a conclusion, they all turned to Luo Lan.
Luo Lan cleared her throat, picked up a tin megaphone, and announced, “These three jewels are indeed genuine crystal glass beads!”
“So they really are crystal glass beads!”
“Such large crystal glass beads, how much must they be worth?”
“Hard to say. Size aside, each one is perfectly clear and differently coloured. Their value is certainly immense!”
“Aside from size and colour, crystal glass beads this round and smooth are something I’ve never seen in my life!”
“Miss Luo Lan, how much are you planning to sell the big one for?”
The passers-by exclaimed in admiration, and some asked questions out of curiosity.
“To be honest with everyone, the gentleman has not set a price for the crystal glass beads. Today is only a preview. They will be formally auctioned three days from now, and only then will we know how much they fetch.”
Luo Lan answered with a smile.
“I knew it would be an auction!”
One young noble turned and ran off at once, rushing home to order his servants to bring bedding and queue for tickets.
Nowadays, tickets to the auction house were extremely hard to get. To attend, one had to send people to wait at the ticket office well in advance. Arrive late, and they were all sold out.
