Chapter 223: Shocking Bombshell
After arriving at the auction venue, Gu Qinghuan looked around and couldn’t help letting out a soft “wow.” “So this is what an auction looks like?”
Just judging from the décor alone, it felt like the kind of place she normally would never have access to.
“Not really,” Jiang Chuchu waved her hands repeatedly. “A real auction is much more fast-paced. Plus, a lot of buyers usually commission agencies to bid on their behalf, so they don’t even show up in person.”
“And since today is a charity auction, the items are all provided by different families. There’s no preview session either—normally, all items would be displayed in advance along with their estimated prices.”
“There are plenty of other rules too, but today’s event is pretty relaxed. If you have any questions, just ask me on the spot.”
Gu Qinghuan nodded, half understanding. Following Jiang Chuchu, she watched as Zhu Qinglan registered and received a number plate, then they headed further inside.
The moment they entered, someone called out to them: “Chuchu! Class—Gu Qinghuan!”
Qin Yue had instinctively started to call her “class monitor,” but quickly realized it wasn’t appropriate for the occasion and hurriedly corrected himself.
Qin Yanxia walked over with Qin Yue and greeted Zhu Qinglan, “Qinglan, you’re looking better and better these days.”
Recalling the conversation in the car earlier, Zhu Qinglan couldn’t help but smile. “Yes, so good that I could slap Zhu Manyu flying three meters away.”
Qin Yanxia was momentarily stunned, not expecting Zhu Qinglan to be this “cheerful,” but she quickly played along with a laugh. “Three meters? With Zhu Manyu’s weight, shouldn’t it be five?”
Gu Qinghuan had only heard Jiang Chuchu mention once that Zhu Manyu was her mother Zhu Qinglan’s older sister, but she didn’t know the details.
Judging from this, their relationship must be quite bad?
While she was pondering, Qin Yanxia’s gaze fell on her, and she asked with a warm smile, “You must be Gu Qinghuan, right? I’m Qin Yue’s mother, Qin Yanxia.”
“Hello, Aunt Qin,” Gu Qinghuan replied obediently.
Qin Yanxia had long “heard of her reputation.” Aside from Jiang Chuchu, the person Qin Yue mentioned most often at home was Gu Qinghuan.
At their age, high school students usually weren’t keen on sharing their lives with their families—but Class Three was different.
Their class life was simply too eventful, and since they couldn’t brag about it in front of other classes, they could only talk about it at home.
From Qin Yue, Qin Yanxia had heard quite a lot. Moreover, Qin Yue’s relationship with his brother Qin Min had improved after entering high school.
Qin Yue said he had once gone down the wrong path mentally, and it was Gu Qinghuan who made him realize his thinking was flawed. After learning the full story, Qin Yanxia felt a lingering sense of fear.
As a mother, she hadn’t noticed her younger son’s hidden psychological issues—something she shouldn’t have overlooked. If things had continued that way, the outcome might have been far worse.
From that perspective, she was quite grateful to Gu Qinghuan.
“I heard from Xiao Yue that you have a task today?” Qin Yanxia said. “If you need any help, feel free to message him and have him pass it on to me.”
Jiang Chuchu glanced at Qin Yue, who immediately defended himself, “I only said she wanted to meet the Wei family—I didn’t say anything else!”
Gu Qinghuan readily agreed, “Alright, thank you, Aunt Qin. If I need anything, I’ll definitely let Qin Yue know.”
Qin Yanxia had arrived earlier and got number 21, while Zhu Qinglan drew number 27. Though the numbers were close, there was still some distance between them.
After exchanging pleasantries, Qin Yanxia took Qin Yue to their seats, while Zhu Qinglan led Jiang Chuchu and Gu Qinghuan to table 27.
Unlike typical auctions, this one assigned each number plate its own small table. The tables were arranged in a semicircular pattern around the auctioneer’s stage.
A catalog for the auction had already been placed on each table. Zhu Qinglan wasn’t particularly interested and handed it to Jiang Chuchu and Gu Qinghuan, who leaned close together to browse through it.
“What did your family donate?” The catalog was beautifully bound—thick and heavy—so Gu Qinghuan spread it out on the table.
