Wu Qing had guessed wrong. Pei Xi looked down on He Chuzhou not only because of their competitive relationship in the industry, but also because of He Chuzhou as a person.

He was unlearned and blinded by lust, and after studying abroad for several years, he was still a fool when he returned. He was able to overcome all objections and take the position of leader of the He family all thanks to his father, who had absolute power back then.

As for why he was able to maintain it for so long, he relied on the assistant his father had trained for him, who would advise him on every detail.

To put it bluntly, He Chuzhou pretended to be President He, but he was actually just a big infant in a high position.

He was also a big infant who welcomed all comers, loved various types of sensual pleasure, and had an extremely chaotic private life.

With such a person as an opponent, Pei Xi only felt that it was a huge insult to himself and to Pei Group. How could he still spare him a good look?

As for the land by the river, although He Group had thus far shown no interest in participating in the competition, he wouldn’t let down his guard until it was a done deal.

After all, that military advisor of He Chuzhou’s liked nothing more than to interfere in the final stages.

Therefore, he must not leave the auction empty-handed tonight.

Knowing that many collectors had their own eccentricities and liked to collect all kinds of strange things, he did not have any expectations for tonight’s auctioned items from the start.

He was not interested in collecting. As long as he snatched a trinket at random for conversation material, this trip would not be in vain.

It was just that he hadn’t expected that Mr. Zhang’s hobbies would be so ridiculous.

Matchbox combination sets from around the world; keys of all kinds, ancient and modern, Chinese and foreign; free souvenirs from various restaurants; soil from the centers of various craters…..

Pei Xi: “…….”

The bidders around him with the same intentions: “…….”

If the crater soil was replaced by a meteorite, he wouldn’t be so reluctant.

What would he do with such a big pile of dirt when he went back?

Even though the items were all kinds of weird, there were still many people who bit the bullet and bid for them.

Seeing that the collection was getting smaller and smaller, and that the people around him had more or less acquired something, Pei Xi’s fingers tapping on his number card gradually became disordered.

He couldn’t wait much longer.

He would take the next one. As long as it didn’t take up too much space, no matter what it was, he would—

“Item twenty-six, Beetle Specimens.”

“It was reported that these are beetle specimens from all over the world that Mr. Zhang spent nearly three years meticulously collecting. There are a total of 1,298 species, with various shapes and gorgeous colors…..”

Pei Xi: “……”

Pei Xi: “……….”

He stared numbly at the densely packed insect specimens on the stage, caught in an existential crisis.

To bid?

Or not to bid?

Where would he put it after he took it?

Where could he put so many bugs without having to see them?

The beetle specimens entered the final stage of the auction, and the auctioneer began to count down. The hammer fell.

Pei Xi closed his eyes in exhaustion and put his fingers between his eyebrows, trying to get rid of the image of the beetle family that lingered in his mind.

“Item twenty-seven, Ice Seed Jadeite Bracelet.”

Pei Xi paused and looked at the auction table again.

The red cloth was removed. In the glass box on the table, a jadeite bracelet of excellent quality exuded a warm, soft luster under the lights.

The auction was coming to an end, and there was finally a normal item.

“This bracelet was purchased by Mr. Zhang from an elderly lama when he went to Tibet to do charity work five years ago. Meticulously crafted and polished from the finest raw ice seed jadeite, each jade bead is flawless. The color is clear and transparent, and it can be considered the highest quality.”

“The ice seed jadeite bracelet’s starting price is two million.”

“Two and a half.”

“Three million.”

“Five!”

“Six million.”

Pei Xi raised his hand to hold up his card: “Twenty million.”

The number of bidding calls promptly dropped by half, but there were still a few numbers added after careful consideration.

“Twenty-two million.”

“Twenty-five.”

“Thirty.”

Pei Xi didn’t want to waste time on this sort of thing and raised the card again: “Fifty million.”

Those few voices also disappeared.

Fifty million was just about right, and was not a small sum.

It wasn’t worth more than that.

