“Your Senior Brother Situ is talking drivel.” Duan Yue turned to smile at Qiao Mu. “He for sure made a wild guess.”
Yet Situ Yi waved his hand. “Don’t listen to Duan Yue speak nonsense. Little Junior Sister, a single glance was all I needed to see through your immutable expression. How was a wild guess even necessary!”
Qiao Mu subconsciously touched her small face and thought: Looks like the next time I use a facial disguise, I have to take note of this. It’s best if I can produce an expressive face to avoid spilling the beans immediately.
Seeing the little fellow’s pondering expression, Mo Lian couldn’t resist lifting his eyebrow. “What are you thinking with such a serious expression. You couldn’t be thinking that you should produce an expressive facial disguise to fool me next time??”
Duan Yue: …
Qiao Mu immediately turned her head aside with a guilty conscience and walked to the door without leave, promptly stepping out.
Meanwhile, the quarrel taking place at the foot of the stairs grew louder and louder. Zheng Cao, with his hands behind his back, had been blocked at the stairs, and he was so angry that his face was already starting to turn green.
The manager of Morning Sunlight Pavilion’s capital branch was a middle-aged man over forty years old. He sported an amiable face that begot wealth and had a smooth and slick tongue, stifling Zheng Cao, who was threatening to flare up, into becoming short of breath with merely several sentences.
“All the private boxes upstairs have already been reserved. Other people made reservations three days ago. Naturally, our Morning Sunlight Pavilion can’t break the rules. The Song Estate’s Second Miss is also sitting in the main hall downstairs right now. We don’t have a choice either. It’s truly because too many people have come to participate in the auction this time around.”
Zheng Cao was infuriated into sweeping his sleeves. “Let’s go!”
Zheng Cao led Second Manager Qi downstairs in a huff, wishing for nothing more than to leave Morning Sunlight Pavilion right away.
They actually dared to have him, State Uncle Zheng, sit in the main hall to fight with a crowd of ordinary folk for the beautifying pill? When he, Zheng Cao, went to other auction houses, which one didn’t wait upon him deferentially and give him the best service possible? How would they dare treat him like how this Morning Sunlight Pavilion did? It was simply outrageous.
Following behind him, Second Manager Qi was so anxious that he was about to cry. “Master, if we leave right now, then what about the beautifying pill?”
This indeed made Zheng Cao pause before he shouted angrily, “Buy it somewhere else!”
“B-But it’s only sold here.”
“Preposterous.” In the end, however, Zheng Cao’s footsteps froze slightly, and he turned his neck stiffly while robotically pivoting his body. He swallowed his anger and walked towards the front row in the main hall, followed by the bowing Second Manager Qi.
“Yo, State Uncle Zheng. Most honored to meet you.” A person stood up abruptly from the front row and saluted him obsequiously.
“It’s Hong Cheng from the Hong Family.” Zheng Cao tugged the corner of his mouth into an artificial smile and subsequently sat down next to Hong Cheng.
“Did Sir Zheng come to purchase the beautifying pill for Her Highness Zheng?” Hong Cheng exchanged pleasantries and said with a smile, “My humble self also came to see this beautifying pill that has been rumored to be so fantastical.”
Recalling that Hong Cheng was also an advanced-level pill alchemist, Zheng Cao couldn’t resist inquiring, “It is said that Master Hong’s pill refining skill is out of the ordinary. Are you also able to refine this beautifying pill?”
Hong Cheng boasted proudly, “Refining a beautifying pill is naturally a walk in the park for me. However, State Uncle Zheng might be unaware that the several medicinal materials required to refine this beautifying pill are extremely difficult to gather. In particular, a high-rank medicinal material called visage-setting mushroom has basically already gone extinct on our Sikong Planet.”
Hong Cheng continued with a sigh, “Otherwise, if Sir Zheng can find this visage-setting mushroom, I definitely will be able to refine a high-rank, high-grade beautifying pill for Her Highness Zheng.”