How could it be not known?
In less than a minute, the door of Box No. 233 was carefully opened. A youth with a round haircut not hiding his elegant features came in. He looked around the room and was stunned when he saw Qiao Zhiya. He then quickly jumped over him, looked at Chu Rong who had a dark expression, smiled dryly, and said, “Erge, why are you here? I was just playing with Xiang Kun1[I’m not sure if it’s the Young Xiang’s given name.]. Really, you see, I didn’t spend money indiscriminately.”
Chu Rong sneered and knocked on the table, “You’re spending less recklessly? Come in. Don’t just stand at the door!”
Chu Yan’s scalp tightened and he pushed the door open but didn’t come in. Instead, he turned his head to pull Yuan Xiu who was behind him, but the opponent fiercely resisted.
“What are you afraid of? My brother doesn’t bite people!” Chu Yan was unwilling to let go.
Yuan Xiu tried desperately to resist, not daring to look at Chu Rong’s cold expression, and said in a low voice, “I don’t want to go back and be beaten by my dad. Don’t you have friends that are more loyal? Let go!”
“I’m not the one talking about disloyalty here. Don’t run!”
“If you want to die, die by yourself. I don’t want to die with you!”
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Sure enough, it was a brother. Qiao Zhiya sat up hurriedly, smiled at him, and introduced himself, “Hello, I am Qiao Zhiya.”
Chu Yan was so happy with his smile that he immediately put aside his second brother and responded more enthusiastically, “Hello, you look so young. It’s hard to follow my brother. Your earring is very beautiful. Where did you buy it? I also want to buy one. I just need it for the masquerade ball at the end of the school year.”
Chu Rong’s expression turned dark.
“It’s not very hard to find.” Qiao Zhiya glanced at Chu Rong, touched his ear, and explained, “This is not just an earring, it’s the genuine one.”
Surprised, Chu Yan fixed his gaze on his ears, curiosity reaching its peak, “Really? It’s actually a real one? Looking at your appearance, you’re a recluse?2[避世者 can also be translated to ‘hermit,’ but there’s this mental image of an old man with a long white beard that flashed through my mind. Therefore, I opted to use the term ‘recluse’ for the shallow sake of sophistication. I feel like I’ll regret it later but meh.] Or a native from some marginal planet?”
Qiao Zhiya froze for a while. Recluse? What was that?
In fact, he always felt a little strange. The people here seemed not surprised or disgusted with the shape of his pointed ears, as if they had already figured out the origin of his ears. Not only ears, after the lie detection test on the warship, the White-Haired Monster and his team seemed to have found a reasonable explanation for his origin. Nevertheless, the other party seemed to be cautious about something and never mentioned it in front of him.
The Alec Mountains and the Pariet Valley were the only definite information he gave at the time. He didn’t know if the other party had checked these two locations, and what they had ended up finding out. Their acceptance of him had always been incomprehensible and unilateral. This lack of information had kept him very apprehensive, yet he dared not to ask, fearing that showing anything more would cause the other party to overturn his suspicions to his origin, and thus face again the doubtful interrogation he had received when he first arrived.
The temporary resident status Tan Shengwei had given him had a line of unfamiliar letters and numbers written on it. He knew it was the planet number, but had no idea what the number represented. He passively followed the other person’s arrangement. Before he got the light brain that wasn’t restricted to child’s mode, all the information he knew came from the discretion of the White-Haired Monster and his team. However, at this point, even Zhuang Yu, who treated him the most affectionately, never revealed anything too much in front of him.
It was only after he obtained the temporary identity certificate that he knew that he was arranged as an indigenous person. Tan Shengwei explained that people like him who deviate from the current technological level were called indigenous people, but what was a recluse? He had never heard such a word.
The language barrier made him miss the best opportunity to inquire. When he was later able to communicate smoothly and had the chance to inquire about something, the people around him acted as if they had already been told something and tacitly mentioned only the future, never the past, in front of him.
This situation of practically having to fumble his way in the dark had always made him wary to open himself up despite being grateful.
Chu Yan noticed his silence and paused, thinking that he didn’t like others to inquire about this, and hurriedly waved his hand to explain, “Sorry, I didn’t mean to. You don’t have to answer this question if you don’t want to. I wasn’t looking down on indigenous or reclusive people. Just now, I—”
“Sit down.”
Chu Rong suddenly interrupted him, moved the auction magazine, and blocked Chu Yan’s gaze from Qiao Zhiya. He gestured to Chu Yan to the opposite couch and asked, “Where have you been during your vacation?”
Qiao Zhiya’s thoughts were interrupted, he turned to look at him, and his eyes were a little blank with a hint of struggle.
Chu Rong frowned, thinking that he was reminded of some melancholic past by Chu Yan’s words. He pushed that plate of snacks towards him as comfort, looked at Chu Yan who was already sitting down, and asked again, “What have you been doing during your vacation? Why didn’t you call at home?”
Chu Yan saw the interaction between the two and looked at the hand of his second elder brother that just pushed the snack plate, a cat’s paw seemed to scratch at his heart. He felt that something was wrong but he honestly confessed, “I formed a team with Yuan Xiu to find treasures. Erge, I made an amount during this journey and also met an awesome mine seeker who has agreed to help our family find other missing flagship repair materials.” While speaking, he raised his hand to indicate a number with a face full of pride.
