Chapter Forty-Four: Li Ruoxi's Elopement

  In the late afternoon, when the red sun fell below the western horizon, Wang Ke returned to the villa with a book in his arms.

  These days, Li Ruoxi has been going out early and returning late every day, also didn't know what she was busy with, and also didn't let Wang Ke follow her to protect her. As for this situation, Wang Ke naturally was happy about it.

  However, as soon as Wang Ke stepped into the first floor hall of the villa, he saw Li Ruoxi, who was exhausted and pale, sitting on the soft sofa in the hall, staring blankly, without even noticing that he had entered the villa.

  Hesitating for a moment, Wang Ke took a step forward and walked towards Li Ruoxi. After all, she was his boss, and as her bodyguard, he should always be protecting her. If he didn't even greet her when he came back, that would be too rude.

  "Boss, you're back? I see that your complexion isn't too good, what happened?" Wang Ke sat down on the sofa opposite Li Ruoxi before speaking.

  Li Ruoxi snapped back to reality, looking at Wang Ke's faint smile, and suddenly felt a sour nose. In recent days, she had been receiving pressure calls from her family almost every day, even her father, who had always doted on her since childhood, called to warn her that if she didn't agree with the family's arrangements for her, they would take away all her rights and property, making it difficult for her to move forward.

  Taking a deep breath, Li Ruoxi quickly suppressed the grievances in her heart and only spoke up half a minute later: "Come with me to the company the day after tomorrow! Family members are coming over to negotiate with me, I hope you can protect me at that time."

  Wang Ke shrugged and said, "No problem, it's my duty."

  Li Ruoxi looked at Wang Ke's expression, hesitated for a moment, and then said: "Don't you want to know why I disobeyed the family's wishes, ran away from home, and even confronted the family members?"

  Wang Ke nodded without hesitation and said, "I really want to know, after all, everyone is curious. Of course, you can choose not to say it. In any case, you are my boss, I don't need to pry into the details. If you're willing to talk, I'll listen carefully; if you're not willing to talk, I'll pretend I didn't know anything and just focus on protecting you."

  Li Ruoxi let out a soft sigh, sat cross-legged on the sofa with a soft cushion in her arms, and said with a bitter smile: "Forget it, anyway you want to know, I don't have anything good to hide, now I'll tell you!"

  "I actually escaped because my family arranged a marriage for me with an heir from a more powerful family, a complete playboy and spoiled brat. If he were excellent, I would have resigned myself to it, but the fact is that we attended the same university and his reputation was notorious, having done countless bad things - how could I possibly agree to marry such trash?"

  Li Ruoxi said a few words, and her chest began to fluctuate slightly, obviously her heart was filled with anger.

  "So you're defying your family's orders and running away to Changji is considered an escape from marriage?" Wang Ke asked in puzzlement.

  Li Ruoxi nodded reluctantly and said, "What you said is right, even if it's escaping from marriage, it's also a form of resistance. I'm not a pawn in their hands, why should I become a tool for family alliances to gain benefits? I have my own life, and I must take control of it myself."

  Wang Ke nodded and sighed, "Arranged marriages are killing people! You've done well, and I think you're very brave. For the sake of family interests, one has to sacrifice the children of the family. Such a family is really chilling."

  Li Ruoxi's face turned exceptionally gloomy, and after a long silence, he said with a bitter smile: "In any case, during the negotiations two days later, I will need your protection! My family, I know them too well. If they see me resisting stubbornly, they might resort to violence and forcibly take me back. I cannot go back with them; otherwise, it would be extremely difficult for me to escape again."

  Wang Ke nodded and said, "I take people's money and help them eliminate troubles. Since I receive my salary from you, I will do what I should do well. It's still the same sentence: unless I'm beaten to the point where I can't get up, I won't let anyone harm you, nor will I let anyone take you away."

  Li Ruoxi didn't say anything else, put on her slippers, put the pillow back in its original place, and walked towards the stairs to the second floor.

  Wang Ke looked at Li Ruoxi's thin and slightly lonely back, and sighed secretly in his heart. At this moment, she must be feeling uncomfortable. Being forced by her own family members to marry a scumbag for the sake of the family's interests, this pain must be tormenting her.

  Living in a wealthy family, for them, interests may be the top priority?

  Suddenly, Wang Ke felt that Li Ruoxi was very pitiful. His own family had no money and no power, but the family could bring warmth to him, while Li Ruoxi's family was large and powerful, but the affection was so weak in comparison.

  People have different fates, and for Li Ruoxi, Wang Que felt sorry for her and could only try his best to protect her safety. As for the affairs of her family, he was ultimately just an outsider with no role to play at all.

  The next morning, Wang Ke arrived at Zixingju and saw Zhao Menfeng in the counter, sipping fragrant tea and reading a book, looking very pleased with himself.

  He turned to glance at the worn-out wooden fish on the shelf, then strode over to Zhao Menfeng and said, "Zhao, I'd like to discuss something with you."

  Zhao Men's eyes widened in surprise, and he curiously raised his head to look at Wang Ke and asked: "What's going on?"

  Wang Ke said: "I want to buy that wooden fish in your store. Can you sell it to me, Old Zhao? Name the price."

