As soon as the auctioneer finished speaking, hundreds of bidding number plates were raised at the scene, causing everyone in the venue to exclaim in surprise.
Even Lin Sanqi was no longer calm. With hundreds of people bidding, it was foreseeable that "Mother" would be a hit tonight.
As soon as the auctioneer saw it, he knew that this Picasso painting was a sure thing and had the potential to set a new record.
Whether it is the auction house or the auctioneer, they all get commissions. The higher the auction price, the higher the income of the auction house. The two have a common interest.
The spectacular effect of hundreds of people raising their bidding plates at the same time is rare in high-end art auctions.
In the past, people would make bids one by one, and then raise the price in rounds. One would raise the bid and then put it down. Then one would put it down and then another would raise the bidding number.
Now there are hundreds of hands raised there, which makes the auctioneer confused.
But the experienced auctioneer immediately recovered and joked:
"Wow, it seems like there are so many gentlemen and ladies who are enthusiastic about 'Mother'. So, I'll give you a new starting price, and everyone can decide whether to bid or not."
"Okay, I declare that the starting price for Picasso's 'Mother' is now $200 million."
Starting at 200 million, at least one-third of the people put down their bidding numbers and gave up bidding, which obviously exceeded their expectations.
But two-thirds of the local tycoons were still holding up their bidding plates, clearly determined to win.
The auctioneer had to adjust the price again:
"Ladies and gentlemen, this is fantastic! Each of you truly loves your mother. This is truly moving. Therefore, in order to ensure a smooth auction, I have no choice but to adjust the starting price again."
"Picasso's 'Mother', starting price: $300 million~~~"
There was a burst of discussion at the scene, and then one-third of the rich people put down their bidding plates.
The auction house used a trick to raise the starting price twice in a row, because the price difference of $200 million, with a bid of 500 each, would require 40 consecutive bids to reach it.
But after 40 bids, regardless of whether this number can be reached, the process in between is very cumbersome, which will cause "auction fatigue" and it will be difficult to get a high price in the end.
Now, by raising the auction price, most of the "passers-by" have been washed out, and the only ones left are the truly wealthy people who are willing to spend money.
The auction officially begins.
"OK, the auction is starting again now. The bid is $300 million. Everyone, please raise your hand. Okay, I see 0103 has raised his hand, 300 million at a time. Okay, 0045 has also raised his hand, 150 million at a time..."
A fierce bidding began in the middle of the field.
The scene was quiet. Those who wanted to bid did not need to say anything. They just had to raise the bidding number and the auctioneer would see it, and it would also be filmed live on the big screen.
Everyone knew that today's auction was bound to set a record.
Because so far, the most expensive oil painting in the world is "Salvator Mundi" created by the Renaissance master Leonardo da Vinci, which was sold for a staggering $450 million.
Today, the starting price of Picasso's "Mother" is 300 million US dollars, which is completely crazy.
As the price climbed up little by little, Yin Lianyi became visibly excited again, and one hand reached out to Lin Sanqi's waist again.
An hour later, the auctioneer finally brought down the hammer:
"The mysterious guest who liked Box 1 has sold it for a whopping 480 million yuan. Congratulations, 'Mother' is yours."
There was a burst of warm applause at the scene, and everyone looked towards Box No. 1.
But how could the mysterious rich man inside let everyone see his true face? Only a few staff members knew that after the filming of "Mother" in Box No. 1, an old man inside was crying loudly.
The old man was deceived by the story and then remembered his mother who was killed by the Gestapo during World War II.
Coincidentally, Picasso's mother, Maria Picasso y López, was also of Jewish Italian descent and also died in the war...
After the auction, in a secret office at Sotheby's, Lin Sanqi and Yin Lianyi were handing over the business with Sotheby's President Walsh.
"Lin, today is the last auction. We have held a total of ten special auctions in various cities around the world, with a total transaction price of US$20.8 billion.
According to our previous agreement, our company will collect a 20% fee. We have transferred the remaining $16.64 billion to your 20 offshore company accounts through special methods, and you no longer have to pay taxes.
Lin Sanqi glanced at Yin Lianyi.
Yin Lianyi made a phone call and then nodded excitedly, indicating that all the funds had arrived.
Adding the $10 billion that the top ten jewelers transferred to him from overseas accounts when he sold jade before, Lin Sanqi now has $26.64 billion in his account.
Or cash.
Of course, this amount of money is still less than that of Jack Ma, the richest man in 2014, but it is not an exaggeration to call Lin Sanqi the richest man in Shilou Village.
