Never in Jeremiah’s wildest dreams did he imagine that Charlie would give him so much respect and prestige at this auction.It was already a great surprise for him to have the chance to participate in the auction as a VIP. He didn’t expect Charlie to go so far as to give him the grand finale appearance as well.While the grand finale appearance was already good enough, what was even more unexpected was the fact that Jasmine would actually make the call for everyone to stand up and applaud as they welcome his entry. This was simply the highest-ranked treatment for such a grand occasion!After all, the participants were without exception top tycoons whose economic prowess were a thousand times stronger than the Wade family’s.Yet, right this very moment, these people were standing up and applauding his entrance.Jeremiah’s vanity was greatly satisfied. At the same time, such grand treatment made him nervous. He didn’t know whether he should step on his right foot or his left foot
“If you are aiming for the whole Rejuvenating Pill, please do not participate in the first four auctions for the divided Rejuvenating Pill. Once you successfully acquired a portion of the pill, you will lose the qualifications to bid for the whole Rejuvenating Pill at the auction’s finale.”“Aside from the Rejuvenating Pill, all the goods that you bid in tonight’s auction will be directly reserved and sealed for you, as everyone has paid a deposit of fifty million dollars. If the transaction amount is lower than the security deposit, we will deduct the payment automatically and return the remaining deposit to you. If the transaction amount is higher than the deposit, you will need to make up for the remaining payment as soon as possible after the auction ends.”“Finally, if you bid for the Rejuvenating Pill, our staff will give you a cell phone. You can contact your finance department and request them to complete the transfer as soon as possible. We will give you the Rejuvenating Pil
As soon as these words fell out of Jasmine’s lips, the crowd burst into excitement.All of them expected the Rejuvenating Pill auction to be pushed to the back and be slowly released after a warm up. To their delight and surprise, it was actually the first item to be auctioned!This was a deliberate arrangement on Charlie’s part. He desired an excitement akin to blowing up a field as soon as it entered into his view. He didn’t need to put in a lot of effort to heat up the field, but simply threw a heavy bomb to denotate and destroy the entire field in an instant. Having the Rejuvenating Pill be the first auction item would also allow the audience to witness its effects with their own eyes in record time. That way, their desire for the pill would be ignited to unprecedented levels. At this moment, Charlie was sitting comfortably in the monitoring room as he watched the live broadcast of the ballroom. “Jasmine’s performance is much better than I had expected. She’s found the ri
Many were still stunned from astonishment. Amid this, Travis didn’t hesitate to raise his hand and shouted determinedly, “I’ll pay one hundred million US dollars!”Charlie, who was in the monitoring room, smiled admiringly. “Travis Lane is really smart. He knows because of his lacking finances, he’d have to compete for the first quarter. If he can’t win the first quarter, it’d be even more difficult for him to get the next one.”“That’s right.” Isaac pulled up one of the images to show a close-up of Travis’s face. Smiling, he added, “Look, Young Master! Travis’ bid is very impressive, but you can tell from the look on his face that spending so much is very painful for him.”Charlie looked at the close-up and burst into amused laughter. Nodding, he said with a chuckle, “Out of the two hundred people who came today, at least half of them will decide to give up when the starting price is announced. They went through all the trouble to come here because they want to see how powerful the
The main reason why auctions were so popular all over the world was because while there was a lower limit, there was no upper limit for anything.Therefore, any item could fetch a sky-high price at an auction. Everything depended mainly on the strength and mentality of the competitors. When they get on each other’s throats, even the most worthless items could fetch a surprisingly high price. In addition, few tactics were available in regard to a straightforward bidding method. There were only two commonly used methods. One was to either raise the price suddenly to scare the other party’s momentum, implying to the other party that you had money and could easily destroy them. The second was to slowly follow up and maintain your composure, to show the other party that you would play until the end.Travis’s first method didn’t work, so he could only use the second. His plan was to simply raise the price by the ten million US dollars mark each time, so long as the price was still with
Therefore, he increased the price by nearly two hundred million as soon as he started bidding just to get his hands on the Rejuvenating Pill.This was equally surprising for Travis, the old queen of Northern Europe, and the Middle East billionaire who had bid earlier. None of them expected the African tycoon to be so powerful! In just a flash, he had raised the price of the previous bid to an outrageous level.Travis was depressed.Five hundred million US dollars converted into Oskian dollars was easily more than three billion dollars. He could afford the price, but he was reluctant to pay so much.In the previous Rejuvenating Pill auction, he managed to win a full pill with just two billion dollars. Now, he needed to fork out three billion dollars for just a quarter pill. He was unwilling to do so.While he was struggling to decide, the old queen of Northern Europe had already made up her mind. She raised her hand and made another bid, saying, “I’ll offer five hundred and fifty
