Seeing Huang Feirong's hesitation, Lin Yu immediately changed his tone, saying:
"If it's inconvenient to talk about, it's fine. If you need my help, you can tell me anytime."
"Given our relationship, and my relationship with Sister Hong..."
"If you're in trouble, I can't just stand by and do nothing."
[Ding!]
[Masterful move! The Saint's concern for &%$#@ (Huang Feirong) makes her particularly grateful!]
[Reward: 20 Spirit Stones.]
Hearing the system's announcement, Lin Yu felt a wave of speechlessness inside.
After knowing each other for so long, Huang Feirong's sect title was still a garbled mess!
It seemed that without achieving a breakthrough in intimacy, it would be hard to unlock Huang Feirong's true sect title.
Lin Yu wasn't just saying empty words to comfort her.
If Aunt Qimeng knew Huang Feirong was in trouble, she would definitely ask Lin Yu to help.
During this time, Huang Feirong had been a great help to Aunt Qimeng at the flower shop.
Whenever Aunt Qimeng chatted with Lin Yu and mentioned Huang Feirong, she was full of praise.
Thanks to Huang Feirong's presence, Aunt Qimeng, who had lost her "best friend" He Jing, was able to emerge from her inner gloom so quickly.
Hearing Lin Yu's words, Huang Feirong was actually moved to the point of reddening eyes.
She quickly wiped the corner of her eye and said:
"Getting old, really getting old. The slightest little thing gets me emotional now."
"You just now, Dayu, you really sounded like a man, hehe."
While joking,
Huang Feirong gave Lin Yu a light tap on the chest.
As if a weight had been lifted from her heart, she continued:
"Actually, it's nothing unspeakable. To be honest, it's not really my problem, it's my family's."
"You've been to my mom's auction house. Recently, they auctioned an antique piece."
"The process and steps were no different from usual: acquisition, appraisal, auction, handover..."
"But during the handover, they discovered the item was 'damp'!"
"The buyer, of course, wasn't happy. Compensating the money wasn't enough; they even threatened to ruin our reputation."
"The other party seems to have some connections. Now the situation..."
"Well, how to put it... it's a bit out of control."
Huang Feirong described it lightly, but Lin Yu understood why she was so anxious.
No wonder Shen Buyao had that kind of reaction when she mentioned this matter.
Lin Yu wasn't deeply versed in the rules of the antique business,
but he could fully imagine how much impact such an incident would have on an auction house.
At best, it was an auction mishap requiring them to placate the buyer's anger.
At worst, one incident could trigger a chain reaction, causing a massive crisis of trust.
Thinking more carefully about the intricacies...
The Huang family had been running the auction house for so many years. How could they possibly auction an antique if they had misjudged it?
If the Huang family's appraisers hadn't spotted it, the other party shouldn't have been able to either.
There must have been a problem at some key point in the process!
Lin Yu then asked:
"How did it get to this point? Was the counterfeit's craftsmanship too convincing? Did the auction house's experts fail to spot it?"
Huang Feirong shook her head, explaining:
"It's not that. My mom personally checked that vase at the time. She said it was absolutely fine."
"It was only later, at the handover, that the item inside was clearly a problematic fake."
"What else is there to say? It was swapped!"
"Maybe because the auction house's reputation has been rising lately, thanks to the hype around your antiques,"
"some competitor wanted to set us up. Someone inside the house was bribed to be their inside man."
"If it was just this one incident, handling it properly wouldn't be so troublesome."
Lin Yu hurriedly pressed:
"There's more after that?"
Huang Feirong continued:
"Two other clients who bought treasures from our house recently seized the opportunity and jumped out."
"They came to the house making a scene with fakes, insisting they bought them from us."
"Even someone like me, not from the circle, can tell they're in cahoots, trying to bring our family down."
After listening, Lin Yu pondered internally.
Back when he entrusted the treasure to Sister Hong, she had said she wanted to use this momentum to overshadow their competitors.
Who would have thought
that fortune and misfortune are intertwined, leading to such a major incident.
Based on his interactions with Huang Feirong and Sister Hong, Lin Yu trusted the Huang family's character.
Someone must be deliberately causing trouble behind the scenes, wanting to dampen the auction house's rising fame.
Truth be told, this matter was somewhat related to Lin Yu.
If he hadn't brought out the treasure and asked Sister Hong to auction it, there wouldn't have been so many subsequent issues.
But even if Lin Yu wanted to help resolve it, he didn't know anyone in this circle.
He had no idea where to even start.
"Rongrong, after the birthday celebrations today, I'll visit Sister Hong at the house tomorrow night when the Ghost Market opens."
"Who knows, maybe even a humble cobbler like me can be of some help."
Huang Feirong hesitated for a moment, wanting to decline Lin Yu's kind offer.
But on second thought,
how many years had it been since she'd seen her mom so worried?
Lin Yu might not have many connections, but he could produce priceless antiques.
