As Du Ruo admired the garden, many people came in one after another. There were even a few people she knew in her past life, all of whom were influential figures with strong backgrounds. Of course, she had never met these important figures in this life.
At the table diagonally opposite Du Ruo, there were several foreigners sitting. She was also very familiar with one of them, her old enemy, Mr. Sato from Country R.
When talking about her feud with Mr. Sato, it all started with a samurai sword.
During a special period, a general from Country R lost his national treasure-level samurai sword "Thor" when he was defeated in the war. Over the years, many collectors from Country R have been looking for this sword.
This "Thor" appeared at a private auction. Ling Yun and Du Ruo were there to watch the fun. Ling Yun didn't like Sato's face and winked at Du Ruo. The two of them cooperated perfectly and finally the knife fell into Ling Yun's hands.
Ling Yun held the knife in his hand with a nonchalant and somewhat disgusted look, which completely angered Mr. Sato. He not only hated Ling Yun, but also felt resentful towards Du Ruo.
Later, the few people met several times at the auction. Mr. Sato never forgot to trip them up every time, and even threatened Ling Yun and Du Ruo to hand over the knife again and again.
Every time he caused trouble for Ling Yun and Du Ruo, Ling Yun would bring up the matter of the knife, and even deliberately said that he couldn't even chop wood with the knife.
Mr. Sato was so angry that he almost fainted. He kept trying his best to make trouble for Ling Yun and Du Ruo, never getting tired of it.
Noticing Du Ruo's gaze, Mr. Sato turned around and looked at her. Although they had never met in this life, perhaps it was really their natural incompatibility. Mr. Sato frowned unconsciously and looked at Du Ruo with displeasure.
Du Ruo really felt a little wronged. This was the trouble caused by Ling Yun. She was just helping a friend, but in the end, Mr. Sato hated her so much that he gritted his teeth. He was just picking on the weak.
At this time, a slide projector lit up on the small podium, and the white curtain was lowered. A staff member came over and closed the curtains, and the room suddenly became dark.
Today's slides require advance preparation of cellophane, on which you can use a thicker pen to roughly draw patterns or write text. The initial preparation is very complicated, and the cellophane is thin and soft, making it difficult to write or draw, and difficult to hold.
The only advantage is that it can be enlarged by using a slide projector on a white screen, allowing more people to see the fonts and pictures.
The staff kept manually adjusting the angle and direction, and kept breathing on the microphone in their hands to test the sound.
After a long while, the host's voice finally rang out from the microphone: "Dear guests, welcome to Yiyuan. In the following time, I wish every friend can return with a full load and have all their dreams come true.
The first collection we have prepared for you is a knife with Kuilong pattern from the Shang Dynasty.
This knife dates from approximately 1600 BC to 1046 BC.
The knife has a straight back with a convex blade, exquisite Kuilong patterns on both sides of the blade, and hollow patterns on the back of the blade. This blade has been carefully carved, and the overall appearance is very light and agile.
The starting price for this knife is 100,000, and the bid will be increased by 10,000 each time."
Du Ruo was secretly shocked. It was not cheap right from the start.
Bids began to rise one after another. The auctioneer's voice rang out again: "This knife is beautifully decorated and highly collectible. It's a fine piece of Shang Dynasty bronze knives..."
Du Ruo did not raise the price. She glanced at Mr. Sato.
Sato just made two symbolic offers and then kept silent.
Instead, a French guest sitting at the same table with him was very interested and raised the price several times.
But to be honest, if possible, Du Ruo doesn't want to see such an ancient artifact fall into the hands of foreigners. She would rather see the collector be a Chinese.
What makes people happy is that this Shang Dynasty Kuilong-patterned knife was finally acquired by a gentleman whom Du Ruo knew in his previous life.
A hint of disappointment flashed in the eyes of the French guest. He liked bronze ware very much, especially this kind of weapons.
However, everyone has a reserve price. Unless something is something they particularly love, they will not increase the price without hesitation.
Besides, this auction has just begun and we don’t know what will happen next, so naturally we won’t raise the price crazily so early.
Du Ruo was not very interested in the several items that came in one after another. There were some good things, but the prices were also very considerable. Du Ruo thought that his foundation was still weak and he would not easily participate in the auction.
Until another item came up for auction: "This is a plum vase with a glaze of the late Qing Dynasty that came from a cultural relic store in H City. The workmanship is very unique and distinctive. It is a rare and fine piece of late Qing Dynasty work. The starting price is 100,000 yuan, and the price will be increased by 10,000 yuan each time."
The auctioneer's resounding words fell into complete silence. There was only a blurry image on the slide, a hand-painted pattern. This was a work from the late Qing Dynasty, and many people were not very interested in it.
Du Ruo's heart was pounding. Looking at the pattern, she remembered that this plum vase was not from the late Qing Dynasty. It was a Yuan Dynasty blue-glazed plum vase with cloud and dragon patterns. There are only three such plum vases in the world now, and one of them is even collected in the F Country Museum.
She had heard about this incident. This was a collection of a private collector, and by chance it was sold to a cultural relics store in H City. At that time, the store staff had little knowledge of Yuan Dynasty porcelain and directly concluded that it was a late Qing Dynasty work, and it had never been in demand.
Later, when it appeared at an auction house, a collector was puzzled. He had seen a similar piece in a museum in Country F. It was a Yuan Dynasty porcelain, so how could it be so similar to this late Qing Dynasty piece? Could it be a fake?
Out of curiosity, the collector bought it at a very low price. Later he found out that it was a Yuan Dynasty blue-glazed plum vase with cloud and dragon pattern. This collection was released in 2020 and sold for 340 million yuan.
Seeing that no one was bidding, the auctioneer said: "This collection is indeed a rare work from the late Qing Dynasty. It is a fine product and has great collection value."
Seeing that everyone present was still lacking in interest, he sighed inwardly. At this moment, he heard a woman's voice: "One hundred thousand."
The auctioneer breathed a sigh of relief, but before she could say anything, another voice rang out: "One hundred and one hundred thousand."
Du Ruo looked at Mr. Sato and gritted her teeth. What was wrong with this jerk? She raised the price again: "One hundred and twenty thousand."
Mr. Sato's voice rang out again: "130,000."
Du Ruo steadied her breathing. It seemed that she and Mr. Sato had a grudge from a previous life, and whether that incident happened or not, it could not be resolved.
Du Ruo's voice sounded again: "One hundred and four hundred thousand."
Mr. Sato slowly added another ten thousand.
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