CH 32

Inside the private room, Mu Yuanfeng leisurely sipped his tea, “The one who competed with that little girl from the Shui family for the Ice Lotus Water before seems to be Chen Moran from the Chen family.”

“It’s him.” Mu Yuanhang said with a light smile. 

”There is little joy but ever more regrets in life, who would in order to save a thousand pounds of gold forsake a lady's smile? Chen Moran is quite the gentleman!” Mu Yuanfeng slightly teased.

“That’s right.” echoed Mu Yuanhang.

“Gentleman? To be so extravagant and generous for a shuang’er, it’s ridiculous.” Mu Ke said with a sullen look.

Mu Yuanfeng lowered his head and sighed with relief. His son used to be even more wilful than Chen Moran. Just now, Mu Yuanfeng had been worried that Mu Chen would jump out to bid. Fortunately, he didn’t.

Mu Yuanhang looked at Mu Yuanfeng with his brows slightly knitted. Mu Chen used to be quite unbridled, but now his attitude has changed.

“……”

Inside the Chen family’s private room.

Chen Hansheng said coldly, “Chaohe, how do you discipline your son? You let your son fight with the little princess of the Shui family to please a shuang’er, what a joke!”

Seeing the gloating eyes of his brothers, Chen Chaohe turned red with shame, “It’s my fault for not disciplining him properly, I will definitely educate him adequately in the future.”

Chen Hansheng nodded and said in a cold voice: “He is not young anymore. Mu Chen of the Mu family knows how to improve and stop fooling around, but he is still like this.” 

“Moran is just a child at heart. Even that Mu Chen can change, he will change too.” Chen Chaohe said.

Chen Hansheng looked at him sullenly, “I hope so.”

…………

“Next it’s a second-grade alchemy furnace, the Purple Cloud Furnace, with a starting price of five hundred spirit stones.” A purple alchemy furnace was placed on the stage, the surface was decorated with a pattern of clouds, making it look quite lavish. 

As soon as the auctioneer’s voice fell, someone raised the price to one thousand.

Mu Chen’s face instantly tensed up and he shouted directly, “Two thousand.”

The price of two thousand spirit stones didn’t deter the crowd, and the price quickly rose to three thousand spirit stones.

Mu Ke raised an eyebrow, “Chen’er seems to be calling for a price. What does he want to do with the alchemy furnace?“ 

Mu Yuanfeng smiled, “He seems to have recently become interested in alchemy and he is clamoring for an alchemy furnace.”

Mu Ke was surprised, “Oh, he’s interested in alchemy?”

Mu Yuanfeng nodded, “Yes!”

“It’s not easy to refine pills! Many people have poured out their families’ fortune, but they have not come up with any results.” Mu Yuanhang said coolly. 

“Chen’er is Yuanfeng’s son. With the help of his hands-on teaching, it will be easier for him to become an alchemist than ordinary people. When the time comes, we will have two alchemists in the family. That’ll be quite enviable.” Muke touched his beard, full of anticipation.

“Father is right.” Mu Yuanhang echoed.

“It is still too early to say. Perhaps Chen’er interest will be short-lived.” Mu Yuanfeng said. 

Alchemy requires absolute patience. Mu Yuanfeng was not too confident that Mu Chen would be able to persevere, but it was better for him to be interested in refining pills than in women.

“Three thousand four hundred.”

At this point in the bidding, the callings gradually slowed down.

“Three thousand five hundred.” Mu Chen said. 

Ye Shi looked at Mu Chen’s red face, took out the card in his hand, and handed it to him, saying, “There’s still a thousand here.”

Mu Chen struggled for a moment and then pushed the card back to Ye Shi, “That’s for you to spend, I’m not using it.”

“Three thousand six hundred.”

“Three thousand eight hundred.” Shouting out this price, Mu Chen’s heart immediately rose to his throat. 

Fortunately, after he shouted out this price, no one called another bid.

Mu Chen breathed a sigh of relief, “That was close.” If the price went any higher, he would have had to give up or ask Ye Shi to borrow some.

Ye Shi looked at Mu Chen, blinked, and said, “You’re sweating a lot.”

Mu Chen raised his eyebrows and teased, “Really? Just wipe it for me.” 

Ye Shi hesitated for a moment before stretching out his sleeve to wipe the sweat on his forehead. Mu Chen originally only wanted to tease him, so Ye Shi’s action made him feel a bit at a loss.

Ye Shi looked at Mu Chen’s disorientated look, hooked the corner of his mouth, and secretly thought: Mu Chen, in fact, is not as nasty as the rumors say….

