The most luxurious room on the top floor of the Mittel Auction House was where Ya Fei usually handled business and rested.
The embroidery on the screen was elegant and exquisite. A few stems of prized seasonal flowers stood in a vase nearby, fine droplets of water still clinging to their petals. The desk was made of fine, dense wood, warm and smooth to the touch, with a thin square of silk brocade spread across it. Incense curled upward from a bronze burner in the corner, enveloping the room in a faint, warm fragrance.
After Xiao Yi Xian emerged from her cultivation, the two of them came here together to discuss their next steps with Ya Fei.
Outside the door, the maid Xiao Qin stood with her hands lowered. When she saw them approach, she dipped into a slight bow. Xia Kong nodded to her, pushed open the door, and entered.
Ya Fei was bent over the desk, supporting her forehead with one hand while holding a brush in the other, marking entries in a ledger. She was calculating the auction house's expenses over the past few days while also sorting out the handover of the Mittel Auction House in Wutan City. A thick stack of documents lay spread across the desk. Some had already been annotated, while others remained mostly blank. Every so often, she paused to rub between her brows, but the trace of melancholy there refused to fade.
Xia Kong saw it and understood what troubled her. Lei Le had died at their hands, and Lei Meng would never let the matter rest. He might even come personally to exact revenge. With their current strength, none of them could face a Dou Ling's wrath head-on.
That was why, a few days earlier, he had suggested that Ya