Jiang Chuchu pointed to a name near the back of the contents page. “This one. A plaque taken down from our old site when the group’s headquarters was built. It says ‘Eternal Prosperity.’”
“My great-grandfather wrote it. He was highly accomplished in calligraphy, and later our company name, Yongchang, was also derived from that plaque.”
“That sounds very meaningful,” Gu Qinghuan said.
“Exactly, which is why my mom will just bid it back,” Jiang Chuchu replied calmly.
Gu Qinghuan turned to look at her. “Huh?”
“It’s a charity auction—the point is to donate money. So you’re allowed to buy back your own item. Basically, our family is just planning to donate directly,” Jiang Chuchu explained.
After thinking it over, Gu Qinghuan felt it made sense and began looking for the three items provided by the Wei family.
“They’re all cultural relics that were previously overseas,” she murmured, studying the photos in the catalog.
Porcelain, paintings, and jade carvings.
She didn’t understand the technical details, but just from the descriptions, it was clear these items were extremely valuable.
“For the Wei family to bring out these three pieces, it seems their relationship with the higher-ups has been pretty good recently,” Jiang Chuchu said, carefully reading the introduction page for the painting.
Before Gu Qinghuan could respond, she saw Wei Xiao approaching the adjacent table 28 with a man and a woman.
Using the table as cover, Gu Qinghuan lightly tugged at Jiang Chuchu’s sleeve. Jiang Chuchu gave a subtle nod—yes, those were Wei Yan and Xu Zhishu.
“Mrs. Jiang,” Wei Yan greeted Zhu Qinglan warmly. “I didn’t expect you to attend today’s auction. And this is…?”
His gaze fell on Gu Qinghuan.
Before Zhu Qinglan could speak, Wei Xiao quickly interjected, “Dad, this is Gu Qinghuan—the one I mentioned before.”
Wei Yan had only skimmed her profile before, and with her dressed up today, he didn’t recognize her at first.
“Hello, Mr. Wei,” Gu Qinghuan said politely. “I’m Gu Qinghuan.”
She didn’t mention knowing Wei Xiao, nor that she was Jiang Chuchu’s friend, nor anything about Xia He—just her name.
Either she had heard Wei Xiao’s words and knew he was already aware of her situation, so there was no need to elaborate… or she was simply confident enough not to rely on others’ identities to define herself.
Wei Yan preferred to believe it was the former—because the latter seemed impossible.
After all, she was just an ordinary high school student whose family had gotten lucky and won a big prize, allowing her to enter Mingde.
Under such circumstances, did she really think she herself was more impressive than the people she knew?
If the system had real-time mind-reading capabilities, it would have scoffed at Wei Yan’s thoughts: its host was amazing!
In just over one semester, she had already changed four people’s lives—and her ultimate goal was to complete the mission for everyone. Any system would praise such diligence and excellence.
What was wealth and power compared to that? Its host was saving the world!
Thinking this, Wei Yan smiled and said, “Hello. I often hear my son mention you. Are you participating in today’s event as well?”
“I just came with Chuchu to broaden my horizons,” Gu Qinghuan replied openly. “It’s my first time at an auction—it feels quite novel.”
Her calm and composed attitude left Wei Yan momentarily unsure how to respond, so he quickly changed the subject, chatted briefly with Zhu Qinglan, and then left with Wei Xiao and Xu Zhishu to socialize elsewhere.
Gu Qinghuan stood quietly to the side, observing Xu Zhishu without drawing attention.
Looking at her now, she felt Jiang Chuchu was right—Wei Xiao really resembled Xu Zhishu. Both were strikingly good-looking.
As for Wei Yan… it wasn’t that he was ugly, just rather ordinary.
Then thinking of Lin Zhulu… fortunately, she didn’t take after Wei Yan. It seemed his genes weren’t exactly strong.
Almost like they hadn’t even competed… hmm?
This time, Gu Qinghuan caught that fleeting thought.
She probed tentatively: [System, is there a blood relationship between Wei Xiao and Wei Yan?]
The system replied: [No. Wei Xiao is not Wei Yan’s biological son.]
Gu Qinghuan: What a shocking bombshell!!!
