Chapter 59. At the auction, let's hear Xu again...
At six in the morning, a sleepy, disgruntled sigh escaped from behind layers of gauze curtains:
"Hmm..."
Xiao Weizhi pulled his arm out from under Lin Xiaoxiao's neck, gently patted Lin Xiaoxiao's back, and said in a low and gentle voice, "Sorry for waking you up. I have to go out and take care of some things. You can go back to sleep."
Lin Xiaoxiao struggled to lift her eyelids, but with Xiao Weizhi's gentle patting, she turned over and fell asleep again.
When she opened her eyes and woke up, it was already 11:30 in the morning.
Lin Xiaoxiao was in a drowsy state, sitting on the soft bed in a daze, staring blankly at the unfamiliar room, when she suddenly woke up with a start.
Then it dawned on me that this was Xiao Weizhi's room.
The room they used to live in has been converted into a special room for Redtail and Treasure Mouse. Currently, there are only two soft nests, one large and one small, inside.
After returning home last night, Lin Xiaoxiao originally planned to quickly go back to her room, take a bath, and then go to sleep.
To my surprise, when I opened the door, the room was completely empty; even the bed had been moved somewhere.
Xiao Weizhi's explanation was: 'He believed that given their current relationship, they should share a room, so before returning, he informed Sister Luo and the others to pack their things from her room and move them to his.'
Lin Xiaoxiao's first reaction upon hearing this was anger. Xiao Weizhi had arranged everything without her consent.
Ultimately, after Xiao Weizhi repeatedly assured her that he would definitely consult her in advance before making any arrangements in the future, she was finally persuaded.
Lin Xiaoxiao finally calmed down.
Lin Xiaoxiao stretched on the bed, slowly moved to the edge of the bed, put on the prosthetic leg placed next to her, changed out of her pajamas, put on the light purple dress folded and placed on the chair next to her, and slowly walked downstairs.
The downstairs area was deserted; there wasn't a soul in sight. Even Uncle Jiang, who usually stayed in the living room, was nowhere to be found.
Sister Luo walked in from the backyard carrying a small potted plant.
Seeing Lin Xiaoxiao get up, she immediately put down the potted plant she was holding in an open space and took out a walkie-talkie from her pocket: "Old Wang, quick, Miss Lin is up."
After a flurry of activity, Lin Xiaoxiao sat down in the dining room, with several of her favorite Sichuan dishes in front of her.
She grabbed her chopsticks with her right hand and reached for the spicy hot pot, praising as she ate, "Uncle Wang's cooking skills are getting better and better, thumbs up!"
Sister Luo stood beside him, her eyes crinkling with a smile: "Old Wang will definitely be very happy to hear your praise."
Halfway through the meal, Xiao Weizhi's pager ringed.
Lin Xiaoxiao answered the video chat, and a 40-centimeter-tall, half-body ghost image was projected into the air.
Xiao Weizhi, dressed in a gray suit, glanced at the food in front of her and frowned slightly: "Why is everything spicy? Don't you want to hurt your throat?"
Lin Xiaoxiao picked up a big mouthful of spicy chicken and stuffed it into her mouth, nodding as she chewed: "Yes, yes, I'll eat less."
Xiao Weizhi was amused and annoyed by Lin Xiaoxiao's insistence on having something while she was still stuffing it into her mouth.
He turned to Sister Luo and instructed her, "Sister Luo, prepare some medicine to reduce internal heat later, and make sure she drinks it all."
Lin Xiaoxiao swallowed the food in her mouth, ignored him, and continued to pick up food.
Seeing her cheeks bulging from eating, Xiao Weizhi smiled slightly and said, "Change your clothes after you finish eating. I'll have someone come pick you up. There's an auction tonight, come and see if there's anything that interests you."
After briefly explaining the situation, Xiao Weizhi hung up the phone and went back to work.
After the meal, under Sister Luo's watchful gaze, Lin Xiaoxiao drank a dose of extremely bitter medicine to reduce internal heat.
