"My name is Xiao Wan, what's yours? … Then we're friends from now on, okay? …"
"Don't worry, I won't leave you behind …"
…
The crisp voice of the girl.
The expanse of scarlet blood spreading across the chest and abdomen.
The severe pain of something heavy falling on his chest and head.
His mind was in chaos, only the blurry face of the girl seeming near and far.
In the last second before losing consciousness, he saw a point of bright red beneath the corner of the girl's eye.
It was unclear if it was a speck of blood that had splattered or a natural red mole.
The sky suddenly turned black.
…
It felt as if a thousand-pound hammer repeatedly struck his head, each blow heavier than the last.
With the pain rushing in, his vision began to darken; Lu Changchuan forcefully grabbed onto the doorframe, barely managing to steady himself.
Green veins stood out on the back of his hand and neck.
"Ninth master …"
Lu Changchuan raised his hand, and the anxious voices around him suddenly went silent.
The noise of the auction hall was replaced by a sultry and brisk voice.
"This is an ancient martial token passed down from the ancestors of the Ye family. It is said that there are four more such tokens. Whoever collects all five tokens can unearth an unparalleled treasure."
"The Ye family has gone bankrupt; I'll auction off this ancient martial token for one yuan. As the party B, the token guardian, I will comply with any work arrangement by party A for two years. In return, party A will pay off my debt of one hundred million yuan. Upon the expiry, I will repay the debt with interest and retrieve the token. Otherwise, I am at the disposal of party A."
"One hundred million? For a piece of junk metal, is it worth one hundred million? What a joke!"
"Haven't you heard that Miss Ye is the token guardian? With the token, heh heh …"
"That's not the way to put it. If the Ye family were as glorious as before, not to mention one hundred million, I'd pay ten billion and it would be worth it. But now … Miss Ye, you're overestimating your own market value!"
"Drop a zero, and everything is negotiable. What do you say, Miss Ye?"
The men below stared at the queen's throne under the spotlight, their eyes infatuated.
…
Clasping a black velvet tray, the girl in the wine-red slip dress was breathtakingly beautiful.
Under the seaweed-like black curls, her exposed shoulders and arms glowed with a white radiance.
The girl just looked quietly at the audience below, yet every single person felt as though she was looking right at them.
Her clear, profound black eyes were at times innocent, at times beguiling, as if the transcendental ethereal quality and the captivating allure were just a gaze away.
And that red mole beneath the corner of her eye added a touch of enchanting charm.
"Seducer!"
Some women cursed under their breath, "If it's to sell the token, why not leave it to the auctioneer? Why show up on the stage yourself?"
"Exactly, selling the ancient martial token for one yuan, with it come to this, why keep up the pretense?"
…
The men were rowdily asking for a price reduction, while the women spewed venom. Ten minutes into the auction, not a single person had raised a paddle.
The auctioneer, with a dark face, turned to Ye Wan: Don't forget, whether it sells or not, you still owe the ten thousand yuan service fee!
I got it, I got it, keep up the selling, will you!
Ye Wan's eyes were almost twitching in irritation!
"Two yuan!"
Among the din, someone at the end of the second floor lifted a paddle in front of their reserved room.
The voice carried a laziness and smugness of someone holding a winning ticket.
Ye Wan looked up.
Unsurprisingly, it was Guan Jifeng, the top agent from Huachen Media known as the "golden abacus."
"Congratulations, President Guan. Signing a 10-year ironclad deal, just off Ye Wan alone, you're about to make a killing!"
"I think it won't take 10 years... With Miss Ye's qualifications, it'll take three to five years max to earn enough retirement money for you, President Guan!"
"Rumor has it, the items making it to this auction have their extraordinary secrets. Last year, that broken piece of stone that came up looked like an ordinary stone, but who knew it contained a whole piece of supreme imperial green jade. President Sun, who bid 5 million for that junk stone, everyone laughed at him for being a fool. Then he just turned it around and made a net profit of three billion, three billion you know... President Guan, does this ancient martial token have any origin? Surely you didn't bid on it just for Ye Wan's sake?"
…
The teasing from the second floor spread to the first, and the auctioneer, after surveying the room, lifted the auction hammer.
"Two yuan once, two yuan twice, two yuan …"
"One hundred million yuan!"
The cold voice came down from above just as the auctioneer visibly flinched, and the hammer clanged down, hitting his foot.
Tears spurted out in an instant.
In the vast auction hall, there was silence.
That voice, was it from the... third floor?
One hundred million yuan?
Plus the one hundred million yuan of debt from the contract that was supposed to be paid off for Ye Wan, that would be two hundred million yuan!
A two hundred million yuan token?
Or a two hundred million yuan seducer?
Tsk tsk tsk …
In the midst of the silence, Ye Wan looked up tearfully towards the third floor: Sure enough, someone knows the goods!
Ye Mengmeng, did you see that?
It didn't fall through!!!