PCJ – Chapter 576 Spiritual Tea Auction

“What the hell! Back when he was struggling, he came to me and I gave him one of my most treasured antiques without hesitation—and he sold it at a low price. I didn’t even blame him. Now he’s famous, and he’s putting on airs with me?”

After leaving Xu’s Auction House, Mr. Liu spat furiously on the ground.

This man, Liu Xiucen, is the boss of an antique business in the capital.

“Mr. Liu, maybe we shouldn’t consign our items to Xu’s anymore. There’s more than one auction house in the capital,” his assistant said, opening the car door.

“You know nothing! The tide is stronger than the swimmer. Right now, Xu’s is blazing hot—any item sold there will fetch a higher price. I don’t know what damn luck Xu Yanzhang had to get tied in with the Jade Immortal Beverage Group,” Liu said bitterly.

Inside Xu’s Auction House, Tang Jingxian looked worriedly at Liu’s angry departing figure. “Yanzhang, won’t this offend him too much?”

“What are you afraid of?” Xu Yanzhang replied confidently. “Look at how furious he left today. But after this auction, he’ll come crawling back. As long as we have Jade Spiritual Tea, Xu’s Auction House will be the hottest name in the capital—or even all of China. And I’m not stupid enough to auction all the items at once. This is our chance to rise, and I’m not going to waste it.”

Tang Jingxian smiled, “It’s all thanks to our daughter having such a good classmate. Say, you don’t think they’re dating too early, do you?”

“What early romance? Didn’t we date in high school too? And didn’t it turn out fine?” Xu Yanzhang laughed. “But… I think that Zhang Jiaohua seems to have a close relationship with the daughter of the Ji family.”

Tang Jingxian frowned slightly. “What relationship? They just knew each other as kids. Besides, the Ji family is a powerful household. No way they’d marry their daughter to a farmer’s son.”

Xu Yanzhang chuckled bitterly. “A farmer’s son? Zhang Jiaohua is the young master of the Jade Immortal Beverage Group! Do you know how many branches they have across China? It’s the number one luxury tea brand in the world. Ji Jianming wants to climb higher in politics—and having a company like that backing him? His political future would be guaranteed.”

“Mom, Dad—what are you talking about?” Xu Xiaoting walked over.

“Oh, nothing—we were just chatting about your classmate, Zhang Jiaohua,” Tang Jingxian said.

Xu Xiaoting blushed. “Why are you talking about us? Zhang Jiaohua is just a normal classmate.”

Tang Jingxian teased, “Really? Just a normal classmate? Good. That puts my mind at ease. You’re still young—this isn’t the time to fall in love. Focus on your studies. Zhang Jiaohua may be impressive, but he’s still from a rural background. His values might be quite different. Not the best match.”

She said that intentionally—to test her daughter’s reaction.

Sure enough, Xu Xiaoting immediately got defensive: “He’s not just from the countryside! Zhang Jiaohua is the top student in our whole school. Even if he didn’t rely on his family, he’d still have a bright future!”

Tang Jingxian stroked her daughter’s hair, amused. “Still calling him just a classmate?”

Xu Xiaoting lowered her head shyly and asked quietly, “Mom… do you think Zhang Jiaohua might like me?”

“Of course. Our Xiaoting is so pretty—if he didn’t like you, he’d be blind! But remember, you’re only a first-year high schooler. Focus on your studies first.” Tang Jingxian, despite appreciating Zhang’s background, wouldn’t use her daughter as a bargaining chip.

Xu Yanzhang agreed, “Your mom’s right.”

Xu Xiaoting quickly added, “Don’t worry! I’m still ranked first in our grade. It’s just too bad Zhang Jiaohua didn’t take the midterm—he would’ve been number one otherwise.”

“He didn’t take the test?” Tang Jingxian became alert—worried her daughter was falling in with a bad influence.

“Yeah, he’s always off doing who-knows-what. Our homeroom teacher doesn’t even manage him. The school treats him really leniently. But in middle school, he only studied for 50 days and still got the top score in the city on the high school entrance exam. When he gets serious, no one can beat him.” Xu Xiaoting clearly had more confidence in him than he did in himself.

But Tang Jingxian was concerned. “That might have worked in middle school because of his strong foundation, but the college entrance exam is a whole different story. You’re his classmate, Xiaoting—you should talk to him. This is the age to study, not slack off.”

Xu Yanzhang quickly interjected, “Let’s talk about that later. Right now, we need to focus on the auction. Things are chaotic enough as is. Let’s not add more complications.”

He had a selfish reason: if Xu Xiaoting accidentally upset Zhang Jiaohua while persuading him, and Zhang pulled the Jade Spiritual Tea from the auction, it would be a disaster for Xu’s Auction House.

Tang Jingxian caught on to his hidden worry and sighed. At this critical moment, Xu’s Auction House couldn’t afford even a tiny mistake.

Meanwhile, Zhang Jiaohua wasn’t taking the auction seriously at all. To him, it was simply fulfilling a promise to Xu Xiaoting’s family.

The Meishan Sect didn’t need money nearly as much as it needed time to grow. Compared to great sects like the Kunlun School, the Meishan Sect was behind in every way. Zhang needed time to close that gap.

As for money—yes, the sect had some needs. But for cultivators, earning money was incredibly easy. Just by consolidating the mundane-world businesses of the families who joined the sect, they could easily meet their financial needs. The only reason they weren’t doing it yet was because they were busy building their sect.

So, auctioning off the spiritual tea was simply a fast way to raise cash.

When Xu Yanzhang and Tang Jingxian warmly invited Zhang to attend the auction, he really wasn’t interested. He’d lost enthusiasm for such events.

“Actually, my parents are worried that something strange might happen at the auction,” Xu Xiaoting told him. “This event is just too important to them. Plus, some people might not be happy with Xu’s sudden rise. And Jade Spiritual Tea… it attracts too much attention.”

Even though she was just a first-year student, Xu Xiaoting was clever. Constant exposure to adult conversations gave her insights even deeper than Zhang’s at times.

“Alright, I’ll go take a look.” Zhang Jiaohua nodded after thinking for a moment.