Three private photos of lighting sky lanterns
The next lot is a purple-glazed gourd made for the imperial court during the late Qing Dynasty. Its plump shape and pure color symbolize longevity and good fortune, with a starting price of 500,000 yuan. A spotlight shines on the display stand, where a purple gourd, about the size of a palm, stands quietly. Its glaze is deep, like a ripe eggplant.
Five hundred thousand. A man wearing a black mask was the first to raise the sign.
Six hundred thousand. On the other side, a woman wearing a lace black veil mask decorated with gold thread followed suit.
Six hundred thousand.
Six hundred and fifty thousand.
Seven hundred thousand.
Bidding continued, but the bids weren't very strong, clearly not enough. Li Hao sat in the front row, hugging Zhang Lili. Ye Ruoliu was only two or three people away from them.
"One million," a sweet-voiced girl called out. It was Zhang Lili. She held up the sign shyly, leaning against Li Hao, looking incredibly adorable.
One million for the first time, one million for the second time...
Zhang Lili, blushing, thought the item was already in her grasp. Suddenly, a cold, familiar female voice drowned out the clamor—it was Chen Wenxuan. She held the number plate steady, her pearl mask reflecting a cold light. The whole place fell silent. One million was already too high for this gourd, and no one was bidding. But this woman added another ten thousand.
"One million and one hundred thousand." Zhang Lili's eyes reflected a fierce light. She glared at Chen Wenxuan, clenched her fingers into a fist, and slammed it hard on her thigh. How dare she snatch it from me? Chen Wenxuan spoke again.
Elsewhere, Ye Ruoliu took Chen Wenxuan's phone and expertly dialed the number she'd memorized, only to find no one answered. She frantically called a dozen times, and just as she was about to give up, the other end finally answered. "Li Chuanze, what's wrong with you?" Ye Ruoliu chided.
Li Chuanze exhaled, his voice filled with an indescribable forbearance. He spoke in a hoarse voice: "Something happened. Where are you?"
"I should be in 'Night Wind and Rain' now, but this place is called 'Ye Mei', do you know?" Ye Ruoliu asked.
"I know," Li Chuanze said after a long time, not knowing what he was enduring.
"It's hard to explain over the phone. I'll come find you." After Li Chuanze said that, he hung up the phone in a hurry as if he was very anxious.
Ye Ruoliu was puzzled. If it had been the old Li Chuanze, she wouldn't have been surprised if he'd treated her this way. But the current Li Chuanze definitely wouldn't act this way. Had something happened to him? Ye Ruoliu pondered, and in an instant, countless tragic scenarios flashed through her mind. She was a person who loved to overthink things. If she didn't have a strong sense of security, she would start to worry about gains and losses and over-interpret details.
But Li Chuanze was supposed to go home after get off work and then go back to work. What kind of accident could happen to him?
"System, Li Chuanze's favorability towards me."
"We are calculating Li Chuanze's favorability towards the host... The current favorability is 59%. You have only increased it by 5% in a month. Please capture him as soon as possible."
Ye Ruoliu's heart felt like it was being yanked. Li Chuanze had always acted like he was overflowing with love, so why were his system statistics so low? Was he just pretending?
No, why should he pretend? If he doesn't like her, can't he just be a nominal couple like before?
Instantly, a feeling of powerlessness and anger surged in her heart. This feeling was like being stuck in a quagmire, forcing her to fall down bit by bit. Ye Ruoliu sat here, as if she couldn't breathe. She wanted to leave here and see Li Chuanze.
"One million, one hundred and fifty thousand." Zhang Lili was obviously competing with Chen Wenxuan, and this time her voice was a little impatient.
"One million, one hundred and fifty thousand and one yuan." Chen Wenxuan's voice was calm. She only added one yuan, and anyone with a discerning eye could tell she was going against the person on the other side.
The rule of "Ye Mei" is that as long as the price is higher than the current price, you can increase it, there is no limit on the amount, so in theory, as long as Chen Wenxuan wants, she can keep adding one dollar.
"One million and a half million," Zhang Lili shouted. She gripped the sign tightly, nearly crushing it. If looks could kill, Chen Wenxuan would probably be dead without a burial place.
"Chen Wenxuan, are you done yet?" Ye Ruoliu read the message sent from the column marked "husband" on her mobile phone.
Ye Ruoliu returned the phone to Chen Wenxuan.
Chen Wenxuan raised her eyebrows slightly and replied, "It's not over yet."
Ye Ruoliu didn't have any sense of crisis at the moment, and was upset, so she was very happy to watch others "fight". Who could miss such a good show?
Soon, Li Hao sent a message: "Then just wait, even if you kneel down to me this time, I will not forgive you. Believe it or not, I will completely disappear from your world."
Ye Ruoliu wanted to laugh when she saw these words and almost couldn't hold it back. The corners of her cold face rose and then fell, making her look neither amused nor helpless.
"One million, five hundred and one yuan." As soon as Chen Wenxuan finished speaking, Zhang Lili on the other end of the phone could no longer hold back. She threw the number plate heavily to the ground, causing everyone to burst into laughter.