She then spent some time reading in the study, lingering until after 5 p.m.
She changed into a black silk slip dress, draped a brown woven shawl over her shoulders, and boarded the flying car heading to the auction.
Since the dress didn't have pockets, Lin Xiaoxiao chose a woven handbag with an open top and put Red Tail and Treasure Mouse inside.
When the flying car arrived at the auction house, Xiao Weizhi was already standing at the door waiting.
Standing with him were his four childhood friends and their female companions.
Xiao Weizhi walked to the car door, reached out to help Lin Xiaoxiao out of the car, and then picked up a shawl from the seat and draped it over her shoulders.
He took the bag containing the red-tailed rat and the treasure-hunting mouse from her hand and carried it in his left hand.
After completing all this, he put his arm around Lin Xiaoxiao and walked towards the auction house entrance.
Gu Qingqi, holding Wen Feifei's hand, greeted her with a smile: "Oh, it's been a long time, Xiaoxiao, you've become more and more beautiful lately."
Lin Xiaoxiao responded with a warm smile: "Thank you for the compliment! It's been a long time, Mr. Gu and Ms. Wen."
Wen Feifei patted Gu Qingqi's arm, signaling him not to take it as a joke, and said with a gentle smile, "It's been a long time, Miss Lin."
After greeting Shen Bi'an, Lu Xumo, and Pei Shuyan one by one, Lin Xiaoxiao was about to greet their girlfriends when Xiao Weizhi put his arm around her shoulder and led her inside.
Lin Xiaoxiao asked, puzzled, "Don't you know your childhood friends' girlfriends?"
Xiao Weizhi slowed her pace, her voice calm: "You don't need to know them."
No need to know them? Why?
Lin Xiaoxiao, filled with confusion, was led into the [Tianxing Auction House] to a large booth relatively close to the auction stage.
This Tianxing Auction House is different from the previous auction houses.
Instead of being divided into floors, there were many booths of various sizes in a huge venue.
The booths closer to the auction stage are larger and more luxurious; the booths further back are smaller and more ordinary; until the last open space, there are hundreds of simple stools with backrests.
As soon as Xiao Weizhi and Lin Xiaoxiao sat down, the waiter immediately placed drinks, dried fruit, and a tablet to introduce the auction catalog on the table.
Xiao Wei put his hand on Lin Xiaoxiao's shoulder, took the tablet handed to him by the waiter, and asked in a low voice, "Would you like something to drink?"
Lin Xiaoxiao shook her head: "I'm not thirsty."
Redtail sat in her lap, turning its head around and its round eyes scanning the auction room.
The treasure-hunting hamster sat in the bag, munching on the fruits Lin Xiaoxiao had given it, looking like an ordinary pet hamster, seemingly indifferent to everything except eating.
Not long after, Xiao Weizhi’s four childhood friends followed closely behind and came in with their female companions. They each found a suitable seat in the booth.
Gu Qingqi plopped down next to Xiao Weizhi and complained irritably, "Weizhi, why did you run so fast?"
Xiao Weizhi put his arm around Lin Xiaoxiao and looked at the auction items on the tablet without even looking up: "You're tired, come in and sit down."
Gu Qingqi took the tablet from the waiter and then handed it to Wen Feifei beside him.
He picked up a glass of water from the table and gulped down most of it: "Oh!"
The room remained silent for more than ten minutes before everyone started chatting after reading the descriptions of the items to be auctioned.
Shen Bi'an chuckled and teased, "Weizhi, tell us first what you plan to film, so we can avoid you, you nouveau riche."
Xiao Weizhi leaned against Lin Xiaoxiao and reached out to loosen the tie around his neck a little: "It's not certain yet, we'll see later."
Lu Xumo seemed uninterested in the auction, simply drinking a glass of water in silence.
Pei Shuyan crossed his arms and looked at the red tail in Lin Xiaoxiao's arms with great interest.
