To Rise Again In The Apocalypse

Throughout their journey to the auction house, Li XinWen could barely contain his excitement. It was to the point that he was smiling the entire time they drove to the nearby city called HengShui, where the auction house was located, and when Xue Rui announced they had arrived, Li XinWen quickly got out of the car to look at the auction house.

But when he saw it, he turned despondent. He was expecting a majestic building similar to the pagodas in Long Xing. It was a total let down. He was expecting a more stately structure to say the least. Unfortunately, a small, modest and modern 2-story building was what greeted him. The building was white and had modern clean lines. The only indication that it was an auction house was the brass lettering mounted on the front wall of the building, spelling the name of the auction house. "Rui-ge, this is the auction house?" Li XinWen asked.

"En, yeah. You sound disappointed XinWen. What happened to all your excitement earlier?" Xue Rui teased. "Don't be fooled by the appearance of the building. It's bigger than it looks." he continued, at the same time placing his arms around Li XinWen's shoulder. "Shall we go inside?" Xue Rui smiled at Li XinWen as he threw his key to the waiting auction staff so he could park it at the designated area.

Li XinWen let Xue Rui lead him into the building. As soon as they stepped inside, someone was already waiting for them. It reminded him very much of the situation at the restaurant earlier. 'This kind of reception... Just how high is his social status? Is he like those first rate families in Long Xing?' Li XinWen couldn't help but glance at Xue Rui in wonder.

"XinWen... Ah'Wen... What's wrong?" Xue Rui noticed that Li XinWen was staring at him and he couldn't help asking. He wondered if it was because Li XinWen was slowly becoming conscious of him or if Li XinWen was slowly falling for him. 'I truly hope it's the latter...'

"Nothing, Rui-ge, it seems that you have a lot of... connections," Li XinWen answered before looking away. He wanted to comment more but he was afraid that it might cause suspicion.

After a quick introduction, both Li XinWen and Xue Rui were led into a room, which Li XinWen could only assume was the back room. There was a round table in the room, and two chairs. They each took a seat and the attendant who welcomed them excused himself and went further into the room through a door, which blended with the walls.

"Rui-ge, where is the auction hall?" Li XinWen voiced his curiosity.

"We'll go there later. Do you not want to inspect the Jian first?" Xue Rui asked though he doubted Li XinWen knew much about a sword's quality.

"Oh, I see..." Li XinWen replied. He didn't know that in the mortal realm, you had to inspect the item first before it went into auction. Of course, in reality, this only happened because Xue Rui asked the auction manager to do so. If it were someone else whose reputation was lower than Xue Rui's, this kind of hospitality would merely be a pipe dream.

About half an hour later, the auction manager arrived, followed by several other employees carrying several display cases enclosing various types of jian. Li XinWen's eyes shone with excitement. Moving his eyes through the display cases placed before them, one particular display case captured his interest. He suddenly frowned when his eyes landed on a jian that was, unlike the others - still in its sheath and covered in rust.

Xue Rui noticed Li XinWen's expression and thought Li XinWen did not like the rusty jian. He showed a look of disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e towards the manager before he opened his mouth to speak. "Take that thing away," he said.

"What? No, wait!" Li XinWen quickly stopped the employees who were about to leave. "I want to see that one," he added, pointing to the rusty jian. "Can I hold it?"

The manager quickly assumed his role as a shrewd salesman when he saw Li XinWen's reaction. This jian had been with them for several years and not a single buyer has ever wanted it. He thought that if Li XinWen was interested then he'll use this chance to finally get rid of it with a hefty sum.

"It seems this young master has an eye for antiques!" said the manager. "This particular jian was found 50 years ago at the bottom of the ocean near the island of Fushan. Experts say it dates as far back as 3000 years ago," the manager gestured for an employee to let Li XinWen hold the jian. Another employee handed a pair of gloves for Li XinWen to wear.

Li XinWen wore the gloves then held the jian in his hands and started to inspect it while the manager continued to run his mouth. "Unfortunately, no matter how hard we try to unsheathe it, we were unable to pull it out. Which is why we can only display it like that. We suspect that it is only an ornamental sword and does not have a proper blade--" the manager's eyes widened suddenly at the scene before him, unable to finish his sentence.