“Nonsense. What would you do if something went wrong?” Chu Rong frowned, mercilessly poured cold water.3[It means waking him up from his wishful delusions or waking him up to reality.]
Chu Yan’s expression stiffened. Seeing that he was mad again, he quickly added, “Dage4[大哥 translated to ‘big/eldest brother.’] sent a veteran to follow me. Yuan Xiu’s family also let him bring people. The places we went to are relatively safe planets. There was no danger at all. You don’t have to worry, Erge.”
“So Dage also knows about you going out. Are you both hiding it from me?” Chu Rong was not comforted at all but became even angrier.
Oops!
Chu Yan was so chagrined that he wanted to bite off his own tongue, his hair stood up — he was too careless. He unknowingly sold out his eldest brother. It’s over. He was completely over.
Seeing that he didn’t refute, Chu Rong pulled up the corner of his mouth to reveal a cold smile, as if a storm was about to come.
Qiao Zhiya looked everywhere, moving uneasily and trying to ease the mood but not knowing how to do it.
While the atmosphere was in a stalemate, the hall that had been fairly calm suddenly stirred up. The screen displaying the merchandise went black. After some sound effects, a purple sword with golden lines suddenly cut through the darkness and pierced into the middle of the screen, inserting diagonally into its middle.
“F*ck…” Chu Yan couldn’t help but exclaim in admiration, excitedly leaning over the screen while drooling, “This is the mysterious weapon of this issue? This color, this light effect—amazing! Is the purple weapon made of purple marble? Or quicksand? God, the shape of this sword is so handsome! I just don’t know if it’s strong or not.”
Chu Yung followed suit and looked over, surveying the sword and frowning.
Qiao Zhiya’s heart was in his throat and his palms were sweating again as he didn’t expect to show the giant sword so soon
He hesitated for a few days before listing the giant sword for sale. After asking A1, he searched through most of the auction house terms and determined that once an anonymous auction was selected, no one had the right to access customer information. After that, he felt that selling the giant sword should not lead to any trouble, so he decided to sell the giant sword.
However… he glanced at the golden magic array pattern on the giant sword and sweat broke out on his forehead.
He made such a rudimentary mistake again…
As if aware of the customers’ concern, a heavy mecha model suddenly rushed up from the top of the freeze frame, it gripped the giant sword, and landed firmly on the ground after a sharp flip.
Chu Yan excitedly pounded the table, “Master! The person operating this model is a master! The flip just now was so neat!”
After the mecha model stood still holding the giant sword, another mecha model holding an energy sword quickly rushed out from the edge of the screen and headed straight towards the former to attack. The customers’ hearts skipped a beat.
“It’s actually a duel! Looks like Famous Brands attach great importance to this weapon!” Chu Yan said excitedly as Qiao Zhiya silently sat back and lowered his head, thoughts swirling in his head.
The mecha model with the giant sword blocked the enemy’s incoming energy sword with only a flick of its hand, and then violently counterattacked without waiting for the opponent to retreat. The latter was unable to dodge it and hurriedly blocked it with its energy sword.
Ka.
A crisp shattering sound came, the energy sword broke in half. After the giant sword cut the energy sword, the offensive remained unabated, and the tip of the sword stabbed the induction cabin on the opponent’s chest.
Another harsh scratching sound came from the model that was stabbed with a large gaping hole in its chest, losing its energy response and falling to the ground in a smoking heap.
The entire fight took less than ten seconds. There were no flashy fighting skills, the two models attacked and blocked each other for a round just like a friendly exchange match, and then the attacker with the energy sword was defeated. It was thoroughly defeated with a single stab.
The hall was completely silent. Inside the box which was also filled with silence, Qiao Zhiya moved and felt as if sweat had broken out on his back.
The screen stalled for a few seconds, the battle video disappeared, and the specifications of the giant sword appeared on the screen, densely lined up. At the same time, a detailed image of the giant sword’s shape appeared next to the data, rotating slowly at three hundred and sixty degrees.
“My God. Top level activity? Hardness is also top notch? Am I dreaming? Mecha weapons rarely even reach these values, is the data of the Famous Brands fake?” Chu Yan almost jumped up in surprise, and Qiao Zhiya was almost frightened due to his exclamation.
The temperature in the box seemed to drop a little, and Qiao Zhiya was keenly aware that Chu Rong looked his way.
“I…” His ears tensed as he tried to say something, but found that his throat was extremely dry that he couldn’t actually say anything for a while.
“Unknown material? What the hell, how could it be not known?” Chu Yan was still muttering about the datasheet, excited and confused, “Could it be that a new material has appeared? Is this a new material used by a master to test the waters? Ah. Sure enough, another anonymous auction. These people are so crafty nowadays.”
Qiao Zhiya gripped his clothes tightly, not daring to look up.
