Yang Qing’s blood, which had been slowly simring at the thoughts of everything he had endured, quickly cooled at the sound of Li Gang’s voice as he opened the bid for the silver ice tear guava. And just like before, it was set at ten thousand lesser jade crystals, which, as much as Yang Qing was a content ascetic monk at the mont, stirred so tempting thoughts in his heart and brought a smile to his face.
Just as Yang Qing was about to ’exorcise’ those wayward thoughts, his actions were paused as his old, very, very dear friend Tang Xiadan did what very, very dear friends did (unlike that Formation Hall forr classmate traitor) and put a bid in. It was exactly the sa bid as before: thirty-five thousand lesser dragon jade crystals.
And as though determined to fully honor his new title as Yang Qing’s very, very dear friend, he made the sa bid again when the last silver ice tear guava was brought out. Only he didn’t stop there; he went even further, increasing his bid when it ca to the two gentle yang pineapples, for which he bid fifty thousand lesser dragon crystals each... fifty thousand. For each.
At the end of that bid, the shock of it all had Yang Qing retiring the title of very, very dear friend entirely, and upgrading Tang Xiadan to ancestor, as he lit sandalwood incense sticks and kowtowed in the direction of his gallery seating.
How could he not call him ancestor, when very dear fr—... no, it was ancestor now. How could he not kowtow when very, very dear Ancestor Tang Xiadan had just gifted him a total of two hundred and five thousand lesser dragon jade crystals?
How much was that in high-grade spirit stones? Yang Qing wondered as he kowtowed to worship Ancestor Tang Xiadan. In truth, his mind had already done the conversion the instant the bid for the last gentle yang pineapple ca in and was confird. He wondered only because he wanted to say that figure out loud.
"Two hundred and five million," Yang Qing quietly whispered, his voice edged with exhilaration, pride, and mild disbelief. "Two hundred and five million," he repeated as he slowly stood, gazing around dazedly as though the entire room was filled with that sum.
He was of half a mind to pocket that sum, leave swiftly for the Order, tender his verbal resignation to the Judicial Review Committee, and then imdiately go inform Old Lei of the news and how rich he was, and maybe do a little dance while he was at it. Then, join the dical Valley as a part-ti farr, because the Order didn’t allow freeloading; he would have to do sothing to warrant his stay or access to their resources. After that, with flexible hours and a job that didn’t demand much from him, as his re presence alone made him a better farr than most, he would have more ti to eat, drink, do so heavy reading, and indulge in his very many safe hobbies.
He really should leave. Right at this very instant.
But in the midst of those very dangerous thoughts, there was a sliver of sober judgnt warning him not to do it. That, however rich he thought he was, he lived in an expensive place with vicious landlords and roommates who would quickly eat away at his winnings. What he thought would last him close to ten thousand years to get through would probably be chewed through within days or weeks, if he were that lucky.
What could he realistically do with two hundred and five thousand lesser dragon jade crystals? If he were a rogue cultivator, he could live off it for quite so ti and maybe even establish a clan of his own if he felt so inclined. But as a traumatized worker ant of the Order, who intended to keep living in that nest even though he bore grudges against it, the consideration and value of that sum shifted.
He knew how much it cost to upgrade his abode from low-tier blue grade to top-tier blue grade. Why did he know that figure as a freshly graduated student? One might wonder. Well, he was a drear who loved nice things, good tasty things, and things that ensured his safety, improved his quality of life, or generally just guaranteed his continued existence. So of course it was a given that he would imdiately look into what it took to upgrade the array in his abode; after all, he had sufficient motivation and reason, or reasons, to both fear for and care about his safety.
It took exactly two hundred and twenty thousand lesser dragon jade crystals. And if he didn’t have that, forty two thousand rit points would do.
As soone earning forty thousand high grade spirit stones as an outer palace court judge, how long would it take him to scrounge up that sum? Safe to say he would be considered an ancestor by so mortals by the ti he ca up with that amount.
So his only option of getting that upgrade in the shortest amount of ti would be through rit points. But the Order was just as stingy with them as it was with everything else; not to ntion they were as insidious as they were stingy. rit points couldn’t be saved up that easily because the Order would constantly let it slip, very casually, about the very many things those rit points could get you. Not even an abbot could resist the allure of spending their rit points upon seeing that ’list specially curated just for you.’
Yang Qing had long surrendered to the fact that he would have to slave away and be thoroughly exploited by his employer before he managed to gather enough rit points.
But now... a sheepish grin ford on Yang Qing’s face as stars sparkled in his eyes.
With two hundred and five thousand, he was already three-quarters of the way there to the needed two hundred and twenty thousand. Even if the remaining five elental petaled lantern flower ended up going for less than the other items, his dreams of setting up a top-tier blue-grade formation array were already well within sight. Even without the lantern flower’s sum taken into account, if he dug into his reserves, he could more than make up the difference. From prior experience, he knew those vicious mbers of the Formation Hall would not give him any discount.
"My top-tier array," Yang Qing murmured emotionally, sniffling as he rubbed his eyes. Part of him even felt thankful for Senior Instructor Lu Yuan and his degenerative habit of breaking into the abodes of his forr students. Had it not been for him doing it and admitting it to Yang Qing, no doubt for maximum psychological damage, Yang Qing would never have been terrified enough to auction his wares and quickly raise funds to protect his ho and his sanity. He had co here hoping to raise enough for a middle-tier upgrade, but Ancestor Tang Xiadan, as if knowing the way ancestors do that his descendant was in danger, had delivered coal when it was desperately needed.
His descendant could finally live in peace. And he wouldn’t have to betray a friend either. Ancestor Tang Xiadan, with his single act of throwing a bid of two hundred and five thousand lesser dragon jade crystals, had saved the lives of two individuals and probably a marriage too.
Yang Qing was deathly fearful of Senior Instructor Lu Yuan, but Fei Chen... after years of being the Instructor’s most beloved source of inspiration, his fear had evolved into sothing else entirely. He had once kowtowed to a student who happened to mildly sound like Senior Instructor Lu Yuan. And even after later confirming it wasn’t him, for the entirety of his remaining ti as a student, he looked at that student funny. The paranoid part of his mind suspected that the student was Senior Instructor Lu Yuan in disguise. He avoided that student for his entire four years at the Institute, and Yang Qing had a feeling he would likely avoid said student even now. Luckily, their paths were unlikely to et as the said student worked in the Alchemy Hall.
Fei Chen didn’t function well when Senior Instructor Lu Yuan was around, to the point that their class had nicknad their collective fear of Senior Instructor Lu Yuan the ’Fei Chen Inner Demon Condition.’
Senior Instructor Lu Yuan was Fei Chen’s Old Lei.
Because of the Fei Chen Inner Demon Condition, Yang Qing had seriously debated selling Fei Chen out to save himself. But now he wouldn’t have to.
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