Lin Xiaoxiao felt uneasy under Pei Shuyan's gaze and subconsciously squeezed closer to Xiao Weizhi.
Just as Xiao Weizhi frowned and was about to speak up to remind him.
Wen Feifei put down her tablet and gently reminded him, "Shuyan, staring at a lady like that is not gentlemanly behavior."
Pei Shuyan then realized his rash behavior and raised his glass to Lin Xiaoxiao with an embarrassed smile: "Well, sister-in-law, I didn't mean anything by it, I'm just very interested in the pet you're holding."
A glint of shrewdness flashed in Wen Feifei's eyes as she shifted her posture, elegantly crossing her legs as she spoke: "Interested in pet beasts? Why not ask Xiaoxiao if she's willing to part with some? She has a batch of pet beast eggs that I appraise and consign."
"But she did not authorize me to sell those gold-grade pet eggs."
Take it back? Authorize it? She didn't.
Since the batch of beast eggs was sent to Wen Feifei's appraisal center, she has not inquired about the follow-up matters, and Xiao Weizhi has been helping to handle everything else.
(Although Lin Xiaoxiao could detect the attributes of the beast eggs herself, she did not have the skill of imprinting the detection information. After discussing with Xiao Weizhi, she decided to send them all to Wen Feifei's shop for identification.)
Pei Shuyan immediately looked at Lin Xiaoxiao: "Sister-in-law, do you have any plans to sell?"
Lin Xiaoxiao reached out and nudged Xiao Weizhi beside her, whispering, "Speak."
Xiao Weizhi's gaze swept over Wen Feifei and the others present, and he said with a half-smile, "Feifei, this is not very kind of you. Xiaoxiao entrusted the items to you for appraisal, and you just openly announced it in public. Doesn't that violate the appraisal protection regulations?"
Upon hearing this, Consort Wen's smile froze instantly.
She had been staring at the three gold-grade beast eggs for a long time, but because she hadn't received authorization, she could only watch the treasures right in front of her, unable to move them.
They originally thought that since Lin Xiaoxiao was young, they could easily obtain the authorization to sell the product by simply saying it in public and playing the friendship card.
He just didn't expect Xiao Weizhi to take the initiative to take on this matter and stand up for Lin Xiaoxiao.
Gu Qingqi sensed that the atmosphere was a bit off, so he immediately smiled and tried to smooth things over: "Hey, it's rare for us to get together today, let's not talk about work here, let's arrange to chat another time when we're free."
Xiao Weizhi glanced at Gu Qingqi, who was trying to smooth things over, and chuckled. Considering it was out of respect for his childhood friend, he decided to let the matter drop: "Okay, let's not talk about 'work' tonight."
The word "work" was emphasized by two points.
These words immediately eased the tense atmosphere at the scene.
Lin Xiaoxiao, the person involved, was unaware of their subtle probing and rejection; she simply stared blankly at the empty auction stage in front of her, where no one was standing.
The auction then began quickly, with the items starting at the lowest grade, bronze.
The guys present were all uninterested and had no intention of holding up a sign.
We randomly picked a topic to chat about, and somehow the conversation drifted to Chen Zhuoran's Rising Sun Squad:
Just recently, Xiao Weizhi took Longya into the A-level secret realm.
Around the same time, Chen Zhuoran led the D-level Rising Sun Squad into a C-level secret realm, along with more than a hundred other teams of similar level.
However, something happened in the middle, and more than a hundred teams were inexplicably wiped out in that C-level secret realm.
Not only did the entire Rising Sun team emerge alive, they even obtained the core of the secret realm and raised their team level to C.
After review by the operations department, no irregularities were found, and the incident was ultimately attributed to good luck for Rising Sun.
The crowd's exclamations reflected their own desire for such incredible luck.
Lin Xiaoxiao and Xiao Weizhi's expressions looked somewhat strange.
