Chapter 33 Part 1

Chu Yi hadn’t even reached the exhibition hall when someone bumped into him from behind. Yu Qingxian quickly steadied him. “Be careful!”

He then turned to Kang Zeyu, the one who had bumped him. “What are you doing?”

Kang Zeyu felt deeply uncomfortable seeing this. He gritted his teeth and glared at Chu Yi. “You’re a fraud, aren’t you? I advise you to apologize to Old Zheng while he’s still in a good mood. Otherwise, once he withdraws the exhibits, it’ll be too late for your apologies!”

He acted as if he were doing this for Chu Yi’s own good. Chu Yi had indeed scared him by revealing the Curse Mark, but then Chu Yi had made an excuse and hadn’t proceeded with the Curse Removal right away.

Kang Zeyu instantly breathed a sigh of relief. A pretty boy in his early twenties like Chu Yi surely hadn’t fully graduated from his training yet. He must have learned just a few superficial tricks and couldn’t wait to show them off.

If he couldn’t remove the curse, of course he’d make excuses to stall!

As for Zhang Dashuai, he must have only said nice things to placate him on account of his sect. Who knew how he was laughing behind his back!

“You…” Was this Kang Zeyu out of his mind?

Yu Qingxian was about to speak when Chu Yi stopped him. He lowered his sore arm from the bump, shook it lightly, and a subtle smile played on his lips. “If thinking that makes you feel better…”

He deliberately left the sentence hanging, then shrugged and grabbed President Yu’s wrist, leading him away openly.

President Yu was stunned. He followed along cooperatively while glancing down discreetly at the wrist held in the large hand. He looked up at Chu Yi and soon received a mischievous wink.

Yu Qingxian: “…”

His face remained expressionless, but a hint of amusement flashed in his phoenix eyes. How was Chu Yi so good at provoking people? If he were Kang Zeyu, he’d probably be having a heart attack by now!

But Yu Qingxian felt no sympathy for Kang Zeyu. In the past, that man’s self-righteous ramblings had left him frustrated with nowhere to vent, so he’d stewed in silence. Ever since meeting Chu Yi, the tables had turned. He had to admit, this felt pretty good.

“Sorry.” As soon as they reached the exhibition hall entrance, Chu Yi let go.

“No problem.” While Chu Yi wasn’t looking, President Yu touched his heated wrist and pursed his lips, lost in thought.

The auction soon began formally. Chu Yi noticed that the starting bids for several key items had been inflated by hundreds or even thousands of times compared to the initial listings. Was Old Zheng not planning to sell them anymore?

President Yu glanced at him and curled his lips. “Looks like you ruined everyone’s chance to snag a bargain.”

Chu Yi: “…”

He couldn’t afford them anyway, so ruining it was fine.

The Purple Wood Carving he was interested in had been quietly replaced with another item. It hadn’t drawn much attention to begin with, so no one noticed the switch.

Zheng Danrui hurried to explain. “Grandpa has already taken the Purple Wood Carving away. It’ll be sent to Master shortly.”

Chu Yi nodded. In exchange for removing the Zheng Family’s curse, accepting a Purple Flower Bamboo wasn’t much.

Of course, being too greedy would be excessive, so when he later noticed Zheng Danrui observing him and noting which items he looked at, he revealed no further interests.

Chu Yi had no money left, so he bought nothing. President Yu, however, bid on a set of Hongwu Tongbao. When the attendant delivered it, he passed it directly to Chu Yi. “With our friendship, you wouldn’t refuse, right?”

These were Chu Yi’s own words from earlier, when he’d rejected President Yu’s favor after signing Liu Shengqing. Now, President Yu had returned the line.

Chu Yi choked a bit and accepted it sheepishly. “Ahem, no next time.”

He didn’t even realize how deeply entangled he was becoming with Yu Qingxian. In the past, he’d always kept things clear-cut with favors and grudges, but now he found it harder and harder to refuse this man.

“…” Zheng Danrui felt a pang of regret. She still didn’t understand Master as well as Yu Third Young Master did and had missed a chance to please him.

After the auction ended, they followed Old Zheng’s lead to the Zheng Family Mansion.

On the way in the car, Chu Yi took the opportunity to ask Old Zheng about the grudge between him and his younger brother. Old Zheng didn’t hide anything. Though it was family scandal, he had a clear conscience.

“Back when we divided the family assets, the coal mines were making money hand over fist. By rights, the bulk should have gone to the eldest son, but my brother turned red-eyed with greed and insisted on fighting me for it, even threatening to cut ties. I didn’t want to put our parents in a difficult spot, so I stepped back, gave him the coal mines, and took the other businesses.”

Chu Yi understood by this point. Coal mines had been profitable decades ago, but now they were a shadow of their former selves. There had even been news stories about once-bustling coal towns that had turned into ghost cities.