In a private room on the second floor of the Dihao Auction House.
"Li Yang, are you sure that item will appear at today's auction?"
A middle-aged man with a square face and a stern expression asked the person beside him.
"Second Master, if you gave me a hundred dares, I wouldn't dare to lie to you."
The fellow beside the middle-aged man was shifty-eyed and spoke obsequiously, like a lackey.
After Li Yang finished speaking, the middle-aged man nodded slightly.
Given his status, Li Yang indeed wouldn't dare to lie to him.
Otherwise, he could have him buried alive in minutes. m..oΓg
With that thought, the middle-aged man waved his hand at Li Yang.
Li Yang, nodding and bowing repeatedly, left the private room.
After he left, the middle-aged man, known as Second Master, plastered a smile on his face and walked to the very front of the room, where a young man was sitting on a chair, watching the auction below.
"Young Master Long, you heard what that guy just said. The item is in today's auction, and I've arranged for people to act when the time is right."
Fu Biao, who had been full of authority in front of Li Yang, now stood beside the young man with a very deferential posture.
Because he knew very well how astonishing the identity and background of the young man sitting there were.
"Thank you, Second Brother. After this is done, I will definitely speak highly of you to my father."
The young man turned his head and said to Fu Biao.
Upon hearing this, Fu Biao's face immediately broke into a smile, "Young Master Long, you are too kind. This is all I should do, all I should do."
Afterward, the young man turned his head and continued to watch the auction scene below. Fu Biao, being sensible, shut his mouth.
...
"Next, the item to be auctioned is a medicinal herb. According to the provider, this herb grows in extremely Yin and extremely cold places and is very rare."
"Starting bid is one million!"
On the tray beside the auctioneer Liu Zimo, there was a verdant green plant, about ten centimeters tall, with a few leaves of the same color.
"It's here, it's finally here!"
"Now Grandpa's illness can be saved!"
Father and son, Qi Lianshan, showed excited expressions upon seeing the Yin Ning Cao.
"As expected of Dihao Auction House, they'll auction anything."
"This thing looks like chives, and it's going for a million? Only a fool would buy it."
"There are all sorts of people in the world, even a blade of grass can be auctioned. I'm impressed."
Unlike the excited Qi Lianshan father and son, many people in the audience began to murmur as soon as Liu Zimo announced the price of the Yin Ning Cao.
After all, everyone present was wealthy, as they wouldn't be able to attend the auction otherwise.
But this didn't mean these rich people knew everything.
Most of them came for antique calligraphy and paintings.
As for the Yin Ning Cao, over ninety percent of them had no idea what it was.
It was precisely because of this that when Liu Zimo announced the starting bid of one million for the Yin Ning Cao, they were very surprised and thought only a fool would buy this thing.
"VIP 701 bids one million one hundred thousand."
To the surprise of these people, as soon as Liu Zimo announced the auction had begun, someone immediately bid.
According to Dihao Auction House's rules, each bid must be at least ten percent of the auction price, with no upper limit.
This rule was also to prevent some people from making malicious bids.
Many years ago, Dihao Auction House had experienced such an incident. Two enemies, to vent their anger,
kept increasing their bids by only one or two yuan each time. In the end, if the auction house hadn't intervened, it might not have ended for another hour or two.
The person who bid impatiently was Qi Yuntian.
He and his father came to this auction specifically for this Yin Ning Cao.
Now that the item had appeared, they were determined to get it.
"VIP 909 bids one million two hundred thousand."
"One million five hundred thousand."
Since most people didn't even know what the Yin Ning Cao was, there were very few bidders.
Some people bid simply because they found the item novel and wanted to place a bid.
If they happened to win it, they would consider it satisfying their curiosity.
After all, one or two million yuan was a large sum for ordinary people.
But for many people at the auction, it was mere pocket change.
"Three million!"
Qi Yuntian, who thought no one would compete with him, had initially bid the minimum.
However, as people kept bidding, Qi Yuntian didn't want to add tens of thousands repeatedly with these people, so he directly doubled the price.
Indeed, after Qi Yuntian bid three million, some of the previous bidders peeked around and then stopped bidding.
After all, even if three million wasn't a huge sum, they had no understanding of the Yin Ning Cao, and Qi Yuntian's direct doubling of the price indicated his determination to acquire it.
Therefore, the previous bidders felt it wasn't worth spending a lot of money and offending someone, so they all decided not to continue.
"Three million for the first time."
"Three million for the second time."
"Ladies and gentlemen, although the Yin Ning Cao is not an antique like calligraphy and painting, it is rare and priceless. In my dozen years as an auctioneer, I have only encountered it a few times. Don't regret it when you miss it."
As a top auctioneer, Liu Zimo was very professional.
Even as the hammer was about to fall, he was still making a final effort to attract more bidders.
The words he had just spoken were intentionally said.
Because in his dozen years as an auctioneer, he understood these wealthy people who attended auctions extremely well.
Often, the thinking of wealthy people was completely different from that of ordinary people.
Ordinary people spent money on items mostly because they needed them. Even when buying luxury cars and goods, it was to save face and satisfy vanity.
But wealthy people bought these things possibly because they looked pleasing to the eye, or simply because they wanted to buy something.
The only thing that could attract them was what Liu Zimo had just said: this Yin Ning Cao was very rare. If even Liu Zimo, who had been an auctioneer for a long time, said so, it was enough to prove its preciousness.
"Three million five hundred thousand!"
"Three million nine hundred thousand!"
"Four million five hundred thousand!"
"Five million!"
Liu Zimo's words were indeed effective. Not long after he finished speaking, many people immediately raised their paddles and bid, and their bids were not the initial low bids, but hundreds of thousands at a time.
"Li Datou, you rich fool, are you bored? Spending millions on a blade of chives?"
"What chives? Didn't you hear the auctioneer say it's very rare? Buying a rare item for millions, this is an investment!"
"Get lost. You're just trying to show off!"
"Go away, I can't be bothered with you. I just like spending money, what can you do about it?"
"Damn it, if you say that, then I'll jump in."
In just over ten minutes, the price of the Yin Ning Cao had already reached tens of millions.
This was ten times the initial auction price.
On the stage, Liu Zimo's lips curled slightly, clearly satisfied with the frenzy he had stirred.