Lin Xiaoxiao deduced that it was probably due to the protagonist's halo or something similar, since anything that goes against the male and female leads or is coveted by the female lead will eventually end up in the protagonist's hands.
Xiao Weizhi frowned, thinking that Liu Duoxin's strange behavior of seemingly being able to absorb people's luck had started again.
As the auction progressed, Lin Xiaoxiao took a liking to a silver-grade ruby necklace that could enhance fire-type attack attributes.
She held up her auction paddle: "Two hundred thousand gold coins."
The next second, in a booth not far from them, a woman raised her auction paddle: "Two hundred and twenty thousand gold coins."
Immediately afterwards, Lin Xiaoxiao raised her sign again: "Two hundred and fifty thousand gold coins."
The two of them were like they were in a competition, one lifting up and the other immediately following suit.
They managed to raise the price of this silver-grade ruby necklace to over 700,000 gold coins, more than double the original price.
Xiao Weizhi gently stroked Lin Xiaoxiao's hair and asked with a smile, "You like rubies? Then I'll buy you more in the future."
Lin Xiaoxiao shook her head: "It's alright. Don't you think this necklace would look really good on Hongwei's neck?"
If it were the previous Lin Xiaoxiao, she definitely wouldn't have done something as wasteful as spending over 700,000 gold coins to buy a ruby necklace with attack attributes for Hongwei.
But after experiencing that A-level secret realm and using tens of millions of gold coins as ammunition, she gradually became numb to the size of the gold coin numbers, only feeling that 700,000 was acceptable.
Xiao Weizhi glanced at the red tail sitting in her lap, wagging its six tails incessantly, and nodded: "Hmm, you have good taste."
Their conversation, which they didn't huddle in, reached the ears of the people present.
Everyone stared in astonishment at Lin Xiaoxiao and Xiao Weizhi.
A necklace worth 700,000 gold coins for a pet? These two spendthrifts are truly a perfect match.
Although they are well-off, they are not extravagant enough to spend money like this.
Luckily, these people didn't know that Lin Xiaoxiao's attack skill used gold coins as bullets, otherwise their eyes would have popped out of their sockets in shock.
The female companions brought by Shen Bi'an, Lu Xumo, and Pei Shuyan all looked at Lin Xiaoxiao with negative emotions such as jealousy, envy, and resentment.
Xiao Weizhi spread his hands at them, his tone somewhat smug: "Don't look down on me, our Xiaoxiao is a little rich girl. She can buy whatever she likes with her own money."
The resources found in the A-level secret realm alone, if converted into gold coins, would amount to at least 28 million gold coins deposited into Lin Xiaoxiao's account.
Lin Xiaoxiao nudged his waist with her elbow, signaling him not to get too cocky.
Just then, the treasure-hunting mouse, which was eating in the bag, seemed to sense something, stopped chewing, and its small body kept turning left and right, its dark, beady eyes full of doubt.
As the auction time passed, Xiao Weizhi continued his previous habit, bidding on countless protective items at any cost.
Until the last special product appeared.
A beautiful auctioneer in a cheongsam stands beside a kind-looking middle-aged man in a black suit.
A middle-aged man stood beside the auctioneer, holding a long, flat, black wooden box that was 60 centimeters long, 40 centimeters wide, and 30 centimeters high in both hands.
The beautiful auctioneer's voice came from the stage: "The next item is a bit special. It is a small shawl made of special monster fur. Although it is of bronze grade, it has a special attribute: luck value +3."
"It is said that after this shawl was made, it was tested by the maker. Wearing it would allow you to find gold coins wherever you went; a silver-level bracer item was once found in a bronze-level BOSS chest."
As the auctioneer introduced the item, a middle-aged man wearing white gloves carefully lifted the small, medium-sized shawl made of colorful fur patchwork from the box and displayed it to the crowd.
The treasure-hunting mouse looked up blankly, staring at the fluffy shawl with its beady eyes.
