Lessons on Raising a Partner

Chapter 3: Do you see my beauty?

The teardrop tree was beating on the edge of the dome with its longer branches. Inertia made it easy for the glass to move weightlessly in the hall. But even though it had so many eyeballs, it could not see all around like Hai’an. Different branches tapped on the edge of the dome in places, so the teardrop tree could only move around Hai’an in a circle.

Hai’an:....

The teardrop tree had branches while he had nothing but two leaves. The length of his leaves could not even reach the edge of his flowerpot, let alone the glass dome.

Abandoning the idea of moving, Hai’an calmed down to observe how the guests caught the goods. This was the first time he saw such a wonderful method of trading; as merchandise.

The hall was very high and some goods floated to the highest point. Hai’an’s sight also followed. Without the roof of the hall, the outer sky could be seen clearly. It was supposed to be night, but it didn’t look like night at all. The sun had disappeared on the horizon and the pale blue sky had turned into a deep blue. It was how Hai’an imagined the sea had he been able to leave Elune Forest. He had only read about the description of the sea in a book, but, in his imagination, the sea should be as mysterious as this starry sky he saw at this moment.

During the day, the planets were still visible but the rings around them were not as easy to see. At night, it could be seen that the rings were made up of many smaller stars orbiting the planet. More stars hung farther away. It was not like the stars seen at night in Elune Forest, as the sky could never be seen through the veil of tree tops. Here, this starry sea was so vivid, that it was as if you could touch it with your hands. There were large and small ones, they were near and far depending on the night. Countless sparkling stars that set the whole night sky on fire.

It was just like the divine realm recorded in the history books from the Node continent where he originally lived. God lived at the end of the distant star sea where they could reach the star sea tide.

Hai’an was totally attracted by the night sky. At this time, a huge figure flashed by, he flew through the place, grabbing every item as he passed. Hai’an saw a little beast struggling and bumping under his crystal dome.

The shadow landed on the ground. It was a man with waist-length dark red hair. He fastened the dome to him with one hand causing the little beast to struggle more fiercely. There was even some blood left by the little beast banging against the crystal, but the dome remained motionless, which showed how strong the man was.

He looked slightly sideways and saw Hai’an, who was very eye-catching alone. “Oh, there’s a fool here.”

After that, he strode towards Hai’an. When Hai’an thought he was going to be caught by him, someone suddenly jumped from behind him and held Hai’an’s dome tightly.

“Haha, this is mine!” A little boy jumped over and held Hai’an in his arms.

The red-haired man approached the child, squatted down and stared into his eyes and said, “This is what Uncle caught.”

The little boy hugged Hai’an even more when he heard it. “But you didn’t have it when I saw it.”

This interstellar city was called Freeport, it was the largest trading port in the Empire and had a very large flow of people. When Carl arrived here last year, he missed the auction held by the Free Auction House. He heard that this auction house was very abnormal. Not only did he have to catch the goods by himself, but he also has to find the right auctioneer to buy it from since the auction’s target were the auctioneers.

The auctioneer had a price set for each item. The bidder was only allowed three bids. If the price was lower than what was on the price list, the item would be owned by the auctioneer. The auction house would pay the guaranteed price to the seller. Only when the price was high enough could you buy the item.

Half of the auctioneers in each auction would be freely selected from the residents of Freeport. They would not be repeated. While the other half of them were fixed employees of the auction house. They would sell the item higher than what was on the price list and fifty percent of the money would go to the auction house. The rest would be given to the auctioneers.

Most of the people who caught their favorite goods was very small. This was because they could not use external tools, they could only rely on their own ability to grab the items. Auction tickets were also quite expensive. In order to buy goods, the price was usually very high, but due to the variety of goods, prices were difficult to determine. Some seemingly ordinary commodities were of high value, which was what the auctioneers wanted.

This was Carl’s first time coming to this auction and he felt that the gifts he had given to Auguste in the past were no longer suitable for him. After all, they were adults and should be given something different.

So Carl decided to take a plant back with him and they must be a plant worthy of Auguste. He thought Hai’an was a very good choice.

Hai’an was a small plant that couldn’t move. Carl had seen FengLanxing plants uproot themselves to run away with their legs. This seedling couldn’t run. Besides, gifts should be given in a gradual cycle. This year, a small one should be given to hand raise casually. He was not afraid it could die, a big gift would be given next year to replace it!

But now, the little plant was robbed by a small puppy, and it was difficult for him to grab it, because he knew Auguste would kill him if he didn’t give anything.

Carl felt it was time to test out his eloquence.

“You see,” Carl decided to convince the child, “this plant is ugly.”

Carl pointed at Hai’an expressionlessly, then picked up the tree of eyes that was still rolling around nearby and presented it to the little boy. The Eye Tree had fainted due to Carl’s fierce flick and the auctioneer blinked at the little boy.

Hai’an thought, ‘This was a nightmare for children.’

But the little boy was not frightened. He looked at the eye tree carefully and then at Hai’an in his arms. He thought for a moment then looked up and was about to open his mouth. As a result, his eyes suddenly lit up and XiaoFei pointed to a potted plant behind Carl. “I think that one is the most beautiful. I want that.”

Hai’an saw that, behind Carl, it was a pot of the most beautiful flowers, which, when poked disappeared into its Branches.

“Kid, you picked it,” Carl muttered, waving his hand as he prepared to fish for it.

The result was he came back empty handed.

No one could see how it moved. The crystal dome flashed past Carl’s hand and flew to the little boy.

“Wow,” the little boy stared in surprise, unconsciously releasing Hai’an and turning his hands to hold the other flower.

Abandoned Hai’an was silent.

Carl tried to reason with him, “This is what I caught. You have to thank me.”

The little boy didn’t have time to pay attention to him. The potted flower was selling itself in the boy’s hands. It kept blooming and closing its colorful flowers. Layers of petals gradually opened fully revealing pale red patterned stamens. They looked gorgeous.