Chapter 150: Chapter 150: The Sucker
“Thank you to all the bosses for attending the Wanrong Auction Evening despite your busy schedules. We are honored to have you here. There are a total of twelve items up for auction, and the details of the items have been uploaded to the shared screen. You may pick up the tablets on your left to view them at your leisure.”
The qipao-clad woman’s beautiful face held a standard smile as she reached for the bell on the table with her red-nailed, delicate hand and shook it twice. The crisp ringing echoed throughout the venue.
Two staff mbers dressed in work attire slowly erged from a side door, pushing a cart covered with a red cloth and stopped at the center of the stage. Carefully, the workers pulled away the red cloth, revealing a blue and white porcelain vase.
The host placed her hands on her abdon and slowly began to speak.
“Now let us begin the auction with our first item, the blue and white glazed golden dragon flying sky ball bottle, provided by Mr. Zhang Yiyuan, with a starting bid of one million.”
No sooner had she finished speaking, the hall imdiately buzzed with discussion. Ah Da, with her keen hearing and sharp eyes, noticed that most were comnting on the high starting bid—an entire million did seem a bit pricey.
“Two hundred!”
“Two hundred fifty!”
“Three hundred fifty!”
One after another, bids were called out as Ah Da participated in this kind of auction for the first ti, finding it very intriguing.
Qin Yu swiped his finger across the tablet until he locked onto a target—a bronze lamp appeared on the screen, 86 centiters in height with three lamp cups, and marked as from the Xiling era.
He zood in to examine the details, which resembled the patterns on Ah Da’s Xiling bronze artifact. Qin Yu looked towards Wei Lan, who nodded back at him.
“This item is indeed a Xiling bronze artifact. The bronze patterns from Xiling are distinct from those of other dynasties, featuring not only the usual dragons, phoenixes, and auspicious clouds, but also a peculiar creature with a human torso and a fish tail—essentially, rfolk,” explained Wei Lan.
“As to whether it is a fignt of imagination or a real entity remains unknown. Xiling seems to have worshipped the rfolk as a sort of deity or totem. According to recent research by Mr. Yu and Old Qin, the rfolk have been included as one of the symbols of Xiling.”
Wei Lan pointed to a place on the screen, “Look here, the rfolk are leaping out from the deep sea with a full moon in the background. Although we don’t have much information on Xiling at present, we all know that in ancient tis, those who could use bronze were no ordinary people. Such a large bronze lamp must have co from an underground palace, almost certainly.”
“What I an is, we should acquire this item.”
“As long as it’s genuine, that’s fine,” Qin Yu said indifferently, turning to hand the tablet over to Ah Da.
Ah Da accepted it in a daze; the bronze lamp on the screen seed sowhat familiar to her. Qin Yu said to her,
“You’ll raise the bid later and win it for us.”
“Raise the bid?”
Qin Yu pointed to the auction paddles beside her, his voice clear and even, taking care to explain to her gently, “Raise the white paddle for an increase of half a million each ti, the red paddle is for a free bid—just state how much more you want to add, and the golden plate denotes no ceiling, the highest bid wins.”
“Aside from the bronze lamp, if you see anything else you like, you can bid for it too.”
Ah Da looked at the three paddles inserted in a wooden tube, her beautiful brows knit with so struggle, “I’ve never done this before…”
What if she inadvertently drove the price too high?
Those weren’t just simple numbers on the screen; they represented actual sums of money, with every paddle raise potentially adding up to millions.
So much money.
“What’s there to worry about? I’ve got your back. Weren’t you just watching everyone else play?” Qin Yu said, his hand resting on her head, his fingers massaging her soft hair lazily. His deliberately lowered voice took on a husky quality, coaxing the young girl.
“…”
Ah Da, worried he would ss up her hair, tried to reach up to pull his hand away, but fell right into his trap.
The broad palm caught the young girl’s white and slender hand, guiding it to grasp the golden paddle from the wooden tube.
