Chapter 101: The Owner
Miao Wentang’s lower lip wriggled as he secretly sighed inside. Then he pulled Tang Xiu’s sleeve and whispered, “Tang… Tang Xiu, don’t mess with this auction! If you don’t have enough money and fake the price, not only will you get fined with a huge collateral, but you will also get a terrible shot from this auction house. The Big Boss behind this Violet Redbud Auction is a very powerful person.”
An outlined curve was revealed on Tang Xiu’s mouth corner as he glanced at his phone screen which displayed a short message. He then said with a faint smile, “Relax, I will do nothing without discretion and consideration about my ability!”
Miao Wentang gasped, as he then gave up persuading him any further.
He felt that Tang Xiu couldn’t have that much money. Even if Tang Xiu was very powerful, but his age, after all, said otherwise. He was too young, in his 20s or so. Even if his family was very rich, it was impossible to transfer him that much.
At the front row…
A smile and proud expression on the fat middle-aged man’s face froze in a flash. With difficulty, he turned his head, and the moment he saw Tang Xiu, he directly jumped from his seat and loudly snapped in a stern voice, “Nonsense! He must intentionally be disturbing the auction. I don’t believe he could put out 2.5 billion to buy this island.”
His words were what most people at the auction venue approved and agreed on as the talks then sounded again.
“Huh!? How old is he? He’s way too young! How could he possibly have 2.5 billion to buy that island? This auction is not a joke. Doesn’t he know the consequences of orchestrating the price?”
“Bah! Youngsters nowadays really have no discretion. The Nine Dragons Island’s price to buy now is neither 250 thousand nor 2.5 million yuan! It’s 2.5 billion. Even amongst everyone present right now, I’m sure that 4 out of 5 of everyone’s assets will not amount to this number.”
“Has this kid’s head been kicked by a donkey? Before this, the fat man had snatched the 1000-year-old wild ginseng from him. Could it be that he harbors resentment and now intentionally increased the price? Hasn’t he noticed that the fatty has reached his limit and cannot increase the price again?”
“Foolish guy, I really don’t know what he is thinking! For a grudge, even to open such a big joke, he probably is afraid to ride the tiger, it will hemophilus.”
“Fool …”
“…”
With his sharp hearing, Tang Xiu could clearly hear all the talks in the surrounding. However, he said nothing, and only the smile on his face was slowly fading away.
The auctioneer, Xiao Ai’s heart was full of worry right now. She was crystal clear about one thing— if Tang Xiu finally obtained the rights to buy the Nine Dragons Island and then turned out to be unable to put up so much money, then this auction would be doomed. Not only would she be unable to get her percentage of the sold auctioned items, it would smear and make her reputation in the auction business plummet.
However, she was also perfectly aware of the fact that when the auction is being carried on, she had neither the rights nor the authority to inquire about the amount of money Tang Xiu had.
What should she do now?
With a helpless expression, the auctioneer, Xiao Ai, looked at the fat middle-aged man, before her vision fell on Tang Xiu.
The fat middle-aged man glared at Tang Xiu as he loudly shouted once again, “Miss Auctioneer, I suggest to make that kid prove that he has sufficient funds. Otherwise, not only will your auction house be thoroughly discredited, but you will also make all the auction’s guests disappointed.”
The auctioneer looked deeply at Tang Xiu, as she finally replied to the fat middle-aged man with a helpless expression, “Sir, I’m really sorry. I don’t have the rights to do that.”
Tang Xiu blatantly ignored the fat middle-aged man and instead spoke to the auctioneer, “Now I want to ask, if in any case someone makes trouble intentionally in the auction house, what kind of measure will your action house do? For example, for someone who takes defeat with bad grace and becomes a sore loser. Such as this fatty who is just like a dog jumping the wall out of desperation.”
“Fucking punk, you’re courting your own death!”
The fat middle-aged man was burning with fury as he angrily glared and roared at Tang Xiu.
The auctioneer Xiao Ai was very frightened as she quickly stepped forward and said, “Sir, regardless if the other gentleman is able to buy item or not, since he has already bidded then our auction house will do the transaction about the auctioned item with him. Moreover, this matter is between our auction house and that gentleman and you have no rights to interfere. Please go back to your seat, we will continue the auction. I would like to ask you, do you want to increase the price?”
“…”
The fat middle-aged man’s complexion flushed crimson. He was filled with anger, but there was nothing he could vent his anger to. Although he did have some background and strength, but he didn’t dare to go against this auction house. He could only choose to submit in humiliation and swallow his anger as he silently sat down.
The auctioneer Xiao Yi felt relieved. However, when she saw the fat middle-aged man no longer bidded, she felt slightly disappointed, but still said, “Present offer for the Nine Dragons Island is 2.5 billion. Are there any other bids? If not, this Nine Dragons Island will be sold to that gentleman.”
No one spoke…
Everyone looked at Tang Xiu as they wanted to wait for the result.
“Then, I hereby announce that the right of ownership for Nine Dragons Island is sold to the last bidder gentleman. Sir, please take your identity card and follow me to the backstage to continue with the transaction formalities.” The auctioneer’s vision fixated at Tang Xiu as she spoke with an anticipating expression.
Tang Xiu got up and walked toward the back of the auction venue.
The fat middle-aged man also suddenly stood up as he looked at Tang Xiu with a bitter and hateful expression as he exclaimed, “Everybody, don’t go first. Let’s follow backstage and have a look! I want to see whether this punk who still hasn’t grown his hair can put out 2.5 billion.”
“Yes! Let’s go and see.”
“Well, let’s take a look at the results!”
“OK, let’s go!”
No one chose to leave as everyone swarmed over toward the backstage. They really wanted to know whether Tang Xiu was able to put out that much money. If he really could pay it, they also could witness this sky high price transaction.
