Chapter 372: Chapter 372

The day of the Longxi Auction finally arrived.

Early that morning, Ding Fan, Mu Zi, Cheng Bufan, and Qi Luomei set out early towards the auction venue.

The location of the auction was inside a grape vineyard on the western suburb outskirts of Longxi City. By the time the four of them reached the venue, Mu Zi was utterly stunned by the sight that greeted them. Tʜe source of this ᴄontent ɪs 𝙣𝙤𝙫𝙚𝙡•𝓯𝓲𝓻𝓮•𝕟𝕖𝕥

The vineyard seemed to stretch beyond sight, with endless rows of grapes. In the southeast corner of the vineyard, they could see an imposing structure.

It was a building at least two or three times bigger than a basketball gymnasium.

At this time, outside the vineyard estate, there was a crowd buzzing with people numbering in the thousands. From a distance, the sight was quite impressive.

Ding Fan took Mu Zi with him, while Cheng Bufan accompanied Qi Luomei. The four split into pairs and headed for the entrance.

"Ding Fan?" Just then, a gentle voice rang out from the side.

Ding Fan was startled. Was there someone he knew in this place? He turned to look.

At that moment, a woman dressed in a beige long dress, floating like a celestial fairy descended to earth, was looking towards Ding Fan.

"Are you Su Maner?" Ding Fan recognized her immediately.

Su Maner and Su Qinger were twin sisters. Usually, outsiders found it difficult to distinguish between the two, but Su Maner was more reserved, while Su Qinger was more enthusiastic. Therefore, Ding Fan could easily tell them apart based on their demeanor.

"It really is you..." Su Maner's normally cold face suddenly showed a surge of excitement and joy.

Back in Dongcheng, when someone intended to harm the Su sisters, Ding Fan had made an early phone call to warn Su Qinger. When Su Qinger relayed Ding Fan's words to Su Maner, Su Maner had thought it was just a ploy by Ding Fan to hit on young girls and had not taken it seriously.

Later, precisely because she did not heed Ding Fan's advice, Su Maner ended up being kidnapped by bad people. Subsequently, Ding Fan went to lengths of trading himself for her to save Su Maner.

Guilty conscious towards Ding Fan lingered in Su Maner's heart. She had always wanted to apologize to him in person, but she had been too caught up in worldly affairs to find the time.

Su Maner had not expected to encounter Ding Fan here.

"Man Er, who is this?" Just then, a blond, blue-eyed foreign man appeared beside Su Maner.

The moment this foreign man stepped forward, he radiated a hostility towards Ding Fan.

"This is my friend Ding Fan," Su Maner introduced him to the foreign man beside her. However, her tone was no longer as light and gentle as when she had been talking to Ding Fan, but now it was cold and distant...

"I am a member of the Denmark Royal Family, and my name is Henry!" The foreign man declared, edging closer to Su Maner.

Su Maner frowned slightly, then subtly moved to the side.

This made the foreigner furrow his brows tightly.

Henry had met Su Maner during a business deal, and since then, he had been relentlessly pursuing her.

In Henry's perception, being a member of the Denmark Royal Family, as long as he flaunted his status, Su Maner would surely agree to date him.

Contrary to what he expected, his royal status did not impress Su Maner at all. She had always been cold to him.

For a long time, Henry thought that was just how Su Maner was. But just now, Su Maner's demeanor towards Ding Fan—soft-spoken, with a hint of tenderness in her eyes—made Henry realize he was wrong.

These were aspects Henry had never seen from her before.

"Ding Fan, are you here to participate in the auction as well? From what I know, the items here are quite expensive. For someone like you, I'm afraid you might not be able to afford anything inside," Henry said, lifting his chin slightly with a smug and annoying expression.

"Henry, what are you saying? This man is my friend!" Su Maner spoke in displeasure.

"My dear Man Er, I hold no hostility towards your friend," Henry said. He turned to Ding Fan. "At the auction, we will be seated in the VIP section, where your friends from the ordinary seats won't be able to see much. I just wondered if there was anything you wished to buy. Since you're friends with her, I think we from the VIP seats could offer a hand to help."

Ding Fan looked at Henry indifferently.

Henry had just boasted about being from the royal family, and now he was boasting about his VIP seating at the auction. Ding Fan really wondered how Su Maner could bear to be with someone like him.

"Henry, please take back your sense of superiority. If I agreed to come out with you, it was only due to company business. Otherwise, I would never have come out with you," Su Maner said, perhaps noticing Ding Fan's dissatisfaction or fearing that he might misunderstand, she hastily explained.

