Thus, the situation on the floor became a bidding war between two parties for the string of night pearls. The onlookers were all stunned, and even some people on the second floor let out gasps, for their bid had reached 200,000 taels of gold!
The Wu family, which had been rather inconspicuous at the fair, suddenly became the focus of everyone's attention. More people were speculating about which Wu family it was, for it seemed to have such substantial wealth. Moreover, they even dared to compete with the host of the fair, the head of the Black Hawk family, for an item.
Everyone was also quite surprised that the head of the Black Hawk family had participated in the bidding. After all, it was the first time in so many years that they had seen him bid for something.
Noticing that the private room he suspected was bidding for the same item as him, Helian Qi was even more certain that Dongfang Yi was trapped there.
"Bang, bang, bang!" Suddenly, the bell on the stage rang three times in succession. The originally noisy fair suddenly fell silent. Helian Qi was momentarily confused about what had happened when he heard Bai Huan on the stage say, "Congratulations to the head of the Black Hawk family for winning the bid for a string of East Sea night pearls!"
It turned out that one strike of the gong meant the start of a new bid, while three consecutive strikes by pulling the rope three times in succession meant that someone was willing to pay three times the current bid price for the treasure. So the final price of this string of pearls was 600,000 taels of gold!
Dongfang Yi was also quite surprised. She silently complained in her heart that the world of the rich was really complicated.
"Um... actually, I don't like these pearls that much," Dongfang Yi said a bit awkwardly. She really didn't have much of a fondness for such jewelry. What she liked more were pastries of different kinds.
Hearing this, Situ Qing's smile didn't diminish in the slightest. He said word by word slowly, "Now this string of pearls is a gift from me to you. How dare you not like it?"
Wasn't this just a blatant threat! Dongfang Yi was almost going crazy inside, but on the surface she still had to comply and say, "Ah - yes, yes, yes. I like the pearls Qingqing gave me the most."
Situ Qing seemed quite pleased with this and nodded. The smile on his face grew wider, and even his peach - blossom eyes curved into crescents.
How much he loved to smile! From the moment Dongfang Yi saw him, he had never stopped smiling.
In the following time, Dongfang Yi stared intently at the private room with the sign of the Second Master Wu, hoping to find out something from it.
On the other side, Ru Yi said to Helian Qi, "My lord, Donghua and the others are all ready."
Seeing Helian Qi narrow his eyes in thought for a while and then suddenly open them, he said, "Let's act."
Immediately afterwards, a sound of fighting came from the first floor. A burly man suddenly stood up, knocked down all the onlookers around him, and then rushed straight onto the round stage, holding Bai Huan hostage and shouting, "President of the Black Hawk! I know you're here! Come out, or I'll kill this woman!"
Situ Qing sneered and stood up. He picked up the fan beside him and walked out of the private room. He half - covered his face with the fan and stood in a prominent position on the second floor, saying, "Do you think you can succeed just like this?"
Then he said, "Bai Huan." As soon as the soft voice reached the burly man's ears, the man suddenly felt an intense itching all over his body, as if countless bugs were crawling in his blood. In less than a moment, he turned into a pool of blood.
"Fortunately, the poison my brother gave me is still here. It really scared this little one to death," Bai Huan covered her mouth and gave a coquettish laugh, indicating that the bidding should continue.
But when Situ Qing returned to the private room, he found that he had been tricked. There was no sign of Dongfang Yi in the room at all. It turned out that the burly man was just a decoy, and the purpose was to distract him so that Dongfang Yi could be rescued.
"Damn it," Situ Qing cursed under his breath.
At this moment, Dongfang Yi had already reached Helian Qi's side. Just now, taking advantage of the time when Situ Qing went out, Ru Yi slipped out from the back of the private room and silently knocked out the two Black Hawk Society subordinates guarding Dongfang Yi. Then she led her back the same way to the room where Helian Qi was.
Dongfang Yi was a bit at a loss. She realized that she seemed to have made a mistake, but due to her pride, she was too embarrassed to apologize. So she just stood there, head down, fidgeting with her fingers. She always played with her fingers when she was nervous.
Unexpectedly, as soon as Helian Qi saw her, he pulled her into his arms. He buried his head in the crook of her neck and said apologetically, "I'm sorry. Have you suffered?"
Hearing this, Dongfang Yi's nose suddenly twitched uncontrollably, and all her reserved emotions burst out at that moment.
"Helian Qi - I missed you so much."
Saying this, she also reached out her hands and tightly grasped his shoulders.
The two hugged each other affectionately, which touched everyone who saw them. The two who had been separated for a short time both understood how important the other was at this moment.
"Tell me, who is the woman you had a tryst with?" Dongfang Yi suddenly let go of him and asked, with such deep resentment in her eyes that it was terrifying.
"Tryst?" Helian Qi was completely confused. Then he suddenly thought of the meeting with Donghua that day. A smile involuntarily curled up on his lips. Was she jealous?
"She's just a pawn I placed in Dongguan years ago," Helian Qi said.
"No pawn is that good - looking..." Dongfang Yi lowered her head and murmured.
Looking at her cute appearance and hearing her mumbling, Helian Qi subconsciously reached out his hand to stroke her forehead hair and said, "Dongfang Yi, do you know how charming you are?"
The turmoil in the fair hadn't stopped yet. Originally, they thought only that burly man had stood up to cause trouble, but they found that nearly half of the people on the first floor had stood up and were eager to act.
Even some people from a few rooms on the second floor came out, all with victorious smiles on their faces. Among them was the woman who had worn a bamboo hat that day. She seemed to be the leader of this group. She nodded at Helian Qi and then waved her hand to signal the others to act. Immediately afterwards, a riot broke out.
The scene became extremely chaotic for a moment. Bai Huan was trapped in the middle of the crowd. She was good at using drugs and relied entirely on the poison her brother gave her as a weapon. But there were too many rioters, and the poison on her had been exhausted.
So she shouted towards the room on the second floor, "Qing - go quickly!" In less than a quarter of an hour, the originally luxurious and bustling underground trading fair had become extremely dilapidated, and Bai Huan was also pinned to the ground by Helian Qi's men.
Only Situ Qing on the second floor still held the fan half - covering his face. His peach - blossom eyes were misty, making it impossible to guess his expression. His eyes stared unblinkingly at Dongfang Yi beside Helian Qi.
Dongfang Yi felt a bit uncomfortable under his gaze, but fortunately, Helian Qi tightened his grip on her hand.
"Dongfang Yi, I'll come for you again -" Saying this, Situ Qing disappeared from everyone's sight.