The auctioneer: “President Pei bids fifty million. Everyone, are there any higher bids?”

The auctioneer raised his hand: “Fifty million, going once.”

“Fifty million, going twice.”

“Fifty million—”

“Sixty million.”

Just when there was almost no suspense about who would win the bracelet, someone in the corner suddenly raised their card.

Everyone turned their heads in surprise to look toward the source of the voice.

Near a pillar, He Chuzhou leaned back in a chair with his legs crossed. His expensive suit jacket was placed on the armrest, causing a few wrinkles.

As if he had sensed something, he tilted his head slightly, looking across the crowd to collide with another gaze.

After exchanging glances for only a moment, Pei Xi turned back with a cold face and went on to raise his number card to bid: “Seventy million.”

This price far exceeded the original value of the jadeite bracelet. Knowing that bidding was hopeless, others changed their mentality to that of watching the entertainment.

Just for a bracelet.

President Pei and President He were worthy of being industry leaders, and were indeed rich and overbearing.

He Chuzhou: “Seventy-five million.”

Pei Xi: “Eighty million.”

He Chuzhou: “Eighty-five million.”

Pei Xi: “Ninety million.”

Neither rushed nor slow, He Chuzhou said: “Ninety-five million.”

The rumor that the two did not get along was confirmed again.

Standing at the edge of the stage, Mr. Zhang hissed with aching teeth, looking back and forth between this pair of “old friends.”

They were making no concessions. His bracelet was really worth its price today.

Pei Xi’s hand slowly tightened on the number card, and in the end, he covered it on his knees, feeling as if he had a fish bone lodged in his throat.

The auctioneer’s countdown ended, and the auction hammer fell. He Chuzhou won the ice seed jadeite bracelet at the high price of nearly 100 million.

Now there were only a few items left.

Fortunately, Pei Xi’s luck was not too bad. The remaining items were normal compared to the previous ones, and at the end of the auction, he harvested a ruby stone carving.

In the end, it was not in vain. 

He gave a strained sigh of relief.

His physical discomfort was worse than during the day, and the gleaming lights in the venue dazzled him.

He really needed to rest.

The auction was over, and there would be some arrangements for entertainment and relaxation later. But for Pei Xi, there was no need to continue participating.

He stood up to leave, and a middle-aged gentleman next to him happened to stand at the same time as him. The two of them bumped into each other, and the remaining half glass of champagne in the other person’s hand spilled all over him.

“President Pei! Sorry, sorry, my apologies.”

The other party slapped his head and apologized profusely. In desperation, he tried to use his hands to help wipe away the alcohol stains.

Pei Xi was a bit irritated by such an accident, and raised his hand to stop the other party’s movements. “It’s fine.”

The man heard the resentment in his words. His hands froze midair, and he was a little embarrassed for a moment.

Fortunately, an attendant noticed the situation in time and came over to inform him that the hotel had prepared a room for every invited guest, so that they could go up and rest at any time or deal with similar emergencies.

The attendant: “There are spare clothes in the room. President Pei can go and change.”

Pei Xi took off his stained jacket and told Dong Han when he came over to tell the driver to wait at the door. Then he followed the attendant and left the venue to go upstairs under the middle-aged man’s extremely apologetic look.

*

*

“It was so mysterious that I thought it would be some great thank you gift.”

Wu Qing looked at the room card that had been thrust into He Chuzhou’s hand and sneered: “This is it? It’s cliche~ isn’t it?”

He Chuzhou picked up his jacket, held the room card between his fingers to reply to a message, and responded to Wu Qing perfunctorily: “En, en. Same old, same old.”

Wu Qing extended his neck: “Who are you talking to?”

He Chuzhou didn’t even raise his head: “Your grandma.”

Wu Qing: “ ? ”

Wu Qing: “What the hell! Why are you talking to my grandma?”

He Chuzhou turned his phone over to show him.

The message was from Ms. Chu, He Chuzou’s mother, Chu Yuelan.

The corners of Wu Qing’s mouth immediately twitched: “Fuck.”