The material unknown was what he asked the Famous Brands to write. He scanned it again with the Famous Brands’ valuator after casting the giant sword, and the result he got was unknown. He later guessed that the change would occur because he had added a magic array on the giant sword and also used it to smelt and forge the material. In order to avoid trouble, he let the Famous Brands, who knew the actual material, to put it as that.
This could be regarded as a sort of self-protection and market test for him. With the magic array in place, he may come up with more such “unknown material” things in the future. While he had not yet officially integrated into society, except for the White-Haired Monster and his team, no one knew he was existing. He could test the public’s acceptance of unknown things which could serve as an introduction in the future.
Without a doubt, these were just some ideas that rose up while he was trying to make money. His main purpose of selling the giant sword was still trying to earn money to buy medicine manufacturing tools.
Just when their minds wandered elsewhere, the introduction of the sword ended and the auction began.
“I have to take this sword. It’s amazing. It’s definitely the work of some master!” Chu Yan rubbed his hands in excitement and was about to reach for the bidder on the table, only to be stopped by Chu Rong.
Chu Ya’s card was blocked and realized that there was still a tiger sitting beside him. He tried to unscrupulously touch the bidder under Chu Rong’s hand and said, “Ge, I promise to spend reasonably. I swear. I save my pocket money, and I only use the money I earned during my vacation. Let me buy it. This sword is really great…”
As they spoke, people outside had already started to bid, and it was clear that everyone was interested in the giant sword. Xiang Kun,5[Kris Xian: I hope I got his name right.] the delicate youth who argued with Chu Yan before, even directly quoted a high price of one million, which caused a burst of exclamation.
This was just a mecha model weapon. One million was a bit much. It was enough to buy a low-grade mecha.
Seeing this, Chu Yan became even more anxious, while continuing to reach out, and quickly said, “Ge, I promise that this is the last thing I will buy this holiday. I promise. I will never spend money indiscriminately again. This is unknown material, ah. Xiang Kun is definitely bidding because of the unknown material. We have to hurry—”
Chu Rong once again fended off his hand and directly hit the bidder for a price of five million. Then, regardless of the exclamations in the hall and Chu Yan’s disoriented voice like he was being strangled, he calmly looked at Qiao Zhiya, who was full of tension, and said, “Explain why the pattern on that giant sword looks so similar to the pattern on the jade you gave me.”
It’s coming!
Qiao Zhiya’s heart beat hard, looked up at him, and tightened his grip on his shirt. He knew he couldn’t hide from him today. He took a deep breath, closed his eyes, and said, “Because I made that giant sword. The coffee table at home was smashed by that giant sword. I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have kept it from you.”
With a bang, the auctioneer hit the hammer, and the giant sword was auctioned to Chu Rong for five million.
Chu Yan’s jaw almost dropped. The words “home” and “coffee table” floated all over his mind. He unbelievably looked at them back and forth, and saw the plate of snacks pushed by his second eldest brother. After a moment, he suddenly realized something. His hands were shaking as he groped for his communicator, dialed his eldest brother’s communicator, and called, “Dage! Erge is hiding his wife in a golden house! Come quickly!”
Chu Rong, who was about to lose his temper, and Qiao Zhiya, who was about to endure his anger, both gave a start and turned their heads towards him, one with a murderous look and the other with a puzzled look, guessing what the unlearned phrase “keeping his wife in a golden house”6[金屋藏娇. I previously named the chapter as ‘a golden house to keep one’s mistress’ because I read as I translate, so I didn’t know the context at that time. It turns out that it implies the other meaning, ‘a magnificent house built for a lover.’] meant.
“Keeping his wife in a golden house?” Eldest Brother Chu’s surprised voice came from the communicator, “So Lao’er really did get someone pregnant?”
“Ah?” Chu Yan’s eyes widened, looked at Qiao Zhiya’s stomach, and swallowed, “But, but Qiao Zhiya is a boy…”
While looking at Chu Rong, he said, terrified, “Erge, you’re so powerful. You can actually get a boy pregnant. But, but Qiao Zhiya is not yet an adult, right? You, this, this is illegal, ah, Erge.”
Bang!
Chu Rong was so angry at this family of awful brothers that he smashed the table.
The author has something to say:
PS. This author dare not read the comment area. Everyone discusses the virtue of honesty and mutual trust, so… ahem. This is fluffy even despite not sprinkling dog food and instantly accepting which isn’t a meticulous setting at the beginning. Although Qiao Zhiya will be very cautious when encountering a crisis, he is essentially just a silly pure sweetie who grew up protected by his parents. Also, he’s only a teenager. A child.7[I hope I successfully delivered the author’s message. I only translated it in a hurry.]
Translator’s Note
I am sorry for not updating right away. A lot of impulsive decisions were made, so… Haha. Now, I’m fixing them one by one, including my updating sched.
PS. Chu Yan’s brain hole is so deep. XD
Our little dwarf was found out even earlier than I thought he would be! He really didn’t get away with it at all. But hey, talent like that must be protected. Too big of a risk otherwise. I’m laughing at the brothers though. 😂 Thanks for your hard work translating!
Finally caught up! Thanks for translating!
I would’ve commented more but I was just so engrossed in the story that I didn’t even have the time to comment before my finger clicked next chapter (・–・;)ゞ