Chapter 321 Chapter 291 The Holy Maiden

After saying these words, Du Wei was in a cold sweat, and Zach's face was also pale. After a long time, Du Wei let out a long sigh: "Okay, things are already like this, and we can only go on according to His Highness's wishes." He said helplessly, but he couldn't help but think to himself: This thing is weird, why does Prince Chen want me to do it?He pushed me into a corner like this, let me be the early bird, and take pictures of the Pope's promise.This is certainly a way to deal with the challenge of the temple, but in terms of candidates, this Highness thinks highly of me too.Why don't you let Earl Villa or Camisiro do this kind of early bird thing?You chose me to stand on the cusp of this storm...

It's just that these thoughts are hard to tell little Zach.Du Wei collected himself, and then asked Zack to go out to arrange today's important auction. In fact, such things as auctions may not exist in Roland Continent. For example, the kind of bidding in the slave market is the prototype of auctions.It's just that what Du Wei taught Zac to do was completely follow the auction house's business that he knew in his previous life, and systematized and scaled it up. Before noon, seventeen or eight luxurious carriages had already parked in the open space outside. Many rich and nobles had arrived first, and even the attendants of those rich and powerful families outside the door had nearly a hundred people.

The auction house of Tulip's house is doing very well.In this shop where Du Wei started, a two-story building has already been opened up separately, with a hall in the middle surrounded by a circle of stepped and elegant seats. A circle of VIP rooms. The monthly auction house has become an important event in the elite circle of the imperial capital.Anyone who can participate in the Tulip Family's auction house is either rich or expensive in the imperial capital. Being able to buy a ticket to participate in the auction is already regarded as a symbol of being among the upper class of the imperial capital.

And the seven or eight VIP rooms on the upper floor have been booked with huge sums of money all year round, leaving only one or two rooms for temporary rental. In the VIP room upstairs, there is the most comfortable room, and there are free wines, condescending, and the natural momentum is different.More importantly, there are several advantages: Anyone who has this kind of VIP status has become a status symbol of the first-class figures in the elite circles of the imperial capital. It can be said that he can have a long-term reserved VIP room in Tulip's auction house. Except for the most popular political figure or the well-known and powerful wealthy family... the ordinary nouveau riche, even if you have money, you can't buy it.

And little Zack is very good at making money. When these ten VIP rooms were auctioned, Du Wei benefited from an auction. The ownership of these ten VIP rooms has already made the Tulip family Big bucks. In addition, after obtaining the VIP status, the people of the auction house will provide relevant information and origins of various auction items for free every month, and even make exquisite albums to list the rare and precious items that arrive every month. , They all came to notify the VIPs in advance... A series of practices are completely borrowed from the top brands that Du Wei knew in his previous life to treat VIP members.

In this way, it not only enhanced the aura of these distinguished guests, but also naturally made the auction house of the Tulip family deeply rooted in the hearts of the people. Later, almost every auction was full, and it was hard to find a ticket. Apparently, rumors about today's "lot" have been raging in the imperial capital.So today's auction naturally attracted more people. Little Zach had already gone out to prepare first, and then asked Du Wei to come to the auction house. There were already dozens of people sitting in the huge auction site. Du Wei glanced roughly, almost all the first-rate and second-rate aristocratic families with some status in the imperial capital had arrived.According to the rules here, the tickets for the auction house can only allow one person to enter, so the attendants and servants of these noble gentlemen stayed outside.In a huge hall, when Du Wei walked in, he inevitably attracted a lot of attention. Most of the people here knew Du Wei, and even if they had never met Du Wei, they all guessed his identity.

A few of them wanted to come over to make friends, but seeing the grim expression on the Duke Tulip's face and slightly frowning, he knew that the Duke was probably in a bad mood, so he didn't dare to come forward to make trouble. In today's auction, apart from the promised decree of the pope who is now full of turmoil, the original items are also considered rare goods, especially some of them were made by a few skilled craftsmen in Du Wei's shop. A few pieces of precious jewelry polished by the magic core of Warcraft trafficked from the north.Therefore, among the people present, there were also a few noble ladies and female guests from wealthy families.

