While Zu Tianhong’s tone sounded like a reproach, he was obviously trying to mitigate the tension between his son and his younger brother.
Zu Tianli was irked. He finally managed to seize leverage over his brother so how could he let it go so easily. Letting out a savage chuckle, he said, “Brother, Zu Can is your son and I can understand why you’re trying to shield him by excusing his faults. But as the current patriarch of our Zu family, you can’t just think for yourselves all the time. Selfishness isn’t a trait befitting of a leader after all. For the sake of securing prestige for your son, you actually assigned such a significant task to Zu Can. Isn’t this just horseplay? A brat like him can never amount to anything! Look at how he’s screwed up his task already! Have you forgotten that it’s our family that has to pay the price of his losses?”
The invasion had begun.
Zu Can competing in a bidding war for the sake of a simple disagreement was his greatest leverage. Zu Tianli was set on dealing an irrecoverable blow to Zu Tianhong’s status using this matter.
Yet, Zu Tianhong remained composed. After hearing this, he turned to Zu Can and asked, “Can’er, what’s your response to this?”
Putting on a serious expression, Zu Can answered, “Although I’m young, I understand full well the gravity of the matter. The purchased pet beasts would affect our family’s future, so how could I, Zu Can, treat it like some sort of game?”
Zu Tianli immediately said, “So you know it affects our family’s future as well. Then let me ask you, who was the one competing for that stupid snake earlier just for the sake of protecting his own dignity? You actually spent three thousand low-grade spirit stones to buy a dying snake. If this isn’t tomfoolery, then I don’t know what to say!”
Zu Tianhong heard about the situation here from his subordinate as well. Of course, he only heard the gist of it. After finding out that his son had spent three thousand low-grade spirit stones on one pet beast, he was thoroughly shocked.
He remembered budgeting only two thousand low-grade spirit stones for Zu Can in this task.
Did the brat really fool around?
To be frank, Zu Can couldn’t explain himself either. It was true that he competed in a bidding competition. It was also true that he spent three hundred spirit stones on a deformed pet beast.
But it was done in accordance to Lin Jin’s advice.
He turned around and glanced at Lin Jin, a distress signal, requesting him to say something to save his butt.
Lin Jin smiled. Realizing that the time was finally ripe, he stepped up.
At the sight of Lin Jin, a smile broke across Zu Tianhong’s face instantly. Without waiting for Lin Jin to speak up, he went over and greeted him with a salute, “Appraiser Lin! What a surprise to see you here!”
“Lord Zu! I’m delighted to see you as well!” Lin Jin saluted back.
Everyone around was stunned, feeling shocked. While it seemed like a simple exchange, there was a deeper meaning behind their words.
It was evident that Zu Tianhong held great respect for Lin Jin so he greeted the appraiser first.
But problem was, as the head of the Zu family household, Zu Tianhong held a prominent status. Those he would treat with such honor must be really impressive individuals.
Zu Tianli and the others were dumbstruck and confused. They had no idea that Zu Tianhong just happened to witness Lin Jin’s ‘capabilities’ this morning.
Even if no one else could tell, Zu Tianhong had a feeling that Wang Ji only fell from grace because Lin Jin finally decided to strike back. Moreover, Lin Jin had passed the Rank 1 beast appraiser exam and the Rank 2 advancement exam in one day. Taking into account his tender age, this man’s future was limitless. The Zu family might need to seek his assistance in the future so he naturally had to be courteous toward the young man.
Zu Tianhong was a man with incredible foresight. Otherwise, he would never have been able to become the Zu family’s patriarch.
“Lord Zu, I was the one who asked Zu Can to compete in the bidding.” Lin Jin shouldered the responsibility for the mishap. This had been his intention from the very beginning so there was no need to be discreet about it.
Just as the group assumed Zu Tianhong would show his disapproval and skepticism, his reaction instead made their jaws drop.
Zu Tianhong laughed out loud before turning one of his subordinates that looked like a steward and said, “Withdraw some more money from the family’s treasury, convert it to spirit stones and bring them here at once.”