Perhaps
he had another side that Huang Feirong didn't know about, one that could bring a new turn to the situation.
And so,
Huang Feirong smiled and agreed:
"Then I'll tell my mom to prepare some midnight snacks tomorrow, ready to welcome President Dayu for his inspection and guidance!"
"Alright, really, don't worry about me. I'm truly fine."
"Today is your special day. Don't let me ruin your wonderful time with everyone, hahaha!"
Every time he heard Huang Feirong's teasing laugh,
Lin Yu always found it relaxing, yet also a bit grating.
But this time,
Lin Yu inexplicably felt a pang of heartache.
For optimistic, cheerful girls like the "Queen of Risqué Jokes," people often easily overlook their true inner feelings.
When everyone thinks you're always happy, no one pays attention to the sadness you might be hiding.
Right now,
Lin Yu knew very well this wasn't the moment to delve deeper into the matter.
Huang Feirong had finally adjusted her mood; how could he ruin that?
He could only hope that during the game session, the Queen of Risqué Jokes could fully engage and release some of her pent-up negative emotions.
After the game rules were announced, the few newcomers who hadn't participated in the badge draw also drew their uniquely significant roles.
Maomao would continue her duty as the host, so she wouldn't be participating in the game itself.
Everyone took their seats.
Lin Yu glanced around the circle.
The familiar setup, the familiar vibe, the familiar feeling...
Only,
today's Lin Yu no longer felt the nervousness from the gathering game that night.
As the birthday boy, he held a full deck of skill cards.
Want to scheme against him?
Absolutely impossible!
...
ions, keeping it grounded and realistic】 After quitting his job, office worker Su Yang accidentally binds with the "Enjoy Life System." As the name suggests, simply by indulging in life's pleasures, he can earn random rewards from the system—no need to spend money on beautiful women or grovel before anyone. Just enjoy, and the money follows, making it all about effortless fun. The system comes with a scanning feature, allowing him to establish a favorability bond with women rated 85 points or above. Every 20-point increase in favorability unlocks additional rewards. After suffering through over twenty years of hardship, Su Yang trembles with excitement, his dull eyes suddenly gleaming with newfound hope. "Enjoy life? How hard could that be?"
pression Bureau] Transported to a fantasy world overrun by demons and monsters, Gu Qingfeng becomes a jailer in the Demon Suppression Prison of the Great Yan Dynasty's Demon Suppression Bureau. From this point on, bizarre cases frequently occur in the Demon Suppression Prison, once known as hell on earth and infamous for its gloomy, terrifying atmosphere! Why do the demons and monsters in the prison wail miserably every night? Why has the corpse demon, capable of transforming into various beauties, donned black stockings and switched careers to become a foot massage therapist? Why has the eye demon, expert in soul-snatching and illusions, turned into a VR headset? Why is the fox spirit performing otaku dances? Are all these occurrences a twisted expression of demonic nature, or a descent into moral depravity? After peeling away layer upon layer of mystery, all clues ultimately point to a jailer named Gu Qingfeng. Gu Qingfeng: "Hehehe... My dear demons and monsters, whose card shall we flip today?"
uld barely embark on the path to immortality. Just as he was on the verge of death, his golden finger awakened. No matter whether it was poison, drained blood and vital energy, diminished lifespan, or any other physical debuff caused by paying a price—once midnight passed, everything would be refreshed. From then on, whenever someone asked what kind of person Chu Ran was, the answer was simple: Forbidden arts that other cultivators dared not learn? Chu Ran would learn them. Prices that even demonic cultivators dared not pay? Chu Ran would pay them. Lifespan that even righteous cultivators dared not burn? Chu Ran would burn it. All the blood essence in his body? Take it. Want both his hands and feet? He would cut them off and send them to you. You say he’s finished? He wasn’t built to sit idle. You think he’s gone mad? No—he was simply waiting for midnight. From that day onward, Chu Ran would respect neither Heaven nor Earth, bow to neither gods nor ghosts. He had only one wish: For midnight to arrive a little sooner.
he colors of other people’s emotions. Light red meant anxiety. Gray meant exhaustion. Orange meant excitement. Yellow... meant repression. At the same time, he could gain unlimited control over one of those colors. Pale cyan: relaxation. Using this ability, he started offering “two-yuan hugs,” spending an afternoon exchanging emotional-color experiences with others. Then came his final female customer of the day— a girl whose emotional color was pure black... —— A week later, Xu Chuan had become skilled at using pale cyan—Relaxation—treating it like a bottle of menthol balm whenever he needed it. That was when he discovered he had unlocked another unlimited emotional color: Purple, the color of fear. So these emotional colors refresh every week? Fine, I take it back—I’ll never call you useless again... —— Much later, after Xu Chuan had accumulated countless emotional abilities, one night, he suddenly found himself inside someone else’s dream. There, he could use the emotional colors he possessed to paint. And in her dream, he painted her a shower of pink shooting stars, spreading across the depths of the night sky...
