Gu Zuo trusted his dad very much. Since Gu Qi said that this person with similar features wasn’t his father, then that man certainly wasn’t Zhao Ji — They grew up together since they were children. Even if he couldn’t tell by appearance, would one’s specific habits and actions change? Therefore, Gu Zuo’s gaze also looked in the direction that Gu Qi indicated.
In that place, there was a seat that was relatively close to the front. The person Gu Qi was talking about was sitting at the foremost eight-seated square table.
In order to avoid beating the grass and startling the snake, Gu Zuo withdrew his line of sight. But at the same time, he released his psychic power to conduct an even more meticulous observation.
In his long-past memories, father’s appearance and figure seemed to gradually become clearer because of that person. However, once Gu Zuo retrieved the memory of Zhao Ji’s features, he slowly realized that this person resembled father by at least eighty percent. If there was any part that was different, it was the expression in the eyes.
Zhao Ji’s eyes had always been tolerant and steady. They also carried a feeling of sharpness that was born out of the need to protect his family. Back then, even though he could’ve been considered rather young, he faced the business world with clenched fists and gritted teeth. There were all sorts of trials and tribulations in life, but he wasn’t afraid. His bearing was clear and unclouded, and his complexion was pure and untouched. When he interacted with others, he was usually very energetic. After bickering with Gu Qi, he took the initiative to make up with him. He would press Gu Qi down with one hand, and quickly pull him into an embrace with the other. He also carefully looked after their son, Gu Zuo.
— That’s right. It wasn’t Gu Qi, but rather Zhao Ji who took care of all matters in Gu Zuo’s life. In those days, he was Gu Zuo and Gu Qi’s main pillar of support.
As Gu Zuo’s memories became even clearer, his feelings for Zhao Ji were no longer hazy like they were separated by a pane of frosted glass. It gradually deepened, wiping away the unfamiliarity of not seeing one another for many years.
The care and concern Zhao Ji showed for Gu Zuo was no less than what he did for Gu Qi.
Gu Zuo took a deep breath.
Previously, they surmised that the ones who took father away back then were his blood relatives. Seeing this similar-looking person, that guess was probably ninety percent correct.
It was also a stroke of luck. Originally, they only came over and formed connections to figure out a way to draw out that family. In the end, they already found a clue just as the event started.
Gu Zuo and Gongyi Tianheng exchanged glances.
Tianheng faintly smiled: “The Tian Family invited this person, so it certainly knows their inside information. Let’s wait until afterwards to ask.”
Gu Zuo nodded his head earnestly: “I understand.”
As for Gu Qi, he closed his eyes.
There hadn’t been any clues before. All the while, his heartstrings had been stretched taut as he bided his time and gathered his strength. Now that there was a clue, a type of dread suddenly arose from the bottom of his heart.
What if&#k2026; He wasn’t afraid of anything else &#k2014; He was only worried that something might’ve happened to Zhao Ji after so many years had passed.
He didn’t know any information. Currently, he could only hope that Zhao Ji was still alive. He wished with all his heart that he was alive and well.
Only the Zhang Family’s grandfather and grandson were confused. Although they knew that these three people were in the middle of talking, they couldn’t hear the three’s voices. After a bout of amazement, their impressions were refreshed once more. They didn’t dare to ask many questions, and simply placed their gazes on the other ancient martial artists. They observed which sects and schools they could gradually come into contact with after their Zhang Family rose in the future.
As for Tianheng and the others, they no longer pondered deeply about how many mysteries surrounded them.
Just when everyone in the group was preoccupied with their own thoughts, the thirty-five organizations had already finished making business deals with the Tian Family.
Tian Hang swiftly came to Gu Zuo’s side, and handed over thirty-five bank checks. The figures on each check numbered twenty million, and not one yuan less.
Gu Zuo nodded his head. His palm flipped over, and these checks were put away. This hand motion was very nimble. With the eyesight of these ancient martial artists, none of them were able to see where he placed the checks. Thus, they also had certain guesses about Gu Zuo’s martial strength.
…Although, these kinds of conjectures were completely off the mark.
Following this, Gu Zuo fished out several items from his bag in quick succession. Each time, he took out a jade bottle the size of his palm, and arranged them on the table in sequence.
After that, he simply said: “Mister Tian, please have your Tian Family prepare ten chests to represent these ten jade bottles. In each bottle, there are twenty Qi Generating Pills.”
