Chapter 98 (2/2)
“The auction’s session will soon begin, and I believed that all the Ladies and Gentlemen have already seen the auction’s list of items. It is my sincere wish that everyone will be able to obtain the items you want and return back with a rewarding journey.” said Xiao Ai.
“I hereby announce that the 21st annual Violet Redbud Auction has officially begun. The following first auctioned item is a precious antique, a blue-white porcelain vase produced by the late Ming and early Qing Dynasty’s Royal Kiln. Everyone mustn’t look down on this blue white porcelain vase, the seal above it shows that it is the Imperial Household’s seal, and was used only for the Emperor. It’s highly likely that the vase was used in the Emperor Palace of the Great Qing Dynasty…”
Tang Xiu sat quietly under the stage as he listened to the grandiloquent introduction from the auctioneer. As the auction was announced to officially begin, he looked at the following hundreds of guests of the Violet Redbud Auction as they competed in bidding for the items, giving off a peculiar strange feeling to him.
It was as the saying goes that, when the world was in chaos, opportunity arises, but when the world was in a golden age, amassing wealth is flourishing.
And now, he was deeply appreciating the true meaning of this sentence. Each item was being auctioned at a high price and each item would be bought at sky high prices. He couldn’t help but sigh. At present, there were a lot of rich people, and they loved to amass wealth and become richer. Certainly, he also had another kind of thought, that rich people were foolish. Buying pieces of dead objects and bringing them home with such meaningless significance.
The auction had lasted for 2 hours and Tang Xiu had yet to bid even once. In contrast, Shao Mingzhen and Miao Wentang had bid once and bought the items they needed.
“For the next items we will auction, it is a rare ore. This rare ore is very hard and we suspect that the ore came from the space and crushed down to Earth as a meteorite. I believe that this will be a very precious collection of valuable minerals. Perhaps, this space item’s value will be more valuable in the future and would be very difficult to estimate. The floor price is 5 million, and every bid increase must not be under 500 thousand. Let us begin the auction now.” The auctioneer held the Void Crack Stone in her hand and explained in an excellent voice and expression as she announced the start of the auction.
“It has come!”
Tang Xiu’s spirit shook as his eyes tightly locked on that piece of Void Crack Stone. He didn’t rush to bid because during the last 2 hours of observation, he could tell that from the initial bidder, only very few of them would really want to buy. They were as though throwing the brick to attract the jade, and only initiated the bidding, and if some people called for the biddings, they would immediately renounce it. If nobody called for the bid, they might be able to obtain the item with little money, but still buy it as one of the things they took a fancy at.
“6 million.”
A voice sounded, as the person also raised his flag sign.
“6.5 million!”
“7 million!”
“7.5 million!”
“…”
Shortly after, the Void Crack Stone’s price had risen to 9.5 million. However, after the last person called the bid, nobody raised the bid after 10 seconds.
A sweet smile hung on the auctioneer’s face as she said, “That gentleman has bid for 9.5 million, any other guests calling for a higher bid? Everyone, don’t take lightly of this rare ore with its mysteriousness. Perhaps its value would be 10 times higher in the future compared to the present.”
“10 million!”
As the auctioneer’s voice fell, another voice sounded.
Tang Xiu took a deep breath as he raised his sign and said, “10.5 million.”
“15 million!”
The voice sounded again.
Tang Xiu lifted his sign and exclaimed, “20 million.”
“Whoosh…”
Everyone at the auction venue turned around and looked at Tang Xiu as streams of comments sounded.
“Who is throwing away money, more silly people, ah? An unknown ore with unknown uses? Even if it is rare, it’s not worth 20 million, right? Believing the auctioneer’s cons to get rich quickly in the future?”
“What a world-level joke is this? Buying a piece of ore for 20 million? Even 10 million is way too much! Rich people this year really don’t value money!”
“What a spendthrift young man. I don’t know the prodigal juniors from which family he comes from. If I had such a junior, I would have broken his leg absolutely and grounded him at home to reflect on his mistakes in seclusion.”
“That young man, could he have taken a liking to the auctioneer girl? Wanting to showcase his worth in front of her?”
“Wow, this is really interesting!”
“…”
With his sharp hearing, Tang Xiu clearly heard a lot of people’s commentaries in the conference hall. But he still wore his indifferent expression. For those who had no knowledge about the truly precious things, he didn’t want to even pay notice to them. And for that absolute reason, there wasn’t even a chance that he would tell them about the Void Crack Stone’s uses. Besides, in his hands, Void Crack Stone was a treasure, but for people who wouldn’t refine the stone into a Spatial Ring, it was only a lump of rough stone.
The auctioneer looked at Tang Xiu deeply as she smiled and asked, “The handsome young man has bid 20 million. Are there any higher bids than 20 million? If not, this precious rare ore will be sold to that handsome young man.”
The auction venue was silent for a while.
When the auctioneer was about to speak the final word and announce that the Void Crack Stone was sold to Tang Xiu, a voice suddenly sounded,
“50 million!”
*[Long Taos]: side characters in Chinese operas who perform acrobatics and fight scenes
*[12.47 to 13.07]: don’t ask me about the tree sap