Free Web NovelChapter 116: Chapter 89: Shawu Finally Gets Her Wish
「Half an hour later.」
Xu Lei brought Mu Yao to Zhi Jian’s residence.
In a room.
Zhi Jian lay on the bed.
"Amitabha Buddha. How could those people be so tyrannical?"
Xu Lei frowned. "Torturing you to this state?"
"I’m just fortunate to be alive."
Zhi Jian said weakly, "The Great Shang is strictest when it comes to corruption. What’s more, the one overseeing the case this time is an imperial envoy from the Capital City!"
"Amitabha Buddha."
Xu Lei said, "If I hadn’t asked about how you were doing, if we had never met, then you..."
"Martial Uncle, don’t say that."
Zhi Jian said, "It has nothing to do with you. I was the one who wanted to curry favor with the Cheng Family. Even if you hadn’t passed through here back then, Martial Uncle, I would have sought out other Cultivators later on. All of this is just my own destiny."
Indeed, Zhi Jian had also been implicated in the Cheng Family’s affairs. He was dragged to prison and interrogated at length.
He was even tortured for a confession, leaving his body severely damaged.
"That damned imperial envoy!"
At his side, Zhi Jian’s wife wiped her tears and said, "My husband clearly had no vested interests with the Cheng Family yet, but they were still so ruthless! I just can’t accept it. What kind of investigation is this? Maybe I should just go to the Capital City and file an imperial petition!"
"My dear, no! You mustn’t!"
Zhi Jian said, "The imperial envoy has a powerful backer, and this case involves many influential figures. Doing that will only implicate more of the people around us."
「A few minutes later.」
Xu Lei left the room.
Given Zhi Jian’s current physical condition, Xu Lei didn’t feel it was right to question him too much.
"We were hoping to have another son to carry on the family line."
Zhi Jian’s wife said, "Having only a daughter isn’t a long-term solution, after all. But now... with this happening, I don’t know what the future holds..."
Xu Lei said nothing. He couldn’t heal Zhi Jian’s body, and he was no longer a Zen Master Bu Zhong in the Buddhist Sect.
’I’ll just have to wait for Mu Yao to inherit her title,’ he thought. ’Then I’ll have her look after Zhi Jian’s Family.’
「Two days later.」
Xu Lei brought Mu Yao to the auction.
Xu Lei had already learned about the auction from Zhi Jian’s wife.
After all, she came from a wealthy local family and naturally had many connections, so she was quite knowledgeable about the local situation.
Thus, she was able to answer most of what Xu Lei wanted to know.
On this day.
The beautiful young madam had also come to the auction.
"Over there are the young masters from the Liu, Lin, and Zhang families!"
Sitting beside Xu Lei, she pointed with a delicate finger and whispered, "They aren’t the only three who were rejected by Miss Cheng, but they’re the ones who have been boasting that they’ll buy her!
And they aren’t even planning to buy her individually. They’ve pooled their money together.
They said they want to buy her together so they can all torment Miss Cheng. That makes things a bit tricky.
This auction has official backing from the Court, and there’s only one rule: the highest bidder wins.
If you haven’t brought enough money, Martial Uncle, I have some silver coins here that I can contribute.
However, this whole affair has ultimately had an impact on my Shen Family, so our situation isn’t very good at the moment.
I can’t offer much financial support, so please forgive me, Martial Uncle."
"Amitabha Buddha. You are too kind, Madam Shen."
Xu Lei withdrew his gaze and looked at the young madam. "I am already very grateful that you could accompany me in person.
As for the money, rest assured. I have some silver coins of my own. It should be enough to win the bid."
「Another half an hour later.」
A flirtatious, middle-aged woman who looked like a Madam took on the role of a Host. After she said a few words, the auction officially began.
The first to appear on stage was a group of young female Official Slaves.
Dressed in gauze skirts, they came on stage to perform an opening dance!
Among them, the former county magistrate’s daughter, Cheng Shawu, was the most stunningly beautiful.
She was also the absolute center of this opening dance. As her feathered costume fluttered, her beauty was dreamlike and fantastical.
Of course, the clothes the Official Slaves wore were only transparent on the outer gauze layer; their inner robes were still relatively conservative.
This was unlike back in the Cheng Family’s residence, where Cheng Shawu had danced in a completely transparent gauze robe.
After all, the reason some people liked to buy these Official Slaves was precisely because they were originally women from respectable families.
Naturally, they couldn’t be dressed too revealingly.
If they were completely exposed for all to see, some potential buyers might lose interest.
"This Miss Cheng is truly beautiful, and she dances exceptionally well."
Mu Yao couldn’t help but comment, her tone a little sour, "No wonder she caught the Living Buddha’s eye."
"Miss Cheng truly was not fated to perish."
Madam Shen, who was beside them, added, "After suffering such a drastic turn of fate, she should have been finished. But she is blessed enough to have Martial Uncle personally intervene in mortal affairs, tamper with causality, and step in to save her."
Xu Lei watched Cheng Shawu on the stage, a pang of pity in his heart.
But he didn’t use voice transmission to speak with Cheng Shawu. After all, he shouldn’t waste Magical Power if he could avoid it.
He naturally wanted to rescue Cheng Shawu as soon as possible, but his current identity wasn’t like that of Wu Tan during the founding of the Great Shang.
Not wanting to waste his Magical Power, he could only follow the auction’s procedures.
Just then, as Cheng Shawu twirled on stage, her eyes met Xu Lei’s in the audience.
She froze for an instant, but her footwork didn’t falter in the slightest.
She finished the dance with the other Official Slaves as if nothing had happened.
Afterward, they dispersed one by one to stand around the auction stage, like living decorations.
Meanwhile, the crowd below sized them up with unbridled gazes.
"The three of us are claiming Cheng Shawu today!" the young masters of the Liu, Lin, and Zhang families declared once more.