Of course, there are also some people with strange thoughts. Knowing that the Duke of Tulip has returned to the imperial capital, they have calculated their thoughts on Du Wei. I brought it here, I only hope that I can meet Du Wei here, maybe it will be a good thing with Duke Tulip, and I will embrace this big tree from then on. And more people came here with the intention of inquiring about the wind.After all, the abnormal behavior of the temple this time has also caused panic in the powerful circles. It is good to come here to see how the Duke Tulip, who is in charge of the family, reacts.

Now that he came to the auction site, Du Wei didn't say much. All the questions and worries in his heart were put away at this moment, his mood was calm, and his eyes were full of determination. In fact, this is Du Wei's character.Although he seems to be a bit clever and cunning, he often likes to take the slant when encountering problems, likes to take opportunistic shortcuts, and is used to planning and calculating in everything. However, if something really came to an end and he was pushed into a corner, a naturally hidden stubbornness in his temperament would burst out.Du Wei is such a person. If there are seven or eight roads to go in front of him, he will carefully consider and analyze, and make careful calculations.But if you force him to give him a way and don't give him a choice, then he doesn't actually lack the courage to go all the way to the dark.

At this moment, Du Wei was resolute in his heart. Since there was only one choice in front of him, he had no choice but to try his best, and he didn't have to think about other distracting thoughts. With Du Wei's thoughts like this, his face naturally showed a bit of indifference and fortitude. He walked in all the way, and the few people who wanted to say hello didn't seem to dare to speak. It's cold.After all, the character of the magician is moody, and no one wants to be troublesome at this time. Du Wei walked all the way to the back, and went up to the second floor from several gorgeous spiral staircases. In those VIP boxes, several old acquaintances had already arrived.The first to bear the brunt, of course, is the Earl of Villa and the Delan Mountain monster.

