Sometime later, the tea is served to the guests while Ouyang Zen is in the middle of narrating his own adventure at the Dragon Empire, which lies on the other side of the world from the Vermilion Continent.
As the strongest and the largest empire in the world, the Dragon Empire is indeed worth talking about. However, Mark was only interested in whether he can expand his business to the Dragon Continent, nothing more than that…
Taking a sip of tea from the cup, Ouyang Zen's eyes widened in surprise and he looked at the robot in fascination and commented, "Mr. Lu, I have seen quite a few types of puppets in my life but your puppets are quite unique."
"Well, I call them robots." Mark felt happy with the praises even though he wasn't the one that made them. But, to maintain modesty, he added, "They look good on the surface but they have their own weaknesses."
"But, I guess you aren't interested to sell them?" Ouyang Zen asked with a suspicion that there might be more to these robots than it appeared. "I mean you certainly didn't put them for display like others."
"Hmm, I didn't?" Mark was visibly surprised by his statement. Then, he realized that he forgot it due to the presence of other robots roaming around.
Controlling his expression swiftly, he tried to use an excuse, "Well, they can't be categorized in either… Hmm…"
Mark suddenly stopped speaking and stared in the direction of Song Yue's room as the door opened and she stepped out alongside Alina.
Both of them looked breathtakingly beautiful. More than their accessories and clothing, Mark was surprised about the hair. Usually, the women in the world basically have three different types of hairstyles. The first one is draped hair, the second one is braided hair, and the third one is bun hair.
The three types of hairstyles were further developed into several variants across the centuries but the fourth type never appeared before.
And now, Alina transformed Song Yue's usual braided hair into a combination of ponytail and bangs/fringe, a style that was completely Mark's type. The beige-colored Hanfu only made her look like a next-door girl.
Even on the day of their engagement ceremony when Song Yue was all dolled up, Mark wasn't moved a bit.
But, at present, suddenly Mark felt like his heart skipped a beat and he couldn't keep his eyes off her as she walked toward him.
Is it because of her appearance change? Or is it because of the change of feelings over time? Mark has no idea.
Fortunately, Alina's appearance was attractive enough to distract his attention and bring him back to his senses.
As the ladies walked into the living room, Mark rose to his feet and introduced them to the guest and vice versa.
While Ouyang Zen was calm, Lan Jing appeared to be surprised by Mark's relationship with Song Yue. He didn't know that they were engaged and now, in his opinion, she would also have to be involved in his plans.
"But, did she know her Lu Zhen's birth story?" Lan Jing wondered.
Soon, all of them left the store and went to the venue together. At the registration table, Shang Jiao continued to accompany Chang Bo as the latter registered a couple of names.
The three guests saw Mark and immediately greeted him. Like others, they were also surprised to see a King's crown on a little kid but they don't dare to question Mark or his aides.
They directly went to the auction hall as Ouyang Zen was already done with the tour.
While the number of registrations reached over 32, Mark found only three tables were occupied in the auction hall. Thinking that the remaining people were in other sections, inspecting the weapons, Mark continued to calmly escort Ouyang Zhen and Lan Jing to the table.
However, it wasn't the same case for the kid. He became furious all of a sudden, earning attention from everyone around by talking aloud right from the entrance of the auction hall, "General Ma!"
"Hmm?" Mark and others looked at him.
Meanwhile, Ma Ping, the General who was talking to a wealthy merchant, felt goosebumps just from hearing that angry tone of his king. He immediately got up and looked in the direction, "Your Majesty?"
"Where is Sister Rong?" Ouyang Zen asked him.
Taking a deep breath, General Ma Ping answered respectfully, "Your Majesty, Princess Zan has gone outside with Ms. Yuan Meili."
"Yuan Meili?" Mark felt like he heard the name somewhere. Song Yue then patted his shoulder gently and commented with a bit of surprise on her face, "Yuan Clan sent the third daughter of Yuan Weishi or all the people? It looked like they were taking this auction rather seriously."
"Ah, so, she's the one, huh."
Song Yue's words made him remember the woman. She was the same person he briefly met at Second Prince's camp. He remembered Shang Wen telling him that the Yuan Clan wants to marry off her to him.
Meanwhile, Ouyang Zen roared once again, "Then, why in the hell are you staying here? You were supposed to protect her."
"Yes, but…" The General hesitated to defend himself, making the kid only angrier.
Lan Jing stepped in to control the situation. He stepped forward, and turned into a blurry figure, reaching the General in just a second.
As the General took a step back in reflex, Lan Jing gripped his shoulder tightly and asked the same question as the kid, "Ma Ping, where is she?"
The General gulped his saliva and answered slowly, "the facility that is two blocks away. It's… It's…"
Glancing at his surroundings, he leaned forward and whispered, "It's the public toilet. She is too embarrassed to let me follow her and too scared to go alone."
"Ah, I see." Lan Jing nodded in understanding. He returned to Ouyang Zen and whispered the same. After all, it isn't something that can be talked about in public, especially when they are people standing at a higher social ladder. So, his hesitation could be understood.
However, unlike Lan Jing, the King of the eastern sun didn't try to understand the issue. He gestured his hand to come forward.
And when the General reached the king, the latter gave an extreme cold gaze, "Tell me, General Ma, what job you were assigned?"
"To protect Princess Rong," replied the general while clearly displaying nervousness on his face. He didn't expect this kid would take this matter too seriously.
Ouyang Zen then asked, "And what are you doing now?"
"I apologize, Your Majesty. I should have secretly followed her and kept an eye on her location from far away." The General no longer tried to defend himself and pleaded for forgiveness because deep down, he knew that he might have unconsciously let her go away because of his issues with her late father.
Since the General admitted the mistake, Ouyang Zen didn't drag the matter further and directly gave the punishment, "After we return, you will clean the barracks alongside your subordinates for a day. Do you accept it?"
General Ma Ping goes down on one knee and bowed, "I accept, Your Majesty."