He Chuzhou tilted his head cheerfully.

Wu Qing: “All day long you’ve been acting like my dad. Why haven’t I seen you spend over 90 million on a bracelet for this son to wear for fun?”

He Chuzhou retracted his hand: “Your grandma liked this one today. I’ll definitely get you one next time.”

Wu Qing grinded his molars and rolled his eyes, but quickly reacted: “So that jadeite bracelet is what she wants?”

He Chuzhou gave a nasal hum and continued to reply to messages.

Wu Qing was surprised: “So you didn’t deliberately steal it to go against Pei Xi?”

He Chuzhou didn’t understand: “Am I sick?”

Wu Qing clicked his tongue twice, saying with intention: “I don’t know whether or not you’re sick. In any case, a certain person must have concluded that you’re sick.”

Of course He Chuzhou knew who he was talking about. He didn’t take it to heart, and put his phone away after answering the last message: “Are you going or not?”

“Going, ah.” Wu Qing jerked his chin at the key card in his hand. “But what will you do with this thing?”

He Chuzhou tossed his jacket to him: “Wait for me at the door.”

*

*

The room was on the top floor of the hotel.

As soon as Pei Xi got out of the elevator, a drunk wandered over like a lonely soul and vomited in front of him. The turbid stench quickly spread.

Pei Xi’s footsteps paused: “…….”

The attendant was also startled and quickly informed his superior through his headset of the unexpected situation near the elevator door.

It would take a while for the person handling it to arrive, and the drunkard was so dizzy that he didn’t know where he was and almost fell into his own vomit.

Pei Xi was already feeling uncomfortable, and now he felt sick to his stomach, so he simply averted his gaze: “Give me the room card, I’ll go by myself.”

The attendant bowed to him apologetically. He struggled to support the drunk guest with one hand, and used the other hand to take out the room card and give it to him: “It’s the one at the end of the corridor.”

Pei Xi took the room card and left with haste.

There were two rooms at the end of the corridor. Pei Xi couldn’t be bothered to go back and inquire, so he first tried the one on the right. When there was no response, he went to the room on the left, and this time the door opened successfully.

The room card was inserted into the card slot, which controlled the room’s power supply, and the lights turned on.

Pei Xi closed the door and stood there pressing his brow for a moment, then walked to the closet and opened the door.

There was a regular black suit inside, a jacket, shirt, and trousers. Not even the tie was left out.

It must be said that Mr. Zhang was indeed very prepared.

The event was over and it didn’t matter if he wore the jacket or not, so Pei Xi only took the shirt.

“Wu.”

Just as he was about to unbutton his clothes, a strange muffled sound suddenly came from behind him.

Pei Xi turned his head. The room was empty. Nobody was there.

Had he misheard it?

He hesitated, then suddenly saw the quilt on the bed move slightly.

He hadn’t been paying attention when he entered the door just now. At present, he took a closer look and saw that the quilt was not spread evenly over the bed. Instead, it lifted in a long arch. It was obvious that there was something inside.

Or…..a person?

……A person?

Why was anyone in this room?

Pei Xi’s expression became a little mystified, and he walked over to stand by the bed, looking down.

No more strange sounds came from inside, but something was definitely moving.

He no longer hesitated, and began to directly lift the quilt—

“Wu, wu.”

The people on the bed had been in the dark for too long and couldn’t adapt to the sudden light, so they reflexively closed their eyes to avoid it.

Now Pei Xi could clearly see that there was a man and a woman beneath the quilt. Very little covered their bodies, and only the key parts were hidden.

The black leather fabric made their bodies look dazzlingly white. Their mouths were covered with opaque tape, and their hands and feet were loosely tied with red ribbons.

In order to keep the ribbons from unraveling, the two could only move carefully, and they looked particularly foolish. The rabbit ears on their heads and the tails below the tailbone swayed with their moments.

Pei Xi: “…….”

---

Consider donating via Kofi here.

Chapter 1 << Table of Contents >> Chapter 3