"The first piece of bad news is that the auction has been postponed, and the exact time is still unclear. However, it definitely won't be too long, at most a month or two. I'll let you know as soon as I have news."
"The second piece of bad news is related to the first. The reason for the postponement is likely the unexpectedly large number of expected attendees. The Wu family not only needs to expand the venue but also to limit the number of participants, so a pass issued by them will be required to attend. I didn't manage to get one..."
Li Chonglou's mood plummeted. However, he also had many questions.
"Has this happened before? Or is there something special about this auction?"
Normally, auction organizers would worry about not having enough attendees, not about having too many that they need to expand. This situation must have a special reason.
"You've guessed correctly! According to leaked information, there will be unprecedented items appearing at this auction. However, I haven't been able to find out exactly what they are yet. Many people are just signing up to follow the trend."
After finishing this, Zhou Tong delivered some news that was, perhaps, somewhat better.
Although he hadn't managed to get a pass himself, a friend of his had. However, this friend was currently being rather difficult.
"He refuses to sell it, saying he'll give it to whoever can help him resolve his company's issues for free..."
Li Chonglou inquired further. It turned out that the clothing company owned by his friend had recently been targeted by professional "staged accident" teams, causing him a lot of trouble. Now that he had gotten lucky and obtained a valuable item, he naturally wanted to use it to find connections to resolve his predicament.
Therefore, no matter how much Zhou Tong persuaded him, the other party refused to budge, even stating that he didn't care if the item ultimately couldn't help him, as it was his last hope.
Zhou Tong's intention was to prioritize helping Li Chonglou with this matter, potentially pushing the Wu family's issue to the back burner.
However, Li Chonglou felt that Zhou Tong had already helped him enough, so he stated directly, "Let me try to handle this first. Send me your friend's contact information."
Zhou Tong on the other end of the line was clearly taken aback, but he eventually said nothing more, simply replying, "Okay."
Shortly after, Li Chonglou received the contact information.
Li Chonglou called directly, got straight to the point, and finally arranged a time to meet for a detailed discussion.
After hanging up, Li Chonglou couldn't help but sigh. The situations he was facing were becoming increasingly numerous. To join the Green Gang, he had to deal with Qiao Sen; to attend the auction, he had to deal with Zhou Tong's friend; and Yu Ke was also inquiring about him.
The only thing going relatively smoothly was Zhang Yu's side, where their relationship was gradually stabilizing. He just needed an opportunity to find clues about Shi Boqiong.
"I'll take it one step at a time. Let's get the auction pass first."
Li Chonglou changed his plan. Regarding Qiao Sen, Hei Dao had mentioned a deadline of one month. If Li Chonglou couldn't get Qiao Sen to confront him within a month, then Fourth Master would bear full responsibility.
So, for now, Qiao Sen's matter was not urgent, nor could it be rushed.
The next morning, Li Chonglou met Zhou Tong's friend as arranged.
A few hours later, at the entrance of Yi'an, Ya Lili, who had come to find Zhang Yu, encountered the handsome man again.
"Beauty, do you remember me? What a coincidence! I'm really sorry about what happened yesterday. Please let me treat you to a drink as an apology. I couldn't sleep all night last night due to guilt!"
This time, the man seemed to have made up his mind, blocking Ya Lili's path. The security guard beside them asked what was happening.
Ya Lili was not good at socializing, and coupled with the man's sincere expression and handsome appearance, she didn't think much of it. She simply thought the man was kind-hearted and waved the security guard away.
"Alright then, you can treat me to a cup of coffee. Besides, I have to leave soon."
Ya Lili tried to make her intentions clear, not wanting the man to misunderstand. To her surprise, the man readily agreed.
"No problem. Actually, I'm busy too. As long as I can treat you once to express my apology, I'll be relieved."
Looking at the man's brilliant smile, Ya Lili inwardly chided herself for worrying that such a sincere person would misunderstand, and couldn't help but show a faint apologetic smile as she left with the man.
"I know a place with really good coffee nearby. I'll take you to try it."
Because the man led them through crowded areas, Ya Lili didn't pay much attention. Especially when he finally led her into a high-end coffee shop, Ya Lili felt completely at ease and didn't bother sending a message to Zhang Yu.
"If she misunderstands and thinks I'm on a date, she'll definitely tease me again."
Thus, Ya Lili put away her phone, thinking of it as just trying a new place.
Meanwhile, at the entrance of Yi'an Company, the security guard who had approached them earlier to inquire about the situation suddenly walked to a corner, pretending to have something to do, and made a phone call.
"Fourth Young Master, I just saw Miss Ya leave with a stranger. Oh! Right, it's the one Miss Ya met yesterday!"
Upon hearing this, Feng Zheng, who was on the upper floor, immediately changed his expression and quickly dialed Ya Lili's phone, only to have it automatically hang up, indicating she was busy.
Feng Zheng then remembered that he had been blocked by her a couple of days ago after confessing to her again, and hadn't unblocked her yet.
"No, I have to go find Sister Zhang. At the very least, I need to figure out the situation."
Feng Zheng was not someone who would resort to unscrupulous means to achieve his goals. At this moment, his concern stemmed purely from jealousy.
In Feng Zheng's eyes, any man Ya Lili met, other than himself, was likely a bad person.
When Feng Zheng found Zhang Yu, she was busy in her office.
"Sister Zhang, something's wrong! Lili left with a man!"
"What?"
Zhang Yu, not understanding, stood up abruptly. However, after she inquired about the situation, she couldn't help but laugh and cry.
"Xiao Feng, are you becoming more and more obsessed? Can't people have their own romantic encounters?"
"And you're even having people monitor Lili?"
Feng Zheng's face instantly turned red, and he stammered, "I... I... I, this was inspired by Brother Li. I didn't intend to monitor Lili. I just thought that if anything happened, I could help her immediately."
Zhang Yu looked amused but also exasperated, retorting, "You've arranged for people to report Lili's whereabouts to you, and that's not monitoring? So, are you going to install surveillance cameras in Lili's room next? Then you can say it's for Lili's safety?"
Feng Zheng underestimated women's aversion to being monitored. Even though he had only asked the security guard, it didn't stop Zhang Yu from imagining.
Moreover, Zhang Yu knew that if Feng Zheng wanted to, he could do these things, so she was also worried.