74: Chapter 74 Punching the Jade King

"Good! Good! Good! Young man, you've got backbone! I hope you're tough enough. Everyone has loved ones. Since you've left me with no one to bury me, I'll let you taste the pain of losing your family too!" Jiang Hezheng shouted, overcome with senile rage.

"You old turtle! Do you think you can touch people from our Hongdu? Cao Xiao is my son-in-law. Believe it or not, I'll destroy you first! Old He, you guys beat the hell out of him!" Huang Chunxiang couldn't take it anymore as soon as Jiang Hezheng spoke. They had come today to support Cao Xiao. Seeing Cao Xiao handle it himself earlier, they hadn't intervened, wanting to test his ability to cope. But now he was actually threatening Cao Xiao's family—didn't that mean her daughter was included? How could she stand by? Furious, she stood up and pointed at Jiang Hezheng's nose, shouting.

Elder Chen was even more incensed. Completely disregarding his kind image, he stood up and pointed at Jiang Hezheng, cursing, "You surnamed Jiang, do you think I don't exist? Threatening my student right in front of me? I am his family! Come on, try and get me, or I'll kill you first!"

Chen Huaiyu: "Mr. Jiang, this is Huanghe City!"

Wang Chengan: "I still owe Cao Xiao something. Aren't you going to ask for my opinion?"

Ren Pingnian: "The food here suits my appetite perfectly. Are you trying to stop me from eating?"

A guest who had been to Tianxing Garden last time: "I heard that raw stone smuggling is serious on the Yunnan-Myanmar border. It's time to thoroughly investigate those smuggling routes."

A guest: "A dog that wastes god-given treasures deserves to be caught!"

"So what if he's the Jade King? Does that give him the right to ignore me and waste my time?"

"Selling you a ton of white radishes for ten million would be more like it!"

"That kid still has a criminal record in our area. I'll have someone hand it over to the Huanghe City Court in a bit."

...

Cao Xiao was somewhat dumbfounded. He hadn't expected such a strong reaction from the guests, but he was deeply moved. At the same time, he realized the power of resources! However, his heart was currently filled mostly with rage—an inextinguishable fire. This Jiang Hezheng was once again crossing his bottom line. He would definitely make him suffer today. He would deal with the Jiang Family once he had a free hand.

"You all... this is just a private matter between Cao Xiao and me. I was just speaking out of turn earlier; don't take it seriously! Please forgive me!" Jiang Hezheng hadn't expected so many people to stand up for Cao Xiao. He could handle one or two, but this many people were enough to turn the Jiang Family upside down. After being frightened into silence, he reacted and quickly apologized; otherwise, he would truly be in for a world of trouble.

"Old Man Jiang, do you know why Jiang Hengyu ended up like this? Because he challenged my bottom line, and today you are doing the same thing. Three strikes and you're out. Today is my private auction, and with so many guests present, even if you barged in, I didn't want to deal with you. But you still think you're in the right, pestering me over and over again. Even the best patience has its limits. I was going to just kick you out, but I didn't expect you to do the same stupid thing as your dear grandson! Then I'll grant your wish. No one in this world can threaten my family, not even the King of Heaven! To hell with you! You old turtle!" Cao Xiao grew more agitated as he spoke. Clenching his fist, he punched the old man, giving him a black eye.

He controlled the force in his hand. The old man was in his late sixties, almost seventy; he couldn't afford to seriously injure him.

Jiang Hezheng was completely dazed by the punch. He never imagined Cao Xiao would actually use his fists on him. What about traditional virtues? Why didn't they show up in time? Before he could react, Cao Xiao punched his other eye, followed by a series of slaps. After a few slaps, that old face began to swell, and his dyed jet-black slicked-back hair became a mess. He looked incredibly pathetic.

"Please, someone throw this old thing out of the garden." Having slapped him a few times, Cao Xiao had vented much of his anger. He couldn't keep hitting him; giving him a lesson today was enough. The goal had been achieved.