Count Villa has been a member of the resolute Prince Chen faction since the coup, and later took over the royal family's property and became the agent of the royal family's property, so his power is naturally powerful.And Delan Mountain Warcraft is the leading arms dealer on the mainland, with tentacles of power relations all over the military and the Imperial Finance Department, and it is also a celebrity in front of Prince Chen.As these two people, they naturally have the status of VIPs of this auction house.And the people sitting in the other few boxes are also the first-class wealthy families in the imperial capital. Seeing Du Wei coming up, Count Villa first stood up to say hello, and the Delan Mountain monster also walked out of the box with a smile.After all, Du Wei couldn't keep a straight face to these two people, so he smiled and greeted them for a while.But last night, I was a little grateful to the Earl of Villa, but now I can't help but feel a little annoyed: these guys already knew about the auction, but yesterday they pretended to be deaf and dumb in front of themselves and didn't say a word!Although Du Wei knew that this must be the order of Prince Chen, he still felt resentful. The Earl of Villa and the Delan Mountain monster have been in this circle for most of their lives. Although Du Wei didn't say anything, his demeanor showed some clues. The two knew what Du Wei was thinking. Count Villa first smiled wryly, and said in a low voice: "Du Wei, I know that you may be a little dissatisfied with us now. This matter is also an order from His Highness, and it is not easy for us to disobey. Um... I sent someone early this morning Where did you send the invitation card, I want to invite you to a banquet tonight, so that I can apologize to you in person." Delan Mountain next to him also said a few similar words.Only then did Du Wei understand why he had received so many invitations this morning. He was not a small-hearted person, since the other party said so, he couldn't show his anger on his face, smiled, and said: "Both of you are my good friends, needless to say, my heart I understand. It's just... well, His Royal Highness Chen's move really gave me a headache." The two old foxes smiled dryly, not daring to talk about Prince Chen. The Delan Mountain monster muttered: "Your Highness always does things with deep meaning, and this time is no exception. We are courtiers, as long as we obey That's it." Du Wei naturally knew that this was an excuse, and also knew that the two old foxes were unwilling to take any responsibility, so he smiled and invited them into the box. The dozen or so boxes on the upper floor are lined up in a semi-open arc, similar to the layout of the VIP boxes on the second floor of the opera house in Du Wei's previous life.Because of this arc arrangement, people sitting in a box can also see people in other boxes on the left and right. Du Wei walked into a box that Zach had arranged for him, and just as he sat down, he felt eyes from the box next to him. He looked to the left, but saw a person wearing a A young nobleman in fine clothes, this person is wearing a dark black robe, a golden belt around his waist, inlaid with a few gemstones, and the red collar style is also the most common style of nobles from the south. It's just that the people who come here today, those who can sit in this VIP box are all old guys in their forties and fifties like Earl Villa and De Lanshan.Except for Du Wei himself, he rarely saw such a young man, so he couldn't help but take a second look. This young man's appearance is still handsome, but his face is too pale and lacks blood, but it is the standard pale color that nobles dream of.It's just that his complexion was slightly blue in the white, obviously his body was hollowed out by the wine on weekdays.Although he looks good, the expression in his eyes is relatively dull.What made Du Wei frown even more was that the young man's face was covered with some powder.Du Wei has always been very disgusted with men doing this kind of smearing. Although it is a custom in the aristocratic circle, he himself has never liked it. Seeing such a nice young man, his face is smeared with smear, even his lips seem to be smeared. With red lip gloss, I can't help but feel a little sick in my heart. And he saw behind this young nobleman, there was a man of about forty years old waiting on his side. That middle-aged man had a shrewd and capable appearance, and he was dressed like a manager of a wealthy family. . Du Wei glanced at the young man and found that he was also looking at him.It's just that Du Wei was a little surprised that the young man looked at him with a vaguely unfriendly look.Du Wei felt a little strange. When the young man noticed that Du Wei was also looking at him, he immediately withdrew his gaze. However, with Du Wei's keen observation, when the other party hastily withdrew his eyes, the gloomy look could not escape Du Wei's eyes. With Du Wei's current status and power, he is very popular. In the elite circle of the imperial capital, it is too late for everyone to fawn on him. Why are there still people who show hostility towards him?And seeing that this young man was very strange, Du Wei asked himself that he had never seen him before, let alone made a vendetta. With a thought in his heart, Du Wei casually asked the attendant beside him, and pointed to the box next to him.The attendant was sent by Zac to serve Du Wei. He was very clever, and he immediately leaned closer and said in a low