An auction is an event that both laymen and experts enjoy watching.
From the very first piece of jewelry, the hype has been steadily rising in a subtle way. Some pieces are cautiously testing the waters, while others leave one somewhat unsure of the other party's intentions.
Xu Qian had seen the woman next to him roll her eyes more than once. The object of her eye-rolling was a man in the third row wearing a floral shirt. Judging from his style of dress, he was a 'nouveau riche'. And the real reason was that the nouveau riche was sitting next to a beautiful woman with long legs and a slim waist.
Among this group of 30%, Xu Qian noticed a young woman in a little black dress who would raise her paddle almost every time an auction was held, but she didn't seem to be determined to win. It was more like she was there to assess the price, and she would give up if it exceeded her target price.
The person sitting behind him confirmed the suspicion: the woman in the little black dress was the mistress of a bigwig in the industry, and her shopping spree wasn't for personal reasons, but more like... money laundering?
Xu Qian stopped looking at her and turned to the other people in the room. As a complete nobody, he could only find something to do, like observing.
He turned to Shirakawa, who was of most interest to him, and suddenly noticed something interesting: Shirakawa's favorability towards him wasn't zero, but twenty. He hadn't noticed it when they casually passed each other by before, but now he realized that the favorability rating had actually increased. Last time in the desert, Shirakawa's favorability rating towards him went from negative to zero, but now it was twenty.
Why?
Xu Qian had no recollection of ever dealing with the other party. Just as he was deep in thought, an alarm suddenly sounded in the auction hall, flashing red lights from all directions.
"Something's happened in the security room!"
"The Moon Goddess has been stolen! Emergency!—"
Xu Qian subconsciously looked at Bai Chuan, and sure enough, the other party suddenly tensed up. The tension was not something that could be faked; his pupils dilated unconsciously. Clearly, he was unaware of this.
Xu Qian thought for a moment, stood up, walked past everyone present, and left the auction hall.
The 'Moon Goddess' was Princess Rickman-Aldington Helen's most prized possession, and the object of interest for most of those present today. Yet, this incredibly valuable sapphire has now been stolen…
When Xu Qian arrived at the exhibition hall outside, the same state of alert was in place. All the invited guests were temporarily kept in place, making the atmosphere particularly tense.
After circling around, Xu Qian didn't see the person surnamed Wang. At that moment, two blue characters suddenly flashed out from a dense sea of yellow names. Xu Qian was probably stunned for almost a second—blue meant a teammate with over 1000 favorability points, which could only be... Wu Qishan!
Just as he turned back to look for those blue words, he only saw a patch of yellow text. The blue words seemed like a dream. Xu Qian didn't have time to think; instead, he hurriedly looked at the mini-map. In that instant, he could even clearly hear his heart pounding—it was beating so fast, as if it were about to burst out of his chest.
But... no.
There are no small blue dots.
...Did I see it wrong?
Xu Qian's mouth was open, his throat was so dry that it made him feel uncomfortable. Hope and disappointment arrived at the same time, leaving him feeling somewhat...empty.
...
Xu Qian didn't remember when he left, but it was already completely dark when he came out. The moonlight tonight was supposed to be gentle and soft, but unfortunately, he had no mood to appreciate it.
For some reason, Xu Qian recalled the fleeting blue text, or more precisely, the two characters 'Zhongli'.
Zhongli, Lan.
His master.
"Maybe I really did see it wrong. How could that be? It's impossible..." Xu Qian knew very well that it was almost impossible. The most plausible explanation was that he had misread it.
Xu Qian calmly took the subway back to the city center. The Meng brothers were especially happy to see him back, saying they had brought back some barbecue. However, Xu Qian interrupted them halfway through their conversation, saying he was a little sleepy.
In their eyes, Xu Qian's face was practically screaming "dejected," which was quite unexpected.
"...Ah, then go and rest, we won't bother you anymore." Meng Ziqiu put his arm around his younger brother's shoulder, his hand gripping it a little tightly. Meng Liangchen winced in pain but dared not respond.
Soon, Xu Qian went back to his bedroom. Fortunately, they had booked a five-star hotel, which had a living room with a great view in addition to the bedroom.
The Meng brothers stayed in the living room for a long, long time, eating plate after plate of barbecue. They finally managed to hold out until midnight, which was Xu Qian's daily limit. Apart from work, he usually went to bed around 11 pm.
Just as the two of them quietly slipped back into the bedroom, an unexpected thing happened—he wasn't asleep!
But what's with this chicken?! Why is there a chick in the bedroom?!
"Are you going to sleep? What time is it?" Xu Qian stroked the little wings of the chick Xiaomeng and looked up to ask them.
"It's twelve o'clock, but where did you get this from?" Meng Ziqiu said, unable to help but look at the little chick next to his pillow. It was small and cute, and he was actually a little tempted!
