Jiang Man's price increase acted as a fuse, which did indeed quell the retail investors, but the big players in the first few rows were like they were on steroids, and the price kept soaring, reaching 370 million in a short period of time.
Although I attended a different auction than Jiang Manduo, I still knew that such crazy bidding was problematic. I explained to her, "The reason why Fengmen Village lowered the starting price of the Yama Tumor is because they are unsure of its authenticity. Although Fengmen Village promises to compensate for any fakes, no one knows when they will actually open it once it's in their hands."
Although Fengmen Village has a good reputation, people's instinct is to seek good fortune and avoid misfortune. This kind of auction requires a lot of money, and no one wants to put their money in the hands of others for safekeeping. Otherwise, if Fengmen Village really has problems in the future, all their money will be wasted!
So these people were testing the waters before, weighing the pros and cons. But your sudden price increase piqued their interest, and might even have led someone to mistakenly believe there was a master strategist there, concluding that the "King of Hell" on stage was real! Everyone wanted to make a fortune, so naturally, competition ensued!
The reason they're demanding such exorbitant prices is because they want to intimidate their competitors with sheer force. In reality, they're using offense as a form of defense, employing this aggressive pricing strategy to discourage their rivals and prevent them from having much time to think.
Jiang Man is a woman who has seen a lot in the world. After listening to my analysis, she quickly calmed down: "In that case, we can wait and let these people fight amongst themselves for a while. It won't be too late to make a move when they've fought each other to a certain extent."
We reached a consensus and then sat down to wait.
Since the bidding for the "King of Hell's Tumor" entered a fierce stage, the sounds of bidding have been rising and falling.
In just three minutes, the price had already reached 460 million.
At this moment, I couldn't help but feel my blood boiling.
The antique trade is a place where you can see all walks of life, and the black market in Fengmen Village is even more so.
Four hundred million, a huge sum of money that an ordinary person could not earn in several lifetimes, seems commonplace here.
It makes sense. This "King of Hell's Tumor" is said to be able to cure all poisons in the world. The lives of ordinary people like us are naturally not worth that much money, but if it's a wealthy businessman like Tencent or a high-ranking official, they certainly won't care about money.
Or perhaps the most insignificant thing in their world is money.
Because of different social classes, we have completely different perspectives on the world.
Just like when we eat on the roadside, the scraps we leave behind are a miracle of life for ants, and we naturally don't care whether the ants live or die, let alone the scraps on the ground.
Similarly, in the eyes of those important figures, we are nothing more than ants.
Four hundred million seems like a myth to me, but in their eyes, it's probably not even worth a second glance.
The bidding was fierce among the parties, but eventually slowed down when the price reached 530 million.
The host paused for a few seconds, and seeing that no one else was bidding, he stood at the front of the stage and said, "The highest price at the auction so far is 530 million offered by bidder number 4. Does anyone want to raise the price? ... Okay, let's start bidding now! 530 million once! 530 million twice!"
The room was completely silent; everyone wanted to see who would ultimately win this multi-million dollar competition.
Just as Jiang Man was about to make her call out, a male voice suddenly came from ahead: "Add five million!"
The host glanced at the other party's number plate: "Number 9, bid up, 535 million!"
The young man sitting in seat number 4 was initially confident of victory, but upon hearing the offer from number 9, he raised his sign: "Five hundred and fifty million!"
The bidding was nearing its end, and no one else had made any more bids, but bidder number 4 still added 15 million.
The warning was clear: he was determined to get it, and the other party, trying to compete with money, was no match for him.
The person with number 9 completely ignored it and raised their sign again.
The host glanced in the direction of number nine and announced loudly, "Number nine, bid up! Five hundred and fifty-five million!"
I thought Number 9's actions would enrage Number 4, but to my surprise, that figure simply raised his sign lightly: "Add one hundred million!"
"Number 4 bids, 655 million!"
When the host said that, I even heard people around me gasp.
This number 4 is indeed very wealthy and powerful, and even showed an attitude that he absolutely had to get this thing.
The battle between the two sides ended with No. 4's aggressive price increase, and No. 9, facing such an opponent, completely lost the courage to compete.
The host here was a seasoned veteran, accustomed to such competition. He picked up the microphone and announced, "Number 4 has bid 655 million! 655 million once! 655 million twice!"
Seeing that Number 9 remained silent, Jiang Man raised the sign in her hand: "Seven hundred million!"
Holy crap!
The middle-aged man next to me looked at us incredulously upon hearing the voices around us: "I never expected that there would be such brave people among the audience in the back row! You two, judging from your voices, you shouldn't be very old. Let me remind you, in Fengmen Village, showing off comes at a price! If you bid on something but can't come up with the money, you might lose your life!"
Thank you.
I coldly uttered two words, refusing to chat with the middle-aged man to avoid revealing my true identity.
When the host saw us raise our bidding paddles, he picked up the microphone on stage and announced, "Number 52 has bid seven hundred million!"
We were seated in the very back row, quite a distance from the first row where number 4 was. When the other person heard someone bidding from behind, they instinctively turned around to look.
We were in the crowd, so he naturally couldn't easily find us, but I could see him.
The man was wearing a funeral shroud from Fengmen Village, and his face was covered by a mask, so his true appearance could not be seen.
When we raised the price, this person did not continue bidding, but instead shouted at the host on stage: "I demand verification of funds!"
The so-called verification of funds is to let the auction house confirm whether we have the ability to purchase the items. Otherwise, if we bid recklessly but do not have the ability to pay in the end, or raise the price but do not buy, we will have cheated the other party.
As soon as number 4 finished speaking, a staff member came over, looked at Jiang Man who was holding number 52, whispered a few words to her, and then the host on stage announced: "Verification of funds complete. Number 52 has purchasing power. The bid is effective!"
After hearing the host's words, contestant number 4 prepared to repeat his old trick, trying to scare us off with money, and loudly proclaimed, "Eight hundred million!"
Seeing how arrogant the other party was, I raised my paddle before Jiang Man could: "One billion!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com