voice, "My lord, this is the box of the Marquis of Senna. A few months ago, the Marquis of Senna spent 40,000 gold coins I booked this box for half a year. Usually the Marquis comes here in person, but recently I heard that the Marquis of Senna is not in good health, so he hasn’t come for a long time. Well, this young master should be the son of the Marquis of Senna, Master Du Pont The Marquis of Senna has three sons, and this young master Dupont is the youngest son, but his mother is the wife of the Marquis of Senna, and she is from a wealthy family. So although he is not the eldest son, he is very favored in the family." Du Wei nodded. Marquis de Senna?Du Wei knew this name.It is said that the Marquis of Senna is somewhat related to the royal family, but it happened more than a hundred years ago.It can be regarded as an ancient rich family with a long history in the imperial capital.His political stance has always been relatively smart, and he rarely gets involved in any political struggles, and he pursues the principle of staying out of the way.So it can be regarded as standing still for a hundred years.Moreover, the family is very rich. This family has a lot of property in the south of the empire, and in the early years when Augustine VI was in power, when the navy was being built, the Marquis of Senna donated a large amount of property, so he was appreciated by Emperor Augustine VI. Taking advantage of the opportunity of the navy's Nanyang expedition, he made a lot of war fortune, and the business was quite good.Some members of the family once served as senior logistics officials in the navy, and they also had territories in the south and their own fleet.There have been senior officials like the governor in the family. In general, it can be regarded as a first-class family. It's just...the Senna family, I don't seem to have offended them. Just as Du Wei was thinking, this young master Du Pont used his eyes to spy on Du Wei several times, but he always looked away after a quick glance, which made Du Wei feel a little uncomfortable, so he simply stared at him.That young master Du Pont panicked, turned his head away quickly, and avoided it carefully, not daring to make mistakes.However, Du Wei took power and was relentless, staring at that young master Du Pont all the time.The other party didn't dare to look at Du Wei, so he could only stiffen and turn away, but the expression on his face became more and more rigid, and a little impatience gradually appeared in his eyes. But the steward behind the young master saw Du Wei, bowed down very friendly and respectful, and saluted from afar. At this time, on the front desk of the auction house below, little Zach had already stepped onto the stage. The manager under Du Wei also changed into a very formal and solemn black robe, which made him look a lot more solemn.With a small golden hammer in his hand, he walked up to the front desk, coughed first, and attracted the attention of the audience, then he opened his voice and said loudly: "Thank you for coming, this month's auction is officially Now, please be quiet, everyone." After speaking, he bent down and bowed to the audience, and then walked behind a table on the stage. In the past, it was only when the auction house was just established that Zach personally served as the auctioneer. After that, he trained a few professional hands to serve as the auctioneer. , Zach dare not neglect.He changed his clothes, raised the hammer, and came up to preside over the auction in person. Zac is now well-known in the powerful circle of the imperial capital. Everyone knows that he is the representative of Duke Tulip in the imperial capital, and they give him some face.Seeing Zach announce the start, immediately, the noisy conversation below disappeared. "Everyone." Zach coughed, and then said solemnly: "Today's auction has officially started. First of all, on behalf of the Tulip Auction House, I welcome all friends to come. Then, next, the first item of today is..." Zac started to introduce a few items, which were nothing more than some expensive jewelry packing, or luxury goods made with Warcraft cores.The most expensive one is nothing more than a newly produced "Paladin Armor" worth 150,000 gold coins. From the past, these things are naturally in high demand.But today, Du Wei sat in the upstairs box and looked down. He could clearly see that everyone present looked indifferent, and only a few female guests showed longing looks for those pieces of jewelry. Come.Most people are indifferent. In the end, when Zach introduced the decree signed by the Pope, everyone looked solemn, and most of them straightened their necks with serious expressions. Then the auction begins. The previous few items were carried out smoothly, and the scene was very smooth. Even because of today's special circumstances, it seemed that the people present were not very interested in the previous few items, and the transaction price was extremely low.Du Wei saw it, and couldn't help but smile bitterly in his heart. It seems that he didn't make any money in today's auction. In less than a meal, the auction of the previous items ended, much faster than usual. When it finally came to the last decree of the Pope, Zach seemed a little nervous, wiped his sweat, then coughed, and said, "Everyone, let's do the last one today..." He seemed to say "Cargo", it was only on the edge of my mouth that I remembered to use the word "cargo" to describe the Pope's personal decree. It seemed somewhat disrespectful, so I