InvincibleConnoisseur

Chapter 44 Li Ruoxi Escaped Marriage

When the sun set and dark fell, Wang Ke returned to the villa with a book in his arms.

These days, Li Ruoxi had left early and returned late every day. Wang Ke did not know what she was busy doing, and she also did not let Wang Ke follow her around to protect her. Wang Ke was naturally happy about this.

However, just after stepping into the entrance hall of the villa, Wang Ke saw a distraught Li Ruoxi. There was a hint of paleness on her beautiful face and she was nestled on the soft sofa in the hall in a daze. She did not even notice that he had entered the villa gates.

After a moment of hesitation, Wang Ke steppedtowards Li Ruoxi. She was his boss after all. As a bodyguard, it was already a bit unjustified that he was not protecting her at all times. If he came back without greeting her, it would be too impolite.

"Boss, you're back? I see that you don't look very good, has something happened?" Wang Ke walked to sit down on the sofa opposite Li Ruoxi before he asked.

Li Ruoxi snapped out of her daze and looked at Wang Ke's faint smile. She suddenly felt her nose go sour. During these days, she had always received phone calls from her family forcing her to marry. Even her father who had been spoiling her since childhood called to warn her that if she did not agree with the family arrangements for her, he would withdraw all her rights and property so that she could achieve nothing and have difficulty living.

Taking a deep breath, Li Ruoxi quickly suppressed the grievance in her heart. Only after half a minute did she speak, "Come to the company with me the day after tomorrow! My family's people are coming over to negotiate with me, and I want you to protect me then."

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

Li Ruoxi looked at Wang Ke's expression and hesitated before she spoke, "Do you want to know why I have defied my family and escaped from home? And why should I confront the people of my family?"

Wang Ke did not hesitate before he nodded and said, "I do want to know. After all, everyone has curiosity. Of course, you can choose not to say. In any case, you are my boss and I do not necessarily have to gossip about you. If you are willing to say, I am all ears. If you do not want to say, I will pretend that I do not know anything and just do my job as your bodyguard."

Li Ruoxi sighed quietly and sat with her feet crossed on the sofa, holding a soft cushion in her arms. She said with a bitter smile on her face, "Whatever. You are going to know that anyway. I have nothing to hide, so now I will tell you!"

"In fact, the reason why I escaped is that my family arranged a marriage partner for me. He is the heir of a family with power greater than my family, a truly flirtatious playboy. If he were a good guy, I would obey my fate. However, he and I attended the same university, and he had been notorious in reputation and had done countless bad things. How could I agree to marry that kind of trash?"

Li Ruoxi's chest hove a little after she said a few words. Obviously, her heart was filled with anger.

"So you disobeyed your family's orders and came to Changji to escape marriage?" Wang Ke asked confusedly.

Li Ruoxi nodded with hatred and said, "You are right. It is to escape from the marriage, but also to fight back. I am not a pawn in their hands. Why should I become a tool for my family to gain benefits from marriage? I have my own life. I must control it myself."

Wang Ke nodded and sighed, "Arranged marriage is detrimental! You did a good job, and I think you are very courageous. It makes one's heart go cold to learn that there are families that would sacrifice the family's sons and daughters for the sake of the family's interests."

Li Ruoxi's face became exceptionally gloomy. After staying silent for a long time, she said with a bitter smile, "No matter what, when we negotiate the day after tomorrow, you will need to protect me! I know too well of my family. If I resist strongly, they will probably try to take me back by force. I can't go back with them! Otherwise, it will be really difficult for me to escape again."

Wang Ke nodded and said, "I take your money and help you with your troubles. Since I receive a salary from you, I will do what I should do. I'll say the same thing again. Unless I am beaten so bad that I cannot stand up, I will not let anyone harm you or take you away."

Li Ruoxi did not say anything else. She put on the slippers, placed the cushion in her hands back, and stood up to walk to the stairs to the second floor.

Wang Ke looked at Li Ruoxi's thin and slightly lonely back. He secretly sighed in his heart. At this moment, she must be feeling bad in her heart, right? The pain of being forced by her relatives to marry a trash-like man for the benefits of her family must be torturing her.

Being in a wealthy family was troublesome. For their kind of family, perhaps profit was the priority, wasn't it?

Suddenly Wang Ke felt pity for Li Ruoxi. His own family had no money or power, but they could always bring him a warm feeling. While Li Ruoxi's family was huge in numbers and in wealth, their family affection was relatively weak.

Everyone had their own fate. Wang Ke felt sorry for Li Ruoxi, but he could only try to protect her safety. As for her family affairs, he was after all just an outsider who was not helpful at all.

The next morning, Wang Ke came to Self House and saw Zhao Menfeng at the counter sipping fragrant tea and reading the book in his hands with a relaxed look.

After turning his head to look at the damaged wooden knocker on the shelf, Wang Ke strode toward Zhao Menfeng and said, "Mr. Zhao, there is something I want to discuss with you."

