"All right, Sister Ya Fei, some of these books were just there to make up the numbers, and these scrolls too... Have the people at the auction house keep an eye out for them from now on."
Ya Fei's gaze fell on the stack of books and several scrolls, and she nodded slightly.
In truth, almost everything that reached Ya Fei had already undergone a preliminary appraisal. She hadn't expected there to be so many questionable items left.
"All right, I'll have my people pay more attention from now on."
Ya Fei smiled as she spoke.
"Who would have thought that appointing you as a guest appraiser back then would turn out to be such a gain for the auction house?"
"When I first appointed you, quite a few of my people probably accused me of favoritism behind my back. Now you've won them over completely."
"You flatter me, Sister Ya Fei. A long illness makes a doctor of the patient. After reading so many books, I've picked up some skill at appraisal."
Xiao Yao knew his own circumstances. It wasn't so easy for an ordinary person to become a doctor after a long illness.
His appraisal skills had reached their current level partly because he had read widely among books and scrolls, but the rest was thanks to the Panel.
Although the Panel could only record his growth, it ensured that once he attained something, he retained it forever, never regressing.
That effect was terrifyingly powerful when it came to learning and cultivation.
Though Xiao Yao spoke of it so lightly, Ya Fei knew his contribution was far from simple.
Appraisal was a vital part of running an auction house.
Only by appraising an item's value could the auction house make sufficient profit from it.
And there were bound to be people who tried to pass off inferior goods as superior ones.
If the auction house failed to spot the deception and sold an inferior item as a fine one, the person who paid a high price for it would discover upon using it that their money had gone to waste. That would be a tremendous blow to the auction house's reputation.
After all, people paid those high prices because they trusted the auction house's ability to appraise its goods, only to get this?
"All right, Little Brother Xiao Yao, I've seen everything you've done. I won't treat you unfairly."
A radiant smile appeared on Ya Fei's face as she held out a hand as white as jade.
"Little Brother Xiao Yao, now that work is done, shouldn't you help your sister with a little private matter?"
As she spoke, Ya Fei blinked her alluring eyes at Xiao Yao, her every movement full of a charm that could steal a person's soul.
Xiao Yao had long since grown accustomed to Ya Fei's teasing. With a slight smile and a composed expression, he took her jade-like hand.
Her hand felt soft in his. He gently stroked it, its exquisite feel giving him a profound appreciation for the phrase "skin like congealed cream."
Ya Fei chided him coquettishly, "Little rascal, how much longer are you going to keep touching me?"
Xiao Yao chuckled. Rather than letting go, he held her hand even tighter and took her other hand as well.
Xiao Yao's broad hands held Ya Fei's soft, boneless ones as the Yang-Attribute Dou Qi within him slowly flowed into her body.
Sun Power possessed both the destructive force to burn all things to nothing and the vitality to nourish them.
After Xiao Yao grasped this characteristic of Sun Power, his progress in Solar Analysis advanced by a great leap.
Xiao Yao also gained the ability to cleanse and refine others' meridians, improving their talent.
Under Xiao Yao's control, Yang-Attribute Dou Qi brimming with vitality flowed into Ya Fei's body, nourishing her meridians.
It made her meridians tougher, allowing them to absorb the energy of heaven and earth more quickly and efficiently.
In practice, this amounted to an improvement in talent.
After all, talent was generally difficult to measure, so in the end it could only be judged by each person's performance.
If two people cultivated for a year and one advanced by one star while the other advanced by four, it was obvious whose talent was better.
However, Xiao Yao's method of improving talent could only be used on people of ordinary aptitude.
Xiao Xun'er, for example, was already exceptionally talented. Even if Xiao Yao went to great lengths to fill her completely with Yang Attribute Dou Qi, he probably couldn't improve her talent in the slightest.
And as for his own fallen genius of a younger brother, that went without saying.
His talent wasn't poor, nor had it disappeared. It was the work of an outside force, Yao Lao.
Besides, how poor could the talent of someone destined to become the Flame Emperor be?
Thoughts flickered through Xiao Yao's mind as he closed his eyes and controlled his Dou Qi.
Although his Dou Qi was full of vitality, it had already reached the Nine-Star Dou Shi level. If he wasn't careful, it could still easily burst Ya Fei's meridians, so he had to control it with care.
Ya Fei felt Xiao Yao's Dou Qi gradually flow through her whole body. Her face flushed crimson as she looked at him, her eyes growing somewhat dazed.
That Dou Qi, so full of vitality and warmth, made her feel comfortable all over, as though she were about to ascend to heaven. It felt wonderful.
Ya Fei's breathing gradually relaxed. Half-sprawled across the table, she let out soft, contented hums through her nose without realizing it.
A long time passed before Xiao Yao slowly stopped channeling his Dou Qi into her.
Xiao Yao checked inside his body and couldn't help shaking his head slightly. Even with the amount of Dou Qi he possessed as a Nine-Star Dou Shi, he had used up most of it.
When he had first started improving Ya Fei's talent, he had ended up drenched in sweat every time.
Ya Fei, by contrast, had looked so comfortable that she was about to ascend to heaven.
If an outsider had seen them, they would undoubtedly have imagined all sorts of things.
Now that his strength had grown, he was much more at ease. At the very least, he still had some Dou Qi left in his body.
Of course, this was also because Xiao Yao's cultivation method was not of a high tier. If it were a Profound Tier or even an Earth Tier Cultivation Method, the amount of Dou Qi he possessed would increase enormously.
Xiao Yao opened his eyes, and when he saw Ya Fei, even his heartbeat quickened a little.
Ya Fei was half-sprawled across the table, the full mounds of her chest pressed out of shape.
Her lovely face was flushed, her gaze dazed, and she let out one enticing little hum after another through her nose. It made a person want to turn into a beast the next moment and devour her entirely.
Ya Fei took a moment to recover. Feeling Xiao Yao's gaze on her, she regained some clarity in her dazed eyes.
The corners of Ya Fei's lips lifted as she reached out and wrapped her arms around Xiao Yao's arm. Feeling the softness around it, his heart stirred.
Noticing the change in Xiao Yao's expression, Ya Fei smiled and leaned closer, her lips brushing his cheek as lightly as a dragonfly skimming the water.
"Good little brother, thank you for all the effort you put into improving my talent."
Xiao Yao shook his head slightly and said with a smile,
"No need to be polite, Sister Ya Fei. You've helped me and the Xiao Clan a great deal too."
Xiao Yao wasn't being modest. It was simply the truth.
After Xiao Yao and Ya Fei grew closer, she took the initiative to use her connections within the Mittel Family.
She helped the Xiao Clan sell its Fire Attribute medicinal herbs through more branches of the Mittel Auction House, and even at its headquarters, expanding their sales across the entire Jia Ma Empire in one stroke.
Of course, as a member of the Mittel Family, which had made its fortune in business, Ya Fei also stood to gain substantial profits from the arrangement.
Even at the Mittel Auction House's headquarters, the deal counted as one of Ya Fei's accomplishments, enough to add a bold and colorful stroke to the record of her training.
When Ya Fei returned to the Mittel Family in the future, she might even become an elder with real authority.
Their relationship was indeed mutually beneficial.