Phi-Fic Chapter 295 is selling like hotcakes!
Chapter 295 is selling like hotcakes!
"Isn't one hundred taels too little?"
While the common people were complaining that the Ministry of Revenue was greedy for money, Pei Rujing still felt that they were asking for too little.
Wen Zongji said, "That's perfect. The admission fee is just to weed out some people who are just pretending or who don't know their own financial capabilities."
If there were no entrance fee, the first floor of Wangchunlou would probably not be enough.
But with an entrance fee, a group of people can be filtered out.
"Is my husband officiating at the auction tonight?"
Wen Zongji shook his head: "It's just an auction for visiting slots, I don't need to go. The Ministry of Revenue can just send a minor official to oversee it."
The most important event is the formal auction of the courtyard.
It's just an auction for tour slots, nothing particularly noteworthy.
Wen Zongji didn't even set any restrictions; as long as you paid enough money, you could go for a visit, regardless of your status.
"Shall we go out and have some fun?"
Today happens to be a day off.
Wen Zongji looked at Rui Ge'er in his arms: "Are you bringing Rui Ge'er along?"
Rui is almost five months old. He learned to roll over last month. It's all worth all the hard work of so many people who taught him every day.
Pei Rujing shook her head: "Of course we won't take him. We'll leave him in the manor and let the nanny and wet nurse look after him."
"it is good."
Wen Zongji readily agreed.
As soon as he finished speaking, his eyes met Rui Ge'er's, and Wen Zongji smiled at him.
Rui-ge grinned, completely unaware that he had been abandoned by his heartless parents again.
Pei Rujing leaned over and pinched his cheek: "Why do you smile so much?"
People who smile a lot are usually lucky.
Pei Rujing said proudly, "Rui-ge'er is our son. Whether he likes to laugh or not, his luck will never be bad."
Wen Zongji chuckled: "My wife is right."
……
As night fell, all the doors and windows of the houses were closed, except for the shops on the commercial street, where lanterns were still lit.
Wangchun Tower
The area has been reserved by the Ministry of Revenue, and is guarded by personnel from the Infantry Commander's Office. At the gate, servants are collecting entrance fees as required.
In just a short while, dozens of people had gone in, and they had collected several thousand taels of silver.
The money is coming in incredibly fast.
Nothing was sold; you just had to pay one hundred taels of silver to enter Wangchun Tower.
The key point is that no one objected; everyone obediently handed it in. Some people even handed it in voluntarily without being reminded, showing great cooperation.
Private rooms on the second floor
As Zhou Shiyue watched one person after another, dressed in fine clothes, walk in, he sighed, "I couldn't help but come and see, but Zongji is so composed."
"Your Excellency is concerned about the Ministry of Revenue and always wants to share the Emperor's burdens."
Zhou Shiyue waved his hand: "Everyone is thinking of the imperial court. How many slots does Zongji plan to auction off?"
"Thirty!"
"How much is the starting bid?"
"One hundred taels of silver."
Zhou Shiyue was taken aback: "It's the same price as the admission fee, isn't that a bit low?"
Wen Zongji said that if the price is set too high, it will inevitably make our Ministry of Revenue look too greedy, and they will raise the price themselves.
Zhou Shiyue's lips twitched: "When he demanded an appearance fee, didn't he consider that it would make us look greedy?"
He couldn't understand Wen Zongji at all; sometimes he was extremely unscrupulous, and other times he was very law-abiding.
"Professor Wen said that those who are willing to pay the admission fee will understand, and those who don't understand are not what we need."
Zhou Shiyue shook his head: "He always has a point. Time is almost up, you can go down and preside over the auction, you don't need to stay with me."
"Yes."
This person was the host of the auction.
In the Ministry of Revenue, he was just a minor official with little status, but here, he was the host, in charge of some matters related to tonight's auction.
Before the auction started, the merchants sat in twos and threes, chatting idly.
"I wonder how many spots will be auctioned off. I hope it won't be too few."
"Not too few, not too many, I estimate around twenty or thirty."
"The person who came up with the idea of auctioning off the tour slots is truly brilliant. If this person were in business, we would all be ashamed of our own abilities."
"Hey, don't let the adults hear you say that."
Merchants are not qualified to be compared with officials.
After chatting for a while, it was 7 PM.
As soon as the host stepped onto the stage, the voices below instantly fell silent, everyone waiting for the host to speak.
The host didn't say much, but simply stated: "There are thirty spots available in this auction. Anyone who wins a spot should go to the Ministry of Revenue's gate early tomorrow morning, where someone will take you to visit the small courtyard on the east side of the West Garden."
"Enough with the small talk, let's officially auction the first spot. The starting price is one hundred taels, and each bid must increase by at least ten taels. Begin—"
After the host finished speaking, there was a moment of silence before someone shouted out the price: "One hundred and fifty taels!"
They were all stunned.
After learning that there would be an entrance fee of one hundred taels of silver, they were prepared for the starting bid to be ridiculously high, but they really didn't expect it to be the same as the entrance fee.
This slightly improved their impression of the Ministry of Revenue as being greedy for money.
But they soon lost interest in thinking about anything else.
Because the competition is just too fierce.
In no time, the price was bid up to one thousand taels and was still rising.
They were all familiar with previous auctions and knew that the first item auctioned was often a bargain, with prices tending to be lower.
But when they saw the price had been inflated to three thousand, they knew they had been fooled.
They wanted to quickly secure the first spot in Xi'an and then sit back and relax, only to find that others had the same idea.
As a result, the very first spot for a tour was sold for an exorbitant price—five thousand taels!
In the end, everyone was so surprised by the price that they were unwilling to raise it any further, which allowed the first spot to be allocated.
Zhou Shiyue was also surprised.
A single tour spot is being sold for five thousand taels of silver. When did silver become so worthless?
Thinking of how he used to be so frugal in order to save money, Zhou Shiyue couldn't help but narrow his eyes as he looked at the merchants below.
These are all fat pigs, so they need to be slaughtered properly.
Next, since everyone knew what was going on, the auction prices weren't particularly outrageous, generally staying around three thousand.
In other words, the price was driven up by the first spot; otherwise, spending two thousand taels of silver to buy a spot would be considered a huge rip-off.
But when it came to the last few spots, the situation spiraled out of control once again.
There are too many wolves and not enough meat!
To secure a spot, you have to keep raising the price.
When the last spot was auctioned off, it fetched a staggering price of seven thousand taels of silver.
As a result, the Ministry of Revenue made 100,000 taels of silver from the auction.
Without any cost investment, just thirty visitor slots were enough to rake in 100,000 taels of silver.
It was hard for Zhou Shiyue not to admire Wen Zongji; he was simply too good at accumulating wealth.
He once again exclaimed that bringing Wen Zongji to the Ministry of Revenue was an extremely correct decision.