Tian Mu received the information, and spoke in a loud voice once more: “For this round, the private auction will only accept special paper slips. Ladies and gentlemen, please put your own approved price into a chest. In the end, those whose bid is the highest will obtain the jade bottle represented by that chest after paying that sum of money!”
During the speech, Tian Hang had quickly labeled every jade bottle with numbered cards, ranging from one to ten. Likewise, Tian Mu instructed someone to take out ten black, wooden chests that were twenty-something square centimeters in size. It could only be opened from one end, and it was only large enough to fit one hand inside. These chests were similarly marked from one to ten.
After hearing that every jade bottle contained twenty Qi Generating Pills, numerous members of the schools and sects, who were originally somewhat disappointed by the shortage of pills, revealed smiling expressions.
Previously, they only obtained five pills each. If they could snatch another twenty pills, then at most ten institutions could pull down the other twenty-five schools and sects by a large margin.
The headmasters of the Schools of Fist Intent and the Great Saber were also determined to win.
Even though they had already gotten much farther ahead of the others, they still had an incredible longing for this surplus of Qi Generating Pills. It was to the point that they brought along even more funds for this very reason. It wasn’t only for this private auction. In addition, there was obviously the public auction coming up next, and the competition would be very fierce!
Numerous ancient martial artists restrained their passionate states of mind. After a swift round of discussions, the elders of each sect and school took the Tian Family’s special paper slips, and stepped forward.
They walked in front of the ten chests, gripped the paper slips tightly, and stuffed them inside one by one. Not a single one of the thirty-five organizations gave up on the private auction!
The results this time around came out faster. The Tian Family specially sent ten younger generations to tally the paper slips in the chests. After that, they filtered out the individuals whose bids were the highest.
Among them, nine chests were selected without any complications, but there was one chest where two organizations tied for the highest price. Thus, the two organizations had no choice but to bid another price. The victor was determined at that point.
The price for twenty Qi Generating Pills was eighty million yuan. As for the bank checks that Gu Zuo received this time, each one exceeded one hundred million.
As expected, both the Schools of Fist Intent and the Great Saber won their bids for the Qi Generating Pills. The School of Fist Intent even won a second batch! In addition, there was the Ancient Martial Artists Association, whose financial resources were even more robust. When this organization took action, it was out of the ordinary. Each of their bank checks exceeded a hundred thirty million yuan, so the Qi Generating Pills they received reached three batches. As such, the organizations that really obtained the arranged pills numbered only seven.
Many ancient martial artists revealed disappointed or regretful expressions.
The disappointed ones were naturally upset because they didn’t bid high enough. As for those who were regretful, besides this point, they were also unreconciled because they didn’t prepare sufficient funds — Not every invited institution was one hundred percent confident in the Tian Family. And even if they did have confidence, that didn’t necessarily mean that they would bring along huge sums of liquidity.
Thus, quite a few institutions realized that they could only compete against one another during the private action. When it was time for the open auction, their funds certainly wouldn’t be vast enough to compete with the others. Unexpectedly, they weren’t able to obtain anything even during the private auction…
The members of the Ancient Martial Artists Association also weren’t too pleased.
Their organization was the largest. Originally, they wanted to take at least four batches — They didn’t intend to go to extremes over this matter or offend the institutes here, but only having three batches wasn’t enough to satisfy them.
But very quickly, they no longer dwelled on this affair.
Their real battlefield was the subsequent public auction! They weren’t afraid of anyone!
Everyone attention fell onto Gu Zuo once again.
Gu Zuo effortlessly brought out three large gourds from his bag: “Inside each gourd are fifty Qi Generating Pills. The total is a hundred fifty. This is the maximum amount that I can take out. Their sales price is two hundred million, but their base price is only one hundred million… Ladies and gentlemen, please do as you wish!”
Shortly thereafter, members of the Tian Family came over to take away the gourds, and delivered them into Tian Mu’s hands.
At some point in time, a small hammer appeared in Tian Mu’s possession. He lightly knocked on top of the auction table, and personally hosted the venue’s public auction: “Fifty Qi Generating Pills. The base price is one hundred million yuan. Start your bids!”
He cut straight to the chase.
The next moment, countless voices echoed out:
“A hundred twenty million!”
“A hundred fifty million!”
“A hundred ninety million!”
“Two hundred million!”
“Two hundred twenty million—”
In just a few seconds, the bids already exceeded two hundred million yuan.
T/N: Sorry for the delays. I’m still trying to balance out a new schedule IRL. Hopefully, things settle down soon.
Thanks for the correction, Charysa.
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