Tomb Raiding: My Family's Last Clan Chief is Little Brother

Chapter 304 Four Sky Lanterns
After the waiter put the glass case containing the Ghost Seal back in its original position, he then put a bell on each of the private rooms.

After going around once, everyone else had a bell in their hand, except for Wu Xiaoxie.

Just as he was wondering what was going on, the waiter in the vest picked out a small blue lantern covered with cloth and presented it to Wu Xiaoxie.

The moment the lantern appeared, the entire scene erupted in uproar.

Everyone stared in shock at Wu Xiaoxie sitting in the chair.

Fatty, Wu Xiaoxie's number one henchman today, was completely confused, but he still reached out and took the small blue lantern, placing it on the table near Wu Xiaoxie.

As soon as he put it down, the entire venue erupted in enthusiastic applause.

Wu Xiaoxie and the others were completely dumbfounded.

A waiter came up from behind and hung the small blue lantern on a hook on a carved pillar behind Wu Xiaoxie.

Grandma Huo said quietly from the side, "Aren't you going to pay your respects to your admirer? No one has dared to light this sky lantern in this restaurant for a long time. You've really brought honor to your Wu family. From now on, everyone in the martial arts world will know the fame of your young master Wu."

"But this momentary glory is just that—momentary. I'm afraid your Wu family will be burned down by this spendthrift lamp of yours this time," Old Mrs. Huo sneered.

Wu Xiaoxie was startled by the chill in her tone and suddenly remembered the meaning of "lighting the sky lantern" that his grandfather had told him in ancient times when he told stories.

His eyes widened instantly, and cold sweat broke out on his forehead.

At that moment, I had only one thought in my mind: I'm doomed!

He turned to look at Zhang Wuxun and the others, his eyebrows furrowed in a bitter expression.

Zhang Wuxun dragged a chair over from the side, sat down behind Wu Xiaoxie, crossed his legs, and said lazily, "There's no need for the old lady to worry about that. Our young master is rich. It's just a sky lantern. There's no need to disturb the Wu family."

The fat man pulled up a chair and sat down, leaning closer to Zhang Wu to ask, "What did that old woman mean? What do you mean by 'wasteful lamp'?"

Zhang Wuxun chuckled, pointed to the empty chair behind him, and said to the young man, "Young man, come sit down too. Aren't your legs tired from standing for so long?"

The young man had no expression on his face, but he still carried a chair over and sat down as instructed.

Zhang Wuxun then slowly said, "Lighting the sky lantern, as the name suggests, means booking the whole place. Wu Xie's right-hand seat is the position of the lantern bearer. No matter what is bid on in this round, it counts as an automatic vote for him."

Seeing that Wu Xiaoxie's face had turned pale, Zhang Wuxun quickly added, "Of course, there is a limit to each bid; you can't ask for an exorbitant price. There are also time limits for the auction."

The fat man's eyes widened, and he squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth, "Then you just said that Tianzhen is rich? He doesn't have a damn amount of money. His little shop hasn't opened for business in ages, and he's been losing money for a long time."

Sheng Shengman, who was presiding over the auction on stage, turned his head and stared coldly at them.

The fat man was completely oblivious to this, and fumbled in his pocket to pull out a card. "I only have three or four million in my pocket, what good is this?"

Zhang Wuxun burst out laughing.

Wu Xiaoxie glared at him with a dark face, gritting his teeth, "You can still laugh, kid? If this lamp explodes in a minute, I'll have my hands chopped off, my feet stomped, and my heart ripped out. You can cry at my grave then!"

Seeing that Sheng Sheng Man's face had darkened, Zhang Wuxun said unhurriedly, "What are you afraid of? I have money. What's wrong with ordering a few more cups?"

Huo Xiuxiu, standing to the side, couldn't help but ask curiously, "Aren't you Young Master Wu's follower? How much money could you possibly have? The asking price is already close to ninety million."

Seeing Zhang Wuxun's confident and unperturbed demeanor, Wu Xiaoxie suddenly realized something, "You're not going to use that thing as collateral, are you? Isn't that your dragon spine?"

He thought Zhang Wuxun intended to use the Fire-Gathering Divine Bird Blood Jade Ruyi or the Skull Illusion Phantom as collateral.

“It won’t come to that.” Zhang Wuxun shook his head with a smile. “Don’t worry, I was prepared before I came. As long as the bid doesn’t exceed several billion, I can get it.”

Huo Xiangu's lips twitched. "You've got quite the big talk, but I'm afraid you won't be able to handle the situation later."

Huo Xiuxiu, standing to the side, became even more curious, "Where did you, a mere follower, get so much money?"

