Chapter 278: Successfully Obtaining the Items
The several hundreds of guests in the auction venue fell silent. They thought it wasn’t worth it buying a piece of ore for 500 million.
Everyone looked at Ji Chimei with a slightly strange expression.
Even many people libeled inwardly, “Is this the extravagance of multi-millionaire people?”
On the other hand, as the auctioneer, seeing that nobody wanted to increase the bid, Zhang Xinya immediately smiled and said, “Since there’s no one amongst the ladies and gentlemen that wants to increase the bid, then this ore will go to the #0125 lady. Are you going to carry out the transaction in the backstage or wait until the auction ends?”
“I’ll go now!”
Ji Chimei stood up, nodding slightly toward Tang Xiu she then straightly left.
However, her action made most people’s eyes turn toward Tang Xiu.
Even Zhang Xinya was flabbergasted. She had asked Ouyang Lulu, her boudoir friend about Tang Xiu. Even though Ouyang Lulu didn’t tell much about him, but what she did tell was enough to shock her secretly.
The auction thereafter was carried out as per usual.
A few minutes later Ji Chimei returned with the Soul Tranquilizer Stone. After she handed it over to Tang Xiu, she whispered, “Venerable Lord, we’ve successfully obtained what we need to buy. Shall we leave or continue bidding?”
Pondering for a moment, Tang Xiu replied, “You go first and take this Soul Tranquilizer Stone! Take Āwen with you. I’ll stay here to see if there’s anything else good enough to buy.”
“Understood, Lord!”
Ji Chimed complied as she looked at Tang Xiu as he observed the Soul Tranquilizer Stone before giving it to her. As though recalling something, she quickly took out a bank card and handed it to him, “Lord, there’s still 9.5 billion yuan in this card. If you see something you like, you can buy it freely.”
Tang Xiu didn’t refuse it since he really didn’t have money. After taking it, he looked at the departing Ji Chimei and lamented that she was really thoughtful and sensible.
Money, wealth… it was merely worldly possessions.
He cared not about wealth, however, he was in a shortage of resources for his cultivation. He wanted to train a group of trusted subordinates immediately. Subsequently, it would need a lot of resources. If he had no money, it would indeed be difficult for him to handle a lot of matters. Had it been before, he would feel awkward to take the money from the Everlasting Feast Hall. But now, he didn’t have this kind of feeling since he also had given the ingredients to Ji Chimei to refine pills, which itself was a priceless treasure.
However, just two minutes after Ji Chimei left, Zhang Xinya, at the auction block, said with a smile, “The next item to be auctioned is a millennium ginseng. As far as I know, there was an auction held in Jingmen Island that also auctioned a millennium ginseng. So, adding this piece now, we have two cases emerging this year, whereas we hadn’t seen such an item being auctioned in our country within the last three years. This strain of millennium ginseng will be sold at the reserve price of 100 million, with a bid increment of no less than 5 million. Now, let the auction start.”
A burst of light shot out from Tang Xiu’s eyes. He hadn’t read the auction catalog before so he didn’t know anything else that this auction would sell apart from the Soul Tranquilizer Stone. When his perception enveloped the strain of millennium ginseng on the tray, his expression changed slightly.
“It’s a three thousand years old wild ginseng?”
After an instant judgment, Tang Xiu quickly grabbed his mobile and dialed Mo Āwen’s number.
“Yes, Boss!” Mo Āwen’s voice came through the phone.
“Tell Ji Chimei to come back,” said Tang Xiu in a deep tone.
"Yes!"
After ending the call, his eyes firmly locked on the three thousand years old wild ginseng.
"150 million!"
After ten seconds of silence, someone directly raised the price by 50 million. Many knew that person, the Eyeglasses Magnate of Hong Kong, Ke Zhentao.
“160 million!”
Even though many people knew Ke Zhentao, but a lot of them were also determined to obtain this millennium wild ginseng. Hence, they also didn’t want to back out this time.
“200 million!” Ke Zhentao increased the bid.
“210 million!”
“250 million!”
“260 million!”
“270 million!”
"..."
More than a dozen of people increased the price constantly and the millennium wild ginseng’s price continued rising. In just five to six minutes, it had exceeded 350 million. Yet, the one who was bidding the price was still Ke Zhentao.
Looking at Ji Chimei who had just returned, Tang Xiu said lightly, “A wild ginseng is being auctioned now. No matter how high the price is, we must buy it. It will greatly benefit Yan’er.”
Ji Chimei’s expression changed and she asked quickly, “Lord, what’s the price now?”
“350 million!”
She nodded, raised her placard and called out, “500 million!”
"Wow..."
The entire auction venue turned into turmoil yet again by Ji Chimei’s call. Several hundreds of riches that came to the auction talked in whispers.
“Who’s that old lady? She just spent 500 million to buy a stone and now she increased the bid by 150 million at once. Does she want to burn her money?”
