Auction night, murders and revelations (1)

During the night, a few hours after Zhi Hua's death, a man entered a bar that was popular with employees from cultivating families. Throughout the night, the doormen, guards, cooks and employees usually talk in this place; mainly about work, which makes this bar a great place to acquire information about farming families.

The moment the man entered the bar, he went straight up to the bartender and ordered the strongest drink in stock. After several drinks, the man became completely drunk, approached a group of customers and said to them: "Do you believe that I am part of a secret assassination organization?"

"Secret organization? I think you drank too much, man. You're even delirious!", one of the customers said jokingly, upon noticing this man's obvious state of intoxication.

"but I'm telling the truth! Listen, when they hired me I was super excited and happy. Do you know why? Because I thought I would learn super powerful assassination and cultivation techniques! But then, after training for several months, I was until the Wu residence carried out my first mission", the man revealed, half boasting, but also regretting.

That group of customers started to get serious and asked him to continue.

"It should be a simple mission, I just had to kill one of Wu's guests. It was a certain Long Ming, I think," the man continued, as he took another sip of his drink. His face was red and his eyes were unfocused.

"I was asked to give him a bowl of poisoned soup. And that's exactly what I did. At first I thought he would die instantly, without realizing what happened. But... do you know what happened?"

"what happened?"

"he remained normal! That guy just needed to meditate for a while to neutralize the poison! I thought I had joined a powerful assassination organization, but the truth is that they are extremely incompetent and taught me useless techniques! Can you believe I had to running away with my tail between my legs, because that guy almost found me? I had my pants covered in fear!", the man shouted in frustration, attracting the attention of all the other customers who looked at him with suspicion and strangeness.

"and how do you expect me to believe that, you drunk?", one of the customers shouted at him, obviously skeptical.

"I observed that place for several days before taking action. I can tell you several things, such as, for example, that the day after he arrived at the residence, he went out to buy gifts from the elders. He even gave a pendant to the young lady Wu yuying," he said, then continued explaining other things to those customers. Everyone listened to him attentively, finding his explanation even more credible as time went by.

After a few hours, the man said goodbye to everyone and left the bar, returning to his home.

'I really don't understand why he asked me to do this...', the man thought as he walked, remembering all the strangeness of that day. At first, he thought it would be any day, like any other, but who would have imagined that the residence he protects would suddenly be attacked by a mysterious young man, who would kill his co-worker, as well as his boss, and then pay him back. to spread this news in that bar?

It was all very strange, but the man was forced to accept it, as he had the impression that this young man would not accept a lie.

While walking through the dark and lonely streets of the city, the man failed to notice a young girl following him at a short distance.

After a few seconds of following him, the young girl suddenly approached him quickly and pressed a knife to his neck. Her eyes were bloodshot with anger and she said, almost in a growl: "who told you all that?"

"uh? I-I-I'm sorry for saying those things! I swear it wasn't my intention!", the man felt like crying when he realized the real reason why that man had let him live. He was just bait!

"Tell me. Who. Was it. Who told you all that?", the woman repeated, grinding her teeth in pure anger.

"t-it was a young man called Long Ming! I only did what he told me to do, I swear!", the man spoke desperately.

"Long Ming?!" the woman screamed in anger, then coldly slit that man's throat.

The woman's gaze was cold and apathetic, ignoring that man's cries of despair, as she internally thought, "Long Ming, Long Ming. You were lucky to survive that poison, but I guarantee your luck runs out now!"

Two days later, when the sun was just setting.

Long Ming came out of his room wearing one of his best clothes, an elegant black suit with golden ornaments made with gold, as well as a silver hairpin to tie his long hair into a ponytail, and went to Wu Qinlao's house.

Wu Qinlao's house was just a few minutes away, but since Long Ming was in a bit of a hurry, he walked slightly faster, arriving in just over a minute. In front of the entrance of the house, Wu Qinlao was already there, together with Gao Ting, chatting on the porch of the house.

"he, why are you dressing like that kid? are you going on a date?", Gao Ting teased with a smile on his face, as he watched Wu Qinlao's expression twitch.

"Of course not, old man. We'll just go to the auction, no big deal," Long Ming relativized, a little helpless when he noticed Wu Qinlao's expression.

"by the way, thank you, patriarch Wu, for allowing young lady Wu Yuying to go with me to the Qin Yuan auction," in the next second Long Ming approached them and bowed formally towards Wu Qinlao.

Wu Qinlao seemed to have become even more uncomfortable after this polite gesture, and with a snort he said, "Just don't you dare do anything inappropriate, brat. And I want my Ying'er to come back completely in one piece. Do you hear me? If a strand of If your hair is out of place, I will decapitate you!", there was a macabre sincerity in his voice, which made Long Ming feel a shiver run down his spine — and Gao Ting became even more amused by the situation.

the day before, while Long Ming was talking to Wu Yuying, she asked to go with him to the auction that would take place in Qin Yuan, seeing no reason to refuse, he ended up accepting.

"I guarantee nothing will happen, Mr. Wu. It will just be a simple trip to the auction, we will buy some things and come back," Long Ming assured, then the two began to chat briefly while waiting for Wu Yuying. A few minutes later, she walked out of the door, right behind her was Xie Meng Fei who was smiling brightly.

