Chapter 257: Extravagant Yang Ming
“350 million!” said Huang Rongjin.
“The number 12 VIP bid is 350 million!” The auctioneer was also surprised.
“360 million!” Number 14 said as he gritted his teeth.
“Three hundred and eighty million!” Huang Rongjin was angry. How dare you challenge me?
Certainly, this price made number 14 retreat, and no one answered it for a long time.
“Number 12 VIP bids 380 million. 380 million going once. 380 million going twice. 380 million going three times. Sold!” The auctioneer’s hammer fell, and a clear sound ended the bid. Huang Rongjin had a smile at the corner of his mouth.
“Xiao Ya, wasn’t that ring your favorite accessory?” In the 5th VIP room, a cool-looking man said to the beauty next to him, “Why did you bring it out for auction?”
Shu Ya looked at the man next to her in disgust. She didn’t want to answer this question, but she had to respect Uncle Zhong. Hence, she answered,”Is it? Maybe it is.”
This cool-looking man was the young master of the Huizhong Auction House, Zhong Xiaotian.
“Hehe, rest assured. I will definitely get back the rose ring for you in a while. Don’t worry.” Zhong Xiaotian saw Shu Ya frowning and thought that she didn’t want to part with the rose ring.
Shu Ya sighed slightly and didn’t speak any further.
“Sister Xiao Qing, did you want to leave first? Anyway, the major part has passed. The remaining session is just selling some celebrities’ items, nothing major.” Yang Ming said impatiently, “I noticed that both godfather and godmother are a little bit sleepy. Let’s go back to rest soon.”
“No need to hurry. Let’s sit for a while.” Liu Weishan shook his head and looked at his watch. He added, “There’s still close to half an hour before it ends. It won’t take too long. It’s rude to leave early.”
Yang Ming heard Liu Weishan’s words, so he had to sit there and look at the celebrities’ junk introduced one by one by the auctioneer without much interest. Yang Ming didn’t care much about these stars. He still preferred the older generation of singers. He thought that their songs carried deeper meanings with it. Yang Ming wasn’t used to how most of the singers sang nowadays
“The next item for auction is a piece of accessory donated by Miss Shu Ya, a small iron ring.” The auctioneer said, “Miss Shu Ya will donate all the proceeds from this ring to the Hope Project.”
“What a show!” Yang Ming couldn’t help but sneer at it. It was actually a donation of an iron ring? I wonder what the celebrity was thinking. How can she take out such a cheap thing to fool around with? Worse still, she still says that she wants to donate the proceeds of the auction to the Hope Project?
“Show? Hehe, just watch for a while. The price of the ring may shoot to the sky!” Xiao Qing smiled.
“Why? Is Shu Ya a famous celebrity?” Yang Ming asked casually.
After listening to Yang Ming, she looked at him as though he was an alien. “Brother, are you serious? You don’t even know the celebrity, Shu Ya?”
Shu Ya? Yang Ming was dumbfounded. As he listened to the name, it was quite familiar! Shu Ya, Shu Ya, Su Ya? In fact, the name of his first love was quite similar to her. However, Yang Ming didn’t think much and asked, “Is she famous?”
“Of course, she’s now the number 1 celebrity in Asia!” Xiao Qing added on, “The high school students nowadays adore [1] her in a crazy manner.”
Yang Ming still understood what adore [1] meant. The word “adore” came from the popular language of the Taiwanese youth culture, which meant to be keen on and like to the point where it was almost fanatic. For example, “Japanophile” and “Korean Wave” were popular slangs that emerged in recent years. They originated in Taiwan which referred to the popular culture of blindly advocating, chasing and imitating Japanese fashion. The word “Japanophile” was a Minnan dialect. It meant the heatstroke due to hazardous sunlight exposure, literally referred to as “poison of the sun.” “Japanophile” and “Korean Wave” referred to a group of people who were eager to pursue popular entertainment cultures in Japan and Korea. They even emulated them with their outfits, thoughts, and behaviors.
However, many people now used the word “adore” on a certain star. For example, “adore” xxx meant xxx, which also meant the fans of xxx.
Yang Ming shook his head, but in this way, he was really interested to see how much the broken ring could sell!
The full view of the ring was projected on the big screen, and Yang Ming’s pupil shrank abruptly! He took a deep breath as he pondered upon it. Was that really it? Was there such a ridiculous coincidence in this world?