had to change my words hastily. I didn't know how to describe it, so I could only vague it and continued: "Everyone knows that His Majesty the Pope is kind and sympathetic to those victims in the south. This decree has been promised by His Majesty the Pope, and all proceeds from the auction will be donated to the victims in the south. Let us first thank His Majesty the Pope for his This benevolent heart, may the glory of the goddess bless His Majesty the Pope." Everyone quickly put on a dignified expression. Little Zach paused for a while, and the audience was silent for a moment before continuing: "Then... I will announce that, according to the entrustment of the Temple of Light, the auction of this decree written by His Majesty the Pope will begin. The thing is a decree signed by His Majesty the Pope, and this auction house has been confirmed by the temple. This thing... has no low price, and there is no upper limit, and the highest price will win. Now... Please bid." The last sentence was spoken, but the audience fell into silence. After a while, there were dozens of dignitaries present, but they all looked at me and I looked at you, and no one spoke first.Everyone looked at the people in the front, back, left, and right with a tentative look. Seeing this, Du Wei couldn't help sighing... If the people who come here to take photos of this thing today are loyal to the royal family, there is no doubt that who would dare to buy this thing?Then, there must be people from the temple coming here to make trouble. finally…… "500,000 gold coins." The first person to speak was a man sitting in the back row of the seat below. Du Wei looked around, but he was a thin and tall man in gorgeous clothes, but judging by his appearance and hair color, he should be typical southerners. Du Wei winked at the attendant beside him, the attendant glanced twice, and whispered in Du Wei's ear: "My lord... this man is very handsome, I have never seen it before. Um...it seems like today It's strange, there are a lot of unfamiliar people here." Du Wei let out a "hmm" and said, "In our auction house, can strangers come in casually?" The attendant whispered: "Well, in the past half of the seats are fixed, and some tickets are sold outside. Moreover, our auction is held once a month, and the tickets are usually sold more than 20 days ago. Some of them are still on the market, and the prices have been raised on the black market. The strangers who came here today probably bought the tickets on the market." Du Wei nodded and stopped talking. At this moment, the bidding has already started below. From the first quotation, the price has soared all the way, and soon rose to one million gold coins. Du Wei was even more surprised when he saw it... Aren't these people afraid of death?Stirring such a thing here is tantamount to going against the royal family!Are these people out of their minds? However, Du Wei also carefully noticed that these people called the price back and forth, and the ones who asked were often some unfamiliar faces from outside.The rich and powerful in the imperial capital often kept silent and watched the development of the situation quietly. When the price reached one million gold coins, the voice of continuing to raise the price became much lower.As soon as Du Wei's heart moved, he understood the trick.Obviously, among the new faces below, there should be people sent by the temple.Especially the guys with a southern accent, their identities are even more suspicious. Du Wei hesitated for a while, and was about to quote, but suddenly heard a voice from the corner where he was sitting, "1.2 million." Looking around, Du Wei saw that this man was a standard businessman in the imperial capital. As soon as the man finished shouting, a man with a southern accent called out 1.5 million. Then the businessman in the imperial capital closed his mouth, but raised his head and glanced upstairs.To Du Wei's surprise, the direction of this person's eyes was the direction of the box of Delanshan Warcraft and Earl Villa. Du Wei was frowning when someone knocked on the door of the private room behind him. It was Earl Biya who sent his followers to pass a few words to Du Wei, saying: This thing cannot be bought by outsiders. , Naturally, we have to share the worries of the regent. Count Villa and Delan Mountain Warcraft have contacted several dignitaries in the imperial capital, and they are going to jointly take pictures of this thing here. They can't let the people of the temple buy it. Take the opportunity Make a fuss. Du Wei nodded. It seems that both Delanshan and Villa didn't know that they had obtained the secret order from Prince Chen, let alone that the things had already been taken away by someone sent by Prince Chen.The two came to report to Du Wei, which actually meant the same thing: express their opinion to Du Wei.After all, among the descendants of Prince Chen who are present, Du Wei has the highest title status, and the two of them also hinted that they are looking forward to Du Wei. Du Wei thought for a while, and understood that this was the intention of Villa and others to express their position, and this move also meant to express their loyalty to Prince Chen. Thinking of this, he sighed, and said softly, "Two million gold coins." Although Du Wei's voice was not loud, his voice from upstairs immediately spread throughout the audience, and everyone could hear it clearly. In the far away box of Earl Villa and Delan Mountain Warcraft, the two looked at Du Wei from afar and