Chapter 4 I'm More Useful Than You Think
"How did you know I was here as auctioneer?"

Obviously, the beautiful figure that walked out was the youngest sister of the current emperor, Her Highness Xu Jiujiu.

Huo Yuhao really didn't know that Xu Jiujiu had already been working as an auctioneer here at this time.

However, according to the description in the book, Xu Jiujiu had become the highest-level golden auctioneer in the auction house a few years later. This was certainly due to the help of the royal family, but his own efforts were also probably indispensable.

That's why Huo Yuhao bet that Xu Jiujiu has been working as an auctioneer here.

But from a long-term perspective, this is not the case.

In Xu Jiujiu's opinion, he had just been here for one day, and only a few masters in the entire auction hall knew his identity. How could this little kid who suddenly appeared know his identity?

Could it be that this elderly appraiser told him? That's impossible! I have been listening outside the door since the old man entered.

But if what the other party said is true, then... Thinking of this, Xu Jiujiu couldn't help but hesitate.

As a princess of a country, Xu Jiujiu clearly knows how powerful the body's martial soul is. After all, there are quite a few Titled Douluo in this world, but there are only a few Titled Douluo who can fight on equal terms with the world's number one Dragon God Douluo.

Among them, the former leader of the Body Sect, Du Bi Si, was one of them.

Du Bi Si, a level 98 Super Douluo, martial soul body, title body, once fought with Dragon God Douluo Moon En. Although he was killed by Moon En in the end, he also caused Moon En irreparable serious injuries.

According to the saying passed down by the Body Sect, the more indispensable the body's martial soul is, the more powerful it is.

If losing an eye is not a big deal, how can a person survive if he loses the brain?
If what he said is true, then we can put aside the question of how he knew about me, Xu Jiujiu thought to himself.

“I’m sorry, I can’t tell you the reason, but Your Highness, what I have is definitely worth your time.” It was the first time that Huo Yuhao met a princess in real life, and he couldn’t help feeling a little nervous, but at least he appeared to be neither humble nor arrogant on the surface.

"Oh, really? Relying solely on your own martial spirit is not enough." Xu Jiujiu walked to the opposite side of Huo Yuhao in an elegant manner and looked at him with a deliberately arrogant expression.

Huo Yuhao looked at the elderly appraiser, and then waved his hand and asked the elderly appraiser to leave.

After the other party left, Huo Yuhao slowly spoke.

"Hello, Your Highness Xu Jiujiu, please allow me to introduce myself."

"My name is Huo Yuhao, formerly known as Dai Yuhao. I am the third child of the Duke of White Tiger of the Xingluo Empire, and one of his only two illegitimate sons."

"My mother was Dai Hao's personal maid. She got pregnant after a night of pleasure with Dai Hao."

"But Dai Hao has never seen me and my mother since I was born. In fact, because of Dai Hao, my mother and I were bullied by the Duchess in the Duke's Mansion."

"Not long ago, my mother died from this."

"I have a natural grudge against the Duchess and the two children she gave birth to, Dai Yueheng and Dai Huabin. However, due to the White Tiger family's tradition and the complicated relationship between us, no one would say anything even if I killed them with my own hands."

"Because of the relationship between Dai Hao and I, as long as Dai Yueheng and Dai Huabin die, and my brother is not talented, I will be the heir of the Duke of White Tiger."

"Plus, there is hatred between the Duchess and me. If I take action against the Nether Spirit Cat Family after I take office, it will be justified and will not cause any controversy."

“As long as the Evil Eyed White Tiger and the Nether Spirit Cat turn against each other, and the Evil Eyed White Tiger’s martial spirit is likely to perish, the Xu family, as a royal family, will alienate and divide these old nobles, and thus gain a more comprehensive control over the entire Xing Luo Empire.”

“I wonder if the conditions I bring to His Highness are enough to impress His Highness.” Huo Yuhao looked at Xu Jiujiu who had fallen into a daze, feeling both proud and a little uneasy.

After all, from the beginning, he lived in the closed little world of the Duke's Mansion and was not clear about what was happening in the outside world.

However, Huo Yuhao was very smart. After reading the book, he could tell from the actions and words of the Xingluo Royal Family and the White Tiger Duke that the relationship between the two was far from as harmonious as it seemed.

For example, Dai Yuheng said that Duke Baihu had been fighting in the Western Army Group led by his grandfather since he was a child, and he rose from a soldier to a corps commander. It was not until he was finally promoted to corps commander that the emperor recognized Dai Hao because of his similar face to his grandfather.

So the question is, if even the emperor could recognize Dai Hao, then are all the members of the Western Army Group led by Dai Hao's father blind?
If he was not blind, then why didn't anyone tell the emperor about such an important matter? How come he was not blind but mute?
Dai Hao's behavior seems inspiring, but in fact it is as irrelevant as the working of rich second-generations in the real world.

Think about it carefully. The emperor went to great lengths to promote someone who was not from the Dai family, but when the time came for the actual appointment, would he really be surprised when he saw that the legion commander he was about to promote was from the Dai family?