Li XinWen who never paid any attention to what the manager was saying had already pulled the blade out of its sheath. Sadly, just like the rest of the sword, rust also covered the blade. Li XinWen frowned and was about to use his spiritual force to remove the rust when he remembered where he was and stopped himself.

Li XinWen turned towards the manager and asked, "Will this be in the auction?"

Xue Rui noticed that Li XinWen seemed to be interested in the rusty jian and he could not help worrying. "XinWen... Are you sure you want that? How about looking at the rest?" he asked. He knew the manager was trying to take advantage of Li XinWen's interest, decided to pitch it to them, and urged them to buy it through the back but Xue Rui was not an idiot. He knew this jian had been around for a long time and if they were to purchase it through the back, they would end up paying an unreasonable amount for it.

"No need. I want this one," Li XinWen answered with certainty, silencing Xue Rui instantly.

"I am glad that you are interested in that jian. Unfortunately, that jian will not be in the auction today. The one that will be auctioned is this one," the manager remarked, pointing to a beautifully designed jian in another case. "But if you'd like that one, we can let you buy them through the back at a price of 2,950,000 yuan."

"Are you mad!? 2,950,000 yuan for a piece of rusty jian?" Xue Rui protested. Although this sum of money is insignificant to Xue Rui, he would still be unwilling to buy something non-functional for that price. "Manager Wen, it seems that you take us for ignorant fools, clearly you have forgotten who it is you are doing business with at this very moment," Xue Rui said in a sharp tone. "Note that I have seen quite a number of antiques in my time and although I agree that this jian may be antique, the price you are offering is unreasonable. You may want to reconsider your offer while I am still in the mood for negotiations," Xue Rui continued, his eyes glaring at the manager.

Meanwhile, Li XinWen quickly consulted the original's memories upon hearing the price of the jian. He paled when he realized just how exorbitant the price of the jian was. 'The original Li XinWen has 10 million yuan in savings. This amount is something to brag about considering his age, but this jian costs almost a third of his savings?!? This manager is a blood-s.u.c.k.i.n.g bastard, ah!' he was so caught up in his thoughts that he was unaware of the menacing aura that Xue Rui was giving off.

Though Li XinWen was unwilling to part with the jian, with that kind of price he decided to give up on obtaining it. With a heavy sigh, he sheathed the jian and gave it back to the employee.

Seeing Xue Rui's intimidating expression, the manager's hands turned cold and he was suddenly overcome with an unexplainable feeling of fear, anxiety, stress and nervous tension. 'What have I done?' he thought as he swallowed hard and took out the handkerchief he had painstakingly folded and placed in his suit pocket that morning to wipe the sweat slowly building on the area above his upper lip.

The manager looked quite pitiful and this did not escape Xue Rui who sat facing the manager with an unforgiving look on his face.

"Right…please excuse my behavior young master Xue," the manager paused as he averted his eyes from Xue Rui to face Li XinWen's direction in order to salvage whatever was left of his pride after Xue Rui reminded him of his place in the societal hierarchy. Trying hard to recover the damage his hasty sales pitch brought about, the manager came up with a compromise which he desperately wished would appease the young master of the Xue household.

"Then…how about this! Later, at the auction, if the two you master's purchase is over 10 million yuan then I will throw in this jian as a complementary gift!"

The compromise that the manager had proposed seemed reasonable, however, Li XinWen's expression turned even more unwilling. He made a frown and digested the manager's remark. 'Does it not mean that whoever can make a purchase of over 10 million yuan will have a chance to own the jian I have my eye on?' although still conflicted, he took a deep breath and decided to make the backdoor purchase. As he was about to tell the manager, he heard Xue Rui's voice exclaim in the background.

"You are such a shrewd businessman as usual! Fine! We just have to purchase 10 million worth of items in the auction, yes? Getting this for free is much better than spending three million for it!" Xue Rui no longer masked his disp.l.e.a.s.u.r.e and abruptly stood up. He gently pulled Li XinWen close to him before walking off to the auction hall.

As soon as the two men left, the manager suddenly broke into a cold sweat and his knees gave way. One employee rushed over to the manager to assist him and whispered "Sir... are you alright? It seemed that you have offended the Young Master of the Xue family. If the boss finds out..."

"Shut up! As long as none of you tattles, he won't find out! "