nodded with smiles. Immediately afterward, Delanshan sent someone to deliver a message to Du Wei, saying only: Since His Excellency the Duke is on the move, they will shut up. If the Duke's financial situation is not tight, Delanshan is willing to stand up and support him. What a Delanshan, it seems that he understands that he got the order of Prince Chen to do so. Du Wei sighed. He called out the two million gold coins, and immediately the person with a southern accent called out two and a half million gold coins. All the dignitaries in the imperial capital took a deep breath, and all the smart people understood that this was the beginning of a slump! Who doesn't know Du Wei's identity?If it was a simple auction of something, and the Duke of Tulip opened his mouth, then no matter how rich others were, they would give the Duke a face and would not continue to bid with the Duke. But these southerners seemed to have come prepared, and they didn't give Du Wei any face, which made Du Wei confirm his guess—these southerners were sent by the temple! This drama in the temple is also interesting.The pope wrote such a decree, and then sent his own people to buy it back. The meaning here is very deep! After all, the pope himself presided over the baptism and served as godfather, which is tantamount to openly provoking the authority of the royal family.However, the Pope is not good at making such promises to people casually, and can only use the high-sounding reason of "raising funds for disaster relief". As for the second step, the key is whose hands the promise falls into! If... if it fell into the hands of a powerful careerist, then, if this careerist gets the promise from the Pope, it means that he can get the Pope to preside over his baptism... This is equivalent to Got treated like royalty! The most subtle thing is that "the Pope personally presided over the baptism" has been regarded as a legal symbol of the succession to the throne for many years! !Be regarded as sacred and noble! ! If the temple wanted to use this to undermine the prestige of the royal family, the most effective and simple method was to find a way to get their own people to buy this thing back, and then deliberately arrange a certain low-status rich man to accept the Pope's baptism.In this way, everyone can't help but think: Any vulgar nouveau riche can get the same treatment as the royal family, so this ceremony of legitimacy of the throne by the royal family... There is nothing sacred and noble to speak of. Thinking about it a little deeper... If a certain careerist got this promise, then if a prince from one party, such as Lu Gao of the Northwest Army, was baptized by the Pope himself, it would inevitably make people think: Then Can it also be regarded as: he has also obtained the highest divine legitimacy? Such an association, once opened, is very dangerous! Du Wei sighed... In less than a cup of tea, the price has already reached five million gold coins.Du Wei's heart was naturally aching.His money did not come from the wind. No matter how much the final price was called to buy it, he had to hand over the money to the temple. When the price reached eight million gold coins, there was finally no sound from below. Du Wei's heart faintly felt a little uneasy... Is it that simple?Completed the task so easily?In this case, it would be too easy to destroy the plan of the temple. really!Before Du Wei could finish his thoughts, he suddenly heard a clear and sweet female voice coming from the gate of the auction house. "I'm sorry to bother you. I know it's very rude to be late, so please forgive me." Before the words were finished, the door of the auction house was pushed open, and then a woman in a long white dress slowly walked in.This woman is tall and slender, wearing a white skirt, but she is clearly the style of a priest in the temple, her long golden hair is loosely flowing, and she is wearing a snow-white cloak behind her. She stood at the door, and with such a light sweep of her eyes across the audience, she attracted everyone's attention.This woman sounded very young. Standing at the door, the clergyman's attire on her body had a hint of holiness and nobility.Although she didn't have the slightest bit of luxurious jewelry all over her body, her every move and gesture was faintly filled with a noble aura. When Du Wei heard this voice, a gloomy look flashed across his eyes immediately! This is indeed the daughter of the late eldest prince, the saint princess who dedicated herself to the temple! Her Highness the Saintess Princess walked in, her eyes were clear, and her face was still covered with a layer of white gauze.Although I can't see her face clearly, those eyes are like the cold moon, and her upper body is more graceful. As she walks step by step, she is obviously full of charm, but she has a bit of holy breath. This kind of complex temperament But it blends into one body on her body, which makes people feel excited. Seeing the arrival of the Saintess Princess, Du Wei's heart immediately sank, and he frowned tightly. And at this time, Du Wei suddenly heard Du Pont, the young master of the Marquis de Senna's house next to him, and suddenly let out a short low cry. His eyes were full of fiery gaze, staring closely at the princess and saint below. The female highness also seemed to raise her head, and smiled at the young master.The young master's face turned red in an instant, and suddenly, as if he had received some kind of encouragement, he said loudly, "Ten million gold coins!"