Damn, there was just no arguing with that reason.

Everyone who heard it was stunned speechless. Not just the crowd—even Fang Chenyi couldn’t help but chuckle.

For a moment, the auctioneer just stood there, dumbfounded, not knowing what to say.

While he was dazed, the voice of Averill, the person in charge of this special auction, suddenly came through his earpiece:

"What the hell are you doing?! Get this situation handled right now! And if this item ends up stuck with the auction house, that 4.1 billion is coming out of your own pocket!"

However, in the time that followed, no matter how much he tried to suck up to the fatty, the man simply ignored him completely.

’I finally got rid of that hot potato, and you want to throw it back to me?’ the fatty thought. ’Am I the idiot, or are you? If that thing came back into my hands, I’d be the one feeling like I wanted to die right now.’

In the end, seeing that the fatty was dead set on not saying another word, the auctioneer gritted his teeth and had no choice but to turn his attention to the others. He even went so far as to risk letting the more discerning people see that Number Seven was a shill for the auction house.

But the price was far too high above its actual value. On top of that, the auction house had actually brought in a shill to drive up the price against them. Whether it was the people in the room or those participating via video, everyone chose to remain silent. Some of the video participants even disconnected from the stream.

In the end, no matter what tricks the auction house tried to pull, they couldn’t salvage the situation. After waiting for five or six minutes, the crowd finally grew impatient:

"What are you doing? It’s been forever. Aren’t you going to bring down your gavel?"

"I’m waiting to go home! Are you going to drop the hammer or not?!"

One after another, the crowd’s words struck the hearts of the auctioneer and the shill like a heavy hammer. Even so, he didn’t have the courage to slam the gavel in front of him.

"Bring down the hammer..."

The auction finally ended, reflected in the auctioneer’s despairing eyes, only after Averill’s somewhat haggard voice came through his earpiece.

Finally seeing the end, the crowd began to leave the auction hall, discussing it amongst themselves.

"Oh, Boss, why does that guy have that look on his face? Shouldn’t he be happy? That’s a four-billion deal. He’d make a killing on the commission alone, right?"

Fang Chenyi stood up, took Bai Menghan by the hand, and headed straight for the backstage area. Beside him, Demo Did watched the crestfallen auctioneer on stage with a puzzled look before turning to ask Fang Chenyi.

Hearing this, Fang Chenyi was truly defeated by the guy’s intelligence.

’It seems like his brain has been short-circuited by money.’

He strode backstage at the auction house and found a dejected-looking Averill.

"Heh heh, Ms. Averill, I was wondering when I might receive my auction payment?"

Averill’s expression turned even uglier when she heard him. After a moment’s hesitation, she spoke directly.

"Mr. Fang, to be honest, the person who just bid was our shill. The goal was to get a better price for your treasure. But sadly, he was too reckless... Mr. Fang, regarding this matter, could we... could we perhaps discuss it amicably?"

"You mean to say that Number Seven was your shill?"

Fang Chenyi’s eyebrows furrowed slightly upon hearing this, and he asked the question he already knew the answer to.

Averill nodded helplessly and explained, "It was all to get a higher price for your treasure. We were acting in your best interest, real—"

Before Averill could finish, Fang Chenyi suddenly cut her off.

"In my best interest? Heh heh, I’m surprised you have the nerve to say that, Ms. Averill. So I suppose when this same Number Seven drove up the price of the Copper Beast Head to two hundred million euros against my girlfriend, that was also for our benefit?"

"This..."

For a moment, Averill was left speechless by Fang Chenyi’s words, unable to come up with a rebuttal. In her heart, she cursed the auctioneer and the shill a hundred times over. ’How could I run into two morons like this on my first time hosting an auction by myself?’

"Oh, Boss, I get it now! So the bidder was in on it with them? Oh, that’s despicable! That guy bid up the price on the dozen or so items we bought earlier. That means we wasted over ten million euros for nothing!!"

The slow-on-the-uptake Demo Did had finally figured it out. He pointed a finger at Averill’s nose and spoke out.

Fang Chenyi waved his hand, signaling for Demo Did not to be impulsive, then spoke to Averill with a faint smile.

"How about this? I’m a reasonable person. If your side can’t produce that much cash at once, you can also exchange it for some of our Huaxian cultural relics. If you can get your hands on more Copper Beast Heads, then you just need to give me three more."

...

Half an hour later, Fang Chenyi walked out of the hotel where the auction was held, a smile on his face as he held Bai Menghan’s hand.

After leaving the hotel, Bai Menghan gave Fang Chenyi a speechless look, then asked doubtfully,

"Chenyi, you asked for over a thousand artifacts all at once. Are you planning to open a museum or what?"

Fang Chenyi was taken aback for a moment, then seemed to have an epiphany. He gently tapped Bai Menghan’s little nose, nodded his head, and said in admiration,

"Hey, you know, now that you mention it... at first, I was only thinking about getting our Huaxian treasures back. I hadn’t really thought about what to do with them. But your idea is actually pretty great. Opening a museum would be awesome. Of course, a thousand or so pieces obviously aren’t enough. Once I have more, I’ll open one! As for now, we’ll just put this stuff at home as decoration."

Just as he was speaking, a shout suddenly came from behind them, and Demo Did’s figure came running over.

"HUFF... Boss, Boss Lady, wait for me, wait for me."

Seeing this, Fang Chenyi stopped and turned to look at the breathless Demo Did, shaking his head and saying,

"Old Di, you’re not in good shape. You need to go work out more."

Demo Did chuckled and nodded, then said with a serious expression,

"Boss, I’m already trying my best to learn from you. Oh, right, Boss, what are you going to do now? Are we going scavenging? Heh heh, that’s awesome! I can’t wait. Boss, let’s go!"

As he spoke, Demo Did reached under his arm, opened his handbag, pulled something out with one hand, and with a light shake, a large woven bag suddenly appeared before Fang Chenyi and Bai Menghan.

"Oh, what do you think, Boss? Is my gear up to snuff? Let’s get going!"

Staring at the woven bag in front of him, embroidered with a huge "LV" logo, Fang Chenyi was at a loss for words...

「To be continued...」

PS: Time to go scavenging again! So, family, what do you all think we should look for?