The auction officially began.
The opening treasure was brought up, a small and exquisite underglaze red bowl with three fish motifs.
This bowl’s design was markedly different from common bowls. It was snow-white like jade all over, with a flaring mouth, a curved wall, and a very tall, hollow foot.
From the large screen on the auction stage, the six-character regular script mark "Made in the Yongzheng Period of the Great Qing" could be clearly seen.
The underglaze red on the outer wall depicted a three-fish design.
“This Qing Dynasty Yongzheng underglaze red three-fish high-footed bowl is the opening treasure of this auction. The starting bid is one hundred thousand. Everyone, don’t miss it.”
As soon as the words fell, many people began to bid.
In the blink of an eye, it had already climbed to nearly a million.
This scene caused Bai Jing’s beautiful eyes to widen, showing disbelief.
“This… this small bowl is worth a million? My heavens.” Bai Jing’s cold and elegant expression was gone.
She had seen in TV or newspapers before that antiques were valuable.
But once she experienced it firsthand, the feeling was completely different.
Even if she found such a small, clown-like bowl on the street, she probably wouldn’t have glanced at it.
In terms of exquisite craftsmanship, it was completely inferior to modern crafts, but its value was an amount that an ordinary person would take decades to earn.
It was too exaggerated.
This was simply a money pit.
Shanghai, with its high cost of living, was indeed expensive. She had only spent tens of thousands of yuan after shopping for half a day. Compared to this place, it was insignificant.
“This is just an appetizer. The charm of the antique world comes from this. Its value lies not on the surface, but in the historical culture it contains,” Li Chonglou said with a faint smile. “Some can even confirm the ancient saying that rarity is valued.”
Thinking back to his past life, he was also shocked when he first came into contact with antiques.
His worldview of twenty-odd years was shattered and rebuilt.
Bai Jing’s reaction was considered good.
Some people, faced with such a scene, might spend their entire lives thinking about making money madly, but were unable to do so.
They ended up living in sorrow and died.
“No wonder the higher-ups attach so much importance to this mission, selecting people from our Eagle unit. So that’s why.” Bai Jing’s ability to process information was indeed extraordinary; she quickly adapted to this stimulating scene.
“Two million!” At this moment, a haughty voice rang out.
Li Chonglou and Bai Jing looked in the direction of the voice, their brows furrowed. It was Yang Qian, the young man who had been staring at Bai Jing earlier.
Yang Qian was smug. After placing his bid, he shouted, “I’m going to take this entire auction!”
“Let me give you all a heads-up first, so you don’t say later that I’m overbearing and didn’t give you a chance!”
Whoosh…
As soon as the words were spoken, the whole venue erupted in an uproar.
Many people showed expressions of displeasure and stood up to ask, “Who are you? How dare you be so arrogant?”
Immediately, someone answered him, “That’s the young master of Hu Yang Group, one of the Four Princes of Shanghai…”
“Hu Yang Group is an old-established capital. Its wealth even surpasses the eight great families, and it was even the national richest man for several consecutive years.”
“Although it has now been surpassed by new media companies, its foundation is still there. A few million is nothing to him.”
…
With this explanation from a few people, those who wanted to retort immediately changed their expressions and awkwardly sat back in their seats.
Who in China did not know the name Hu Yang Group?
It was a leading real estate enterprise, which later ventured into commercial real estate and the film and television industry, flourishing and becoming a dominant force in Shanghai.
Its young master, Yang Qian, was a notorious playboy in Shanghai.
Although many had not seen him, they had at least heard of him.
He truly had the right to be arrogant. To oppose him was to invite trouble.
Seeing this, Yang Qian became even more smug.
Soon, the item belonged to him.
He acquired the underglaze red bowl for two million yuan.
“This person is so domineering.” Bai Jing’s eyes showed dissatisfaction. She was here to watch the show, and naturally, she wanted to see more of it.
But Yang Qian had interrupted it with a single bid, and no one else dared to follow. The scene immediately became uninteresting.
“His bid is far higher than the bowl’s true market price. This bowl is worth around 1.2 million,” Li Chonglou explained. “Judging by his demeanor, he’s like a peacock displaying its feathers, showing off his strength.”
“A pretty boy who relies on his father, who is he showing off to?” Bai Jing was still displeased.
“To you!” Li Chonglou said astonishingly.
Bai Jing’s eyes widened in disbelief. “Me?”
“Can’t you see that the rich second-generation guy named Yang fancies you? He’s been staring at you since we came in. Of course, you probably wouldn’t take such a rich idler seriously,” Li Chonglou chuckled.
“You’re still laughing. We’re a couple now, and you’re just letting your girlfriend be coveted like this?” Bai Jing’s pretty face turned cold, and she secretly pinched Li Chonglou’s soft arm.
He gasped in pain.
He pleaded, “What can I do? He’s showing off his strength, and he hasn’t provoked me.”
“Even if I wanted to stop him, I wouldn’t have an excuse.”
“Besides, I’m indeed not as rich as he is; we’re far apart.”
Hearing this, Bai Jing let go of his arm with annoyance, crossed her arms, and said nothing more.
This action made Li Chonglou chuckle secretly.
Women, no matter how outstanding, were essentially the same, emotional.
Even an outstanding woman like Bai Jing, who excelled under the strict discipline of the military, could not escape this rule.
He did find Yang Qian unpleasant, but he couldn’t attack someone based on his personal preferences.
