Chapter 35

By the lunar calendar, it was already late autumn in October, and the leaves on Baojin Mountain, where Yuxu Palace was located, had all turned red, presenting a beautiful scene of layers of forests dyed in red. However, for the穿越者s (time travelers) who were accustomed to the greenhouse effect and global warming, the weather that started to snow in the Gregorian calendar's November was still somewhat unfamiliar. Fortunately, after the time travel, everyone's bodies had become very strong. Although there were no modern heating facilities, lighting a charcoal fire pot and wearing new cotton clothes allowed them to adapt quite well.

At first, the few "lechers" who had beautiful companions still complained about the weather getting cold too quickly, believing that the drop in temperature greatly affected their wonderful feeling of going out for a "walk" with their companions. However, with the completion of several small wooden houses on the back mountain, their complaints were swept away. Only Wang Feng continued to complain, but his complaints were different from others. Others complained about the cold, while he complained about Zhong Xiaomei. This was because since their elders had arranged their marriage, Zhong Xiaomei's visits to Yuxu Palace had drastically decreased. She used to come every few days and stay for several days, but now she only occasionally visited her master with her father and brother.

On this day, taking advantage of Zhong Shiweng's visit to finalize the auction with Wang Xiaojun and others, Zhong Xiaomei came along under the pretext of visiting her master. Since her brother and the leaders were only discussing the auction, she found it boring and found an opportunity to leave the room. As soon as she stepped into the courtyard and took a breath of fresh air, Wang Feng appeared from somewhere, looked around furtively to see no one, and then rushed to her side, grabbed her hand, and ran up the mountain through the back door. Although Zhong Zheqi was both puzzled and blushing from his sudden action, she did not resist his pull and was led up the mountain by him.

On a gentle slope halfway up the back mountain, five small, exquisite wooden houses stood quietly, giving a sense of a utopian paradise. Zhong Zheqi looked at these small houses with confusion, not knowing why Wang Feng had brought her here. Without explaining, Wang Feng led her to the wooden house on the left in the front row, took out a key from his chest, opened the door, and pulled her inside, closing the door behind them.

The wooden house was not large, about fifteen square meters by modern standards. Inside, there was a table, two chairs, a bed, a teapot, and two teacups. On the ground, a charcoal fire pot was burning brightly, clearly prepared by Wang Feng beforehand. Suddenly being brought to such a quiet and secluded place by her lover, Zhong Zheqi was initially surprised, then seemed to understand his intentions. She felt both nervous and expectant, both uneasy and excited. Not knowing how to decide, she let her lover pull her to a chair by the table and sit down, then dared not look at him, only lowering her head and fidgeting with the hem of her clothes, anxiously waiting.

After a while, Wang Feng finally made a move. He stood up, poured a cup of tea for Zhong Zheqi, and said solemnly, "Sister Zheqi, I have a question for you, and I hope you will answer me honestly." Seeing that he did not make any excessive moves, Zhong Zheqi felt slightly relieved but also a bit disappointed. She nodded and listened to his question. Wang Feng continued, "Sister Zheqi, why have you suddenly come to Yuxu Palace so rarely lately? When you do come, you rush through and deliberately avoid me. Why is that? Have I done something to offend you, or have I done something that makes you dislike me? Why have you become distant after we got engaged? Are you unhappy with our engagement and unwilling to marry me? I hope you can speak frankly; I can't bear this situation anymore."

Wang Feng finished speaking, staring intently at Zhong Zheqi with his big eyes, afraid that she would say she disliked him and was unwilling to marry him. After all, during their previous "walks," he often made moves that were quite bold for this era, making the young beauty very embarrassed and constantly calling him a bad guy and a rogue. However, he overlooked one point: although Zhong Xiaomei often scolded him and said she would never talk to him again, she never really ignored him. She knew that coming to see him would lead to being teased and bullied, yet she still came frequently, clearly not because of his teasing. Now, deeply entangled in love, Wang Feng was already at a loss when Zhong Xiaomei suddenly stopped talking to him, and he didn't think much about it.

After hearing his question, Zhong Zheqi still kept her head down and said nothing. After a long while, Wang Feng was almost about to bow to her, but she finally released the hem of her clothes, which she had been fidgeting with, and raised her head, her face flushed, and said in a voice barely louder than a mosquito's, "I don't come to see you or talk to you because I dislike you, or because I don't want to marry you. It's because... because last month, on the Double Ninth Festival, Father and your cousin already arranged our marriage. According to the rules, I shouldn't see you or talk to you before the wedding. Otherwise, people would talk, and it would be embarrassing for both our families and you. So... so Father and Mother asked me to be more restrained and not to come here so often. So..."

At this point, Wang Feng no longer cared about what she said next. He knew that Zhong Zheqi did not dislike him but was avoiding him to avoid suspicion after their engagement. He was surprised that the originally carefree and indifferent Zhong Xiaomei, who had dared to privately agree to marry him and let him tease her without saying anything about propriety, had changed her nature after their engagement. He didn't know how much determination she had to do this. Looking at Zhong Zheqi, who had lowered her head again and was fidgeting with her clothes, Wang Feng felt a surge of affection. He stood up, came to her side, held her small hand, and pulled her up, then sat down in her seat and pulled her into his lap, hugging her soft body tenderly and whispering in her ear, "Good sister, it's really hard for you."

Zhong Zheqi hadn't been close to Wang Feng for a month. Now, being suddenly hugged by him, she blushed and tried to get up, saying, "Let go of me. I finally made up my mind not to see you alone before the wedding. If you keep doing this, won't my efforts for the past month be in vain?"