The man’s arm wrapped around from behind, controlling Ah Da’s hand, her body enveloped in the unique, cool scent that was all his.
Then his voice ca close to her ear, and perhaps because her attention was so focused, Ah Da clearly felt the movent of his chest and the changes in his breath as he spoke.
“If you don’t want to play, you can just raise the golden plate.”
Ah Da looked up at his sleek and firm jaw, her cheeks pink with confusion, and asked, “You said earlier that there’s no ceiling with the golden plate, but what if soone intentionally drives up the price later?”
What if they shoot up to tens or hundreds of millions? Wouldn’t that make a fool?
Qin Yu raised an eyebrow, “Are you afraid I don’t have enough money?”
“It’s not a matter of whether it’s enough or not, it’s about us not suffering a loss,” Ah Da remarked, looking at Qin Yu who seed indifferent about money as if it were water to be freely spent. Reluctantly holding onto the plaque, she decided to take matters into her own hands.
Watching the little girl assuming a posture ready to save him money and take care of him, Qin Yu gazed at her without blinking, his dark eyes filled with an indescribable aning, eventually breaking into laughter.
Ah Da felt sowhat perplexed. What was he laughing for?
Qin Yu retracted his hand and leaned back in his chair, his face a sculpted calm of cold beauty, creating a sense of distance as if the man from a mont ago had not been him.
Ah Da stared at his face for a long while, then looked down at the golden plate in her hand.
At this mont, the atmosphere inside the venue was bustling as the auction transaction had reached the third item.
“One million three hundred thousand, for the first ti!”
“One million three hundred thousand, for the second ti!”
“One million three hundred thousand, for the third ti, sold.”
The female host picked up the small hamr and finalized the sale with a knock.
“The Ming Dynasty Jade Stone Orchid Glaze Tripod Porcelain has been successfully bid by Mr. Song Ming from Dandong Group Co., Ltd., for a final price of one million three hundred thousand. The auction is over; please proceed backstage for settlent,” she announced.
Applause erupted throughout the venue.
Ah Da focused intently, while Wei Lan beside her shook his head with a smile and suddenly remarked, “Who’s been conned into this foolishness, one million three hundred thousand, a total loss all the way to granny’s house.”
A loss? Ah Da curiously examined the porcelain vase on stage, finding it quite attractive, “Why is it considered a loss?”
Wei Lan smiled mysterily, “Because this tripod porcelain was appraised and valued last year at a treasure appraisal event, and the appraisal docunt was issued by Mr. Qin. I was there at the ti as well.”
“Is it not good?” Ah Da didn’t understand these things, only knowing whether sothing looked nice.
“The piece itself is fine, assuming it’s intact. A price of one million three hundred thousand would be a bargain.”
Wei Lan sighed, “Unfortunately, there’s a notch in the bottom of the tripod porcelain, and it’s not just a small notch; it’s almost a hole through the bottom. The complete image on the big screen earlier didn’t show the flaws. I suspect the owner had it repaired, and the price of repaired items usually gets halved.”
“For such a big notch, if I were paying, I would only offer what’s equivalent to change from tonight’s final price; paying more would be a loss.”
Ah Da gasped, her head lowering as she quietly exclaid in shock, “Then they… aren’t they scamming people?”
Tampering with an auction, such an outrageous act.
A three hundred thousand item sold for one million three hundred thousand, a whole million more—wouldn’t the buyer go mad upon finding out?
Ah Da blinked and couldn’t help turning her head to look at Boss Song, who had just successfully bid. He was nearly bald on top, and at that mont, he was talking and laughing so hard that his mouth wouldn’t close, clearly unaware that he had fallen into a trap.
People around congratulated him, but whether their congratulations were sincere or sarcastic, he was cheerfully deceived.
Wei Lan rested his chin in his hand, adopting an expression that suggested this was all routine for him. “A willing victim on the hook. Between genuine and fake, the market has at least twice as many forgeries and second-hand goods than the real deal. Not wanting to be the sucker ans you need to not only be able to see but also to buy.”
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