…………

Shui Linglong looked at the private room upstairs, tapped her finger on the table, and said, “Is the one who just shouted the price, Mu Chen?” 

Shui Qiancheng nodded, “It should be him.”

Shui Linglong narrowed her eyes, “That guy used to be around Zhuang Yu all the time, but lately, it seems that he can’t even see him anymore.”

Shui Qiancheng shrugged, “I heard that he has changed a lot recently and he’s progressing rapidly, so Zhuang Yu has been left behind.”

Shui Linglong snorted, “Changed his character? Advancing? A leopard cannot change its spots, he is just like that but he still wants to make progress?“ 

“You shouldn’t say that. I saw him on the street some time ago and found that he is already a martial warrior.” Shui Qiancheng said.

Shui Linglong’s eyes widened in surprise, “A martial warrior?”

Shui Qiancheng nodded, “Yes!”

“I wonder if it was Mu Yuanfeng who used pills to boost Mu Chen’s strength.” Shui Linglong didn’t think much of it. 

Shui Qiancheng shook his head, “No, Mu Yuanfeng is an alchemist, so he wouldn’t be unaware of the dangers of abusing pills.”

Shui Linglong tilted her head, “In that case, Mu Chen really knows how to improve.”

Shui Qiancheng nodded, “It seems so.”

“It’s really surprising.” Shui Linglong couldn’t help but say. 

…………

“The person who bought the alchemy furnace just now seems to be Mu Chen!” Zhuang Yu said.

Chen Moran nodded, “It should be him.”

“Is he interested in alchemy?” Zhuang Yu muttered. 

Chen Moran smiled forcedly, “Don’t you know him yet? He always has three minutes' short-lived zeal in everything he does.“

Zhuang Yu laughed, “He used to be like this, but recently he doesn’t seem to be the same.”

When Chen Moran heard this, he felt a little bit more hatred for Mu Chen in his heart. 

…………

Mu Chen held the alchemy furnace and observed it carefully. Just this broken furnace had emptied his entire fortune!

No wonder people say that alchemy is a money-burning activity! He hadn’t even started yet, and his pockets were already empty.

“Do you want to learn alchemy?” Ye Shi asked, holding his chin. 

Mu Chen nodded, “Yes!”

“That’s lucrative, but it’s not clear whether you’ll have any money in the future.” Ye Shi couldn’t help but say.

Muchen tilted his head, “Why do you say that?”

Ye Shi shrugged, “Everyone says that alchemy is a job for rich people and that “poor ten rich one”.  Meaning that eleven rich people refine pills, ten of them become poor, and only one gets richer.” 

Mu Chen smiled and said confidently, “I will become that rich one…”

Ye Shi wasn’t impressed, “Those ten soon-to-be poor people thought the same thing before they started refining pills.“

Mu Chen: “……”

The auction gradually came to an end, and soon the first of the three treasures in the finale came out. The Rejuvenation Pill, a third-grade pill that could instantly replenish the vital energy of a martial spirit to 70% of their original level. It was a very precious pill and it was sold for 100,000 spirit stones. 

After the Rejuvenation Pill was sold, a third-grade demon core of the Green Underworld Snake was auctioned off for 150,000 spirit stones.

The final item up for auction was a lower Xuan-grade Fighting Technique, which was sold for 300,000 spirit stones.

Ye Shi stared blankly, stunned by the sky-high auction prices.

Seeing that the auction was over, Mu Chen took Ye Shi’s hand and said, “Let’s go.” 

It took Ye Shi a long time to recover from the shock, but when he saw that Mu Chen was holding his hand, he didn’t struggle and followed him out.

When Mu Ke came out of the private room, he saw Mu Chen and Ye Shi walking out of the auction house, hand in hand.

“Who is that man beside Chen’er? That dagger was bought for him, wasn’t it?” Mu Ke said frowning, his face a little gloomy.

Mu Yuanfeng smiled and said, “Father, you have forgotten that you once arranged a child marriage for Chen’er, and that was that boy from the Ye family.” 

Mu Ke was stunned for a moment, “That was the Ye family’s shuang’er? He looks a bit like Ye He. Since he’s here, why hasn’t he come to the mansion?”

Mu Yuanfeng smiled, “That boy is high-minded, he should have his own considerations.”

“Looking at Mu Chen’s appearance, he seems to like that child very much!” Mu Ke said with a somewhat complicated look on his face.

Mu Yuanfeng nodded, “Yes! Chen’er is very satisfied with him.” 

“It’s good that Chen’er likes him.” Mu Ke said with a sigh of relief.