The guests present were all dumbfounded. They hadn't expected Cao Xiao to actually hit an elderly person. Even if Jiang Hezheng was in the wrong, he shouldn't have resorted to violence; hitting the elderly was a major taboo! Many people's impression of Cao Xiao plummeted. Of course, some of the young people on the scene were quite excited. It wasn't that they didn't know how to respect their elders, but that some elders weren't worthy of respect. They were villains when they were young, and they became old villains when they aged; their essence hadn't changed. Therefore, villains shouldn't be distinguished by age; old villains are more harmful than young ones because they teach more young ones, like Jiang Hengyu. Cao Xiao felt no psychological pressure about this. He had long anticipated the consequences of his actions. However, what he wanted was precisely this notoriety. He lacked power and background, so he had to take an unconventional path. Before anyone provoked him, the first thing they would think of wouldn't be his strength, but whether they could withstand the revenge of a madman. This way, if someone wanted to deal with him, they wouldn't target his family before dealing with him personally.

Jiang Hezheng was led outside with a vacant stare, and the gates were closed again. Cao Xiao took a deep breath and walked toward the auction stage.

"I am very sorry for what just happened; I've wasted everyone's time! Once the auction concludes, I will present each guest with a small gift as an apology. I have also prepared a lavish dinner today with rare delicacies. If you aren't in a hurry, please stay and enjoy." Cao Xiao bowed to the audience in apology, then without waiting for a response, he took out a wooden box, opened it, and said to the crowd, "Now, the auction begins. Today's first item is a Top-grade peach blossom jelly-ground chicken blood stone 'Crane and Deer in Spring' Longevity Mountain Piece. It has ample blood color and no internal cracks. The starting price is three million, with minimum increments of one hundred thousand. Please place your bids."

"3.2 million!"

"3.6 million!"

...

"Alright, 8.8 million from this gentleman. 8.8 million once. Any higher bids? Top-grade peach blossom jelly-ground chicken blood stone 'Crane and Deer in Spring' Longevity Mountain Piece, 8.8 million twice, 8.8 million three times. Bang! Sold!"

"The second item is a tianhuang jelly-ground chicken blood stone 'Kylin Bringing Blessings' Fortune Plate, thirty centimeters in diameter, with openwork carving. The starting price is two million, with minimum increments of one hundred thousand. Let's begin."

"2.3 million!"

"3.1 million!"

...

"tianhuang jelly-ground chicken blood stone 'Kylin Bringing Blessings' Fortune Plate, 6.1 million for the third time. Bang! Sold!"

Cao Xiao continuously pulled items out of his bag: chicken blood stone ornaments and jewelry, blue amber jewelry, gold jewelry, and platinum products, both individual pieces and sets. Seeing the enthusiastic atmosphere, he even secretly slipped many more into the bag from his space. However, he couldn't overdo it and knew when to stop. So, after the auction had been going for an hour, it was time for the medicinal herbs. It wasn't just ginseng; he also brought out some of the many wild medicinal herbs from his space for auction. Surprisingly, they were also very popular. No one grew impatient, and they scrambled to bid. These authentic wild herbs were rarely seen, and the ones Cao Xiao brought out were the finest among them, so the closing prices were all very high, with not a single item going unsold.

"Now for the ginseng auction. This time, I've brought out a total of thirty-two ginseng roots, all of which I unexpectedly obtained during my adventures in Changbai Mountain. Among them are sixteen thirty-year-old roots, eight forty-to-fifty-year-old roots, five sixty-to-ninety-year-old roots, two century-old ginseng roots, and finally, that damaged eight-hundred-year-old ginseng. It pains me deeply; what was originally a 385-gram rare treasure now only has 113 grams of root whiskers left. Enough talk, as you've all been waiting for a long time. We will now begin with the thirty-year-old roots, in groups of two. The starting price for each group is four hundred thousand, with minimum increments of ten thousand. Let's begin!" While auctioning, Cao Xiao didn't forget to stir up hatred for the Jiang Family. By now, Jiang Hengyu's name must have spread abroad, right?

Thirty-year-old ginseng isn't very rare, and the price isn't extremely high, but it's not something every person in the circle of the wealthy has. Some with hundreds of millions in assets might not even own one. Those with insufficient wealth wouldn't compete with others for better ones, while those with deep pockets weren't willing to pass up uncommon wild ginseng. Thus, one can imagine how intense the competition was.

The closing price for the first group of thirty-year-old roots was 820,000, the second was 880,000, and the third was 950,000. The price kept rising, and the last group actually sold for a high price of 1.2 million. Calculating it this way, the average price of the thirty-year-old wild ginseng reached nearly 500,000, which was a bit higher than the market price outside.

The competition for the thirteen roots ranging from forty to ninety years old was even more intense, especially the eighty-to-ninety-year-old ones. Because their age was not far from century-old ginseng, they were already selling for the price of century-old ginseng.