40 Crack!

"Thank you for bidding! Once paying at the third floor, you can collect your item tomorrow."

A bidder raised their hands. "Can we see the item today?"

The auctioneer nodded curtly, before announcing the end of the auction.

Xuanmei made her way into the third level, pretending to look at the jewels she would buy in front of the many people there, before she asked, "Are all of these real?"

"Of course!" The auctioneer said, "We only sell real items, of course."

"I'll hold you accountable for that. Alright, anyone who has tried cutting a ruby will know, that it is very hard to cut a ruby, right?"

Murmurs of agreement resounded, with some agreeing right after Xuanmei finished her sentence. Most of the people there were rich, and have tried one way or another, by accident or not.

"Well, can someone give me a dull wooden sword?"

A swordsman in training took one off his belt, handing it to Xuanmei. Drenching the sword in corrosives that didn't affect Ruby, wood, nor gold, she took a swing at the 'ruby', and as expected,

'Crack'

It cracked into tiny pieces once broken.

"Wait! Rubies don't shatter that easily!"

"T-That's true, but what about that liquid you used on the ruby? Maybe it causes it to break!" The auctioneer said frantically.

Xuanmei shrugged, picking out a fake ruby and a real one. she tossed the wooden sword to the auctioneer and told him to swing with all his strength, not informing him of which was real and fake.

Dousing the items yet again with the liquid from the same bottle so as to not allow room for argument, she stepped back and allowed the auctioneer to swing and hit the gems.

As expected, the auctioneer tapped lightly on both the gems.

Having tapped the real one first and thinking that he tapped the fake one, and seeing as it didn't crack, the auctioneer smirked. Lightly tapping the other one, the auctioneer turned to face Xuanmei proudly.

...

'Crack!'

The auctioneer's proud smile faltered, as Xuanmei picked up the sword that he had set on the table, tapping every gem that she could see.

'Crack!'

'Crack!'

'Crack!'

"Hey auctioneer, I'm really starting to question your statement here," Xuanmei said as she tapped, cracking another gem, watching as it broke into pieces, tapping the wooden table gently with the sword next.

"So, how do you plan to repay this master?"

"With fake gems again? I was about to pay three million, you know?"

The auctioneer broke out in sweat. At this time, the second manager walked in, not knowing what just happened.

"How are you, esteemed guests? Feeling okay? Are the items as good as the auctioneer say?"

"Manager, this customer demands justice. Your auction house tried to sell us fakes!"

"A-Ah, is that so? What happened?"

The whole room tried to explain everything to the manager at once, making the manager dizzy.

"It must be the fault of the person who put up the item for auction!" The manager concluded.