The Auction (2)
At first, the plan was to get Ye Lang to make a flashy appearance, then use the opportunity to get closer to Princess Longji. The best way to do this would be to attend the Empress Dowager’s birthday celebration. This would allow them to enter the palace.
However, even Coldblood Group members couldn’t guarantee the success of this. The palace was filled with royal guards and spies, who answered to no one except the emperor himself!
It was the Emperor’s last line of defence. He had to be in control of his own palace’s safety, how could he possibly trust someone else?
And that was why the palace could never be infiltrated by force!
It wasn’t just the Coldblood Group. Princess Longji’s supporters and guards were not allowed into the palace either. Hence, this was when there would be the fewest people around Princess Longji, leaving her the most vulnerable.
Entering the palace was, therefore, the most important task right now. The Coldblood Group had been making arrangements for a while, trying their best to bring Ye Lang near Princess Longji.
According to the plan, Ye Lang was to do something in Dragon City to attract attention. Then, the Coldblood Group would use all the resources they had to allow a few princes to notice the spirit girl. Using her beauty, and her powerful family name, she would follow a prince into the palace.
Of course, the Coldblood Group was not completely dependent on Ye Lang. They had a Plan B just in case, but it would cost them much more!
The Coldblood Group hoped Ye Lang would successfully carry out his part. Based on the spirit girl’s perfect face and figure, they were confident its success rate would be at least 90%.
“Thirteen! That’s odd, I seem to see this number everywhere!” said Ye Lang when he received his number. He was only the thirteenth person to arrive. They were early, there was still some time before the event started.
“That’s because you’re the thirteenth daughter, my cousin!” said Coldblood Seven gently.
“Aren’t you all bored?” asked Ye Lang, ignoring her.
“Nope!” said Coldblood Five, shaking her head. Bored or not, to her, time would still pass the same.
Coldblood Seven had a different response. She nodded, “I’m bored. I don’t understand why you like this place!”
“If you’re bored, you can play outside. I’ll be here for a day, you don’t need to come back for me!” said Ye Lang, laughing while gesturing for her to leave.
“…” Coldblood Seven was speechless. So you brought me here to chase me away?
“Actually, it’s quite fun here. I can meet the lords and ladies, even the royals…” Coldblood Seven suddenly realised this auction was a very suitable place to be because they might meet a prince or a princess here.
Did the little brat come for this very reason?
Probably not!!
After a while, more people started pouring in. Soon, the venue was full. There were people still waiting outside to get in.
“The capital will never be the same as a regular city,” said Ye Lang excitedly as he enjoyed the bustling atmosphere.
Since there were so many people here, the goods for auction must be interesting. There must be one or two good ones in there!
Ye Lang didn’t know just how lucky he was. It was the biggest auction of the month, and auctions of this scale were only held in Dragon City. Every month, they would put up the house’s best goods up for auction at this event.
The rest of their regular, smaller auctions had more common items, so fewer people would attend those!
This time, there seemed to be something extremely exotic, for there was a huge crowd. As Coldblood Seven expected, even a few princes, princesses and royal representatives were there.
“Little brat, we’re in luck!” exclaimed Coldblood Seven. Looking at the prince and princesses, she felt they were already halfway to success.
“Mmm, not bad!” nodded Ye Lang.
They weren’t referring to the same thing though. Coldblood Seven was referring to the opportunity to meet the royals, while Ye Lang was referring to the auctioned goods.
“Just follow my lead. I’ll teach you how to take the prince down,” said Coldblood Seven.
“Mm, I’ll take the prince. Hey, what’s a prince? I haven’t heard of it. Whatever, if you want it, I’ll buy it for you!” Ye Lang thought a “prince” was something up for bidding, and buying an auctioned good was just another regular Tuesday for this prodigal son.
“…Are you even listening to me…” whined Coldblood Seven, exasperated.
“Yeah! I told you I’ll buy the prince!” answered Ye LAng.
“…” Coldblood Seven was sure the little brat didn’t hear a word she said. They were talking about two completely different things!
“Coldblood Seven, you don’t have to use the spirit girl to seduce the prince. You can do it too, then the spirit girl will come next. It would be the same!” said Coldblood Five.
“I know, but I’m a good girl. I’ll avoid doing something like that if I can help it!” frowned Coldblood Seven, as if she was troubled.
“Yeah. You’re a good girl, everyone is a good girl!” nodded Ye Lang. Ye Lang was being very honest though. He felt like there were very few truly evil people in this world. In fact, the percentage of bad people in this world was so small it was negligible.
It was only a perspective thing!
However, Coldblood Seven was offended.
Forget it. I shouldn’t talk to this brat. I’ll go insane! Also, I shouldn’t ever hope he’d take the initiative to meet the royals. Looks like I’ll have to do the job myself, thought Coldblood Seven.
Coldblood Seven was always on the hunt for opportunities. Of course, she had to be subtle, for anything too forced would just be a turn-off.
It had to feel casual, like an accident or coincidence. Like she wasn’t trying too hard. Other people shouldn’t be able to tell, but they’d still notice her presence.
Some people just had the talent for this, and Coldblood Seven was an expert. It was her job to tell lies. All it took was exceptional observation and intuition.
That was her role at the auction house. She had to help Ye Lang infiltrate the royal inner circle!
And during this auction, there would be many opportunities to do so. Auctions often felt like smokeless warfare, and when there was chaos, there existed opportunity!
The goods started selling one by one, and Coldblood Seven soon found an opening. She noticed some princes and princesses weren’t getting along very well. They seemed to be deliberately bidding against each other out of spite.
There was her window. As long as she could provoke one, she would get the other’s approval. This was sure to work.
