Duanmu Ci could certainly overcome this hurdle; in fact, there was no hurdle he couldn't overcome as long as it involved money.
However, Duanmu Ci was quite surprised by Tang Rui's boldness. For a young man to offer 20 million for a calligraphy scroll whose value didn't match his was a courageous act, even for a playboy. He didn't know Tang Rui's bottom line, but he estimated it was close, so he was going to launch his final attack.
Duanmu Ci gently closed the white paper fan in his hand. "Time is precious for everyone. On a snowy day like this, the most wonderful thing should be to lie on a comfortable sofa with a good book and a drink, rather than sitting here like a machine, constantly raising a fan. So I will only make one more offer. If you can offer more than me, then I will part with my money!" This was Tang Ke's old trick.
Tang Rui glanced cautiously at the elegant man and asked tentatively, "How much are you going to pay?" He had already decided that if the shortfall wasn't too large, he would use his own savings to cover it; if the shortfall was too significant, then…
Duanmu Ci pondered for a moment, then said, "25 million!"
The crowd erupted in uproar.
The price was increased by 5 million! Even the most knowledgeable guests present had never witnessed such a crazy price increase before, and Tang Rui dared not, could not, and was unwilling to do so.
"It's fake!" Tang Rui suddenly exclaimed excitedly to the auctioneer, "I suspect he doesn't have that much money. He's engaging in sham bidding and maliciously driving up the price! I demand that Heyuan conduct a necessary asset verification!"
Tang Rui was very excited. He thought he had seized the opportunity to turn the tables. He couldn't believe that an unknown nobody could have so much money. He thought that Duanmu Ci was just a shill hired by Tang Ke to make Tang Rui suffer huge losses.
The auctioneer was clearly taken aback. After stepping down from the stage and whispering with another staff member, he approached Duanmu Ci. "Sir," he said, "given the absurdity of your bid, we would appreciate it if you could provide a brief statement proving your financial capacity to pay for this transaction. While this may seem impolite, we hope for your understanding. Thank you!"
This is a reasonable request, and Duanmu Ci expressed his understanding.
After all, he's a newcomer, and people don't know much about his background. If it were the Tang brothers, Ke and Rui, they could certainly bid without hesitation and without worrying about anyone asking them for proof. Because their surname is their proof!
Duanmu Ci turned his head to look at Bu Tongxun, "They asked me for proof, but I don't have any. You prove it to them."
Bu Tongxun nodded, casually unbuttoned his purse, and pulled out several sheets of white paper stapled together. "This document is related to the gold mine in Côte d'Ivoire, Africa. It is worth about two hundred million US dollars, which is enough as a deposit for this auction."
Bu Tongxun's efficiency is astonishing. Just a few days ago, when we were eating noodles in the alley, she mentioned that she wanted to buy a few gold mines. Unexpectedly, she got the job done in the blink of an eye and signed the contract. Even ordinary people don't buy houses this quickly.
Tang Rui sneered from the side, "A gold mine? Who are you kidding? Just because you say so doesn't mean it is. Who would carry that kind of thing around for no reason? What a joke!"
The auctioneer and the staff at the Crane Garden looked at each other in bewilderment. In fact, they hadn't even known that there was a country called Côte d'Ivoire in Africa before this.
The auctioneer stepped forward, bowed, and handed the document back to Bu Tongxun's desk. "Distinguished guest, please forgive us, although we do provide professional asset appraisers, the asset appraisal process takes far too long. Could you perhaps offer a more efficient method, such as providing a bank account?"
Bu Tongxun replied, "Yes."
The auctioneer seemed relieved. "Then please come with me to the finance office, thank you."
Entering bank account information is obviously not something that should happen in public. Heyuan would never do something so rude as to examine a guest's assets in front of everyone. In fact, the documents related to the African gold mine shouldn't have been brought up in this setting either; it was just that Bu Tongxun acted too quickly, and they didn't have time to stop her.
Duanmu Ci frowned. "There's no need for that."
Tang Rui was overjoyed—was he finally about to be exposed?
The auctioneer hesitated, "Then—"
Duanmu Ci pulled a black card out of his wallet. "Do you recognize this?"
The auctioneer took it and saw that the black card had "tbak..a" written in blue stylized lettering on the front and the American flag on the back. Although it looked quite exquisite, at first glance it didn't look much different from a membership card from a hair salon.
"Tbak..A!" Before the auctioneer could say anything, a staff member from Heyuan suddenly screamed in surprise upon seeing the black card. He probably wouldn't have reacted this strongly to a hair salon membership card.
Seeing everyone looking at him strangely, the staff at Heyuan quickly explained, "TBAK..A is the official English name of Citibank, one of the world's most prestigious banks. If I'm not mistaken, this black card should be a VIP card that Citibank specially gifted to a very small number of users last year to commemorate the bank's 200th anniversary."
"A very small number of users?" a customer asked. "What does 'a very small number of users' mean?"
“A very small number of users refers to those customers who have very close business dealings with Citibank,” the Heyuan staff explained carefully. “To qualify for this black card, you need to accumulate at least $100 million in transactions at Citibank.”
$100 million!
According to the latest exchange rate conversion between China and the United States, 100 million US dollars is equivalent to 600 million RMB.
This is undoubtedly a huge fortune that would allow its owner to live the most dignified life anywhere in the world.
Among the guests present, quite a few possessed such wealth, with the Tang family, to which Tang Ke and Tang Rui belonged, having hundreds of times more. Yet, they were still quite surprised.
The fact that he could have transactions exceeding $100 million with a bank firstly demonstrates that Duanmu Ci's net worth is far more than $100 million! Otherwise, he wouldn't have had that much money to accumulate such a massive amount of transactions. He couldn't possibly just deposit $100 million into a bank without any regard for the consequences just to obtain a black card.
joke!
Only then did they begin to truly take this young man with his beautiful female companion seriously. To possess such wealth at such a young age, whether inherited from his family or earned himself… well, that was impossible. In short, this young man was worth befriending!
Some impatient ones have even prepared business cards...
Tang Rui, however, could not accept this fact. He slammed his fist on the table and screamed, "The black card is fake! Fake! I demand that this so-called Citibank black card be authenticated!"
...
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p: This is a long chapter of nearly 4000 words, could I please ask for some recommendation votes...?
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