GASP~

At the sound of Bai Menghan’s voice, the entire hall fell silent for a moment before erupting into an uproar.

All eyes turned to Bai Menghan, seated in the center. They wondered which prominent family this young woman, who had just casually bid two hundred million euros, could possibly belong to.

As the crowd murmured amongst themselves, the auctioneer on the stage and the shill who had made the last bid both let out a long sigh of relief.

The shill, in particular, was so relieved to hear someone finally take his bid that he could barely stop himself from shouting in excitement.

Fortunately, his strong sense of professionalism reminded him that he couldn’t show the slightest hint of excitement.

After a moment of shock, the auctioneer on stage suddenly realized that this woman could be his ticket to fame. Seeing the absolute determination in her eyes, he grew even more certain of it.

So, he shot a discreet glance at the shill, secretly tapped his ring again, and began speaking, working to stir the crowd’s emotions:

"Excellent! The beautiful lady at number 66, from Huaxia, bids two hundred million euros! A beautiful number indeed, but I’m confident that’s not the limit for this Copper Beast Head! After all, every lady and gentleman here knows what it represents far better than I do! Alright, we have two hundred million euros from the beautiful lady from Huaxia, going once!"

Every Huaxia person in the room knew exactly what this Copper Beast Head represented. But even setting aside the question of whether they could afford to compete, the simple fact that the bidder was also from Huaxia meant they would absolutely not bid against her.

Just as the shill was breathing a sigh of relief, he unexpectedly received the signal to raise the price again. He was instantly caught in a dilemma:

’Should I keep bidding? If I do, the commission—worth millions—that’s almost in my grasp will go down the drain. But if I don’t raise the price, I’ll lose my job for good.’

The auctioneer on stage called ’two hundred million, going twice,’ but still heard no new bid from the shill. It made him anxious. ’How could this guy drop the ball at such a critical moment!’

’My personal record is one hundred seventy-three million, one hundred eighty thousand euros, which puts me in the number two spot at Sotheby’s. It wouldn’t take much—just one more bid, even for only five million euros—and I would surpass the two hundred three million, two hundred thousand euro record held by the number one auctioneer who has always lorded over me!’

After all, even though there was only one rank separating the number one and number two auctioneers, the difference in their commission per auction was several times over!

Today, he was on the verge of shattering the number one auctioneer’s legendary record. How could he not be thrilled?

To be honest, he hadn’t expected this auction to be so intense. The auction house had originally estimated the Copper Beast Head would sell for between one hundred and one hundred fifty million euros, and now someone had already bid two hundred million.

’Especially seeing the woman’s relaxed and effortless demeanor... based on his years of experience, he was certain that even if his side raised the price, she would continue bidding without the slightest hesitation!’

While calling out for any other bids, his hand anxiously, incessantly, fiddled with his ring.

"Chenyi, if they raise the price again, should we keep bidding?"

Here, under the astonished gazes of the crowd, Bai Menghan tilted her head slightly and whispered to Fang Chenyi.

Upon hearing this, Fang Chenyi replied in a voice only the two of them could hear, "I don’t care about the price. I care about the result. This thing must return home."

At his words, Bai Menghan smiled faintly and said no more. Clearly, she now had a plan.

After waiting for what felt like an eternity, the auctioneer on stage was thoroughly disappointed. He made a resolution: ’The first thing I’ll do after this auction is fire the shill I’ve been using for years!’

"Alright, since there are no other bids, then congratulations are in order for the beautiful lady at number 66 from Huaxia! Her bid of two hundred million euros... going for the third..."

However, just at the very moment he was about to call ’...and sold!’, a paddle was finally raised in the room. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

’When the auctioneer saw the paddle clearly, his heart surged with endless joy. The paddle... it was number seven, who else could it be? So I was wrong! It’s not that he wasn’t bidding, his acting was just too good! Say no more. After this auction, I’m definitely giving him a bonus!’

But when the auctioneer heard the number the man shouted, he froze. The man at number seven had raised his paddle and called out:

"Two hundred million, one hundred thousand euros!"

Uh... two hundred million, one hundred thousand euros????

A wave of derisive murmurs swept through the room at his words.

While one hundred thousand euros was hardly a small sum on its own, in an auction dealing in hundreds of millions, it was just too...

It was the equivalent of bidding on a million-dollar house and then raising the offer by a single penny. It was utterly ridiculous.

While the crowd jeered, the shill ignored them completely. In his mind, this was perhaps the only way to both force the other party to bid higher and still keep his job.

However, contrary to everyone’s expectations, the disdainful look and immediate, casual counter-bid they anticipated from the young woman never came.

Not only did that not happen, but she actually placed her paddle down on the small table beside her. Then, with a smile, she started whispering with the handsome young man at her side, looking as if she couldn’t care less that the Copper Beast Head was about to be sold to someone else.

The crowd was stunned for a moment, but then, a look of sudden realization dawned on all of them.

’It seemed her previous bid was just a bluff. More than that, she probably didn’t even have two hundred million euros to begin with! Now that someone had taken the bid off her hands, she could finally breathe a sigh of relief.’

’The more he thought about it, the more plausible it seemed.’ Not only the crowd, but the auctioneer himself suddenly came to this realization, and a wave of regret washed over him. ’It’s all my fault for getting carried away with thoughts of beating the number one auctioneer!’

But it was too late for regrets. Looking at the woman, who was acting as if nothing had happened, the auctioneer could only swallow his frustration and try to stir up the other bidders.

However, perhaps the price was simply too high now. No matter how the auctioneer pleaded, no one else made a bid. People in the crowd began to shake their heads and sigh.

Seeing this, the auctioneer gritted his teeth. He had no choice but to bring down his gavel:

"Sir at number 7, for two hundred million, one hundred thousand euros... going for the third..."

"Two hundred million, one hundred and ten thousand euros!"

[To be continued...]