Chapter 40: Throwing Money at It
Chapter 40
When she saw the thing she had been longing for, she was so happy that she tiptoed and kissed Yu Sheng on the cheek with a "pop".
The sunlight filtering through the roadside treetops quickly reflected Yu Sheng's flushed face. He angrily said, "I'm not your boyfriend, how can you kiss me?"
The exasperated Yu Sheng was like an innocent little chick.
Li Zhen laughed unrestrainedly, "Sooner or later you will be, I'm just taking some sweetness first."
Yu Sheng's expression changed several times, and he left angrily.
Later, Li Zhen had dinner with Wan Zhe and the others, and only then did she learn from Wan Zhe's mouth that Yu Sheng had taken two days off, flew to Haishi to line up all night, but still couldn't buy it. In the end, he paid five times the price to the person who grabbed it before he could buy it.
Li Zhen turned her head to look.
The man in front of her was no longer the shy teenager who used to blush easily and was willing to give all his time to her. That him remained forever in her passionate youth.
Sitting next to her now, Yu Sheng had a straight back, rugged and handsome side face, and a compelling temperament.
At the age of 26, he was already a mature, steady social elite, wise yet aloof. Women and love seemed to have been phased out of his life, just dispensable company. He only needed the glory brought by his career.
Did Yu Sheng bid on this brooch because he thought it looked good and wanted to give it to another woman?
On stage, Master Gu had finished introducing this brooch and immediately got to the point, "The starting bid price is 2,500 yuan, and each bid increment is 1,000 yuan."
The original retail price was around 1,500 yuan when it was first sold.
Today was a charity auction, so the donor also set a very gentle price.
Yu Sheng raised his bidding paddle.
Master Gu's eyes fell upon him, "2,500 yuan, going once."
Then, Master Gu looked towards the back few rows: "3,500 yuan."
Usually people would raise the price a few rounds at charity auctions, but when it reached a suitable price, they would stop.
Dong Wanwan scoffed and sneered, posting a message on Moments, "Oh, it's so boring. At the auction site, listening to my old roommate frugally bidding tens of thousands on something, raising the price thousands at a time... My friends, who understands this boredom?"
Then she took a side selfie of Li Zhen and Yu Sheng sitting together.
Dong Wanwan used to be a social butterfly in college, and had many college alumni as friends on Moments.
Someone immediately commented: "The school hunk and Li Zhen?"
Dong Wanwan: "Who else could it be?"
Some people at the auction site started to yawn.
By this time, after a few more rounds of bidding, the price had reached 5,500 yuan.
Yu Sheng had never liked wasting time. He raised his paddle, "20,000."
Zhou Chaowen had found out yesterday that this was the approximate expected final price predicted by the auction house.
"20,000," Master Gu was also uninterested in auctions of tens of thousands, and wanted to hurry to the next lot. His speech quickened, "20,000 going once, 20,000 going twice..."
A paddle was raised from the back seats.
Reluctantly, Master Gu continued, "20,000, 1,000."
Master Gu looked displeased at the back seat, this was not reasonable bidding! Although this brooch was a limited edition, it was only worth around 10,000. Everyone was here to support charity. They should know to stop at 20,000.
Master Gu: "20,000 1,000, going once."
Yu Sheng: "30,000."
Back seat raised paddle, Master Gu: "30,000 1,000."
Yu Sheng: "40,000."
Back seat raised paddle, Master Gu: "40,000 1,000."
Yu Sheng realized something was wrong, and looked back, but the person was in the dark at the back and he couldn't see clearly at all.
Master Gu was finally energized.
A small brooch had actually been bid up to 40,000!
The originally boring scene instantly became exciting for the crowd. It wasn't that they thought the price was too high, but they didn't expect there to be such a moneyburning fool.
Dong Wanwan said gloatingly: "Brother Sheng, since you haven't attended many auctions, you may not know that bids like this, where the price is only raised a little each time but agreeably quickly, means the other party is determined to get this item. Brother Sheng, everyone who comes to charity auctions is either rich or noble, so why don't you just let it go, you can't outbid them."
Zhou Chaowen interrupted, "It's fine, Brother Sheng, I'll pay the amount exceeding 200,000."
At most it would just be a few hundred thousand more, Zhou Chaowen didn't care.
Dong Wanwan pouted unhappily, but didn't say any more.
Yu Sheng didn't respond. He just raised his voice slightly, "100,000."
The whole scene quieted. Everyone listened for the reaction from the back seat.
In her heart, Dong Wanwan looked down on him - as soon as Zhou Chaowen said he would pay the amount exceeding, Yu Sheng immediately raised the price sharply!
Back seat raised paddle twice, Master Gu: "100,000 1,000."
"200,000," said Yu Sheng, his dark eyes narrowing slightly.
Silence for a moment.
The whole scene gasped.
Bidding like this was unheard of!
From 100,000 jumped straight to 200,000! Most importantly, this was just a small brooch!
This charity auction was a benefit auction for a small children's welfare home. The most expensive lot was the final antique vase, at 500,000.
And now, just a short while in, a small brooch had already been bid up to 200,000!
The back seat raised their paddle again.
Master Gu said in surprise, "200,000 1,000."
These two moneyburning fools had come prepared!
Yu Sheng: "500,000."
The whole scene instantly fell dead silent, you could hear a pin drop.
"Cough cough..." Zhou Chaowen was so shocked he choked. He didn't mind spending 500,000 for Yu Sheng, but he felt a small brooch wasn't worth it!
He covered his chest and calculated the money in his card, about over 2 million that he could swipe out tonight. 200,000 should be the limit, right?
Yet the back seat still raised their paddle. Master Gu's voice was slightly shaking now, "500,000 1,000!"
Yu Sheng's expression didn't change. "1 million."
Dong Wanwan's eyes widened, was Yu Sheng an idiot? Treating money like dirt?
"Brother Sheng!" Zhou Chaowen panicked, "No need, no need! We can get another gift. 1 million is enough for a housing down payment! Forget it if the other party bids again."
Even Li Zhen frowned, "Forget it, if you increase again you'll probably make the news... No one can be that stupid."
Everyone in the venue craned their necks to see who it was, but most seats were in the dark and no one could see clearly!
Some had already started secretly calling news tip lines: "I have a tip, someone spent 1 million to buy a brooch worth a few thousand! Come quickly!"
The back seat raised their paddle again.
Master Gu calmly thought: he had achieved great success this year, handling a 2 million lot.
Even he rarely auctioned off items over 1 million. The highest he had handled was 1.3 million.
He thought it would probably end around here.
But the next second, Yu Sheng's voice rang out: "2 million."
What he hated most was others fighting him for something he wanted. The other party wanted it? No one could take away what he desired!
Dead silence across the venue, you could hear a pin drop.
Zhou Chaowen's blood pressure was a bit high. This was bad, Brother Sheng had lost it!
He covered his chest and calculated the money in his card again, about just over 2 million that he could swipe out tonight. 2 million should be the limit, right?
In the very last row, Fei Zhao heard Yu Sheng bid 2 million, and raised his paddle without waiting for Lu Yanming next to him to instruct.
Master Gu: "2 million 1,000."
Fei Zhao was already prepared to raise his paddle again.
Throwing money around? No one on earth could outspend his young master's family. For the Lu family, money was just meaningless numbers.
Lu Yanming's face was hidden in the darkness, his eyes cold behind his gold rimmed glasses.