  Zhao Menfeng's gaze fell on the wooden fish instrument for a moment, then turned back to look at Wang Ke before speaking: "If you want to buy it, it's 2 million. But I have to tell you in advance, if you buy it and plan to resell it, you'd better not have such thoughts, because the price of that wooden fish instrument is around 2 million, even if someone offers you a higher price, it won't exceed 21 or 22 million, there's hardly any profit in it."

  Wang Ke nodded and said: "I know this, the price you gave after appraisal, Zhao Lao, I understand."

  Zhao's eyes showed a puzzled expression, and he asked in puzzlement: "If you understand, then why are you still buying it?"

  Wang Ke didn't tell Zhao Menfeng about the spiritual energy contained in the wooden fish, as it was his secret and he didn't want to expose it. So he used the excuse he had thought of yesterday: "I want to collect some precious artifacts. Since I'm going to be in the antique and artifact world, I should have some valuable things on hand. Money is no problem."

  Zhao Menfeng heard Wang Ke say this, and didn't ask any more questions. Wang Ke had his own ideas, and just because he was following him to learn, it didn't mean he wouldn't sell things to him.

  "I'll give you my bank account number, after you finish your studies in the morning, just take that wooden fish away! And by the way, transfer the money to my account in the afternoon." Zhao Menfeng said calmly.

  Wang Ke responded with a sound, hesitated for a moment, and then leaned over to Zhao Menfeng's side and asked in a low voice: "Zhao Lao, if that wooden fish is not a magical instrument but an antique, how much is it worth?"

  Zhao Menfeng was somewhat taken aback by Wang Ke's question, but after thinking for a moment, he said: "It's about 60,000 or so!"

  Wang Ke nodded slightly, and secretly let out a sigh of relief in his heart. It seemed that by absorbing the spiritual energy contained within the wooden fish artifact yesterday, he had essentially destroyed 140,000 pieces, but could still recover 60,000 pieces.

  Yesterday evening, after he finished his cultivation and replenished all the consumed true energy, he found that the amount of his true energy had indeed increased significantly, more than the improvement in his cultivation for a month.

  After finishing his studies at noon, Wang Ke directly took away the scrapped wooden fish instrument and sold it for 60,000 yuan in an antique shop, just as Zhao Menfeng said.

  Twenty million was transferred into Zhao Mengfu's account, and then 600,000 yuan was deposited into the bank account. There were still 1,550,000 yuan left in his bank card.

  He hesitated for a moment, then transferred 55,000 yuan back home and called his parents, making up a story that he had helped his boss with a big favor, successfully negotiating an important business deal, and the boss gave him a bonus of over 50,000 yuan.

  In the afternoon, Wang Ke blended into the antique trading market, constantly selecting things from one stall to another. If he found something that felt good, he would use his heterochromatic eyes to check if it was a magical instrument.

  He now, even with his cultivation having made great progress, still can't use the heterochromatic eye more than three times a day. With a hopeful heart, he ended up disappointed, using the heterochromatic eye three times, but the results were all the same - the things he thought were good turned out not to be magical instruments.

  This situation left him disappointed and secretly lamenting that despite the large size of this antique trading market, there were actually very few genuine goods.

  Returning to the villa, Wang Ke suddenly thought of something, which was that he had to follow Li Ruoxi to the company tomorrow and negotiate with her family members. However, in the morning, he was so focused on learning from Zhao Menfeng that he forgot to tell him that he couldn't go to Zixingju tomorrow morning.

  Wang Ke took out his mobile phone and dialed Zhao Menfeng's number.

  At this time, Zhao Menfeng was in his bedroom on the second floor of Zi Xing Ju, flipping through a document. This was the content he had prepared to teach Wang Ke tomorrow afternoon. Although he was well-read and knowledgeable, before teaching students, he must clarify his thoughts and gradually convey them in a cyclical manner.

  He received Wang Ke's phone call, and his eyes showed a curious expression. After connecting, he calmly asked: "Wang Ke, what's the matter with calling me so late?"

  Wang Ke respectfully said: "Old Zhao, I have something to do tomorrow afternoon and cannot come to Zixing Residence to study with you, so I'd like to ask for a day off."

  Zhao Menfeng said: "It's all right, you have things to attend to, go and take care of them!"

  Wang Ke then chatted with Zhao Menfeng on the phone for a few sentences before hanging up.

  Tomorrow and tomorrow, how many tomorrows are there? I have been waiting for tomorrow all my life, and years have passed in vain.

  Time cannot be wasted, life is short. Wang Ke understood this truth very well. Even if he had to follow Li Ruoxi to the company for negotiations tomorrow, he would not waste his evening. He studied books about antiques and artifacts with great concentration for two hours before picking up the printed paper and starting to memorize the Chinese characters by rote.

  I recommend a song, "Middle School Era" by Water Wood Year. This is the MV link: video.sina../v/b/20342777-1147677831.html The song and MV make Xiaobu feel like crying. Our innocent middle school era can only be cherished in memories, just like the lyrics say "What is love? I don't know, I won't move forever, I don't understand myself". At that time, we really didn't understand anything, but I miss not understanding back then...