When the African tycoon placed a bid of eight hundred US dollars, the old Northern Europe queen immediately slumped in her seat in disappointment. A hint of reluctance flashed in her blank eyes.The newest price had exceeded her affordable limit.Even if she was offered an opportunity to purchase it at this price, she wouldn’t be able to pay. She knew she was out of luck to get this Rejuvenating Pill.At the same time, the crowd burst into hushed conversations. Everyone knew there were four portions of Rejuvenating Pills for bidding tonight, as well as the full pill. The price would skyrocket quickly, as the final bidding price for the first quarter of the Rejuvenating Pill would set the expectations for the next bidding.The rest of the Rejuvenating Pills might become ridiculously high because of the first bidding’s high price.Travis was now on the brink of insanity.He cursed in his heart, ‘Eight hundred million! In US dollars! That’s about four billion dollars in conversion f
As Travis shouted his bid, he thought to himself…‘Ten billion dollars is my maximum limit. I’d rather cut to the chase instead of continuing to waste time with those two b*stards. I’ll be ruthless and raise the bid by three hundred million US dollars! Let’s see who else dares to follow!’Travis thought his furious action would scare off the two. To his surprise, his two competitors raised their hands almost at the same time.The Middle East billionaire shouted, “I offer one point seven billion!”The African tycoon was even more aggressive. He roared, “Two billion! I’ll bid two billion!”Travis was crushed and gave up in an instant. He slumped in his seat, his back drenched in his cold sweat.He knew he couldn’t continue bidding anymore.He couldn’t accept paying five times more just for a quarter pill. Even if he managed to buy the pill at a higher price, he might not be able to get over the purchase and would feel uncomfortable every time he remembered it.In the end, he sigh
Unable to nitpick on the air stewardess' response, Elaine pouted, "Well, try to ask management to improve on your first-class cabins anyway. Maybe even make a premium-class or something since it's not like we can't afford it."The air stewardess quickly said, "We will definitely relay your message to the management."Nodding in satisfaction, Elaine waved her off. "Alright. You can go back to work now."Clearly relieved, the air stewardess bowed her head respectfully. "Always happy to be of service."After the air stewardess left, Jacob asked Elaine in curiosity, "Was the private jet that good?"Elaine rolled her eyes. "Didn't you see the stuff I posted in the chat group?""Not really," Jacob blurted. Elaine was ready to snap at him for not caring, but considering that they had made up now and she shouldn't fuss too much over the little things, she snorted, "Just remember to like and comment on all my posts in the chat group, otherwise, I will make you regret it!""No problem!"
While the ten collectors were taking turns studying the bronze sculpture, Jacob and Elaine were boarding their flight.As they were flying first-class, they had priority over the other passengers and boarded from the separate plug door at the first-class section.The capacity of the Boeing 777 was huge, and the wide-body aircraft could be connected to a special double corridor bridge where first class and business class passengers boarded separately from the economy class passengers.As the terminals to economy class and business class were connected, Elaine and Jacob were able to get through the first-class terminal unimpeded, but the passengers in economy class had a queue of over two hundred passengers. Even as she walked, Elaine was looking over her shoulder and exclaiming at Jacob, "Must be nice being rich! We used to have to queue like the rest of them, waiting for over thirty minutes just to board our flight." "In first class, we may be in the same plane, but we don't hav
Meanwhile, once Raymond had briefed everyone about the rules, he opened the door and invited everyone into Treasure Measure.It was not that wide but appeared spacious since the interior was mostly empty—it was not really crowded even with thirty-ish people.Then, locking the door from the inside, Raymond told them, "I can tell from everyone's faces that we are all veterans here, so I'm sure you understand the rules while appraising: no photos or videos, thank you very much."Indeed, there were many rules that governed the hobby, the most important being respecting the seller's requests and privacy.As the collectors listened, they knew that Raymond was selling but did not want the public to know too much about him.They all nodded, and those who had their phones out slid them back into their pockets.With that, Raymond took out the bronze sculpture that he had brought, leaving Trippy a little surprised.He had never seen the bronze sculpture with his own eyes before, only from