It had a strange feeling that the cloak looked very familiar, but it didn't know where it had seen it before.
Suddenly, the middle-aged man's gaze swept over the booth where Lin Xiaoxiao and the others were. His amiable smile deepened, giving off a strangely eerie feeling.
The auction that followed became very lively, with a constant stream of people raising their paddles.
In just a few minutes, the price of this fur shawl jumped from 200,000 gold coins to tens of millions of gold coins.
It was eventually bought by a gentleman in the next booth for over 11 million gold coins.
Just as the middle-aged man was delivering the shawl and passing by Lin Xiaoxiao and her group's booth, he suddenly struck up a conversation: "Miss, your hamster looks really cute. May I ask its name?"
When the middle-aged man struck up a conversation with her, Lin Xiaoxiao didn't reveal the name "Treasure Hunt." Instead, she cautiously replied, "Its name is Rat."
"Shushu? What a nice name." The middle-aged man seemed to approve of the name, his smile still kind and gentle.
After exchanging greetings, the middle-aged man walked over and carried the box to the next booth, then turned and left.
Lin Xiaoxiao was left behind, looking both wary and confused, while the others in the booths looked equally puzzled.
After leaving the auction house, the middle-aged man stood at the entrance, took out an anonymous communicator from his pocket, and said to the other end, "Found it, bring it back."
A voice responded from the other end, and a wisp of blue smoke appeared out of thin air from the communicator in the middle-aged man's hand, accompanied by crackling electrical currents; the communicator was officially rendered unusable.
After the auction ended, on her way home, Lin Xiaoxiao felt inexplicably uneasy.
She was somewhat agitated, holding Redtail in her arms, twisting and turning, her bottom feeling like she was sitting on a nail, unable to sit still.
Xiao Weizhi put down the documents in her hand, turned her head, and asked softly, "What is it?"
Lin Xiaoxiao took a deep breath and turned to look at him: "I don't know why, but I feel very uneasy, as if something is about to happen."
Xiao Weizhi reached out and took her hand, gently comforting her, "Is it because you're too tired today that you're imagining things?"
Lin Xiaoxiao gently shook her head: "I don't know either, I just feel inexplicably panicked."
She was completely baffled by this unexpected anxiety.
However, this premonition was soon confirmed.
The next morning.
Xiao Weizhi received a message from an elder of the Liu family, who wanted to apologize for Liu Duoxin's previous behavior.
Xiao Weizhi had originally refused their visit in a stern voice.
Unexpectedly, the Liu family somehow found connections that allowed Xiao Weizhi's grandfather, who was at the nursing home, to speak up, saying, "Please let Xiao Weizhi meet with the Liu family for the sake of his deceased grandmother."
It was at this time that Lin Xiaoxiao learned the inside story of the engagement: it turned out that Xiao Weizhi and Liu Duoxin's engagement was because his grandmother and Liu Duoxin's grandmother were close friends when they were young, and thus arranged their marriage when they were children.
Liu Duoxin sat on the sofa, arms crossed over her chest, legs crossed and legs raised high, looking impatient, as if she were back in her own home.
She spoke as if it were perfectly natural: "Sister Luo, didn't I say before that I only drink black tea brewed with 90-degree water and served cooled to 55 degrees? Also, where is my favorite cup? Why are you giving me this ordinary stuff?"
Sister Luo looked helplessly at Xiao Weizhi, who was sitting in the main seat.
The young master had already instructed them to throw away everything Miss Liu had used. Where were they supposed to find Miss Liu's favorite cups and utensils at this last minute?
Xiao Weizhi sat in the main seat and waved to Sister Luo, indicating that she didn't need to worry about it.
He stared coldly at Liu Duoxin and her parents, his voice devoid of any emotion: "What do you want from me? Speak."
Liu Duoxin's mother patted her reproachfully, and when she looked at Xiao Weizhi, her expression became somewhat obsequious: "Weizhi, you and our Xinxin have grown up together since you were little."
