Chapter 23

Lin Yiming's eyebrows subtly raised. Was he not supposed to take a cut? He had heard of it before; the appraiser would take a cut for the auction house. The Appraisal Alliance would also take a portion, after all, they protected the interests of the appraisers, and not charging a fee would be unreasonable. Wouldn't that be like working for free? Who would be willing to do that?

And the auction house would also take a cut.

Although it seemed like the auction house's cut was unnecessary, for example, directly deducting the cut and adjusting the appraisal fee would be simpler, it wasn't actually the case.

Some auction houses, to retain particularly skilled appraisers, would manipulate this aspect, adjusting the cut for certain appraisers to attract them. However, other appraisers would still be subject to the usual cut, which is why the auction house's cut was mentioned.

He didn't expect that the head of the Shangdang Auction House would value him so highly, to the point of directly waiving his cut.

However, he still had many things to do in the village, and he couldn't really accept the offer. But with the head speaking so highly of him, it would be impolite to refuse outright.

Lin Yiming fell silent for a moment, then said, "Head, can I think about this for a few days and give you a reply later?"

"No problem, take your time," the head said, leaning back lazily as if he were a well-bred young man or a graceful noblewoman, leaning against the bed and smiling lightly. "However, I must remind you of one thing. Although you are a master appraiser, you can only appraise objects, not people. I am just the head of an auction house; you misjudged me at first."

Hearing the head's words, Lin Yiming laughed. In his previous life, he had read so many novels, watched so many movies and TV shows, that if he still couldn't understand the head's meaning, he might as well jump off and die.

"Yes, Yiming misjudged. Yiming is just an appraiser, capable of appraising treasures. Now, Head, shall we appraise the treasure?"

Soon, the head took out a white fruit about the size of a mango and handed it to Lin Yiming, saying, "This is the Nine-Change Spirit Fruit, a very precious immortal fruit and a key ingredient in many valuable elixirs. However, this Nine-Change Spirit Fruit bears fruit every ten years, and after ten years, it will bear fruit again. Each time it bears fruit, the medicinal properties of the fruit will become stronger, but the properties of the fruit will be different. Interestingly, except for the first time, the color of the fruit remains the same each time it changes.

However, the order of the changes in the medicinal properties of the Nine-Change Spirit Fruit is already known. You just need to know what the first fruit was and how many years it has grown to determine the specific medicinal properties of the fruit."

Lin Yiming took the Nine-Change Spirit Fruit. He didn't need the head to explain; he recognized this fruit. In his sect, he had read about the Nine-Change Spirit Fruit.

Looking at the crystal-clear Nine-Change Spirit Fruit in his hand, Lin Yiming directly infused his mental energy into it. Normally, when appraisers appraise, they need a private, quiet room to prevent others from disturbing them.

But the head was a Thousand Realm powerhouse and clearly wouldn't do such a thing. As for intentionally causing trouble, that was even less likely. If a Thousand Realm powerhouse wanted to deal with him, they would just act directly.

Streams of mental energy flowed from Lin Yiming's mind, like a gentle stream, seeping into the Nine-Change Spirit Fruit.

Gradually, a scene appeared in his mind.

In a place with green mountains and clear waters, on a sheer cliff, a Nine-Change Spirit Fruit tree gradually grew and finally bore a fiery red fruit. As time passed, the fiery red fruit turned into the crystal-clear white fruit before him.

Lin Yiming quietly observed the changes in the fruit until it had changed nine times and returned to its original fiery red color. He felt a pain in his head and a dizziness rising from his mind.

He knew he couldn't continue for now, so he immediately interrupted the mental energy exploration, withdrew his hand, paused for a moment, and then resumed controlling the mental energy to flow into the fruit.

A short while later, Lin Yiming opened his eyes.

"I have seen clearly. The first fruit this tree bore was a fiery red fruit, and the fruit has lived for a total of 216 years."

"216 years, which is 210 years, the first fruit was fiery red. Based on this, the medicinal properties of this fruit should be a great tonic for replenishing blood and qi. This time, we are very lucky to get such a medicinal property, which is one of the three most valuable properties among the nine medicinal properties of the Nine-Change Spirit Fruit."

The head took the Nine-Change Spirit Fruit and called out to someone outside the door. Soon, the person who had brought Lin Yiming to the room entered.

The head handed the Nine-Change Spirit Fruit to the person and said, "A Nine-Change Spirit Fruit for replenishing blood and qi, 216 years old. Write the appraiser's name on it and take it to the auction."

The person respectfully took the Nine-Change Spirit Fruit and quickly left. Lin Yiming, however, looked at the head with some confusion. "Does this need my name on it?" He didn't understand the head's meaning.

"Of course, this is a rule set by our auction house and the Appraisal Alliance," the head explained. "To prevent appraisers from seeking personal gain, accepting bribes, and making arbitrary appraisals, we require the appraiser's name to be attached. In the future, when the use of the treasure is verified, if the appraisal is correct, it can increase the appraiser's reputation to some extent; if the appraisal is incorrect, the appraiser must bear full responsibility."

Lin Yiming didn't expect the Appraisal Alliance and the auction house to have such a rule, finding it quite interesting. This was clearly a system of responsibility.

After explaining the purpose, the head said to Lin Yiming, "As for your appraisal fee, since we don't yet know if the appraisal is correct, I can't give you the fee for now. Once the authenticity of the treasure is confirmed, I will give you the silver. This time, your appraisal fee is 300 taels of silver. Before that, I will first pay you the money owed by Yulong. Leave your address here, and I will send someone to deliver the appraisal fee to you."

"Alright, I'm staying at Guest Inn in Town, Room C9." Lin Yiming straightforwardly gave his temporary address and added, "Head, please do it as soon as possible. I will leave the town in a day or two."

The head laughed. This kid, who initially said he would consider working as an appraiser for the auction house, now said he would leave in a day or two. Clearly, his previous consideration was just a way to placate him.

Lin Yiming quickly left the auction house and returned to the inn. As soon as he got back, he saw the elderly farmers, all covered in injuries, and several carts with the seals already removed.

"What happened?" Lin Yiming asked the elderly farmers who had followed him.

"This is what happened. After we returned, we didn't wait for you, so we went to the merchant house ourselves. But the people at the merchant house removed the seals, saying the seals were put there by us to cheat them. They beat us and said if we dared to cause trouble again, they would have the authorities arrest us."

Lin Yiming was filled with anger. If he hadn't gone to the auction house, this wouldn't have happened. But now wasn't the time to think about that. Solving the problem was the priority.

"Don't worry, everything is fine. I am a master appraiser. Whether the seals were removed by us or them, I can appraise the truth. When the truth is revealed, they won't be able to deny it."

Lin Yiming comforted everyone and then led them away, heading towards the Minong Merchant House.

Not long after Lin Yiming and the others left, two men with stern expressions and a killing aura, almost identical in appearance, walked into the inn. They were so cold that everyone around them moved out of their way.

"It's them!" The innkeeper, who happened to see the two men, felt a jolt in his heart. These two were major executives of the auction house, significant figures not only within the auction house but also in the entire Maple Bridge Town. The ground would tremble three times if either of them stomped their foot.

Even the town mayor would treat them with respect and give them face.

Ordinarily, one would be lucky to see one of these two, but today they both appeared at the same time.

In the innkeeper's puzzled gaze, the two men entered the inn and immediately asked, "Is Lin Yiming in the inn?"

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