Chapter 62:

Because the progress of Tang Xi's costume group far exceeded the director's expectations, and the completed designs precisely matched the director's aesthetic tastes, the director happily granted her a day off.

The auction was set to start at one o'clock in the afternoon. At noon, she was having lunch with Zhou Jingchuan and his assistant at the rooftop restaurant.

Zhou Jingchuan was extremely busy, with his assistant continuously communicating with him using a tablet.

He rested one hand on the arm of the sofa, adopting a posture that was both refined and noble yet tinged with a certain casualness. However, his furrowed brow and the sharp gaze in his eyes made it impossible for anyone to ignore a single punctuation mark in his words.

Whenever there was a document requiring his signature, he would pick up an electronic stylus and sign with a motion that was both dashing and decisive.

Tang Xi had seen his handwriting before. His handwriting reflected his character—it could be deeply reserved or possess a razor-sharp brilliance.

A waiter brought dessert and placed it before Tang Xi with a respectful attitude, "Miss Tang, this is our house specialty. Please enjoy."

She murmured a thank you, picked up the small silver spoon, and took small bites of the cake.

The man opposite her was still busy. Seemingly because his subordinates had handled a task poorly, there was a layer of palpable, thin anger in his eyes.

The assistant did not dare to utter a single sound, lowering his head to listen to him speak.

His voice was not loud, vaguely clear only to the two of them.

Although Tang Xi was separated from him by a table, she could still feel the invisible pressure and majesty.

To be able to serve as his assistant, the man was clearly no mediocre person.

Aside from outstanding work performance, he also needed an extraordinarily high capacity to withstand pressure.

Zhou Jingchuan lowered his gaze to look at the documents on the tablet, his anger unabated. His long, dark eyebrows pinched into the shape of the Chinese character for "river."

His fury was nearly impossible to suppress.

At that moment, the assistant suddenly glanced toward Tang Xi.

As luck would have it, Tang Xi met his gaze head-on. The latter actually pressed his palms together and made a "begging" gesture toward her.

Tang Xi: ……

She had heard that Mr. Zhou's assistant was the cream of the crop in the industry, and despite his young age, he had already become the top sought-after talent for headhunting firms.

For such an elite professional to suddenly make such a gesture left Tang Xi full of question marks.

What was he begging her for?

Anyone could tell that the man opposite was in a bad mood and currently furious.

She only wanted to quietly play the role of an inconspicuous person eating dessert.

Tang Xi hastily averted her gaze from the assistant.

*I'm begging you too, please don't drag me into this.*

"The color of Miss Tang's outfit today matches Mr. Zhou's very well," the assistant said with a smile, as if chatting about daily household matters.

***

Hearing this, Zhou Jingchuan raised his head.

Tang Xi was wearing a small white suit jacket today. The delicate white seemed like moonlight shining through a window, while the black bustier inner top outlined her graceful, slender, and alluring figure.

As for Zhou Jingchuan, he wore a black suit with a white stand-collar shirt. Both of them were dressed in black and white, their colors colliding and blending together as if their attire had been planned out in advance.

Had the assistant not pointed it out, Tang Xi would not have noticed.

Since it was a very large-scale auction and she was attending as Zhou Jingchuan's auction consultant, she had dressed a bit more professionally.

Catching a glimpse of Zhou Jingchuan's expression, the assistant smiled and added another sentence, "It looks very much like a couple's outfit."

Hearing this, Tang Xi's face flushed with a somewhat embarrassed redness, yet for a moment she did not know whether she should explain or not.

She hurriedly looked at Zhou Jingchuan, hoping he would not misunderstand that she harbored ulterior motives.

How could she possibly have known what Zhou Jingchuan would wear?

Although this man indeed loved wearing black.

Zhou Jingchuan's gaze swept across Tang Xi's body before he quickly handed the tablet back to his assistant, "Alright, let's leave the matter at that. Let this be the last time."

"Understood, Mr. Zhou," the assistant beamed with joy.

He had originally just wanted to take a desperate gamble, never expecting that a bicycle would turn into a motorcycle, and he had actually succeeded.