Just looking at him was not against the law.
After the high-footed bowl, the subsequent items were not as expensive. After all, this was just an auction arranged by Tong Zhaolin to test Li Chonglou.
There were very few good items.
Most were things that could be seen in the normal market.
The second item was a handmade Zisha teapot by a master from Jiangsu Province, a modern piece. However, because it was handcrafted by a master, the starting price was not low.
Starting at fifty thousand.
Due to Yang Qian’s intervention, the number of bidders had decreased significantly, but some people, while not speaking out, inwardly disagreed.
So they deliberately bid to raise the price.
Li Chonglou was among them, quietly bidding twenty thousand.
Yang Qian’s gaze turned cold, and he immediately bid a million and took it.
After the auctioneer announced the successful bid, Yang Qian shifted his gaze to Li Chonglou and mocked him publicly, “Kid, if you don’t have the strength, keep a low profile. Don’t compete with me.”
“Those who are blind are easily taken advantage of.”
“Also, the beauty next to you is not someone you can handle.”
“If I were you, I’d go home and stop embarrassing yourself.”
His words were filled with condescending superiority.
After speaking, he looked at Bai Jing again, “Beauty, what do you see in this kind of trash? Why are you with him?”
“Why don’t you come with me? Whatever you want, I can satisfy you, how about it?”
Bai Jing’s eyes turned cold. Before Li Chonglou could speak, she turned back and said coldly, “Just you? A pretty boy, and you want to covet me?”
“Young Master Yang, right? In my eyes, you are nothing more than a rich playboy. What are you showing off about!”
These words were utterly dismissive, utterly humiliating Yang Qian in front of the entire hall, making his face burn like fire.
He was so angry that his eyes were practically dripping blood.
Li Chonglou said nothing but gave Yang Qian the middle finger.
This action almost drove him to madness.
“Young Master Yang, please calm down. Libaozhai is not like other places. Even if your grandfather came, he would have to show some respect,” Yang Qian’s yellow-toothed companion said quickly, trying to appease him. “If there’s anything, let’s talk about it after we leave Libaozhai. For now, restraint is paramount.”
Hearing this, Yang Qian forcibly suppressed his anger, which was full of fury.
Although his eyes were still red, there was no longer any sign of imminent eruption.
This earned Li Chonglou a bit of admiration.
Generally speaking, rich second-generation individuals like this were arrogant and could not tolerate even a single word of criticism. Yang Qian, however, was an exception, able to suppress his anger so quickly.
He had heard of this person in his past life, but their circles were different, so they had never interacted.
Even when they met at Libaozhai, he was too lazy to get acquainted.
It seemed that in this life, an unavoidable collision was imminent.
“Fine, Young Master Yang. I’ll overlook it for your sake as a beauty,” Yang Qian said after suppressing his anger, openly teasing Bai Jing. “This auction today, I’m buying it all. Tell me if you fancy anything, and I’ll gift it to you.”
“So your useless good-for-nothing boyfriend doesn’t have to look on with envy but can’t afford it.”
He was not going to argue with Bai Jing, but he directed his anger at Li Chonglou.
Li Chonglou had originally intended to ignore him, but he didn’t expect him to actively seek trouble.
Now that the excuse had arrived, he couldn’t just ignore it.
“I hope Young Master Yang keeps his word. Coincidentally, my friend is a shareholder in this auction house, so I will use this opportunity to give him a big gift,” Li Chonglou said with a calm expression.
“What do you mean?” Yang Qian’s pupils contracted, his face filled with confusion.
At this time, the third item entered the stage, a three-carat diamond ring.
The starting bid was eighty thousand.
This item was undoubtedly a divine artifact for gifting to girlfriends and wives. Most men present with women were eager.
Originally, they didn’t dare to challenge Yang Qian, but now with Li Chonglou’s involvement, the situation immediately changed.
As soon as it appeared, Li Chonglou directly bid two million.
Hiss…
A wave of gasps of cold air sounded.
“Is this kid crazy? He’s clearly going against Yang Qian…”
“No, he’s not crazy. Didn’t you hear him say he wants to give his friend a big gift? He’s probably deliberately driving up Yang Qian’s price.”
“The actual value of this diamond ring is only around three hundred thousand. Yang Qian isn’t an idiot; if he lets go now, he’ll be losing out terribly.”
…
While the crowd was shocked, they couldn’t help but sweat for Li Chonglou.
Everyone knew that Li Chonglou was deliberately raising the price and feared that he would become the one stuck with it.
Even Bai Jing looked astonished, “Aren’t you afraid he won’t want it? The mission funds aren’t that much.”
“What’s there to fear? At worst, I’ll buy it myself and give it to my wife later, wouldn’t that be nice?” Li Chonglou said indifferently.
He wasn’t afraid of Yang Qian not buying it at all. Rich second-generation types like him cared most about face.
A few million was nothing to them, but being publicly embarrassed was a different matter.
He wouldn’t be the one stuck with it.
The real person stuck with it would be Yang Qian.
As expected, Yang Qian didn’t expect Li Chonglou to be so fierce, but he couldn’t go back on his word.
Especially in front of Bai Jing, this ring was undoubtedly the best tool to prove his strength.
As long as he acquired it, he believed no woman could resist such a thing.
This was different from ordering a larger one from outside; this was a naked battle between two men.
“Three million!” Yang Qian’s eyes flashed with a hint of smugness as he raised his hand and shouted.