Li Xuan reached out a hand.
The motion was small but decisive — it cut off Lou Yang before he could speak again. She fixed her gaze on Wei Qian and spoke each word with cold clarity.
“Wei Qian,” she said, “will you pledge the Wei residence to me? Rest assured — when this is over I will return the Wei estate to you. And afterward, the Li family will remain your support.”
Wei Qian glanced at Li Xuan, then at his right hand, mangled and useless. Rage twisted his features as he stared at Zhao Shuning. He nodded once, hard and bitter.
He would do it. He would make that girl pay. In the end, all of this would be his anyway.
“All right.” Li Xuan turned back to Lou Yang. “Official Lou, is that enough now?”
Lou Yang sighed, helpless, and nodded.
At the edge of the crowd, Wen Xiaoxiao had been standing for a long time. Once devoted to her husband, she now watched him willing to pawn a lifetime’s work for a stranger. Whatever warmth she’d felt for Wei Qian had cooled to ash.
Zhao Shuning clenched her jaw and raised the bid through her teeth. “Two thousand six hundred spirit stones.”
Li Xuan laughed, a short, sharp sound.
“You really don’t have much nerve, do you? Look at you — raising the price like it pains you. Two thousand six hundred is your bottom line, right? I’ll remind you: this auction has rules. If you can’t produce the full amount at the end, you won’t just walk away empty-handed — you’ll have to hand over every spirit stone you already pledged to the auction house.”
Zhao Shuning’s face betrayed nothing; she played calm as if savoring the moment. “Today I will take Wen Xiaoxiao,” she said. “Li Xuan, you can’t beat me. I want Wen Xiaoxiao out from under your family’s control, to show you what a truly happy life looks like — a hundred times, a thousand times better than yours.”
Li Xuan’s expression hardened. “What makes you think I’ll back down?”
Zhao Shuning lowered her eyes, and a bright smile bloomed on her lips. Who said she wanted Li Xuan to back down? She wanted her to press on, to trap herself.
“Three thousand spirit stones.”
The price came from Li Xuan. She’d thought it through: if Zhao Shuning was so determined to take Wen Xiaoxiao home, she’d let the girl overreach. Raise the stakes high enough and the girl would either be ruined or exposed. Li Xuan had decided to teach the brat a lesson — let her learn how bitter the world could be.
Silence followed. People assumed Zhao Shuning was taking a moment to think. But minutes stretched and still she stood mute. The confident smile that had been dancing on Li Xuan’s lips froze into panic. This girl’s temperament had been to fight to the finish; she should have matched Li Xuan’s higher bid without hesitation.
Zhao Shuning lifted her head then, bright as sunflowers. She clapped once, almost apologetic. “Oh, Miss Li, you really have deep pockets. I can’t afford three thousand. Since that’s the case, you may hand over the spirit stones and take Wen Xiaoxiao.”
The room exploded into murmurs.
Li Xuan’s smile collapsed like glass. “You—won’t raise?”
“I simply can’t,” Zhao Shuning said lightly. “Lou Yang, when Miss Li hands over the stones, announce the result.”
Lou Yang nodded. Li Xuan’s face was a mask of disbelief. She could not accept that she had been outmaneuvered by a child. That little girl standing across from her — how could she have such guile?
With every eye turned to her, Li Xuan had nowhere to run. She faced Wei Qian. “After the Wei estate is pawned, how many spirit stones will it fetch?”
Wei Qian opened his mouth, then said hoarsely, “Less than a thousand.”
Li Xuan’s face went ashen. “Lou Yang, give me a moment. I can raise the money — the Li family’s finances are vast. Pulling together two thousand spirit stones is only a matter of time.”
A laugh, sharp and out of place, cut across the hall. Li Xuan glared at Zhao Shuning. “What are you laughing at?”
Zhao Shuning tilted her head, amused. “I’m laughing at Miss Li dreaming in broad daylight. You were the one who told me the auction rules — what happens if you can’t pay. And now you’re about to hammer your own foot with the same rock.”
“You set me up?” Li Xuan roared.
Zhao Shuning smiled as if considering whether to call Li Xuan clever or foolish. “Maybe clever — you finally understand my intention. Or maybe foolish — it took you this long to realize you were being played.”
Anger flared in Li Xuan. Her aura coalesced; she lunged at Zhao Shuning.
Before she could reach her, two voices rang out from above, clipped and stern. “What sort of scoundrel dares make trouble in my Chaozhou auction house?”
The hall fell into an abrupt, stunned silence. Even Li Xuan retracted her attack. Those voices carried weight — authority carved by years.
Two figures soon appeared on the auction platform. Both were in grey robes, hair streaked with white, leaning on antlered walking sticks. They moved with the sure, compact strength of men in middle age — perhaps in their fifties. Where they set a foot, respect followed: Lou Yang jumped to his feet and vacated the seat of honor.
The crowd bowed as the two elders settled, their presence instantly commanding.
When they turned, the faces of the hall shifted into deferential awe. Zhao Shuning’s mind flashed with images she couldn’t fully place; for a single moment, the elders felt hauntingly familiar, then the fleeting thought vanished.
Li Xuan hurried forward, bowing low. “Water Envoy, Moon Envoy,” she implored. “It wasn’t my intention to cause trouble. This girl suddenly appeared in Chaozhou and isn’t bidding in good faith — she’s out to mock my family.”
The elders ignored her plea and looked instead at Lou Yang. “We traveled all the way to Chaozhou to see how you’re managing things,” one of them said. “How does an auction turn into such a mess? Nearly a fight?”
Lou Yang’s head sank in shame. “Please punish me, Envoys. My management failed.”
One elder tapped his staff and asked, measured, “Who started the disturbance?”
Eyes swung back to Zhao Shuning. The elder’s gaze flicked over her; his expression tightened. Zhao Shuning, ever polite, offered a formal salute — a two-fisted bow.
“You caused the trouble?” the elder asked.
Zhao Shuning answered without flinching. “No. Miss Li broke the rules.”
The elder’s eyes flashed and his walking stick struck the floor hard enough to send a tremor through the room. But Zhao Shuning did not waver.
“A promising seed,” the other elder murmured. “What’s your name?”
Zhao Shuning smiled. “Zhao Shuning. I’m from the Eastern Great Wasteland of Dongze.”
The two envoys’ faces changed so quickly it was as if the air itself had shifted.