Chapter 34: Taking advantage of the situation
In a blink of an eye, the day for the Fangzhai auction came.
Early in the morning, the door of the mansion was wide open.
Fang Chengxu ordered people to set up tables, chairs, benches, tea, melons and fruits in the courtyard.
Visitors gathered and it was very lively.
The female family members stayed away and stayed in their rooms with the door closed to prevent visitors from wandering around and checking on the situation of the house.
With such excitement, Liangjiang naturally wanted to stay in the house and see who would end up with Fangzhai. What's more, he also prepared a small gift for the Fang family, which was not respectful.
Yu Ma hurried back from the front. Liang Jiang was tinkering with several jars and bamboo baskets. There was a rustle inside, and she didn't know what kind of living things they contained.
"Miss, guess who is here?"
"Who is it?" Liang Jiang said casually, "It can't be someone from the Tong family again, right?"
Yu Ma shook her head: "It's Mr. Lu. He is in the front yard. He said he has fallen in love with Fang Zhai."
Why is this guy here to join in the fun? He bought this house for no purpose, could it be a troublemaker?
After all, Lu Xingzhan is fighting under the banner of the city lord of Fucheng. Who in Fucheng doesn’t know that the city lord is very wealthy. It's a house that the city lord likes. If others want to snatch food from the tiger's mouth, they have to weigh their own weight.
Fang Chengxu was probably still complacent at this time, thinking that he had a big customer.
"Are there many people here today?"
"There are quite a few people coming, but as I see it, most of them are here to watch the excitement. There are not many people who have the strength and sincere intention to buy a house."
Liangjiang covered the bamboo basket in front of him: "Then these treasures should be no longer needed today."
He walked back to the room, picked up a pen and scrawled a few lines of small words and handed it to Yu's mother: "Find a way to give this note to Lu Xingzhan privately."
Yu Ma glanced at it and saw that what her daughter had written on it was the total cost of building the Fang family's old house, as well as the money that needed to be spent on the courtyard that was in urgent need of repair.
This is to make Mr. Lu desperately lower the price. As the saying goes, if you know yourself and the enemy, you can fight a hundred battles with no danger. Once Lu Xingzhan's bad words get involved, the Fang family will no longer want to sell at a high price.
Yu Ma did as she was told.
After a while, Fang Chengxu ordered someone to come in in advance to report the news. The female family members of the back house avoided. He led the people into the inner house in a large force, walked around, roughly checked the situation inside the house, and then went out to the front yard to start the auction.
Liang Jiang stood behind the screen wall and heard Fang Chengxu directly quote the expected price of eight thousand taels of silver.
Everyone immediately started talking, and then all looked at Lu Xingzhan, waiting for him to speak.
Lu Xingzhan acted like he was determined to win today. When he was touring the house just now, he showed great interest and kept asking questions. He even planned where his wife would live and where his children would live in the future. alright.
At this time, he could hold his composure, and slowly played with the cup in his hand with his orchid fingers raised, without saying a word.
Someone finally spoke first, and Fang Chengxu questioned: "Your house was indeed second to none in Fucheng at that time, and it was also the residence of the general. But after all, it has been a long time, and eight thousand taels of silver is a bit too high."
The first person speaks up, and naturally more people follow.
Questions were raised one after another.
"That's right, many places need to be repaired. I just made a rough estimate. Just repairing it will cost one to two thousand taels of silver."
Eight thousand taels of silver is enough for me to buy a new homestead and hire top craftsmen to build a new house according to my own preferences. "
"I asked a Feng Shui master to check the Feng Shui of this house in advance, and it didn't seem like it would be very prosperous for future generations, so I was a little hesitant."
"Yes, you see, the Fang family has been going downhill since they moved in. In just a few years, the family fortune has been ruined. I will consider it even if you give me two thousand taels."
…
Everyone was talking about it, and Mrs. Fang, who was peeping from the side, was so angry that she wanted to rush out and yell at everyone.
