209 Oil Auction (2/2)

Similar situations had happened in the past. Before the auction rules were fully developed, many rival firms would attend the bidding conference only to cause trouble. They would win the bidding and then leave without payment, so that the conference would be a complete waste of time.

In fact, even with the inclusion of the earnest money deposit, there were still such cases.

The famous 2009 auction of the Old Summer Palace bronze heads was a perfect example. Someone won the bid but refused to make the payment, causing Christie's' effort to promote the auction for months to be completely wasted.

”Give me the board!” Chen Fan snatched the board from Dai Yu and directly raised it up.

”Number 17!” the auctioneer on the stage shouted enthusiastically and gave Chen Fan an approving look.

Just then, a man sitting behind Chen Fan on the third seat from the left also raised his board.

Chen Fan turned around and looked at him. It was a man in a brown leather suit, aged about 25, with a long and handsome face just like a movie star. Noticing Chen Fan's gaze, he grinned.

”Number 17, again!”

The auctioneer was almost too excited to contain himself. He wished he could go up and give this ”number 17” a kiss.

Half a yen was approximately equal to 0.04 yuan, which was the increment every time...

Every week there would be 3,000,000 barrels, which multiplied by 0.04 would give 120,000 yuan. Since the agreement would be for at least half a year, that would be 26 weeks and thus 3,120,000 yuan...

Two seconds later, however, the auctioneer was delightfully surprised one more time. ”Number 29,” who was seated behind ”number 17,” actually raised his board again.

”Awesome!” Chen Fan took a deep breath and raised his board without hesitation.

”Are you mad?” Dai yu exclaimed in shock. A person who could enter a prestigious overseas university was certainly smart enough to know, from simple mental calculation, that each outbid meant earning 3,000,000 yuan less in half a year. Outbid two more times and one would no longer gain any profit...

”What do you know?” Chen Fan rolled his eyes. ”Since I dare to do this, obviously I have my own reasons!”

”Whatever. It's not my money anyway. Why should I care?” Dai Yu replied, annoyed.

”Num, number 29… going once…” The auctioneer was so thrilled that he started stammering.

”Oh, number 17…”

The act between the two totally bewildered the rest in the hall.

Young people now like to use their money without using their brains… The price is already 6451 yen. How the f**k would you make a profit with that? Everyone else thought.

Chen Fan turned and gave the man behind a provocative look.

Noticing his stare, the man returned a friendly glance and, to the absolute astonishment of everybody, he gracefully raised the board in his hand.

”Err…” The amount of surprise felt by the auctioneer during the event was probably more than in the rest of his life combined. His eyes were locked on the two bidders and his hands were shaking uncontrollably.

All thanks to those two idiots, his commission just increased by 3,000,000 yen in the past few minutes. How could he not tremble?

At Dai Yu's desperate look, Chen Fan raised his board elegantly in response.

Woom! The other man followed.

After he raised the board, the man stood up, walked to the seat right behind Chen Fan, and whispered something to the middle-aged man who was occupying the seat.

The two seemed to be discussing exchanging seats. The middle-aged man soon smiled and stood up, leaving the seat empty.

”Hey. You are sent here by another company to make trouble as well? Stop adding. Or else the organizer is going to suspect us!”

This was what the man said to Chen Fan and Dai Yu.