A trace of surprise appeared in Zhao Menfeng's eyes. He looked up curiously at Wang Ke and asked, "What is it?"

Wang Ke said, "I want to buy the wooden knocker magic weapon in the shop. Mr. Zhao, can you sell it to me? You can name your price."

Zhao Menfeng's gaze fell on the wooden knocker, and then he looked back at Wang Ke before speaking, "If you want to buy it, two hundred thousand yuan, please. But I can tell you in advance that you'd better not plan to buy it and sell it at a higher price. The price of that wooden knocker is only about two hundred thousand yuan. Even if someone offers you a higher price, it will not be more than twenty-one hundred thousand, which gives you not much profit at all."

Wang Ke nodded and said, "I know this. I understand the price given according to your appraisal, Mr. Zhao."

Confusion appeared in Zhao Menfeng's eyes. He asked confusedly, "If you understand, why are you still buying it?"

Wang Ke did not tell Zhao Menfeng about his absorption of the spiritual energy contained in the wooden knocker because it was his secret and he did not want to expose it. Therefore, he replied with the excuse he had thought of yesterday, "I want to collect some precious magic weapons. In the future, if I want to continue working in the business of antiques and magic weapons, I should have some good treasures in my hands. Money is not a problem."

Zhao Menfeng did not ask more after listening to Wang Ke's explanation. Wang Ke had his own mind, and Zhao Menfeng could not refuse to sell him anything just because he was learning from him.

"I'll give you my bank account number. You can just take that wooden knocker after you are done with your morning studies! Just transfer the money into my account when convenient this afternoon." Zhao Menfeng said indifferently.

Wang Ke agreed and hesitated for a moment before approaching Zhao Menfeng and asking in a low voice, "Mr. Zhao, if that wooden knocker were not a magic weapon but an average antique,how much is it worth?"

Zhao Menfeng was a little surprised by Wang Ke's question. After thinking about it, however, he said, "It would be around sixty thousand!"

Wang Ke nodded slightly. He was secretly relieved. If so, the spiritual energy in the wooden knocker he had absorbed yesterday was equivalent to a cost of one hundred and forty thousand yuan. He was still able to recover sixty thousand yuan.

After he finished his cultivation last night and replenished all the consumed spirit energy back, he found that the amount of spirit energy he held had improved significantly, more than his gains from cultivation for a month.

After he finished studying at noon, Wang Ke directly took the damaged wooden knocker. In an antique store, Wang Ke sold the damaged wooden knocker. As Zhao Menfeng said, the wooden knocker was damaged but still was an antique, and it could be sold for sixty thousand yuan.

After transferring two hundred thousand yuan to Zhao Menfeng's account and depositing another sixty thousand yuan into his own bank account, he still had one hundred and fifty-five thousand yuan left on his bank card.

He hesitated before transferring another fifty-five thousand yuan to his family. He then called his parents and made up a story that he had helped his boss with a big favor and made an important deal, so that his boss gave him a bonus of more than fifty thousand yuan.

In the afternoon, Wang Ke mingled in the antique trading market, constantly picking things from one stall to another. If he found something that he felt to be valuable, he would use his extraordinary vision to check if it was a magic weapon.

Even now as his cultivation had greatly improved, he still could not use the extraordinary vision more than three times a day. He had been hopeful but the result was always a disappointment. He would use the extraordinary vision three times but every result was the same. The things that looked good to him always ended up not being magic weapons.

This situation made him disappointed, and he also secretly sighed to himself. This antique trading market was so big, but there were really not many genuine goods!

Only after he returned to the villa did Wang Ke suddenly think of one thing. That was, he had to follow Li Ruoxi to the company the next day to negotiate with people from her family. In the morning, he had been so focused on studying with Zhao Menfeng that he had forgotten to tell him about not being able to come to Self House tomorrow morning.

Reaching for his cell phone, Wang Ke dialed Zhao Menfeng's phone number.

At this moment, Zhao Menfeng was looking through a piece of document in his bedroom on the second floor of Self House. It was what he planned to teach Wang Ke tomorrow morning. Although he was knowledgeable, he had to organize his thoughts and teach in a smooth and progressive manner before educating his students.

When he received Wang Ke's call, a curious look passed through his eyes as he picked up and calmly asked, "Wang Ke, what's the matter with calling me so late?"

Wang Ke said respectfully, "Mr. Zhao, I have something to do tomorrow morning and I can't learn with you at Self House. Therefore I would like to ask for a day off."

Zhao Menfeng said, "It's okay. If you have something to do, then go for it!"

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

There was always a tomorrow, but time would be wasted away if he did not do anything.

Life was too short for time to be wasted. Wang Ke understood this very well and even if he had to follow Li Ruoxi to the company tomorrow to negotiate, he would not waste his time in the evening. After he looked through books on antiques and magic weapons and studied with concentration for two hours, he picked up the printed paper and started to memorize the characters on it.