Everyone in the auction hall knew that this was no longer a bidding war, but a naked provocation. They were curious about who would win the battle, but they didn't expect Zhang Lili to lose so miserably.
Fighting and quarreling were not allowed at the auction house. No matter how angry Zhang Lili was, she could only bite her teeth and swallow it.
She suppressed her anger and walked towards Chen Wenxuan. She stopped in front of her and smiled slightly, but her tone was full of mockery: "Chen Wenxuan, even if you bid more than me, so what? One million and a half million, do you have the money? Do you know what 'Ye Mei' is? If you can't come up with the money, you will never have a good life in this life!"
"And you, why are you pretending? You're just a tea girl? I order you to disappear from here now!" Seeing that she couldn't do anything to Chen Wenxuan, Zhang Lili turned to Ye Ruoliu, whom she disliked, and cursed her.
Unexpectedly, Chen Wenxuan and Ye Ruoliu didn't even look at her, making her furious in vain.
It was Li Hao who came up and took Zhang Lili away. He gave Chen Wenxuan a complicated look. After they left, Chen Wenxuan received a message from Li Hao on her phone: "Remember to transfer the money to my card later. Otherwise, you know the consequences."
Ye Ruoliu read it to Chen Wenxuan word for word, but Chen Wenxuan just looked at the exhibits on the stage, as if she didn't hear what he said.
"The next exhibit is 'Beautiful Bird' by the Chinese painting master Li Feihong, with a starting price of 700,000 yuan."
The bird in the painting perches on a branch, its thick, evenly applied ink creating a sense of rest and a sense of movement as if about to take flight. The brushstrokes reveal a sense of grace, while the blank spaces are filled with interest.
Ye Ruoliu had heard of the works of this master - Li Chuanze's friend was the grandson of this master, who often secretly resold his grandfather's works to make extra money. Li Chuanze probably had three or four pieces of Master Li Feihong's collection in his hands.
"Eight hundred thousand."
"Eight hundred and fifty thousand."
"Nine hundred thousand."
"One million."
"One million and a half."
"One million, seven hundred thousand."
………
"Three million." Zhang Lili raised the sign again, this time with an unstoppable momentum. She looked at Chen Wenxuan provocatively, as if to say, "You definitely can't afford such a high price."
"Three million and one yuan."
Li Hao seemed completely enraged. This time, Zhang Lili didn't raise her sign, but he did: "Three and a half million."
The VIPs in the room were already laughing, and Li Hao felt as if he'd been slapped in the face. "Four million." He raised his hand again, adding another five hundred thousand, his voice dripping with suppressed anger.
"Four million and one yuan." Chen Wenxuan didn't hesitate, adding just one yuan more. Something in Li Hao's head seemed to explode, and the strings of his rationality completely snapped.
"Chen Wenxuan!" He practically roared, his expression... even startled the auctioneer. The bodyguards standing nearby kept a close eye on the goings-on. "You're courting death!" He said, and tried to charge forward, but the bodyguards stopped him, preventing him from even getting close. This Phoenix man was like a dog with its fur standing on end. "Okay, Chen Wenxuan, you forced me to do this! I was trying to save you some face, but now there's no need! Let's go straight to the last exhibit! I own this exhibit, and I can specify the order in which the exhibits are shown."
The auctioneer was stunned at first, as if he didn't expect Li Hao to reveal his identity so boldly. In the past, the identities of auctioneers were kept absolutely secret, and "Ye Mei" would never disclose them to the public in order to protect the owners of the collections.
The auctioneer picked up his phone and made a call. After a moment, he nodded to Li Hao and said, "Okay, sir."
But after the auctioneer finished looking at the exhibits, his eyes widened in disbelief, and he even looked at Li Hao with a strange look. After a moment, he sorted out his words: "The next exhibit is Miss Chen Wenxuan's private photos, a total of 120 photos, with a starting price of 3 million."
When the hammer fell, Ye Ruoliu was still in disbelief, as if she hadn't heard the auctioneer's words. "You can still auction this? What a psycho!" The audience at the "Eye of the Deep Sea" whispered even louder.
"Is Chen Wenxuan the CEO of a company called Ruoguo? How did her private photos get leaked?"
“It’s no surprise that this company is quite small.”
"Could the woman who had been challenging that man just now be Chen Wenxuan?"
"Who cares? Just shout a few times to join in the fun. No one knows her anyway."
"If she really is Chen Wenxuan, she will definitely bid a high price for it in the end."
"Four and a half million."
"Five million."
"Five and a half million."
"Six million."
"Six million and one hundred thousand."
"Six million two hundred thousand."
"Ten million," Li Hao shouted, adding, "If I take this photo, I'll invite everyone here to watch it."
He offered a price of 10 million, obviously wanting to force Chen Wenxuan to continue to bid, and to retaliate against her in this cruel way.
Chen Wenxuan clenched her fists tightly, and her eyes turned red when she heard those words.
"I'll light the sky lantern!" Chen Wenxuan's voice was a little unstable, but she still forced herself to raise the sign.
As soon as the three words "light the sky lantern" came out, the whole audience was silent for a moment, and soon returned to the noise.
This time, not only Li Hao raised the price, but there were other people joining in the fun, and the price was instantly raised to 100 million yuan.
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