Zhang Wuxun poured himself a cup of tea, took a small sip, and said, "Although I am just a follower, I have the blessings of my ancestors."

"Oh?" Huo Xiangu asked casually, "May I ask this young friend, what is your ancestral surname?"

Zhang Wuxun chuckled, his expression towards Huo Xiangu unreadable. "My ancestors' surname was indeed exceptionally noble."

"I'd like to hear the details." Huo Xiangu still couldn't understand where this young man got his confidence from, but he didn't seem to be faking it.

He couldn't help but ponder in his heart, could he really be a spoiled young master from some big family?
She wanted to know, but Zhang Wuxun refused to tell her, deliberately keeping her in suspense, "What you need to know, you will naturally know in time. There's no point in saying it now."

After saying that, he ignored Huo Xiangu's scrutinizing gaze.

Seeing how calm he was, Wu Xiaoxie's heart wasn't as panicked as before. She quietly leaned closer to him and asked, "Are you really confident?"

Although he knew that Muyu was a very powerful person, this was not a game of playing house. In this dark place, if someone said they would drag you into the sea to feed the fish, they would never let you live intact.

The fat man also came over and whispered, "Don't push yourself when you're risking your life like this. I still have a dozen or so precious bottles in my warehouse. They'll cost at least ten or twenty million to replace, which can at least offset some of the cost."

Wu Xiaoxie also took out his own card and stuffed it into Zhang Wuxun's hand, "I only have this ten million. If all else fails, I'll have to call my second uncle for help."

After all, he's his only nephew; surely his second uncle wouldn't just stand by and watch him die...?

Suddenly, the young man reached out and gave Wu Xiaoxie a hard squeeze on the shoulder, then nodded to Zhang Wuxun, and then stared intently at the glass cabinet below, clearly having made up his mind.

"No, no, it's not that bad." Zhang Wuxun returned the two cards and took out a black card with gold foil from his pocket. "Although it's not much, I still have tens or even billions of dollars in cash on hand right now."

"What?" Wu Xiaoxie and Fatty exclaimed in unison, their voices rising several octaves.

The fat man quickly covered his mouth, glanced around at the stage below and the people bidding upstairs, and seeing that no one was paying attention, he whispered through his mouth, "Are you kidding us? Where did you get so much money?"

Zhang Wuxun deftly flipped the card between his right fingers, looking incredibly relaxed. "Don't worry, I have other businesses."

Those industries were all managed by the system's "Good Baby" (a nickname for a user), and they were all very profitable investments and shareholdings. He only had his name on the platform; the system could handle everything else.

Moreover, he discovered that the system's understanding and mastery of the world was far deeper than he had imagined.

It seems that, apart from being somewhat hesitant when facing "it", the system is completely all-powerful.

This made Zhang Wuxun even more curious about what exactly the system was.

However, the system is a tight-lipped guy; it won't tell you anything it doesn't want to tell you, no matter how much you ask.

The fat man asked in surprise, "You kid, are you some kind of hidden millionaire?"

Zhang Wuxun smiled modestly and handed the black gold card to Wu Xiaoxie, saying, "It's barely enough; it can't compare to those who are truly wealthy."

Seeing his expression, Fatty knew that Muyu really had a plan, so he wasn't in a hurry anymore and leaned over the fence to watch the people bidding below.

The bidding below kept rising, making the fat man so excited that he wiped his sweat and forgot to eat his sunflower seeds. In just a short while, the price had soared to 130 million.

Wu Xiaoxie grinned and muttered under his breath, "Damn it, I've never seen so much money in my life."

"Show me your Little Third Master aura. From today onwards, your name will be renowned far and wide. No one will dare to look down on you when you go out in the future." Zhang Wuxun grabbed a handful of melon seeds from the fruit plate on the table.

Then, one by one, they were peeled apart by hand, piled up on a napkin to form a small mountain, and pushed to the waiter's side.

The young man glanced down, grabbed half a mountain of sunflower seeds, and popped it into his mouth.

Zhang Wuxun pushed the remaining half to Wu Xiaoxie's side, then got up and walked to the fence to stand with Fatty, looking down.

The clear, crisp sound of bells rose and fell, creating a chorus of tinkling noises.

Some people, like the Tibetan monkeys on Mount Emei, stared angrily at the Ghost Seal in the glass case, their faces flushed, as if they wanted to pounce on it and snatch it.

Those who didn't even ring their bells were the final competitors in this auction.

The second half hasn't even started yet, and in their eyes, the current price is just a drop in the ocean, not enough to make them make a big fuss.

The first half ended quickly, and Sheng Shengman announced the halftime break.

The workers moved the glass case down, and two theatrical actors, dressed in costumes and wearing female makeup, came onto the stage and began to sing in a soft, melodious voice.