Lin Sanqi stood up and extended his hand to President Walsh:
"Mr. Walsh, we have a pleasure working together."
Walsh also stood up with a smile:
"I look forward to working with you again. By the way, Lin, have you considered immigrating to the United States? If you need it, Sotheby's can help you with the immigration process free of charge and quickly."
Lin Sanqi shook his head. "Thank you very much, but I don't have any plans to immigrate to the U.S. for now. If I need anything, I will definitely trouble President Walsh."
Walsh also smiled and said, "I'll take you there."
After leaving Sotheby's headquarters, Lin Sanqi and Yin Lianyi strolled on the streets of Manhattan. As the world's financial center, it is undoubtedly prosperous.
The security on the streets of Manhattan is pretty good, with patrolling police everywhere. If it were in other neighborhoods, Lin Sanqi would never dare to walk around with his girlfriend.
Everyone says that the United States is a paradise, but in fact, we should add a note: the United States is a paradise for the rich and a hell for the poor.
Yin Lianyi holding her boyfriend's hand is a little strange:
"Hey, Thirteen, why are you refusing immigration? If you let Sotheby's help with the application, it will probably be approved in the blink of an eye."
Lin Sanqi shook his head:
"It's not that I'm being pretentious. Our business is all in China. Whether it's Chinese medicinal herbs, jade, or projects with universities, they all rely on China. What can we do in the United States? Wash dishes in Chinatown?"
Yin Lianyi blinked and said half-truthfully:
"You're a wealthy man now. You've made $20 billion from those two antique auctions, right? Plus, Lingnan Hall turns over $1.5 billion a year, plus another $10 billion from jade sales. With all that money, you can live a carefree life wherever you go."
Lin Sanqi disagreed:
"Sister, I only have over 30 billion US dollars, how can I be considered a rich man? Bill Gates has 80 billion US dollars, that's what we call the richest man. At most, I can only be considered the richest man in Shilou Village.
The key point is that the real invisible rich people in this world have wealth calculated in trillions of dollars, and my tens of billions of wealth is just a fraction of theirs.
So there is nothing to show off. So, our ancestors were right, it is best not to show off your wealth.
Besides, having more money is not necessarily a good thing. You see, we only earned 200 billion from selling jade, and we were immediately targeted by the relevant departments. I had to take the initiative to propose the use of this money, and I was restricted.
If I really made it onto the Forbes National Pig Slaughter List, wouldn't that be a sick person? I'd be slaughtered by someone else. I'm afraid I'd be dead by then. Aren't there many richest people who die in prison?
Yin Lianyi is a recent college graduate. Although she has experienced some minor social hardships, she still yearns for some things:
"Well, thirteen points, mainly because the source of your jade is questionable, and the quantity is too exaggerated. It's like you're buying US stocks, like Apple, Oracle, Google, etc.
Let me give you an example. If the US stock market booms and you earn hundreds of billions or trillions of dollars, that money is your legal income. No one can say anything to you, right? No one can tell you what to do, right?
Oh, by the way, you've invested over 6 billion in US stocks, and you've already made hundreds of millions of dollars over the past year. Oh, my god, this world is so unfair, the rich get richer and the poor get poorer.
Lin Sanqi looked at his indignant girlfriend and laughed heartily:
"You are still too naive. For people like us who have earned hundreds of millions of dollars in just over a year, this money naturally belongs to us personally. We can put it in our pockets and no one will cause any trouble. As long as you pay taxes, it will be fine.
But if you really made hundreds of billions or even trillions of US dollars in the US stock market or Wall Street futures market as written in the novel, do you think Wall Street would give you this money?
The government, manipulated by Wall Street, will find a random excuse, claiming they suspect you of insider trading, and then deduct the money. Ultimately, the money will disappear inexplicably, becoming the fat meat of the upper echelons.
Yin Lianyi was dissatisfied:
"How is this possible? We made our money in the stock market, it's above board. If you want to investigate, just go ahead. We didn't engage in insider trading. We made our money thanks to our foresight and golden fingers from time travel. How can you deduct it or divide it up just like that?"
Lin Sanqi said disdainfully:
"Why can't we have a split? They can just convict you of any crime. They're in control of the judiciary anyway. If the case goes to court, they'll appoint the jury. How can you possibly win?"
Yin Lianyi looked around at Manhattan, the so-called center of the world:
"No way! Isn't the United States the country that values procedural justice and believes most in the spirit of contract? The rule of law is the foundation of their nation. How can they just casually accuse someone of a crime they don't even know about?" (End of this chapter)
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