Haha, I'm afraid it's mostly anger and fear?

Five hundred thousand regular troops, half of the country's military force has been controlled by one minister for generations. As an emperor, he can't even control his own army. Does he feel good about it?
Moreover, at the end of the book, when Xu Jiawei gave the Xingluo Emperor to Dai Hao, he was also expressing his fear of these great nobles headed by the Evil-Eyed White Tiger.

You have to know that when the Sun-Moon Empire attacked, the Dai family, as the royal family, did nothing wrong. They had been fighting on the front line and had almost no one left in the royal family at that time.

In that case, would the nobles who followed Evil Eyed White Tiger in the past easily abandon him?
Maybe there are, but I'm afraid they are only a minority.

In other words, there must be a large number of nobles within the Xingluo Empire who support Duke White Tiger.

Dai Hao, who seemed to be a minister, not only had hundreds of thousands of soldiers, but also had the full support of several nobles.

Faced with such a minister, is the ambitious Xingluo Emperor Xu Jiawei really willing to let him go forever?

This is why Huo Yuhao chose the Xingluo Royal Family as his first stop.

After a while, it seemed like a long time had passed, and it took a long time for him to come back to his senses. The look he gave Huo Yuhao was filled with complicated emotions in his eyes.

Even Xu Jiujiu himself was not sure what attitude he should use to face Huo Yuhao. Shock? Joy? Love? It seemed that none of them were right, and yet all of them were right.

"Please wait a moment." After coming back to his senses, Xu Jiujiu bowed to indicate that he would be leaving for a while, then slowly walked out of the room.

After a while, he didn't come back for a long time, but the food had been delivered.

The food looked very appetizing and Huo Yuhao was also a little hungry, but... for safety reasons, Huo Yuhao did not pick up his chopsticks and took out the dry food he brought with him and started to eat.

In this world, distrust does not need a reason, only trust requires a reason.

Just as Huo Yuhao was eating his dry food, the door opened again. However, this time it was still not Xu Jiujiu, but a middle-aged majestic man who walked with an imposing posture.

If you look closely, you can find that his features are somewhat similar to Xu Jiujiu's.

"Yuhao, right? According to the relationship between our two families, you should call me uncle." The middle-aged man looked at Huo Yuhao kindly.

Even though the other party was not wearing the crown and robes that an emperor should wear, Huo Yuhao still guessed his identity.

“Based on the relationship between our two families, I should indeed call you uncle.” After Huo Yuhao finished speaking, an inexplicable smile appeared on the middle-aged man’s face.

But before the smile could expand, Huo Yuhao's next words instantly stunned the middle-aged man.

“But if we go by our goal, I should call you senior, because we are all working towards the same goal.” Huo Yuhao looked seriously at the middle-aged man in front of him, the Emperor of the Xing Luo Empire, Xu Jiawei.

Xu Jiawei was stunned at first, then he laughed from the bottom of his heart.

“Hahaha! Interesting, really interesting.” Xu Jiawei looked at Huo Yuhao in amazement and said, “Since I ascended the throne, I have seen many young talents, but none of them can give me such a big shock like you.”

"Yuhao, do you really want to join the royal family?"

"It's not surrender, but exchange." Huo Yuhao seriously corrected the mistake Xu Jiawei made.

"The royal family has devoted all their efforts to training me, and I will help the royal family disintegrate the noble forces led by the evil-eyed white tiger, so that Your Majesty can better control this empire."

Xu Jiawei remained silent, tapping the table with his fingers.

"The royal family can train you with all their strength, and even promise to find all your spirit rings for you and fully assist you in your quest to become a Titled Douluo. But when you grow up, you will need to become a strong defender of the empire."

"Of course, if you don't grow up, the royal family will admit the loss."

Huo Yuhao shook his head without hesitation and said, “I don’t need the royal family to find all my spirit rings for me, and I will not agree to become a strong defender of the empire.”

Becoming a country's guardian means being completely bound to that country and completely obeying the emperor's orders, which Huo Yuhao cannot accept.

"You seem to have great confidence in your future. Do you think you can become a strong person?" Xu Jiawei suddenly asked. Xu Jiawei could tell from Huo Yuhao's attitude that Huo Yuhao seemed to have extraordinary confidence in himself.

Huo Yuhao nodded firmly: "Of course."

The essence of the deal they are making now is that Huo Yuhao uses himself as the investment target and seeks the Xingluo Royal Family as his investor.

Therefore, the more confident Huo Yuhao appears, the more likely the Xingluo Royal Family will invest more resources in Huo Yuhao.

After hearing what Huo Yuhao said, Xu Jiawei looked carefully at the child in front of him.

In Xu Jiawei's eyes, Huo Yuhao, who was only ten years old, could really be considered just a child.

According to the royal investigation, the duke's bastard had a very bad life in the duke's mansion. Even his mother's death had a lot to do with the duchess and her son.

