Chapter 86 Goodbye I Won’t Leave
The whole place was silent, with only the host's voice remaining.
"Sixty-eight million once."
"Sixty-eight million twice."
"Sixty-eight million three times!"
"make a deal!"
Tonight's auction has come to an end. As the host gave some beautiful closing remarks on the stage, the people in the audience began to relax and communicate.
Across the chaotic crowd, Chang Xile turned around to look at the person who was making the call for Eric, and saw only a lady in a white shirt making a phone call.
She didn't know if it was a coincidence, but she immediately noticed Chang Xile's gaze and raised her hand to signal him.
By the time the show was over, it was almost nine in the evening. Chen Moxin made her way through the crowd to Dai Xigang and greeted him. "I didn't expect Mr. Dai to be so interested in Prosit's paintings. I'm so sorry I offended you earlier."
Daisy Port asked expressionlessly, "Whoever bids the highest wins. What's so offensive about that?"
"Yeah, I thought the Chen family had no chance of winning against the Dai family. I didn't expect it to be so tense later on. It really made me sweat." Chen Moxin's words were full of meaning. He looked at Chang Xile. The hostility he had when they first met was gone, but his smile was filled with a sinister coldness. "Is this Mr. Dai's new girlfriend? If I remember correctly, she seems to have a boyfriend already?"
"You talk too much nonsense," Dai Xigang said coldly. "She's my guest. If you offend her, you're also offending the Dai family. I wonder how many of your dirty deeds the Chen family knows about? How can they let you out in public without any hesitation?"
Chen Moxin's face changed, and before she could say anything, the three of them heard a call.
"Ms. Chang!"
Chang Xile turned around and saw the lady who was commissioned to take the photo of "Blue Eyes" walking towards him.
Chang Xile tilted his head slightly and expressed doubt with his eyes.
Tonight, her conversation with Daisy Gang was interrupted by many people. Most of them came for Daisy Gang, occasionally dropping in to greet Chang Xile, their tone indicating that she was just a decoration.
"Let me introduce myself. My name is Ding Suxin." She extended her hand to Chang Xile and explained her purpose directly. "Eric asked me to give you the photo I took tonight, 'Blue Eyes,' as a gift."
The auction venue was quite crowded, and some passersby slowed down their pace upon hearing this conversation. Dai Xigang and Chen Moxin's expressions also changed.
Eric Hoffmann, founder of the German luxury brand "Perlen," was too busy to personally travel to Country C to participate in the auction. Chang Xile had never been to Germany, let alone interacted with such a person.
"I'm sorry." Chang Xile shook his head, somewhat confused. "But how does your client know me?"
"I don't quite understand that." Ding Suxin smiled and continued, "If you're willing, I'll take you to go through the transfer procedures."
Unexpected wealth often leads to disaster. Chang Xile didn't want to accept such an unreasonable gift, but she didn't rush to refuse. She thought, wasn't the reason I came here tonight just to get some news about Anping?
She asked, "Can I go see the painting first?"
Ding Suxin replied: "Of course!"
For a moment, the two men who had just been arguing with each other were ignored by her.
Chen Moxin's gaze grew dark as she looked at Chang Xile. Sixty-eight million was no small sum, and she was just giving it away like that? Could it be that there was some powerful figure behind her?
Daisy Port didn't show much surprise. He asked, "Do you need me to go with you?"
Chang Xile shook his head: "I don't know how long I'll be gone, and it's getting late, you should go back first."
"It's okay. I also took pictures of a few items. I originally asked Ye Yuan to check them, but now it's okay for me to go by myself. Besides..." Dai Xigang smiled and changed the subject, "It's just that it's getting late that I have to accompany you."
He glanced at Chen Moxin meaningfully and added, "The later it gets at night, the more likely it is that some unscrupulous people will come out and cause trouble."
Chen Moxin curled the corners of his mouth and bowed to Dai Xigang: "Then I'll take my leave first, Mr. Dai." After that, he turned and left.
But when we followed the guide to the floor where the collections were displayed, we found that the collections in different sections were in different corridors, and each collection was stored in its own room. This was to facilitate management and prevent the items from being damaged or lost before delivery.
Dai Xigang knew the rules here and was confident in the security. He said to Chang Xile, "Go ahead. I'll wait for you outside."
Chang Xile followed Ding Suxin through the long corridor. Since they had been delayed for a while, most of the other bidders had already left, so they didn't meet anyone on the way.
"How did you know I was Chang Xile?" Chang Xile tried to get more information. "Even if Eric didn't tell you how he knew me, he must have told you something about me, right?"
Ding Suxin smiled politely. Perhaps since there were no outsiders around, she didn't hide anything and told Chang Xile, "Eric showed me a painting and said you look exactly like the person in it. I knew it right away. I didn't quite believe it at the time, worried I wouldn't recognize you in person. But he turned out to be right."
"What painting?" Chang Xile was aroused by what he said.