The heated atmosphere at the scene gradually cooled down, and everyone regained some composure.

The short performance ended quickly, and the second half of the auction began.

The fat man rubbed his hands excitedly, "It's about to begin! It's about to begin! The main event of today's auction is about to begin."

Sure enough, starting from 150 million at the end of the first half, even those big shots who hadn't rung the bell started doing something.

The bells rang even more violently than before.

Sheng Shengman stood on the stage, continuously announcing the names of the private rooms that had been rang and the additional charges, her smile remaining constant.

In the end, only Xie Yuchen and Liuli Sun from the two private rooms opposite were still ringing the bell.

When the others saw that this was a battle of wits between powerful figures, they knew they couldn't win and quickly backed down.

Grandma Huo calmly sipped her tea, showing no sign of being in a hurry.

The two on the opposite side, Xie Yuchen and Liuli Sun, seemed to be locked in a battle of wills; if one rang a bell, the other had to ring it twice.

The bidding skyrocketed, quickly exceeding 300 million.

The fat man's hands were trembling as he turned around. "Damn it, these guys are really throwing money around like it's ghost money. I'm glad I got to see this."

Suddenly it occurred to me, damn it, if they offer 300 million, it means they're offering more than 300 million!

"Can you fucking handle this?" the fat man mouthed silently.

Zhang Wuxun smiled slightly, "The best is yet to come."

Liu Li Sun stared at Wu Xiaoxie, who was sitting in the chair, with a sinister look in his eyes for a few moments, and then directly ordered the waiter beside him, "Light the lamp!"

The waiter ran out and told the waiter at the Crescent Hotel.

Soon, Sheng Sheng Man below announced in a loud voice: "Mr. Liuli Sun, a guest of Dongli Pavilion, will light the lanterns. Now we will begin the lantern competition."

Xie Yuchen, who was in the next private room, frowned slightly, then made up his mind, "Let's light the lamps too."

Sheng Sheng Man's smile grew even brighter. "Mr. Xie Yuchen, a guest of Moyantang, is lighting the lamp."

The onlookers below erupted in uproar.

"What the hell is this day? Have all these old men gone mad?" someone muttered in bewilderment.

Someone nearby chuckled, "Who cares what the reason is? It's a battle of the gods. We little minions can just sit back and watch the show."

"I think what you said makes a lot of sense."

Inside the private room, Huo Xiangu, who had been calmly holding her teacup the whole time, finally reacted.

She put down the porcelain cup in her hand, looked at the stage below through the beaded curtain, her expression revealing neither joy nor anger.

Zhang Wuxun turned around and looked at her with a smile, "Grandma, it's more lively when everyone performs together."

Huo Xiangu raised an eyebrow and glanced at him, then slowly sighed, "Since that's the case, then this old woman will join in the fun today."

After saying that, he gave Huo Xiuxiu a wink.

Huo Xiuxiu nodded, walked to the fence, and called out to Sheng Shengman below in a low voice, "Let's light the lamps too."

Upon hearing this, Liu Lisun cracked the walnut in her hand, her expression shifting between light and dark. "Why is that old hag Huo getting involved in this mess?"

So what if Huo Xiangu and Xie Xiaojiuye are local bigwigs in the capital? Today, Liuli Sun is determined to get this Ghost Seal.

After thinking it over for a while, Liuli Sun whispered a few instructions to the waiter.

The waiter quickly got up, lifted the beaded curtain, and came out, shouting loudly to Wu Xiaoxie in Caihe Hall: "Hey you over there who lit the first lamp, if you don't have money, don't force yourself. We know you're young and easily embarrassed, but we'll give you face today because of your commendable courage. If you give up your lamp, we'll guarantee you a safe exit from the New Moon Hotel."

Liuli Sun didn't take Wu Xiaoxie, who had never shown his face in the capital, seriously at all.

He's just a greenhorn, not worth his time.

All he had to consider was Xie Yuchen, the young head of the Xie family, and Old Mrs. Huo, who was practically on her deathbed.

The waiter's tone was condescending and arrogant, which would make anyone furious.

The fat man exploded, "Hey you little brat, say that again if you dare! Do you know who our Third Master is? Go out and ask around, Wu Xie, the eldest grandson of the Wu family in Changsha, the young master Wu, do you even know who's standing behind him?"

"The Wu family of the Nine Gates, the infamous Second Master Wu and Third Master Wu!"

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[I originally intended to finish lighting all the lanterns in one chapter, but I couldn't stop myself. Guess how many lanterns the Crescent Hotel lit in total this time.]

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Thank you so much to @童xt for the generous donation! Sending you a huge heart! (*╰╯`)

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(End of this chapter)