Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 49: Chapter 47 Soldier King

The elderly man, upon hearing the agent’s bid of five million, looked in Su Jinyuan’s direction.

Su Jinyuan nodded imperceptibly, and the elderly man, with a smile in his eyes, said, “A gentleman helps others to achieve their ends. I will let this piece of ambergris go to the young friend.”

The auctioneer’s hammer came down decisively, and ultimately, the piece of ambergris was sold for five million.

The agent swallowed the loss in silence; though he acquired the piece of ambergris, his expression was sour.

The other two agents beside him also wore faces of unwillingness mixed with vexation and anger.

That old man, by driving up the auction price without competing to the end, even a fool could tell what had happened.

Huo Sining hadn’t quite understood at first and sat thinking in her seat for a while before she sensed something was amiss.

She looked at Su Jinyuan in surprise, lowered her head, and asked quietly, “Was that elderly gentleman a plant you brought in?”

Su Jinyuan nodded coolly, and Huo Sining’s eyes widened immediately, looking at him with disapproval, “Isn’t that just setting a trap to deceive people?”

A trace of amusement flickered in Su Jinyuan’s eyes, “Those three started by underbidding. If they had not done so and had bid honestly, the person I arranged wouldn’t have been necessary. In business, it’s all about outsmarting one another. It’s not a matter of deceiving or not deceiving people.”

Huo Sining was stunned for a moment, then upon reflection, it seemed quite reasonable. If not for Su Jinyuan’s plant, she might have been taken advantage of.

She couldn’t help but give Su Jinyuan a silent thumbs-up.

As soon as the auction ended, the piece of ambergris was taken away by the buyer, and the organizers took a ten percent commission. Huo Sining instantly made back four and a half million.

Huo Sining, who had almost emptied her pockets to buy the shop, suddenly felt like she was wealthy again, speaking more boldly, and decided to let bygones be bygones regarding the grudge she felt for being misunderstood because she accompanied Su Jinyuan to the auction.

After all, she was innocent and had nothing to fear from slander. Let the gossipers say what they will.

In this period, Huo Sining registered a new Penguin account and got back in touch with her high school classmates.

Although seven years had passed and most of those classmates weren’t very close to her, occasionally, she would read a bunch of them chatting in the Penguin group, and Huo Sining would chime in now and then, which indeed brought back the warm feeling from when she graduated high school.

After high school graduation, the students felt more liberated. Those who got into university naturally looked forward to their beautiful days in college, while those who didn’t get in started looking for jobs in different directions.

Huo Sining thought back to the dark times following her own high school graduation when she failed the college entrance exam, feeling indescribable melancholy. In half a month, the new semester would start, and her dream of university, both in her previous and current life, was finally coming true.

At this thought, she inevitably remembered Wu Jingyi. The classmates mentioned in the group that she had received her admission notice from Imperial Capital Medical University.

Huo Sining’s lips curled into a cold smile. Indeed, without the Jade Pendant, the Liang Family had not appeared, and Wu Jingyi had not been taken back by the Liang Family to become a young lady of wealth.

It was said that after moving out of the orphanage, Wu Jingyi went to the Capital City alone. Huo Sining felt curious how, in two months, Wu Jingyi could gather nearly ten thousand yuan for her university tuition.

Wu Jingyi was just history, although she was the main culprit leading to Huo Sining’s death in her past life; but since it hadn’t happened yet in this life, Huo Sining just let it go after a thought.

In this life, Wu Jingyi was unlikely to be so fortunate again. Without the easy life of affluence at her fingertips, as long as she didn’t foolishly provoke Huo Sining again, Huo Sining was willing to let her off.

As the school year was about to start, the following month would be spent in military training for new students, but Xianyu Shop couldn’t be closed for a month.

Huo Sining thought for a moment and decided to hire someone to help her with the shop, so she could relax a little. Otherwise, once university classes started, she wouldn’t be able to manage at all. Keeping the shop closed all the time would mean the end of business.

However, recruiting someone wasn’t a quick and easy task. Huo Sining posted a job advertisement at the shop’s entrance and online, but for several days, no one showed interest. Just when she was about to give up, a resume appeared in her inbox.

After reviewing the resume, Huo Sining couldn’t help but become interested in this man named Wu Jun.

This person’s resume had an address on it. Thinking it over, since she had time in the evenings, she decided to drop by for a visit.

Huo Sining had high standards for choosing personnel; she wanted someone who could not only watch the shop but could also drive, and this person had to be highly loyal and trustworthy. Not just anyone would fit her criteria.

But this resume fit Huo Sining’s specifications very well. The job applicant, named Wu Jun, came from the military and had even been a lieutenant officer in the special forces.

Such a person could be said to have unlimited prospects as long as he didn’t make any mistakes.

However, nobody expected that two years earlier, during a border mission, Wu Jun had impulsively killed a drug trafficking gang after witnessing his teammates being tortured to death.

Because of this, Wu Jun was brought before a military court. Although he was released in court, he was stripped of his military rank and forcibly discharged.

Huo Sining liked soldiers of strong character, and since soldiers had the concept of obedience instilled deep in their bones, they were highly disciplined and loyal. However, from this resume, Huo Sining sensed that Wu Jun was hot-tempered and might be hard to manage, so she wanted to see him in person.

The resume showed that after leaving the military, he didn’t get reassigned to another field. He briefly worked as a security guard at a company, and eventually, he was forced to work as a dock laborer for loading and unloading.

Huo Sining thought to herself, a lieutenant willing to belittle himself to do such hard labor must be driven to desperation. As long as he wasn’t a violent maniac, what harm would there be in giving him a hand?

Arriving at the docks, Huo Sining spotted several laborers unloading goods from a distance. It didn’t take her long to recognize the man in a worn blue vest as Wu Jun from the resume.

Though he appeared much younger in his photo, his stubborn demeanor hadn’t changed a bit.

Wu Jun was carrying a large box onto a truck, and Huo Sining instantly noticed the scars on one of his shoulders.

The numerous bullet and knife scars were enough to testify to the hardships this man had endured in the military. Seeing the calluses and bloodstains pressed out on his neck and shoulders by the cargo, Huo Sining felt an involuntary respect for the man.

In times of war, such a person would have been considered a Soldier King and might have even had the chance to become a marshal or a general. But in peaceful times, he was taken to a military court.

On the battlefield, he was an eagle, but now, with his wings clipped, he was reduced to living humbly at the docks doing manual labor.

After watching a few more moments, Huo Sining walked towards the temporary housing for workers behind the docks. It wasn’t long before she saw a woman in her fifties squatting and washing clothes at a tap.

Approaching with a smile, Huo Sining asked, “Auntie, may I ask you about someone? Do you know a person named Wu Jun? He’s about 1.8 meters tall and looks to be in his mid-twenties to late twenties.”

The woman looked up at Huo Sining with caution. Probably because Huo Sining was young and didn’t appear to be a bad person, the woman’s expression softened,

“You’re talking about that simpleton from the Wu family, right? He’s unloading cargo at the dock in front, and that young fellow lives next door to me. Usually, he’s so focused on working, he hardly speaks, but he has a kind heart and is the hardest worker here. There are forty to fifty of us dockworkers around here, and everyone calls him simpleton.”

Huo Sining smiled upon hearing this, “Does he live here by himself?”

The woman shook her head, “He lives with his younger sister. The girl is just about ten years old, just started junior high school. She should be out of school by now. If you’re looking for him, just walk straight in there; the last room in that row of houses is theirs.”

As she spoke, the woman straightened her back and pointed toward the long row of temporary houses behind her.