"It's probably Prosit's work, right? The old man is a big fan of his. When Prosit suddenly changed his painting today, he got really excited for a long time, muttering to me to take a picture and give it to you." Ding Suxin asked in return, "So, do you know Prosit himself?"
Chang Xile was stunned for a moment before nodding. In her heart, Anping had always been Anping. She had to mentally rethink the two of them.
When the two of them reached the room at the end of the corridor, Ding Suxin stood at the door and said to her, "You can go and see as you like. I'll just wait outside."
Chang Xile nodded, took a deep breath and opened the door.
The painting "Blue Eyes" isn't large, but the room dedicated to it is generously sized. Chang Xile closed the door and spotted the small blue painting at the far end of the room. In front of it, on a chair, sat a figure in white.
He stared at the painting quietly, and when he heard the sound of the door opening and closing, he only tilted his head slightly.
When Chang Xile saw this person, her heart was like a lake rippled by a falling rock. She walked step by step towards the painting, or rather, towards the person.
She stared at the part of the man's face that was exposed until they were only a few steps away. Because she wanted to know his full appearance so much, she didn't dare to take a step forward.
What if it wasn't him?
But the man had already stood up. He was wearing a white satin, double-breasted Tang suit, the slight wrinkles at the hems of his clothes straightening out as he stood.
He turned around, brushed off his clothes, and looked up at her.
It’s Anping.
"You look so beautiful today." His face was still so pale that his smile seemed a little broken. But his lake-blue eyes were still as gentle and dazzling as gems.
Chang Xile stepped forward, only one step away from Anping. She stared at him intently, but said nothing.
She was silent for so long that Anping almost thought she was going to cry again. He hadn't expected today's meeting to go this way, everything was so rushed and there was no time to explain.
Was she angry? Hating him for being dishonest about his identity, and for showing up so suddenly today, perhaps disrupting her relationship with the Dai man?
Anping was a little overwhelmed and said first: "I'm sorry..."
"What are you sorry for? What did you do wrong?" Chang Xile asked.
An Ping looked down at the knife wound on her cheek that hadn't fully healed yet, and felt as if his heart had been severely cut open as well. He raised his hand and gently brushed the scar with his thumb, his voice bitter: "I didn't protect you from harm, I didn't tell you my identity, and I didn't..."
Chang Xile looked up and met his gaze, her expression more sad than angry: "Since you're back, why don't you come to see me?"
She raised her hand and struck his front again and again with the flat of her fist. Her blows seemed heavy, but when they landed on Anping, they felt light and airy, as if she hadn't exerted any strength at all.
"I've really been waiting for you for a long time... Why is it that when you want to see me, I can appear so easily, but when I want to find you, there's no place to go and I can only listen to the few words about you spread by the outside world?" Chang Xile asked him.
Chang Xile didn't mind Anping's silence about his past, but the more mysterious he was, the more she felt the gap between them.
Anping's face grew paler. He held Chang Xile's hand and spoke in a weak voice, as if begging for mercy: "I came to look for you as soon as I got back. It wasn't easy to see you. I asked so many... so many people before I even knew you were here."
The more he spoke, the lower his head became, resting his forehead against Chang Xile's, as if he was losing some strength.
Chang Xile's tears were still wet in her eyes when she noticed something was wrong with Anping. She took Anping's arm and helped him sit down. His figure began to flicker again, as if simply maintaining his current appearance was already difficult.
"What's wrong with you?" She didn't care about being angry anymore and asked him anxiously.
"I'm fine. I've just recovered. Every time I transform for a while, I have to return to my original form to recuperate." He smiled at her soothingly, glanced at the painting on the wall, and said to her, "This painting is my apology to you. Do you want to take a good look at it?"
Chang Xile's eyes didn't leave him. As if she had a premonition, she asked, "Then what? Are you going to leave me alone and go somewhere to heal my wounds?"
An Ping looked at her and frowned slightly: "I don't want you to see me in such a mess."
He has always been bothered by the fact that she saw his true form as Anping.
"I don't care about any of this. I've said before, whether you're a human or a cat, you're still Anping." Chang Xile gritted his teeth and said, "If you leave without saying goodbye again, I'll never forgive you."
Anping looked at her gently, sighed with a helpless smile, and said, "Okay."
"So, do you want to go and see this gift? I've wanted to give it to you for a long time, but I never found a reason."
Chang Xile then followed his words and looked at the painting on the wall. She asked, "Isn't this what Eric said he would give me? Why did it become your gift?"
"He has always liked my painting 'Tears of Victoria Harbour' and I rejected his offers several times. Today, I asked him to buy this painting for me. In exchange, I will give him the painting he wanted."
Anping's voice grew fainter, and Chang Xile endured it without turning back. Although she had made her stance clear, the final decision would be left to Anping.
After a long time, she finally felt a warm touch on the back of her hand. Chang Xile looked down and saw a blue-eyed lion cat, gently resting its head against her palm.
In the large room, a cat sat beside the girl. It occasionally meowed, but no one could understand its meaning.
But Chang Xile understood, and he said:
[I won't leave.]
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