"Just a little gadget." Xu Qian's mood suddenly improved when he saw Meng Ziqiu's staring eyes. He was the kind of person whose emotions came and went quickly, and he could just sit there feeling down for a while. "Want to play with it for a bit?"
"Yes!" Meng Ziqiu agreed faster than anyone else.
Meng Liangchen took a step back instead. He and his brother were two extremes. One of them loved small animals very much, while the other was disrespectful to them. Xiaoqing only gradually got better after getting used to them.
"Does it have a name?" Meng Ziqiu grinned foolishly.
"You can call it Chick Chick," Xu Qian said with a smile.
"Ah, Little Chicken, what an adorable name!" Meng Ziqiu's boyish heart was stirring; beneath his muscular exterior lay a remarkably 'soft' heart!
"They are quite cute." Xu Qian wholeheartedly agreed. He himself had once won the title of the most popular cultivator in Wuqi Mountain thanks to these adorable little ones.
Meng Liangchen listened intently to their conversation, his eyes glancing over, but that was all—he thought it was fine to look, but nothing more.
Xu Qian then turned to Meng Liangchen and asked him curiously, "Don't you have any favorite small animals?"
Meng Liangchen looked at him, thought about it seriously, and said, "If I had to choose one, I think the giant panda, the national treasure, would be a good choice..."
Meng Ziqiu, as the older brother, rolled his eyes and gave him a disdainful look, "I think you want to eat farts! Three years minimum, you know—"
Xu Qian immediately snapped his fingers and summoned his A Bao.
"Holy crap!"
Raising...raising national treasures?! Wow, that's amazing!
Xu Qian coughed twice as a formality. His Cangjian account was from one of the top five sects. What didn't he have? He earned all of this through hard work taking on substitute battles!
However, JX3 updates quite quickly, and due to his limited budget, he doesn't have many new pets, but he still has all the old pets from before.
Meng Ziqiu reluctantly turned his gaze away from the national treasure. He looked at Xu Qian, there were some questions he had wanted to ask for a long time...
“Um,” Meng Ziqiu stopped what he was doing and gave a ‘good-natured’ smile, “Brother Xu, if you have any troubles, you can tell us. Maybe we can help you.”
Meng Liangchen nodded while holding the panda A Bao.
“It’s nothing,” Xu Qianping said, lying on the bed with his eyes staring at the ceiling. “I just suddenly feel a little empty.”
Meng Ziqiu did not respond. He could tell without the other party saying anything, even though Xu Qian seemed quite calm at the moment.
Xu Qian paused for a moment, then continued, "Today, something very strange happened. I think I saw my master, but in the blink of an eye, in an instant, she disappeared without a trace."
He stared at the ceiling, a familiar face appearing in his mind, its sly smile seemingly right before his eyes…
When Meng Ziqiu heard him say "Master," his heart raced. Was the world of cultivators about to begin?
Compared to the immature Ni Jiang, Meng Liangchen was much more honest, saying, "What you think about during the day, you dream about at night. Maybe you just miss her too much."
Xu Qian turned to Meng Liangchen, glanced at him, and then, as if suddenly realizing something, murmured to himself, "Yes, you're right, I miss her too much..."
Perhaps it was because Xu Qian's expression was so unusual that Meng Liangchen's curiosity was piqued. "What kind of person is she?"
“Her,” Xu Qian recalled, and couldn’t help but smile, “was a very stubborn person, but also a very kind person.”
From the day Xu Qian was picked up by her, his master gave him a very inexplicable sense of intimacy and tacit understanding. Sometimes, she could even guess what he was going to say before he even opened his mouth, as if... they had known each other for a long time.
Xu Qian later attributed it all to fate. Of course, it was a feeling that had nothing to do with romance; it was more like the affection between family members who cared for each other.
Stubborn? Kind? Meng Liangchen tilted his head. If compared to his brother Xu, he did have a somewhat similar image.
Following this topic, Xu Qian then told them about his life in Wuqi Mountain throughout the four seasons.
Wuqi Mountain is a very beautiful mountain. In spring, hundreds of flowers bloom here, and you can find every kind of flower you can imagine, in a riot of colors. In summer, the streams at the foot of the mountain are very cool, and you can always catch many small fish and shrimp in them, which is quite a unique experience. In autumn, it becomes a world of red maple leaves. Imagine the wind blowing in your face, making the red maple leaves spread all over the sky and the field. That scene can be described as 'fairyland'. Wuqi Mountain is even more beautiful in winter. The vast snow adds a touch of pure white to Wuqi Mountain, and the branches are dotted with 'abundant fruit'.
Spring, summer, autumn, winter—these are the four seasons of Wuqi.
The four seasons that will never be forgotten, and the Wuqi Mountain that will never be forgotten.
“That’s great…” Meng Ziqiu suddenly said.
Xu Qian lowered his gaze slightly. Yes, it's really nice.
I just miss them...
Author's Note: Tomorrow's Saturday, time to start writing 10,000 words a day after taking a bottle of kidney tonic...
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