“The value of that strain of millennium ginseng is at most 1.2 billion, right? But it’s rather extravagant to spend 500 million on this thing!”
"What is her identity and how have I never seen her before?"
“Send someone to investigate her. We must know her background before the auction ends.”
“Tonight there is really a good show to see! But wanting me to spend 500 million to buy a millennium wild ginseng is a big no no! I can only give up!”
"..."
"600 million!"
In the back corner of the hall, a man wearing reading glasses and dressed in a Chinese tunic suit suddenly raised his placard. When everyone’s eyes shifted to him, their expressions changed greatly.
Li Juren?
Nobody thought that the one who increased the bid turned out to be Li Juren. They didn’t know when Li Juren had arrived at the auction venue!
Tang Xiu turned his head. When he saw Li Juren, his brows wrinkled slightly. He didn’t know much about the super billionaires in Hong Kong, but he knew who Li Juren was. After all, this person was the legendary richest man in Asia, and he often saw his photos.
Ji Chimei turned around to look at the back. She raised her placard once again and called out in a deep tone, “1 billion!”
"What?"
The guests in the entire venue were all dumbfounded. They didn’t expect that Ji Chimei dared to compete with Li Juren for the strain of millennium ginseng, even raising the price by 400 million.
In the back row, Li Juren himself was astonished. He never thought that someone would raise the bid to 1 billion. He originally believed that after he bid 600 million it would be a sure shot that the millennium wild ginseng would be his.
He was silent for a moment before he raised his placard again and lightly said, “1.1 billion.”
"2 billion!"
Ji Chimei didn’t care about money. Even if she had to burn it, she had to obtain that more than 3,000 years old ginseng strain. After all, there were only a few things that could give benefits to her master. Once she found one, let alone spending money, even if she had to rob it forcefully and kill, she would still go all out.
Li Juren was stunned. He then shook his head. He was indeed a rich man and 2 billion was but only a small change to him. But it wasn’t worth spending it to buy the millennium ginseng.
He was a businessman. He standards spending money. He wouldn’t compete to buy things that were not worth to buy.
Hundreds of riches in the auction venue were at a loss and didn’t know what to say. They only looked at Ji Chimei with strange expressions.
Nobody thought that Ji Chimei would dare to compete with Li Juren. More so that she even raised the bid by 900 million all of a sudden, so the millennium wild ginseng’s price reached 2 billion yuan.
At this moment, Zhang Xinya also was shocked. She never thought that the price of this millennium wild ginseng would actually reach 2 billion yuan. Originally, she thought that a price of 500 million yuan would be its limit. But now, it seems that it was 4 times higher than she expected!
However, she still felt happy inwardly. According to the agreement between her and the auction house, she would get one thousandth commission fee for each item sold in the auction. If the auctioned items could reach ten times the reserve price, she would get a commission fee of two thousandths.
“For tonight’s commission fee, it wouldn’t be less than 8 digits, right?”
Zhang Xinya couldn’t help but feel happy inside.
Immediately after, she noticed that Li Juren didn’t seem to want to increase the bid again as she said, “Is there any higher bid? If not, this strain of millennium wild ginseng will belong to the #0125 lady.”
After asking for a few more times and having nobody call out, Zhang Xinya knocked the wooden mallet and said with a smile, “Congratulations to the #0125 lady. You’ve won this strain of millennium wild ginseng. Might I ask whether you want to go to the backstage to carry out the transaction or wait until the auction ends?”
“I’ll go now!”
Ji Chimei stood up as she nodded again toward Tang Xiu before she left.
As for the next auction, Tang Xiu no longer followed.
10 PM.
The auction had ended. The guests had gotten up and were ready to leave. Smiling, Zhang Xinya put off her white gloves as she appeared in front of Tang Xiu. Her gaze swept away from Ji Chimei and then shifted toward Tang Xiu. She then said with a smile, “Hello, Mr. Tang. We meet again.”
Whilst nodding at her, Tang Xiu realized that a lot of people around were looking at her. He then immediately replied, “Has your family member gotten well? I heard from Chen Zhizhong that he already found the medicine you need.”
Zhang Xinya nodded solemnly and replied gratefully, “He’s already fine. Anyways, thank you, Mr. Tang. If not because of you, I…”
Raising his hands to interrupt her, Tang Xiu then turned around as he looked at Ji Chimei and said, “Āwen will escort you to Victoria Harbor! Immediately go back to Jingmen Island and take this wild ginseng. Wait for me to come back before giving the medication to Yan’er.”
“Understood!”
Showing respect on her old face, Ji Chimei complied and left with Mo Āwen, whereas Mo Āwu was left standing beside Tang Xiu as though a spear.
Surprised, Zhang Xinya looked at the leaving Ji Chimei, astonished. When she looked back to him, she asked curiously, “Tang Xiu, you know that old lady? Listening to your conversation with her, it seems that you…”
“She’s my subordinate,” said Tang Xiu calmly.