766 The Code Book from Berlin (1/2)
”This codebook comes from Berlin and was donated by the generous Mr. Woolley Fergus. The origin of this codebook can be traced back more than 70 years ago. Hugh Rancy, Churchill's translator, was the first British man allowed to enter the bunker at Hitler's hiding place. He was told by Soviet soldiers that he could take some things from the bunker and bring them back to London as souvenirs. In the conference room, he took one of the Brookhaus Encyclopedias and the codebook on the shelf.”
”After returning home, he handed over the codebook to Churchill, but the codebook wasn't taken seriously. The war had been won. No matter what kind of intelligence was recorded, it wasn't important to the British who already defeated the devil. After some symbolic deciphering work, the codebook was sent to a museum in London along with other souvenirs. Later, after several twists and turns, the codebook arrived to the hands of a collector from Berlin, that is, our generous Mr. Woolley Fergus.”
At the same time, the host looked at Woolley Fergus with a smile, who also returned the smile.
”No one knows what's written in it. The disorganized characters are like a madman's graffiti. If they're not a leader's nonsense in his last moments, then he must've buried some kind of incredible secrets here... but this isn't important anymore. It used to belong to a devil, but now it will be used in great undertakings, with a starting price of one million US Dollar and no less than one hundred thousand for each bid. The proceeds of the item will be used to help those who are left without a home due to the war!”
The sentence just finished yet someone already raised their hand.
”One million! Thank you, first, oh, oh my God, two million! Mr. Fergus from Paris has directly increased the price by one million dollars! Thank you for your generosity...”
The auction was conducted in an open manner. For each bidder, no matter how much the price increased, the host would offer a blessing. Maybe shocked by the financial power Mr. Fergus displayed, the host's hammer dropped twice without anyone raising the bid.
Jiang Chen looked in the direction of Carmen Rothschild and saw him indulging in red wine. He seemed to be uninterested in this item.
”And there are no interested buyers? If not… Three million!”
Jiang Chen raised the sign.
”Three million once! Three million twice! Three times! Sold! Thank you, Mr. Jiang Chen, your generosity will be remembered by everyone!”
Three million to buy a notebook, in the eyes of the people who didn't know the truth, was completely a waste of money. There was no artistic value in it; the ultimate destination would be a history museum without much room for appreciation. However, this was at a charity party. No one would think that. So they all looked at Jiang Chen with praise and blessings.
Everyone thought he wanted to do something for the poor people from the bottom of his heart, so he directly increased the price by one million.
Only two people didn't think so. One was Jiang Chen himself, and the other was Rothschild who was sitting on the other side of the hall.
The auction continued, but the following items were nothing interesting. Jiang Chen paid attnetion Carmen's side. Other than the pen he used, he only bid for two more things. A fifteenth-century armor from Western Europe and a winery located in Croatia.
In fact, Jiang Chen was also interested in that winery, but when he realized Croatia seemed to be located in the Balkans, his interest immediately faded.
The Balkans seemed to be the gateway for refugees to Europe, and it was even more of a mess now. If he bought a winery in this place, Jiang Chen felt he would have no interest in spending his holidays there. Moreover, he seemed to have bought a golf course at the foot of Mount Fuji in Nippon, and the engineering team he hired was changing the golf course to a private estate.