In other words, as long as Huo Yuhao grows up successfully, even if he will not kill Dai Hao, he will definitely take revenge on the Duchess and her son.

(According to normal people’s thinking, no matter what, even if he didn’t take revenge on Dai Yueheng, he should take revenge on Dai Huabin. So sometimes Huo Yuhao himself didn’t understand what happened to himself in the book. Why did he become less and less like a normal person the stronger he became?)

In this case, with the Evil-Eyed White Tiger and the Netherworld Spirit Cat in opposition, Xu Jiawei believed that by then the royal family would have every opportunity to disintegrate the old aristocratic forces in the country and completely control the Xing Luo Empire.

But the prerequisite for achieving all this is that Huo Yuhao has to grow up.

However, Xu Jiawei was more aware of the potential of his martial soul.

Who made the Body Sect produce the two poisons that are immortal and fatal?
Of course, it doesn’t matter even if Huo Yuhao fails to grow. For the mighty Xingluo Empire, the second most powerful country in Douluo Continent, this amount of resources is nothing to them.

This is a business that will not lose money no matter what. Xu Jiawei made a conclusion about this matter in his mind.

"Okay, then we have a deal. The Xingluo Royal Family will provide you with a certain degree of assistance, and you need to help the Xingluo Royal Family disintegrate the noble forces represented by the White Tiger Duke."

Huo Yuhao nodded: "Okay."

Xu Jiawei asked, "Aren't you afraid that the royal family will ask you to do something that will be remembered for eternity, such as massacring a city?"

Huo Yuhao glanced at Xu Jiawei and said, “If I were strong, I would still have the final say in everything. If I were weak, even if I set up a lot of rules, they would be useless in the face of absolute strength.”

Very bold and very transparent.

This was Xu Jiawei’s first impression of Huo Yuhao.

But that's not a bad thing.

As the emperor of the Xingluo Empire, although Xu Jiawei has always been low-key, he is actually very ambitious.

Since the Xingguan Xu family came into control of the Xingluo Empire thousands of years ago, there have been almost no emperors among the hundreds of emperors who have been able to completely control the empire like the previous generation of the royal family, the Dai family.

From the high-spirited state after taking office to the setbacks he encountered later, despite going through a lot, Xu Jiawei's ambition was never extinguished.

Instead, it becomes even hotter.

He cherishes talents, or people who can help him accomplish his great cause.

Then Xu Jiawei chatted with Huo Yuhao for a long time, covering all kinds of things, including his understanding of his own life, his mother, and some future arrangements of both parties.

Of course, most of the time it was Xu Jiawei who took the initiative to ask questions, and Huo Yuhao was always answering the questions raised by Xu Jiawei.

There was only one question that really confused Huo Yuhao.

"Your Majesty, have you no doubts about what I have said?"

Seeing Huo Yuhao's confused expression, Xu Jiawei just smiled and said casually, "Kid, you know nothing about the intelligence power that an emperor can have."

The entire conversation was almost completely caught up in Xu Jiawei's rhythm, but fortunately Huo Yuhao was very alert at this time and was agreeing or nodding most of the time.

There is no way, after all, Huo Yuhao is only ten years old. It is already remarkable that he can see the situation clearly.

In general, when it comes to social skills and conversation, even if Huo Yuhao from the book came in person, he would not be able to defeat a mature politician like Xu Jiawei.

Finally, Xu Jiawei stood up and summarized the conversation: "In this case, let's reach a contract. If you need any resources in the future, just ask Jiujiu."

"From today on, you are the youngest auctioneer at the Starlight Auction House."

Perhaps worried that Huo Yuhao would not understand the intention behind this, Xu Jiawei took the initiative to explain: “In the palace, there are many people and eyes. If you are suddenly placed there, it will be difficult not to leak the news. On the contrary, if you are placed in the auction house, even if you are recognized by acquaintances at that time, you can be said to have been adopted by the auction house.”

"That way, there will be room for recovery."

“Yuhao thanks Your Majesty and I respectfully bid you farewell.” Huo Yuhao immediately stood up and bowed to see him off. Only after the Xingluo Emperor had completely left the room did Huo Yuhao relax and slump down on the sofa, sweat dripping down his face without him noticing.

"Huh, so nervous. I actually dared to negotiate with the emperor of my own country. I'm afraid I will never forget this experience."

"Hehe, I thought you were so powerful, pretending to be so mysterious, but actually you still get scared." Xu Jiujiu walked in humming a little tune, with a sarcastic look on his face.

Just now, Huo Yuhao suddenly told Xu Jiujiu about his visit to the auction house. Xu Jiujiu was so shocked by Huo Yuhao that he was speechless. But now, seeing Huo Yuhao like this, he felt relaxed all of a sudden.

Huo Yuhao looked at him for a long time and said frankly, "Although I am Dai Hao's son, I am not even as good as a servant in the Duke's Mansion. Isn't it normal for me to be a little nervous when I suddenly meet the emperor of my own country?"

Xu Jiujiu snorted softly, but did not refute.

(End of this chapter)