The Beautiful CEO's Personal Mad Doctor

Chapter 126: Chapter 126: The Desperate Lin Xingchen

A rush of blood surged to Lin Xingchen’s head, and his vision went black. If Lin Ruolong hadn’t been quick-eyed and fast-handed enough to catch him, he would have collapsed right there on the ground!

Even so, it took him a good ten seconds to regain consciousness.

Lin Xingchen’s eyes were vacant and filled with utter despair. First, it was the tycoons from Luocheng, then Deputy Director Qian, and now even the magnates from the Provincial City had turned against him!

Lin Xingchen was absolutely certain: today was his Waterloo. He had been thoroughly and completely defeated!

Lin Xingchen gave Cheng Yuan a long, hard look, unable to fathom why this young man possessed such immense power.

’I have to get to the bottom of this when I get back!’

”Let’s go. Back to the Provincial City to report to Elder Xiang.”

Lin Xingchen had lost all confidence in suppressing Yuanxi and was already thinking of retreat.

But Lin Ruolong, young and impetuous, refused to accept it.

”Dad! Even if they found enough VIPs, they don’t have Treasure Holders or Antique Appraisers. We haven’t necessarily lost yet!”

Jiang Yue also tried to console him, ”So what if we don’t have the rich businessmen? We can hire some plants to fill the venue. An extra costs two hundred yuan at most! As long as we don’t lose in terms of numbers and we have the advantage with our auction lots, we’ll still win in the end.”

The moment she finished speaking, a group of Treasure Holders walked over, each carrying their respective items.

Lin Xingchen no longer had the energy to greet them. He just lifted a hand, gesturing for Mu Qingfeng to go forward.

Mu Qingfeng accepted the order and approached them, his face plastered with a smile. ”Everyone, you’ve arrived right on time. This way, please!”

However, to Mu Qingfeng’s dismay, the Treasure Holders’ attitudes had turned cold.

”President Mu, we need to reconsider. We’ll give you an answer in a bit.”

Lin Xingchen subconsciously rubbed his temples. ’Just as I thought. There’s a problem with the Treasure Holders, too!’

’Problems have popped up from top to bottom, and the laughable part is, we didn’t hear a single word about any of it!’

But what puzzled Lin Xingchen was that after politely refusing Mu Qingfeng, these Treasure Holders didn’t go to Yuanxi Auction House either. They just stood in the space between the two auction houses. ’What are they waiting for?’

Time ticked by, and more and more Treasure Holders gathered. As if by a tacit agreement, they all stood in the space between the two auction houses.

Huanya’s few Antique Appraisers arrived, their expressions bitter. If possible, they would rather not compete against Zhang Zhigang!

However, they had already signed contracts with Huanya Auction House and didn’t dare to breach them.

Seeing that the handful of Antique Appraisers weren’t causing trouble, Lin Xingchen felt a small sense of relief.

Lin Xingchen pulled one of the Antique Appraisers aside and asked, confused, ”Teacher Zheng, what are the Treasure Holders waiting for? Do you know?”

Teacher Zheng looked at Lin Xingchen with a complicated expression. ”President Lin, haven’t you seen your social feed? It’s been blowing up.”

’Social feed?’

Lin Xingchen had been so busy he was about to lose his mind. When would he have had time to look at any social feed?

Lin Xingchen quickly pulled out his phone, opened his feed, and was utterly dumbfounded!

After just a few swipes, Lin Xingchen saw several posts related to Zhang Zhigang!

’Zhang Zhigang is going to join Yuanxi??’

Lin Xingchen felt his world crumbling!

This wasn’t just a crushing defeat; this was an attack from a higher dimension!

’It wouldn’t matter how many more Antique Appraisers I hired!’

’We’ve lost! A complete and utter loss this time! There’s not a single chance of a comeback!’

Lin Xingchen walked over to Mu Qingfeng’s side and said in a low tone, ”Assistant Mu, cancel today’s preliminary auction. Our auction today is a complete and utter joke!”

Mu Qingfeng was incredibly unwilling to accept this. He had worked so hard these past few days, all to prove that he, Mu Qingfeng, was capable and could handle things on his own!

But he had botched the very first task the old man had given him!

’The old man will definitely be disappointed in me!’

Mu Qingfeng tried to argue, ”Uncle, we still have a chance! Don’t give up!”

Lin Ruolong was also reluctant to give in. ”Dad, Assistant Mu is right, we still have a chance! It doesn’t matter if we lose today; there’s always tomorrow! With the power of our Huanyu Group, we can definitely turn this defeat into a victory!”

Lin Xingchen shook his head with a bitter smile. ”There’s no chance. Absolutely no chance. Just dissolve Huanya Auction House.”

”Why? Husband, pull yourself together!”

Now, it wasn’t just Mu Qingfeng and Lin Ruolong who couldn’t understand; even Jiang Yue was baffled.

Lin Xingchen raised his hand and pointed into the distance. ”That is the reason I’m giving up on Huanya Auction House!”

Everyone followed his finger and saw an old man.

The old man had white hair but a youthful complexion. He wore a Tang suit and was slowly rotating two large walnuts in his hand.

Upon seeing this old man, everyone’s expression changed drastically. A despairing thought surfaced in their minds. They finally understood why Lin Xingchen had become so dejected.

”Is that Elder Zhang? What’s he doing here in Luocheng?”

”No way... Elder Zhang isn’t with Yuanxi... is he?”

”If Elder Zhang is backing Yuanxi, we don’t stand a chance!”

...

Under everyone’s watchful eyes, Cheng Yuan walked up to him. ”Elder Zhang, you’ve arrived?”

”Haha, so many familiar faces! It looks like today’s preliminary auction will be quite lively!” Zhang Zhigang said, nodding at Cheng Yuan with a smile. He then scanned the crowd, a warm grin on his face.

”Hello, Elder Zhang!”

”Elder Zhang, we’ve been waiting all morning! We’re so glad you’re finally here!”

”With a true expert like Elder Zhang here, I can finally have my family heirloom appraised!”

...

This time, Cheng Yuan couldn’t be bothered to taunt the Lin Xingchen family any further. They had already been trampled into the deepest mud; kicking them a couple more times would be pointless.

Without so much as a glance at the Lin Xingchen family, Cheng Yuan enthusiastically led Zhang Zhigang into the Futai Building.

The crowd of Treasure Holders swarmed around them like bees to pollen, buzzing around Zhang Zhigang with questions.

This was a world where victors were kings and losers were outlaws; no one cared about the defeated.

The Lin Xingchen family departed from the Futai Building, their tails between their legs.

Mu Qingfeng was utterly devastated. He had failed his first mission from the old man so miserably. He would have very few chances to prove he could handle things on his own in the future!

Jiang Yue remained relatively calm. After all, she had married into the family, which allowed her to see other possibilities.

”Dear, could it be that the old man was wrong? There’s no way the second branch of the family turned this situation around on their own. This must all be the work of that good-for-nothing son-in-law! If that son-in-law has this much power, maybe he can help the Lin Family get out of this crisis! Even if he can’t right now, he might be able to revive the Huanyu Group in the future! When we get back, I suggest we try to persuade the old man to give Ruoxi and that son-in-law a chance.”

Lin Xingchen shook his head gently. ”The old man has already investigated three generations of Cheng Yuan’s family. They’re just an ordinary family, and Cheng Yuan’s branch is what you could even call poor. The old man will never allow Ruoxi to marry a nobody like Cheng Yuan.”