"Alright!" Trippy was at once fawning, tagging along behind Raymond like a little child.Around thirty people were waiting in front of Treasure Measure by now. The collectors came in twos or threes, and all ten numbers had since been taken.Before Raymond arrived, he had a brief look at the collectors' faces through the security cameras before walking over, and he was really relieved to see no familiar faces.Having traded Oskian antiques for years abroad, it was only natural that he was acquainted with some of the elite collectors in the country.He also knew that they were especially demanding with the quality of their collection and wanted almost flawless items. As such, the bronze sculpture which had been completely lost wouldn't interest them.Still, he was also a little concerned that amongst the elite collectors he knew, there might be some who were losing money and losing purchasing power in turn. If they happened to take an interest in the bronze sculpture on top of that,
Trippy grinned. "I mean, just look at my stall—ain't no way I'm getting any business here. Why not let me check out this item of yours? And see how interested they are? I'm really interested in learning and upping my game."Then, as if worried that Raymond would refuse, he quickly added, "Don't worry—I promise to stay in a corner and just watch."Still, Raymond could guess right then that someone must have sent Trippy to spy on him.It didn't matter whether it was Mick, Jacob, or Zachary either—they were all in this plot together, and one knowing meant all three knowing.Trippy was a gossiper in nature. If he was allowed to witness the whole process, everyone down Antique Street would definitely know before long.In fact, he could use someone like that right now, and Trippy had come straight to his doorstep.With that in mind, Raymond smiled, "Come join me if you're interested. It's not like there's anything to hide…"Pausing, he then warned Trippy, "But since you're going in my
After watching Mick's video, Jasmine's opinion of the man improved considerably.She was actually well aware that the decline of Vintage Deluxe was mostly due to Mick's incompetence.However, as Jasmine was now managing a billion-dollar company, she couldn't spare any time to ask many questions about Vintage Deluxe's performance. In her opinion, as long as Vintage Deluxe didn't lose too much money or ruin the reputation they had worked so hard to build, she wasn't interested in a regime change.It was the same mindset as Marianne Long, who begged her father to keep that lane full of food stalls in Hong Kong over sentiment.As such, seeing that Mick actually had some skill pleased her considerably.She couldn't resist checking out the comments of the video too.She saw that many were praising the manager of Vintage Deluxe for taking a tough stand against the scammer as well as how Vintage Deluxe's reputation was long-standing and without comparison.She soon noticed Jacob's comme
Soon, more collectors had gathered outside Treasure Measure even before Raymond showed up at Antique Street, with over ten of them gathered outside in no time at all.Since Raymond had only prepared ten slips, the rest left in disappointment seeing that they had no chance.Even so, the ten collectors who had gotten a number were nervous—save for the first man who had arrived.The details on the online sales post insisted that the price was fixed, and that first-come first-serve applies.If he bought the bronze sculpture, the other nine would have come all this way for nothing.However, if the seller decided to make it an auction, they would have a chance too, although their net profit would thin in turn. After all, they could have acquired the bronze sculpture for just 20 million, and that meant a solid 8 million in profit.An auction would at least raise the price to 27 million, and more would make it chicken feed.If they gave up at that point, it was a waste of a trip.If
Trippy naturally wasn't going to tell Mick everything word-for-word, so he said vaguely, "Uh, they were just being stubborn and refused to listen to anything I said. They kept saying that they wouldn't know until they saw the actual item."Mick got out of bed, staring at his phone as he mused to himself.This was getting a little ridiculous, was it not? A fool who was scammed, actually able to scam someone else? But if he really could sell it, wouldn't all their work be for nothing?With that in mind, he promptly called Zachary, who wasn't even up yet.Ever since he had started working for Don Albert, his daily routine was no longer the same as the days when he was a humble stall owner working on Antique Street, but a man of importance who slept late and woke up late.In the evening, he would be spending his time patrolling Don Albert's night entertainment properties as well as holding meetings with subordinates to decide on management policies and the like. That was why he wo
Seeing that Mick had a favor to ask, Trippy was naturally eager to seize the opportunity to get in his good graces."Don't worry, Mr. Crane!" He promptly replied. "Just leave it to me!"Returning to Treasure Measure, he went up to the first man who had come and said, "Hey, brother… Did you come to buy the bronze sculpture from Mr. Cole?"The man asked warily, "You know about the bronze sculpture?""Of course!" Trippy grinned. "I know all too well—it's actually famous here in Aurous Hill."Whipping out his phone, he played the short video that Mick had spent five grand promoting, saying, "Here—check this out!"Curious, the man took the phone and watched the video solemnly.The other latecomer soon hurried over as well and stared fixedly at the screen too.They watched as Bill entered a room with the bronze sculpture with Mick, the latter who checked it out and started commenting on it.The first man exclaimed in surprise, "Oh, it really is that bronze sculpture."The second ma