Wu Yuying was wearing a luxurious hanfu dress made of fine blue fabric, her hair was loose but there were some accessories decorating it. His reddened expression made it clear to Long Ming that this was not a normal occasion.

"Hi, Dad. Hi, old Gao," she greeted them, and soon after, she faced Long Ming.

Long Ming was more groomed than usual, which slightly surprised her as she didn't expect that he could become more handsome. Her face then blushed slightly, realizing that her silence was making the situation awkward. Soon, she also greeted him: "hi, Long Ming"

"Hello, young lady Wu Yuying. You look more beautiful than usual," he greeted her back, and he could see her expression reddening even more.

'Oh, of course. She doesn't have many friends and rarely leaves the house,' Long Ming then remembered Wu Yuying's shy and considerably antisocial personality.

She was more or less the same age as Long Ming, however, unlike him, she spent a large part of her life inside the Wu residence. Therefore, she lived mainly with her family and distant relatives, as well as a few friends. But she had never gone out with a man, especially at night, before, which made that situation completely new; and because it was new to her, Yuying was quite nervous and self-conscious.

'such inexperience is kind of cute', he thought with amusement, smiling subtly.

"Hello, Matriarch Xie Meng Fei," Long Ming greeted Xie Meng Fei in the next second, who was watching him with a curious happiness, completely contrasting with Wu Qinlao.

"oh!~ you look great, Young Long. Please take good care of my Yuying, okay?", she said very excitedly. But then her expression became abruptly cold and she added, in a low tone, so that it was only possible to read her lips to understand her: "if she comes back crying. I will make you cry 100x more, understand?"

"D-don't worry, Matriarch Xie. It'll just be a short trip to the Qin Yuan auction, we'll be back in a few hours. I promise," he hurriedly added.

With the greetings over, they chatted briefly for a while longer. with Gao Ting purposely mentioning Wu Qinlao and Xie Meng Fei's past, to the two young people, having even more fun when noticing the couple's complicated expressions at having their pasts revealed. And then, Long Ming and Wu Yuying said goodbye and started walking towards the auction.

Because it was considerably far from the residence, taking approximately ten to twenty minutes on foot, they went with a carriage, which had been borrowed by Wu Qinlao. Therefore, in a few minutes, about three, they soon arrived at the auction entrance.

"Do you happen to want to buy something, young lady Yuying?" Long Ming suddenly asked as he stared at her curiously. Since Wu Yuying was the one who had the idea of ​​accompanying him to the auction, he thought it was because she wanted to buy some item that would be revealed that day.

"yes, I heard that an intermediate yellow level fencing manual would be sold", she replied, quite excitedly. Long Ming nodded slightly, as he understood why she went with him.

The two then got out of the carriage, with Long Ming helping her out, and walked to the pavilion's reception. At Qin Yuan's entrance, there were already dozens of people entering, all wearing elegant and luxurious clothes. Observing them, Yuying even recognized some of the young men who tried to marry her, as well as other rich young women she had interacted with.

At the same time that Wu Yuying recognized these familiar faces, they also recognized her and watched with shock that she was accompanied by another young man.

Soon, a young woman quickly approached them and, with clear curiosity in her expression, asked, "Did you bring your boyfriend this time, ying'er?" then, Long Ming's appearance.

"he is not my boyfriend! But a guest. His name is Long Ming", she then introduced Long Ming to the young girl.

"Pleasure, young lady. I'm Long Ming," soon after, Long Ming introduced himself to the woman, while looking at her curiously as he didn't know who she could be.

"Nice to meet you, Long Ming. I'm Xie Mei," she then formally introduced herself and they began to chat as they entered the pavilion.

Xie Mei was a distant relative of Wu Yuying, being her cousin on her mother's side.

"So you're the Wu's guest, huh. Ying'er told me a lot of things about you," Xie Yu commented as he let out a short laugh upon noticing Yuying's expression, which seemed to want her to stay quiet and not say anything.

"really? And what did the young lady Yuying say about me?", he asked with interest, while also looking at Yuying's even redder face.

Of course, Long Ming wasn't surprised by this, since for him, it was logical that Yuying would comment about him to her friends. In fact, three days ago, Long Ming learned that Yuying had gone to the Xie family's residence, so he expected that she had talked to a friend about him.

"She said that you are bold enough to try to seduce her in your own home," Xie Mei replied with her voice in a slightly raised tone, shocking Wu Yuying for revealing this. Some young masters who were watching the three of them talk from a distance were also shocked and stared at Long Ming with eyes red with envy.

Long Ming was also surprised by this revelation, so after reflecting for a few seconds, he started laughing and asked Yuying, "So you think I'm trying to seduce you, young lady Yuying?" With this question, Wu Yuying was momentarily stunned. She was silent and tried to formulate some response, but Long Ming didn't let her do that and quickly changed the subject.

"By the way, why are you visiting the auction this time, young lady Xie Mei?" he then asked suddenly.

"I heard that many young masters and young ladies are participating this time, so I'm curious to observe whether there will be any conflicts between them," she said honestly.

"Really?" Long Ming muttered, quite intrigued by this motivation.

Soon, the two showed their tokens to the receptionist and were instructed to enter the main hall. After arriving there, they sat down on three chairs in the middle, and began to wait for the auction to begin.