Wang Feng, with the soft and fragrant beauty in his arms, was not about to let go. Not only did he hold her, but he also leaned in to kiss her. Zhong Zheqi was truly helpless against his rogue behavior. However, she thought that her brother wouldn't talk to Wang Xiaojun for long, and if she stayed here too long, she would be discovered. Then, in front of her family, she would be seen as unreliable. So, while dodging Wang Feng's kisses, she pleaded with him, hoping he would let her go. In the end, Wang Feng was moved by her words and, after a long kiss, reluctantly let her go, allowing her to stand up and tidy her clothes. He then extinguished the charcoal fire and led Zhong Zheqi out of the wooden house, locking the door and returning to Yuxu Palace along the same path.

After entering the back door, Wang Feng quietly went to Wang Xiaojun's room to check. Seeing that Zhong Shiweng was still talking with his cousin and other responsible persons, he felt relieved. He asked Zhong Zheqi to go chat with Hong Yan, Lin Huxueying, and others, while he entered Wang Xiaojun's room as if nothing had happened.

The people in the room were still discussing the auction. They had already agreed on the specific time and place for the auction—on the 20th of the lunar October at the third floor of Tianfu Building in Liangxiang County. The committee had also introduced the relevant rules to Zhong Shiweng, basically following the auction rules they knew from their previous lives. The auction would be conducted under the name of Fang's Jewelry Shop to avoid unnecessary suspicion. When Wang Feng entered the room, he heard Wang Xiaojun ask, "Brother Zhong, today is the 4th of the lunar October, and there are only half a month left until the 20th. I wonder if Mr. Zhong has already widely displayed the sample? Time is running out, and we need to spread the information about the auction as widely as possible to attract as many potential buyers as we can. After all, the more people participate in the auction, the better the results will be."

Zhong Shiweng smiled confidently and said, "Leader Wang, you don't need to worry about that. Since the Double Ninth Festival, when my father and Leader Wang agreed to hold the auction this month and received the sample, he has already instructed Mr. Fang Yingyu to spread the news. Although Liangxiang County is not large, it is a key passageway to the south of Youzhou, with many merchants and travelers passing through, so the news has spread quickly. Now, not only the local rich merchants and noble families in Youzhou know about it, but even the wealthy merchants and nobles in large cities like Kaifeng in the Southern Dynasty have heard about it. According to the manager of Tianfu Building, he has already encountered several wealthy merchants from Kaifeng and Jiangning in his wine shop, asking about the specific date of the auction."

Wang Xiaojun felt relieved and chatted with Zhong Shiweng for a few more sentences. He originally planned to keep the brother and sister for lunch, but Zhong Shiweng said he still needed to go to Liangxiang County to discuss some details with the manager of Tianfu Building, Chen Guangfu, and wouldn't eat to avoid delaying his return home that night. He also asked Wang Xiaojun to send Zhao Dawei, Fan Wucheng, and Song Feiyang to accompany him. Wang Xiaojun naturally did not insist on keeping them and immediately called Zhao Dawei and the others to go with Zhong Shiweng, and also sent Liang Ziyue and Wu Peng to accompany them for security. Wang Feng thought that Zhong Shiweng would not take his sister along and would leave her to be picked up the next day. However, although Zhong Shiweng did not take Zhong Zheqi into the city, he did not leave her behind but had two family members take her home. Looking at Zhong Zheqi's somewhat reluctant back, Wang Feng wished he could time travel again, to two months later, to their wedding. Wang Xiaojun, knowing his cousin's thoughts, patted Wang Feng's shoulder and comforted him, "Alright, silly brother, don't look anymore. Zhong girl is already far away. You're much better off than your brother. At least in two months, you can marry your beauty. Most of our team members are still single, so you should be content." He then hugged his brother's shoulder and turned to walk into the gate.

In the evening, Zhao Dawei and the others returned to Yuxu Palace. They had spent the afternoon with the manager of Tianfu Building, Chen Guangfu, and the owner of Fang's Jewelry Shop, Fang Yingyu, and finally determined the auction rules and the layout of the venue, giving Chen and Fang enough time to prepare. Faced with the promise of 2% of the auction proceeds as a commission, Chen Guangfu was so happy that his mouth couldn't close. According to the information he got from the wealthy merchants who had seen the auction sample, the treasure was worth at least ten thousand strings of coins, meaning he would earn at least two hundred strings of coins from this one item alone. Moreover, according to Daoist Fan, this sample was the least valuable of several treasures. If the others were included, he would definitely earn more than a thousand strings of coins. This was more than he earned in a year from running the wine shop. Therefore, he was very serious and responsible about the tasks assigned by Zhao Dawei and the others, not daring to make any mistakes. This saved Zhao Dawei and the others a lot of trouble and made them more confident about the success of the auction. Although the owner of Fang's Jewelry Shop did not show his happiness as openly as Chen Guangfu, he was probably even happier, as the team had promised him 3% of the auction proceeds, one percentage point more than Chen Guangfu.

After listening to Zhao Dawei and the others, the committee members were very satisfied and also looked forward to the day of the auction, hoping to successfully make their first fortune in this era and lay a solid foundation for future development.

Although Zhong Yuwai's family and Yuxuzi were very kind to everyone, and Yuxuzi was still the senior of most of the team members, living under someone else's roof might sound uncomfortable. However, the team could not rely on others to support them forever. Moreover, if the team did not demonstrate its capabilities, others might not be willing to support a group of idle people for long. Only by gradually showing their abilities could they gain respect and achieve their goals. Therefore, not only the committee members but all team members were looking forward to the success of the auction and were willing to contribute their efforts. From that day on, all team members took action, making various preparations for the upcoming auction.