After that instruction, he turned back to Lin Jin. “Appraiser Lin, you have full authority to decide which beast to procure for our family. If there aren’t enough spirit stones, I can always channel more funds your way.”
Those who were well-acquainted with Zu Tianhong gasped.
Has Zu Tianhong gone mad?
Not only did he not blame Lin Jin for instructing Zu Can to spent three thousand spirit stones on a flawed snake, he didn’t even seem remotely skeptical about his decision. As if that wasn’t enough, he even had someone send more spirit stones over and let Lin Jin take over the beast procurement process.
Was this still the Zu Tianhong famed for his cautiousness and composure?
Zu Tianli was the first to lash out.
“Brother, why are you fooling around together with Can’er? This Lin brat is so young, what does he know about appraising beasts? Right, I’ve yet to introduce you to this man here. I’ve spent quite a sum to hire Master Liao after much difficulty trying to get in touch with him. With Master Liao here, we don’t need anyone else to get involved in our family’s procurement of beasts,” said Zu Tianli.
Zu Tianhong glanced at Master Liao who was wearing an arrogant expression and merely held his hands up in salutations for the sake of appearances. There was nothing more to it.
This usually pompous Master Liao couldn’t take it anymore.
Zu Tianhong was clearly behaving in a way that implied that the Lin brat was far more capable than himself. If word got out about his screw-up here, he’d be in for a lifetime’s worth of humiliation.
He scoffed at once. “It looks like Lord Zu doesn’t trust me. At first, I had no plans to come here. If it weren’t for Zu Tianli’s sincere invitation, I wouldn’t lend a hand even if I’m offered mountains of gold.”
Having said that, he turned to Zu Tianli. “Mr. Zu, just say the word. If you don’t need me, I can leave right immediately.”
Zu Tianli hastily stopped him from storming off.
“Brother, Master Liao is an expert. As a family’s lord, how could you be so ill-mannered? I’ll definitely inform the family’s elders about today’s incident. Let’s just see how you’ll explain yourself later.”
Then, Zu Tianli recalled their bet. Thinking fast, he mentioned their gamble and added, “The truth of who is truly capable has yet to be revealed. We can judge by the purchases we made later and when the time comes, it’ll be clear who’s the con-artist among us.”
The third round of auction had already begun and many new pet beasts had been brought out for display.
Zu Tianli scoffed before leaving with Master Liao to continue picking pet beasts. They were deadset on damaging Zu Tianhong’s prestige today.
Speaking of which, Zu Tianli was delighted that Zu Tianhong showed up. It only meant that all the blame would fall on his shoulders should he make a mistake, something which he felt was almost-certain. When Master Liao triumphs over that Lin brat, Zu Tianhong’s fate would be sealed. He would be held accountable for this blunder of placing complete trust in the wrong person.
Then, he only had to pull a few strings and that should be enough to suffocate Zu Tianhong.
“Master Liao, I’m counting on you,” Zu Tianli said.
Master Liao was confident. “Fret not, Mr. Zu. With that snake they’ve purchased, they’re destined to lose.”
On the other hand, Zu Tianhong displayed absolute trust in Lin Jin.
Although today was his first time meeting Lin Jin, Zu Tianhong was a bold man and trusted his intuition.
In the third round, Lin Jin circled the hall but took no action.
His reasoning was simple. The auctioned beasts in the third round were all expensive. Even the cheapest one had a reserve price of one thousand low-grade spirit stones. The price of some beasts were even calculated using intermediate-grade spirit stones.
There would definitely be a lot of people competing in bids so even if they bought one, it wouldn’t be a good deal.
Most importantly, from Lin Jin’s perspective, none of these beasts in the last round could compare to the snake he made Zu Can buy earlier. There was no need for them to purchase anything in the third round at all.
Meanwhile, Zu Tianli had spent five thousand low-grade spirit stones to purchase a horned lion. The competition for this creature was fierce because this violent beast was obviously a rare breed and it had a hidden bloodline and a remarkable potential rate.
At the end of the auction, Zu Tianli and Master Liao had three pet beasts while Zu Can and Lin Jin’s team had a single mangled snake.