Miao Wentang and Shao Mingzhen looked at each other with forced smiles, as they also followed the crowd toward the backstage. If it were 1.8 billion, they were also able to amass the money to help Tang Xiu paid it. But such a huge sum of money of 2.5 billion, even if they wanted to provide it, it would be very difficult.
At the auction venue backstage.
The manager already knew about the whole processing matter. His eyes swept the crowds first before finally fell on Tang Xiu as he said with a smile, “Mr. Tang, congratulations.”
“Mmm!”
Tang Xiu nodded his head as he handed the bank card and said, “Transfer the money!”
The manager took the bank card and summoned several assistants as he quickly handled the transfer to the account. When 2.5 billion had been transferred, he immediately motioned his several assistants to help Tang Xiu finish the transaction procedures, filling purchase contracts, and other formalities.
“F-For real?… He really bought it?”
The fat middle-aged man was dumbfounded. The people who had secretly mocked Tang Xiu before were also stunned. They were staring with a dull expression at Tang Xiu, who was being guided by the auction house’s staff to handle various kinds of procedures. Each and every one of them looked at each other in dismay, as embarrassment emerged out on their faces.
Who told them to play with face? Tonight, this auction had shown what was called to play with face.
The fat middle-aged man was so ashamed he almost looked for a spot to drill and bury himself into. Those other people also felt like as though they were mercilessly being slapped with an invisible pair of palms. Even Miao Wentang and Shao Mingzhen were secretly tongue-tied, confused, and felt ashamed for the first time.
Thus, the Violet Redbud Auction had finally ended satisfactorily.
After having gone through various procedures, a large number of guests swarmed over to Tang Xiu to express their goodwill. Since these people had a very influential identity in the country, Tang Xiu didn’t want to easily offend them, as he reluctantly greeted them and asked to be excused with difficulty. Then, he, Miao Wentang, Shao Mingzhen, and Dao Master Ziyi quickly left.
Half an hour later.
Inside the presidential suite at the top floor of the 5 star Jarvis Hotel, Tang Xiu transferred back the 80 million loan to Jia Ruidao. He then called Chen Zhizhong and asked for his bank account and transferred back 500 million to him. Now, there was only 90 million yuan left in Tang Xiu’s bank account.
“2.5 billion yuan in debt!”
After having handled these matters, Tang Xiu couldn’t help but smack his own lips.
The common saying might say that many was afraid to get bitten by lice, but they stopped worrying when debts were up to their ears. [1]
But this sentence was but very inappropriate for Tang Xiu. He had always been making distinctions between gratitude and grudges, and marking the distinct line between private and others rights. Although Chen Zhizhong was his unofficial disciple, but their personal relationship was not to be mixed with their private property. And this money was not filial piety on behalf of Chen Zhizhong for him.
“It is really imperative to accelerate the plan for making money.”
Tang Xiu went to the window as he looked at curtain of the night, watching the vault dome of as all kinds of thoughts surged up inside his mind. Quite a long time passed as he recalled something and left his suite room and went to knock on the next presidential suite.
Inside the next presidential suite.
Miao Wentang and Shao Mingzhen didn’t directly go to rest as they were sitting in a bright-lit living room. Whilst smoking their cigarettes, they were chatting at the same time.
“Brother Shao, I’m extremely curious about Tang Xiu’s identity. The more I investigate about him, the more I feel that he is very mysterious to the point that it’s unfathomable.” Miao Wentang’s eyes almost popped out as he said with a spooked tone.
Shao Mingzhen smile, “You’re not the only to have this kind of feeling. I got some info that Tang Xiu comes from an ordinary family, a single parent family at that, and no big background. The fact that I can’t believe is that he became an idiot for a year after having been in a car accident. You tell me, could an idiot create such huge sensations?”
Miao Wentang nodded and said, “His life story is simply like a piece of white canvas, even if some color filled the canvas recently. It was only his contact with the Long Family from Star City. But the things I most want to know is, who is his Master’s school background? I did have someone investigate about it, but there’s not the slightest clue at all.”
Shao Mingzhen nodded as he sighed and exclaimed, “True! I really want to know where his teacher comes from! Such a powerful master who could teach such a powerful young genius. And tonight, he spent 2.56 billion yuan. This number, even for us is a huge sum amount of money. But he can get it easily. That reminds me that I’m also very curious of the source from where he got that money.”
Miao Wentang’s complexion moved and then asked, “Mmm, should I ask someone to check it? I believe that he should be able to find the source of the money.”
Shao Mingzhen shook his head and spoke seriously, “Don’t! Tang Xiu can get such a huge amount of money, and this implies that there’s a powerful figure we don’t know behind him. If he found out that we sent someone to investigate, I’m afraid that it will anger him. We only slightly know him, and our friendship is not deep enough. And doing that will ruin it.”
“Ah! It’s true.”
Miao Wentang helplessly sighed.
Shao Mingzhen then slowly spoke, “We don’t need to go as far as deeply investigating Tang Xiu’s identity and such. The most important thing for us now is to deepen our relationship with him. And this will bring more benefits than disadvantages. Tomorrow we’ll leave for the Evil Dragon Sea Area. We’ll have to fight side by side, and it’s a good chance to deepen our relationship. We must grab this chance.”
“Yup, it’s a good opportunity to make a fortune.”
When Miao Wentang heard it, he replied with a grinning smile.
~~~~~~~~~~
[1] It’s a common saying, but roughly meant like that. The raws are not too clear if literally translated. So I basically write the meaning. The line in the raws also could be translated roughly to When you’re covered with lice, you don’t itch； when you’re up to your ears in debt, you stop