In Henry's view, Ding Fan was inarguably a rival in love. Yet here was Su Maner, undermining him right in front of Ding Fan, which displeased Henry quite a bit.

However, Henry was also afraid of making Su Maner angry. As long as Su Maner still paid attention to him, there was still a chance. If she ignored him completely, then there would indeed be no hope left.

"I'm sorry, dear Miss Man Er..."

"Please remove the word 'dear.' In our Huaxia Country, it's reserved for those with a very close relationship," Su Maner didn't even wait for Henry to finish before she directly spoke.

A flash of dissatisfaction crossed Henry's eyes, but he quickly forced a smile. "Miss Man Er, please don't be angry. I was just joking with Mr. Ding Fan," he said.

At that moment, Su Maner ignored Henry and spoke to Ding Fan. "Ding Fan, could you give me a call after the auction ends today? I have a lot of things I want to talk to you about..."

Ding Fan originally didn't want to go, as he had too much on his plate these past few days and still needed to help the Lu Family from Dejiang modify their cultivation technique after the auction.

However, seeing Su Maner's sincere expression made it difficult for Ding Fan to refuse. He nodded. "Alright."

Seeing Ding Fan's agreement, Su Maner finally relaxed.

"Miss Man Er, they've started to enter. Let's go in together," said Henry, giving Ding Fan a stern look before speaking to Man Er.

Man Er nodded. "Ding Fan, let's go in together."

Ding Fan didn't mind. The group of six approached the entrance.

"Brother Fan, that royal seems like he can't wait to devour you. Looks like he's really jealous," Mu Zi said, hiding behind Ding Fan with a look of schadenfreude.

Whether he was royal or not, Ding Fan didn't care. He pretended not to hear Mu Zi's words.

At the entrance, many people were queuing up. Henry and Su Maner were in front of Ding Fan and his group, with Ding Fan and Mu Zi in the middle, and Cheng Bufan and Qi Luomei behind them.

Ding Fan used his Divine Sense to scan the area.

Defensive Great Formations were set up around the entrance, and in the corners of the entrance, four Earth Level Martial Artists lay in ambush.

It seemed if anyone caused trouble here, those Earth Level Martial Artists would come out to deal with it. Having four Earth Level Martial Artists as gatekeepers, this auction was indeed a grand affair.

"I am a member of the German Royal Family, and this is my invitation," said Henry when he reached the entry port, handing over the gold-plated invitation to a staff member.

Henry seemed to emphasize the words "royal family member" a little louder, attracting a flurry of stares in an instant.

Henry was clearly enjoying the attention. He stood tall and full of superiority.

"Number 36, identity verification complete. Respected Mr. Henry, as you have seats in the VIP area, please use this VIP entrance," said the staff member at the door.

The first fifty invitees to this auction were all VIP guests. Especially the first ten numbers; they were esteemed among the esteemed.

In an instant, the eyes of the people in the queue turned envious towards Henry. After all, a regular invitation on the black market was already quite valuable, let alone such a VIP card.

Being a royal family member is really something!

"This lady is my friend; I invited her to enter with me!" Henry glanced back at Su Maner, then spoke to the staff member.

The staff member nodded. "Certainly no problem. As a VIP, by the rules, each VIP guest has the right to bring one friend with them. Please!"

The staff member gestured to Henry with an inviting gesture.

Henry and Su Maner passed through the entrance together, but Henry didn't rush to enter the VIP passage; he just stood aside.

Su Maner knew very well what Henry was up to—he merely wanted to see Ding Fan's number.

As a member of the Royal Family, Henry certainly had a prime spot, while Ding Fan, being an ordinary person, would inevitably be in the regular area. Henry wanted to flaunt his superiority in front of Su Maner once Ding Fan's number was announced.

Although Su Maner found Henry's behavior irritating, she didn't urge him to move on.

Ding Fan was rather peculiar, and Su Maner genuinely worried he might not seek her out after the auction. Therefore, she wanted to know Ding Fan's entry number herself.

In that way, even if Ding Fan didn't come looking for her, she could go find him.

Ding Fan approached the entrance with an air of composure.

"Sir, please show me your invitation," said the staff member, his tone less cordial than it had been with Henry.

Ding Fan's plain appearance obviously led the staff member to regard him as a commoner.

Ding Fan paid no heed to such discrimination. Immediately, he handed over his invitation.

The staff member took the invitation and then his expression changed from cold to surprised...