Luo Lan couldn't help but her heart palpitated, but she checked the paint and opened the envelope calmly.
To her disappointment, when she looked at the font, it was still written by Tang Xiaobei.
As a qualified shopkeeper, Luo Lan quickly suppressed his distracting thoughts and unfolded the letter.
Halfway through, his expression became more and more solemn.
Putting away the letter, Luo Lan couldn't calm down for a long time.
"Sir, can you really make water jade?"
Luo Lan looked at Tang Fei and asked with a trembling voice.
Tang Fei did not answer, but opened the baggage he carried with him, carefully took out a wooden box and handed it to Luo Lan.
"This is what sir asked me to give to you."
Luo Lan took it with both hands and carefully placed it on the table.
Check that there is no problem with the seal and then open it.
The bottom of the wooden box is a thick board with two rows of small holes dug in. Each small hole contains a glass bead, the big one is about the same as a walnut, the small one is only the size of a peanut, and there are several colors.
"Sir, you actually made a water jade!"
Even though Luo Lan was mentally prepared, seeing it with his own eyes, his breathing still became faster involuntarily.
When Dakang was still strong, many Hu merchants from the Western Regions came to Dakang to do business and brought jade beads from the west.
Its round shape and crystal clear characteristics are rare among gemstones. It immediately attracted a large number of dignitaries and became popular.
Nowadays, the trade routes in the Western Regions have been blocked due to the war, and the value of water jade has been rising steadily. Moreover, there are fewer and fewer of them on the market in recent years, and even if you have money, you may not be able to buy them.
The most valuable tribute sent by the Japanese envoys to Emperor Dakang was a set of water jade beads snatched from pirates.
Chen Ji took out a reward and gave it to a prince. The prince excitedly led his whole family to kowtow in the direction of the palace.
Such precious water jade beads, Jin Feng now sent a whole box!
Luo Lan tried to calm down, carefully closed the box, and shouted towards the door:
"Axia, go and ask Brother Hammer to come over!"
…
The auction of the first batch of black knives was over, and Luo Lan bought a larger house not far from the Chamber of Commerce, and specially transformed it into an auction house according to the drawings provided by Jin Feng.
Now Jinchuan Auction House has become well-known in the capital. Not only does it auction the Xihewan Black Knife, but many people also send their treasures to be auctioned, and the auction house collects corresponding fees.
This is the first auction house in Dakang. There are many people interested in it. Many people come to every auction, and there are simply not enough seats.
It cost a lot of money to buy and renovate the wooden building where the auction house was located. It would definitely not work to move to a bigger place. Luo Lan couldn't think of a good solution, so she had to write to Tang Xiaobei and Jin Feng
Ask for help.
Who knew that Jin Feng actually wrote her a reply and suggested using the ticket system.
To put it bluntly, you have to buy a ticket to enter.
When Luo Lan saw this proposal in the letter, she thought Jin Feng was crazy.
Who does business without asking customers to come to their door?
Well, Jin Feng, you have to buy a ticket to enter the store. Doesn't this drive customers away?
But Jin Feng strongly requested this, so Luo Lan had no choice but to bite the bullet and implement it.
The results were unexpectedly good. Not only did the auction house's business not deteriorate, but the transaction rate actually increased a lot compared to before.
Only later did Luo Lan figure it out.
Whether it is a black knife or something sent for auction by others, it can easily cost hundreds or even thousands of taels of silver. Those who are truly capable of participating in the auction will not care about the ticket price at all.
Even if it's the best private room, they just miss it.
Those who care about the ticket price are basically bored idlers. They just come to watch the excitement and make the auction a mess.
Many dignitaries with real purchasing power, but because of these idlers, feel that the auction is too low-level and are unwilling to come.
The implementation of the ticket system immediately blocked these idle people from the door, greatly improving the quality of the auction.
What Luo Lan didn't expect was that Emperor Chen Ji also heard about the auction house and came over to participate out of curiosity.
The emperor personally participated, which was more effective than any advertisement.
The auction house's reputation was already good, but after the emperor's visit, business became even more prosperous.
Luo Lan was also a smart man. The day after the emperor left, he announced that the best private room would never be rented out to the public and would only be reserved for the emperor's use.
But the price of the rooms on both sides of the emperor's private room tripled.
Even so, these two private rooms will be booked early for every auction.
Tickets for other private rooms and hall seats have also increased accordingly.
Before each auction, Luo Lan would select several products and display them at the window of the Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce in advance to build momentum for the auction.
After receiving the glass beads, Luo Lan immediately removed the products originally on display and replaced them with his own glass beads.
The glass beads currently available in Dakang are all green and have low light transmittance.
The three glass beads exhibited by Luo Lan are each different in color and have good light transmittance.
Once on display, it immediately attracted the attention of passers-by.
"Come and see, the Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce is exhibiting new products!"
"What are you looking at? Can you afford the items from the Jinchuan Chamber of Commerce?"
"I can't afford it, why not gain some experience?"
"My God, what kind of gem is this? It's so beautiful!"
"It seems to be a water jade, right? I went to Mr. Liu's house before and saw a water jade once. It is similar to this one, but the water jade in Mr. Liu's house is much smaller and not as beautiful as this one!"
"Brother Cui is bullying me for not seeing water jade, right? Although I have never seen it, I have heard people say that water jade is all green, but look at these three, one purple and one blue. Why?
Maybe it’s Mizutama?”
Before Luo Lan could open his mouth to explain, passers-by started to quarrel.
Some people think it is water jade, some people think it is not.
"Miss Luo Lan, tell me, is this water jade?"
Everyone couldn't come up with the result, so they asked Luo Lan together.
Luo Lan cleared her throat and picked up a tin speaker: "These three orbs are indeed genuine jade!"
"It's really Shuiyu!"
"How much is such a big jade worth?"
"It's hard to say. Let's not talk about the size. These jade stones are all crystal clear and have different colors. They are definitely worth a lot of money!"
“Apart from the size and color, this is the only time in my life that I have seen such round and smooth jade!”
"Miss Luo Lan, how much are you going to sell the big one for?"
Passers-by praised it one after another, and some asked out of curiosity.
"To be honest with you, sir, I have not set a price for the jade. Today is just for sale. It will be officially auctioned in three days. As for how much it can sell for, we won't know until then."
Luo Lan answered with a smile.
"I knew it was going to be auctioned!"
A young man turned around and ran away. He went back and told his servants to take their bedrolls and queue up to buy tickets.
Nowadays, tickets to the auction house are hard to come by. If you want to participate, you have to send someone to wait at the ticket gate in advance. It will be sold out in the evening.