Chapter 176: I'll Do It Myself

Dressed in a simple cyan tunic, Xie Qingtang stepped into the transaction room. The entire room instantly fell into a dead silence, all eyes falling upon her as the crowd quietly parted to clear a pathway straight to the transaction counter.

Witnessing this, Xie Qingtang walked forward with her gaze fixed straight ahead. The staff member, possessing good instincts, immediately placed the Qiankun grass she had successfully bid for onto the tabletop and asked with a smile, "Miss, how would you like to make your payment?"

"Miss Xie, you forgot that you left your bank card with me." At this moment, Dong Weiyi, standing off to the side, spoke up abruptly and offered the platinum card he had been issued for this auction.

As his words fell, ripples of emotion crossed the eyes of those around them, followed by whispered murmurs among the crowd: "What? She forgot her bank card with Mr. Dong? Clearly, Mr. Dong just wants to save face for this Xie Qingtang, so he's stepping in to pay for her."

"Since we all know, let's not say it out of loud, so as not to cause the Dong family to lose face. Still, this Xie Qingtang certainly has some skill to actually capture the heart of a man like Mr. Dong."

"I heard that for many years, ever since the former Mrs. Dong passed away, Mr. Dong hasn't given any other woman a second glance. This Xie Qingtang turns out to be quite the exception."

The murmurs of the crowd did nothing to disrupt the scene at the transaction counter. The staff member smiled and reached out to take the platinum card from Dong Weiyi's hand, but in the very next second, Gu Xiujin appeared, instantly drawing everyone's attention.

At that moment, Gu Xiujin seemed like a glowing entity. Wherever he appeared, it always stirred up quite a commotion. Though seated in a wheelchair, he carried the aura of a monarch inspecting his kingdom, compelling the surrounding subjects to bow in submission.

"This Qiankun grass was bid on by Xie Qingtang for me, so there is no need to trouble Mr. Dong," Gu Xiujin said indifferently, producing a black gold card for the auction directly from his possession.

The black gold card was the highest-tier supreme king card of the auction house. This caused the respect on the staff member's face to deepen considerably, bending their body nearly ninety degrees as they raised both hands to receive the black gold card.

"Good heavens, Xie Qingtang is simply too fortunate! To have two men vying to pay for her—even I, a man, can barely watch this anymore. Still, given her looks and appearance, she certainly has the capital for it." Among the crowd, a pot-bellied man cast a lewd glint in his eyes, sweeping them over Xie Qingtang’s face—three parts charming, seven parts cold—while drooling over her curvaceous figure.

***

Under such circumstances, everyone expected Xie Qingtang to accept Gu Xiujin’s kindness and let him handle the payment. After all, for the newly established Chunshan Hall, this was by no means a small sum.

Yet, before the watchful eyes of the crowd, Xie Qingtang suddenly raised her fair hand, gently blocking Gu Xiujin’s hand, and said with absolute calmness, "Thank you, Mr. Gu, but I still prefer to handle my own affairs."

As her words trailed off, she drew a bank card directly from her pocket, handed it to the dumbfounded staff member, and said faintly, "I will pay for my own auction item."

In plain view of everyone, the crowd began exchanging covert glances, each harboring their own thoughts about the unfolding scene. Yet Xie Qingtang’s eyes still radiated confidence and composure as she passed the bank card to the staff member before her.

Initially, the staff member took Xie Qingtang’s card half in doubt, assuming the woman was merely putting up a brave front. They figured that once she realized the funds in the account were insufficient, she would ultimately have to choose one of the two men beside her to pay the remaining balance.

To their utter astonishment, the moment the successful transfer chime sounded, the staff member’s pupils constricted sharply. In a daze of sheer disbelief, they respectfully handed the bank card back to Xie Qingtang.

"Our transaction is complete then, I presume?" Xie Qingtang offered a faint smile at the corner of her lips, her eyes then turning with a spark of eager warmth toward the box of Qiankun grass resting on the table.

Recovering abruptly from her stupor, the staff member hurriedly handed the stalk of Qiankun grass over to her, the expression of reverence on her face deepening further as she gave a slight bow. "Naturally. Thank you, Miss Xie, for your support of our auction house. Since Miss Xie has spent upwards of fifty million at our auction in a single transaction, you are now entitled to our silver membership card."

As those words finished, another perceptive staff member brought over a membership card. Xie Qingtang paused for a moment, figuring she might have use for it in the future, and casually accepted it.

Afterward, amid the astonished gazes of the crowd, Xie Qingtang finally departed the auction house, cradling the stalk of Qiankun grass with deep satisfaction. Looking down happily at the vibrant plant in her arms, she murmured to herself, "I thought it would be dried grass, in which case it could only have saved one person. I never expected it to be a living Qiankun grass. It seems both Grandfather's and Ah Ben's poison afflictions can now be alleviated."

Lost in these thoughts as she walked forward, her path was suddenly blocked. A pair of brown leather shoes appeared right before her. She paused for a moment, then lifted her gaze to look ahead.

***

"My dear elder sister, it has been a long time. I never expected to run into you at an auction." Shao Bin wore a sneering smile at the corners of his mouth as he looked at Xie Qingtang’s exquisite face, his eyes narrowing slightly.

The expression of joy that had been on Xie Qingtang's face just moments ago instantly turned frosty. Looking at him with utter calmness once more, she spat out two cold words: "Step aside!"

"Sister, I came here specifically looking for you. Treating me with such coldness is truly heartbreaking," Shao Bin said, his lips pressing into a thin line as his expression grew somewhat frigid as well.

At that very moment, Dong Weiyi and Gu Xiujin also appeared in the hallway. Neither man stood too close to Xie Qingtang, instead fixing their icy glares directly upon Shao Bin, who was blocking her way.

Noticing these two protectors stepping up, Shao Bin hastily cleared a path and swiftly changed the subject. "Since sister is unwilling to see me, I suppose I shall simply have to find another time to visit her. I hope that by then, sister's prejudices against me will have improved."

"An absolute impossibility," Xie Qingtang dropped a cold remark, cradling the Qiankun grass as she walked straight past him. Little did she know that Shao Bin had let her off so easily solely because of the two formidable guardians standing watch behind her.

Watching the retreating figure of the woman, Shao Bin gritted his teeth. Then, casting wary and apprehensive glances at Gu Xiujin and Dong Weiyi, he hurriedly turned and left the premises.

Upon reaching the exterior of the auction house, Xie Qingtang originally intended to hail a cab directly home, but she was suddenly called to a halt by Dong Weiyi.