Liu's mother paused, her gaze sweeping over Lin Xiaoxiao sitting next to Xiao Weizhi. She slightly raised her chin, gave a cold snort, and looked down on her.
When she turned to face Xiao Wei, her face once again became obsequious: "Even if we're not together in the future, we'll still be like brother and sister. Could you please, for the sake of my late grandmother, continue to give us those orders that were canceled?"
Mr. Liu, sitting to the side, nodded repeatedly: "Yes, yes, Weizhi, we had no other choice but to swallow our pride and come to you."
Xiao Wei scoffed. "No way?"
Over the years, his excuses haven't changed at all: first, he said it was because of his grandmother's influence; then, it was because of their long-standing relationship and friendship; and finally, he said there was nothing he could do.
Upon seeing Xiao Weizhi's sneer, Liu Duoxin immediately bristled and jumped up from the sofa: "Xiao Weizhi, what do you mean? How dare you look down on my parents?"
Xiao Weizhi stared coldly at Liu Duoxin: "Miss Liu, if I remember correctly, this is my home. Is it appropriate for you to throw a tantrum here?"
Liu Duoxin was initially taken aback, then swept the cup off the table with a wave of her hand, and pointed at Lin Xiaoxiao angrily: "I grew up here, can't I even speak here? What, does this cripple call the shots now?"
Broken porcelain shards were scattered all over the ground.
Lin Xiaoxiao helplessly tugged at her skirt, carefully avoiding moving left and right to dodge the broken porcelain shards under her feet.
What does it have to do with her? They can chat, why are they insulting her?
He insisted on calling her down to keep him company, even though they were already exhausted from talking.
That's going too far; this is collateral damage.
Xiao Weizhi's breathing became heavier, and the coldness in her eyes intensified: "Yes, the Xiao family mansion is now under her control."
“Miss Liu, from the moment the engagement was dissolved, there was no longer any relationship between us. The reason I allowed you to use the Xiao family’s name before was because of the past relationship between my grandmother and my grandmother.”
"Since you don't appreciate the preferential treatment I, Xiao, have given you, I will arrange for someone to make this public and clarify the situation later."
Liu Duoxin's eyes widened suddenly. She never expected Xiao Weizhi to say such a thing. As if she couldn't accept it, she stomped her feet a few times and then turned and ran away from this unbearable place.
Liu's parents first apologized to Xiao Weizhi, and then chased after Liu Duoxin as they left.
Lin Xiaoxiao reached out and poked Xiao Weizhi, who was in a bad mood, to show him the mess on the ground: "I told you before that I wouldn't come down. You insisted that I come down, and now look what happened."
Xiao Weizhi grabbed Lin Xiaoxiao's right hand, which was poking around, and said with a half-smile, "If you don't come down, what if you think that Miss Liu and I are going to rekindle our old flame?"
Lin Xiaoxiao looked a little embarrassed. She remembered when she had just met Xiao Weizhi, and based on the description in the book, she always felt that he loved Liu Duoxin very much.
She always finds opportunities, whether she has free time or not, to subtly advise him on things like: the highest form of love is letting go; if you want to win him back, you can try a gentler approach; girls all like gentle men...
Who would have thought that reality would be 'slightly' different from the story?
The biggest contrast is that Xiao Weizhi is not as infatuated as in the story; instead, he seems to have some reservations about Liu Duoxin.
She smiled sheepishly and pretended not to hear anything.
The mess in the living room was quickly cleaned up, and Xiao Weizhi returned to his study to handle some business.
More than two hours later, Lin Xiaoxiao, covered in sweat, suddenly pushed open the study door, her expression panicked: "Weizhi, the treasure hunt is gone."
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Author's Note: I'm so sorry, I always check every upload carefully, but unfortunately, my eyesight is terrible. Sometimes, even after looking repeatedly, I still can't spot the typo hidden right under my nose. [crying][crying][clasped hands][clasped hands]
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