"This is nonsense! These people are not here to buy a house at all, but are bandits taking advantage of the situation!"
Liang Jiang snickered in his heart, but his face remained calm. She also saw that the people who made the most noise here were clearly the shills hired by Lu Xingzhan to lower the price.
From this point of view, if you do things yourself, you are much kinder than this guy.
Fang Chengxu also didn't expect that he would be deflated and look ugly as soon as the show started. He glanced at Lu Xingzhan again and again, hoping that he would be rich enough to give him a price quickly.
Lu Xingzhan became more and more calm.
Fang Chengxu said awkwardly: "Although it is the buyer who praises and criticizes, your words are too extreme.
When my grandfather built this house, he spent eight thousand taels of silver, and it was his own homestead.
Nowadays, silver has become less and less valuable. Rice that used to cost one tael of silver now costs at least 1,500 cash.
Based on this calculation, excluding depreciation, my house is worth at least more than 10,000 taels of silver. "
"But how come I heard that when you built your house, you only spent less than five thousand taels? You just said that the purlins you used for the beams were cheap, and you used pine wood. This kind of wood is not durable and easy to use. It gets moldy due to moisture. It will be a big job to repair later.”
Others echoed behind him, and they all hit the nail on the head and were so expert that Fang Chengxu could not argue.
I saw that there wasn't even anyone making an offer, and even if there were, there were a lot of hecklers.
The people in the clan despise the Fang family's behavior of selling off their ancestral property, discarding the chaff, and clinging to power. Not only did no one support them, but some people even made trouble.
Fang Chengxu had no experience in this kind of thing and was confused for a moment.
He said extremely sincerely: "Our Fang family has indeed encountered difficulties, so we reluctantly parted ways and sold off our ancestral property. But everyone has reduced this house to nothing. I'm afraid they are not here to cause trouble sincerely? If anyone is sincere, give it a shot price."
Someone directly offered a price of two thousand taels, which made Old Mrs. Fang almost vomit blood.
Everyone turned their attention to Lu Xingzhan.
Seeing that the fire was almost done, Lu Xingzhan was willing to put down the tea cup in his hand and stretched out four fingers towards Fang Chengxu.
Fang Chengxu stuttered: "Four thousand taels? Is the city lord joking?"
Lu Xingzhan said lazily: "Three thousand people in Guangsha can only sleep three feet. I am alone. It is not that unusual to spend money on repairs and hire more servants to take care of such a big house."
Therefore, whether you accept this price depends on Mr. Fang’s actual situation. Of course, if someone has deep pockets and is willing to pay a higher price, I have no problem with it. "
Everyone humbly said: "In terms of financial resources, who in the entire Fucheng dares to compare with you? This house can only be controlled by your luck."
"That's right, we are not blessed enough, so we don't dare to take away love."
Fang Chengxu's heart sank.
Who in the whole of Fucheng dares to seize the house that the Lord of Fucheng has chosen?
I'm afraid no one will offer a high price today.
Old Mrs. Fang in the back was even more furious. She couldn't bear it any longer and stormed out aggressively.
"Are you here to take advantage of the situation? A house as big as mine, if it were in the capital, would be twice as big at least. Anyone who buys it would be getting a huge bargain. Not only are you not satisfied, you have reduced it to nothing. . We don’t sell it anymore. You can buy it wherever it is cheaper.”
Lu Xingzhan stood up calmly: "We have money, but why are we still worried about not being able to buy the house we want? Farewell!"
As soon as he got up, everyone also left the table: "It's just that your Fang family is desperate for money and is begging us to buy it. Do you still think that you can live in this rare commodity?"
All the light disappeared in an instant.
Liang Jiang was behind the screen wall and almost laughed out loud.
The Fang family hoped to sell it at a high price. In addition to marrying Tong Zhaoer, they could also buy a small house. But now Lu Xingzhan disrupted the situation, and the mute was sure to suffer a loss.
(End of chapter)