Mr. Zhou's complexion visibly improved, and by indicating that the matter would not be pursued further, he and the subordinates below could finally let out a massive sigh of relief.

His guess had indeed been correct: Miss Tang occupied an extremely special existence in Mr. Zhou's eyes.

Things were looking wonderful; in the future, he must make good use of this.

~

At one o'clock in the afternoon, the auction officially began.

There were quite a few of Zhou Jingchuan's acquaintances present, who came over one after another to greet him.

Seeing Tang Xi accompanying him by his side, none of these people's gazes lacked a hint of curiosity.

However, constrained by Zhou Jingchuan's status, no one dared to ask too many questions or stare too long.

Yet as soon as they left Zhou Jingchuan's line of sight, people immediately began whispering to one another.

"Who is that person by Mr. Zhou's side?"

"I heard she's an auction consultant."

"Is there such a young auction consultant? And she's so pretty, too."

"Then you don't understand, do you? 'Consultant' is just an outward title; she must be Mr. Zhou's new sweetheart, brought to the auction to win a smile from the beauty. Just wait and see, today's ultimate auction treasure—that pink diamond—will inevitably end up in Mr. Zhou's pocket."

Listening to the chatter of those around him, a man suddenly asked, "Mr. Zhou wants the Pink Belle as well?"

The man speaking wore a face mask, revealing only a pair of beautiful phoenix eyes.

***

With a broad and full forehead, even with the mask concealing the rest, it could not hide his high-bridge nose and superior facial contours.

The face beneath the mask was undoubtedly peerlessly handsome.

"The Pink Belle is the largest pink diamond at this year's auction. Its color, clarity, cut, and quality are all top-tier. Buying it to make a wedding ring or presenting it to a beauty is an exceptionally good choice. Not just Mr. Zhou, but I want it too."

"I came here specifically for this diamond as well, but I certainly won't be able to compete with Mr. Zhou."

The masked man looked back.

The seat where Zhou Jingchuan sat was quite far from him. At that moment, Zhou Jingchuan was tilting his head slightly to the side while the girl beside him was whispering something to him, her soft locks of hair drooping down to cover most of her face.

After speaking, she took out the auction catalog and pointed at a certain spot upon it.

Zhou Jingchuan nodded and spoke a few words in a low voice.

The two of them were sitting very close together, which in the eyes of outsiders looked like intimate whispering.

The masked man sneered inwardly: *An auction consultant? She's nothing more than a pet kept by a man, given enough benefits to make her show off and feel smug for a moment.*

Yet, why did that woman look somewhat familiar?

Soon, he dismissed the thought. This was Hong Kong after all; it certainly couldn't be her.

After the auction commenced, various auction items took the stage one after another.

Antiques, calligraphy, paintings, and jewelry—every single piece was eye-catching enough.

The masked man flipped through the catalog in his hands. Although he had come specifically for the Pink Belle, following his friends' advice, he was also prepared to bid on a few pieces of antique calligraphy and painting.

Not for collection purposes, but purely for appreciation in value.

He knew that many people attending auctions actually understood nothing about antiques, and buying them home was merely a way to flaunt their wealth.

The man lowered his head to type a message: "Brother Yu, quickly have Tang Xi help me take a look and see if these auction lots are worth acquiring."

The other party replied very quickly: "You're in Hong Kong?"

"I came over here to film a movie and decided to drop by the auction for some fun," Shen Lingfeng urged anxiously, "Is Tang Xi by your side?"

Back then, he had merely been an extra in crowd scenes. After being discovered by a talent scout from Haixi Pictures, he had received great attention from Gu Yu.

The male lead of the movie that won Tang Xi her award had been none of other than Shen Lingfeng.

Today, Shen Lingfeng had already become a top-tier mainland actor, and his status and standing were vastly different from the past.

As an artist under Gu Yu's agency and his good friend, they all knew about Tang Xi's talent in antique appraisal.

Because of Gu Yu's earnest plea, the matter of Gu Yu and Tang Xi's divorce had not yet been made public, so Shen Lingfeng remained completely unaware.