The design of the ring was actually… Yang Ming shook his head again. It would be impossible. It had been so many years. This ring should have been lost for a really long time. Maybe it was just the same design. Yang Ming dispelled his thoughts.
As Yang Ming directed his focus on the ring displayed on the screen, he sank deeply into the memories of his past…
Not long after, the price of this ring actually rose from the starting price of one hundred USD to one hundred thousand USD! It showed that Shu Ya’s popularity was incredible.
“Sister Xiao Qing, can I participate in the auction?” Yang Ming suddenly asked.
“Oh?” Xiao Qing was stunned by the question. Then, she looked at Yang Ming with an ambiguous smile. “What happened? Yang Ming, were you also moved by this celebrity, and wanted to join this competition?”
“I haven’t even seen her before!” Yang Ming smiled bitterly, “I just thought that this rose ring is very similar to a ring I bought before which I gave to another person later. I just want to buy it to keep it as a memento. There’s no other motive.”
“Hehe, I see!” Xiao Qing shook his head, “I really don’t understand you. It’s just a broken iron ring. Since you aren’t trying to please the celebrity, why bother spending so much money on it? But, do as you wish. At this moment, you’re already a billionaire. It’s not really a big deal to buy this, right? If you buy something, the auction house will subtract the amount from your transaction.”
Yang Ming nodded and pressed the bid button in front of him. In fact, the bid could be completely operated through the computer. However, many people still liked the thrill of raising the paddle. So, even if there was a bidding system in place, they didn’t utilize it. However, Yang Ming participated in the auction for the first time, and he didn’t have any prior habit, so he used the bidder directly.
“One hundred and fifty thousand,” said Yang Ming in the microphone after pressing the bid button.
“One hundred and fifty thousand USD. The number 7 VIP bids one hundred and fifty thousand USD!” The auctioneer didn’t expect that there was still someone interested in the iron ring in the VIP private room!
Besides the young master Zhong in the 5th private room who was Shu Ya’s loyal fan, the other people in the private room were all ashes grade collectors. They didn’t bother to participate in such an auction!
Even Zhong Xiaotian was shocked after listening to it. He thought that when someone else raised the price to eighty thousand USD, he was quite intimidating to raise it to the price of a hundred thousand USD. But, he didn’t expect the private room on the side to come out and announce the bid of one hundred and fifty thousand USD!
Motherf*cker, how dare you ruin my plan? Who is that? Zhong Xiaotian’s always had a bad temper. Well, do you want to challenge me? First, remember that you are dealing in my auction hall!
“Two hundred thousand!” Zhong Xiaotian announced it in panic.
Shu Ya herself was also immersed in deep thoughts. She didn’t expect this ring to be so valuable, and was auctioned for a price of two hundred thousand USD!
“Two hundred and fifty thousand!” Yang Ming thought that he had more than three billion on hand, and he acted extravagantly! So, there wasn’t much reluctance holding him off.
“Three hundred thousand!” Zhong Xiaotian said with gritted teeth. After all, these were all in USD which had a similar value with the Hong Kong dollar! He hadn’t inherited his family business yet, so his pocket money was limited. It could be considered a heavy bid with three hundred thousand USD.
Looking back at Shu Ya’s expression of her being lost in thought, he thought that she was shocked by the pride of his own bid, and she was admiring him. When he thought of it, Zhong Xiaotian finally felt that it was worth the price!
But he didn’t expect that the person in the private room next to him didn’t have the intention of giving up!
“Four hundred thousand.” Yang Ming announced another price. He wasn’t quite fixated on the item, but he enjoyed the feeling of bidding at the moment! Since I have already bid, I should be extravagant this time. Yang Ming thought in such a manner. At least, I want to act extravagantly for once!
Zhong Xiaotian completely gave up. Four hundred thousand, it was a price that he wouldn’t be able to pay even if it cost him his life. He was already very reluctant with three hundred thousand USD. Zhong Xiaotian felt like he was going mad.
“One hundred and fifty thousand USD, and the number 7 VIP bid for four hundred thousand USD! Four hundred thousand USD going once. Four hundred thousand going twice. Four hundred thousand USD going three times. Sold!” The crisp transaction sound was drawn under the hammer of the auctioneer for this item. The auction of this item was painted with a full stop.
However, when the item was sold, Shu Ya’s heart seemed to be broken. She didn’t feel this way before. At the moment the item became the other’s possession, Shu Ya felt that something went missing in her heart. She felt empty!
That was a feeling of reluctance!