The Tycoon's Enchanted Mermaid-Chapter 151 - : Bronze Lamp

Chapter 151 -151: Bronze Lamp

Ah Da was a little confused and continued to ask Wei Lan, “But if the auction sells flawed items to others, aren’t they afraid that people will find out and come back to settle accounts?”

“In any auction, three parties are involved: the auction house, the buyer, and the seller. The goods are provided by the seller. Wanrong is just a middleman collecting venue fees. If there are issues, at most they’ll earn a reputation for poor quality control. Most of the responsibility lies with the buyer and the seller,” Qin Yu spoke indifferently. “Wanrong’s approach has the benefit of low risk, but the downside is a poor reputation. However, it’s not a significant issue, as most of those who are deceived aren’t genuinely passionate about antiques.”

Wei Lan snapped his fingers and praised, “I didn’t expect Third Young Master to have such a deep understanding of the antique trade. Maybe you should get involved too.”

“The liquidity of goods is poor, there’s little new stock, and old items just keep getting their prices inflated for fools to take over. It’s not interesting,” Qin Yu replied nonchalantly, lifting his eyelids slightly with disdain.

Wei Lan was speechless and suddenly wanted to slap himself. What a stupid question he asked; he was practically asking for a beating. Qin’s daily profits were higher than a year’s earnings for an appraisal business; how could Qin Yu be interested in such petty dealings?

“Excuse me.”

Wei Lan: already honest, please let me go.

Ah Da listened intently but did not understand; her big round eyes showed a bit of confusion. Qin Yu turned his head, chuckled lightly, and couldn’t help but raise his hand to poke her forehead.

“Um…”

The young girl covered her forehead, annoyed, and pinched his arm forcefully. Unable to pinch through the clothes, she even got her hand caught.

Qin Yu kneaded the soft flesh of her palm, indicating for her to pay attention above, “A new item for auction, don’t you want to take a look?”

All puffed up, Ah Da shifted her gaze upwards, and saw a jade bracelet displayed inside a mahogany box, with the large screen behind showing a 360-degree view that clearly displayed the patterns on the jade bracelet.

It was a magnolia pattern, branches intertwined, with a few buds slightly blooming, exuding an utmost elegance.

Ah Da’s attention was completely captured, and she couldn’t help but ask, “Is this an antique too?”

“Not modern craft jade,” replied Qin Yu.

“From a Myanmar jade mine, the quality is not bad; you can consider buying it for under a million,” Wei Lan said leisurely.

Ah Da listened to the bidding around her, directly going from four million to six million, feeling tingles on her scalp. What kind of people were sitting here, bidding several times higher for an item that was worth at most a million?

It was as though money meant nothing here; how frightening.

“Twenty million.”

A voice suddenly came through, silencing the whole room. Ah Da’s eyes trembled, and she instinctively turned her head to look in the direction of the voice.

Going straight to twenty million, who was it?

At that moment, all eyes in the auction room focused there.

A man in a gray suit sat at the edge of the first row, a tall figure with broad shoulders and a young, handsome face, wearing gold-rimmed glasses and a faint smile, appearing gentle and refined.

What surprised Ah Da was not just his bidding price but the woman sitting next to him—it was Fang Yuan.

“Teacher Fang!?”

Qin Yu didn’t hear her clearly and looked back at her, “What?”

Ah Da looked up at him, her voice soft and slightly puzzled, “I saw the teacher, the home tutor you hired for me, her name is Fang Yuan.”

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Qin Yu remembered this was indeed the case, and turned his head to look over, where a young couple was sitting at the edge of the same row. As he looked over, the man met his gaze naturally, smiling and nodding as a greeting.

Eyes met across the distance, with undercurrents swirling.

Qin Yu’s handsome face was expressionless, and he casually withdrew his gaze, focusing on the young girl beside him, pinching her soft cheek, “Well, do you want to go over and say hello?”

Ah Da looked toward Fang Yuan, who seemed not to see her. She was holding a bidding paddle, appearing quite shy and nervous, constantly keeping her head down with her hair hanging over her cheeks.

That must be her boyfriend.

Ah Da shook her head, “Let’s not disturb her.”

Fang Yuan wasn’t paying attention to anything else, still dizzy and disoriented from when Lu Yuan suddenly raised his hand and bid twenty million yuan a moment ago.

Twenty million yuan, an amount she had never come in contact with in her entire life. Had Lu Yuan gone mad? She had only mentioned that she liked it.

“We shouldn’t, it’s too expensive.”

Fang Yuan grasped Lu Yuan’s hand, pleading softly.

Lu Yuan looked at her tenderly, “Yuanyuan, anything I give you isn’t considered expensive in my heart. Besides, didn’t you say you wanted to be with me forever?”

Fang Yuan’s cheeks flushed and her heart raced. She was completely submerged in Lu Yuan’s warmth, to the point where she even considered agreeing to drop out of school—a notion Lu Yuan had suggested in bed the day before yesterday.

“I… I’m not worth you spending so much money on me. Plus, such an expensive Jade Bracelet, I can’t just wear it casually, and it would be a waste just sitting at home.”

“Who says you can’t?” Lu Yuan held onto Fang Yuan’s hand, “Don’t ever speak like that again. You are my woman, and in the future, you will be the mother of my children. There’s no such thing as a waste, no matter how expensive something is, you are worthy of it.”

Under the envious gazes from all around, Fang Yuan felt both shy and flustered as if a huge surprise had hit her. Her mind was frozen, feeling surreal.

The auctioneer finalized the deal with a strike of the gavel,

“The White Magnolia Jade Bracelet, symbolizing pure love, sold for twenty million yuan even. Let us congratulate Mr. Lu and Miss Fang, wishing them everlasting sweet love.”

Applause erupted, and this time, Ah Da joined in clapping.

Qin Yu and Wei Lan didn’t move.

Wei Lan clicked his tongue, “Mr. Lu? Who is this character?”

Qin Yu’s lips thinned, his gaze thoughtful.

The following auction items were unremarkable. Ah Da watched as the auction sequence number on the big screen changed to ten, her heart suddenly tensing up, feeling a bit nervous.

“Coming up next is tonight’s tenth auction item, the Ancient Xiling Mystical Bird Bronze Lamp, starting at ten million yuan.”

As the host announced the price, it immediately stirred up turmoil and chatter. People whispered to each other.

“What is this, starting at ten million yuan? Even pure gold doesn’t sell for that price, does it?”

“Xiling? Never heard of it.”

“I know a bit about Xiling. I heard there was once an archaeology team that dug up a mysterious ancient tomb, later identified as an ancient dynasty called Xiling. The underground palace was piled with gold, Jade, and bronze artifacts, but eventually, no reports came out, and the site was said to have been sealed off.”

“Really? I’ve never heard of it.”

“Don’t ask me; I also just heard it.”

“Selling an unbranded product for over ten million—who would buy that?”

“Don’t underestimate the value of bronze artifact collections. Don’t belittle this collectible; it fetched the highest starting price at tonight’s auction.”

The staff slowly pushed the display table to the center of the stage, and as the red cloth was pulled off, everyone gasped, even some standing up, their eyes wide as bells.

Under the lights, the bronze lamp stood majestically and imposing, emitting an inexplicable eeriness. Everyone who gazed upon it was stunned by the antiquated charm emanating from it.

The collectors moved restlessly, someone tentatively making a bid.

“One million one hundred thousand.”

Immediately, someone followed, “Increase.”

“One million three hundred thousand.”

The battle began, and the price soared to three million five hundred thousand. At the height of intense bidding, a smooth, fair hand slowly lifted a golden placard, and suddenly, the auction hall fell silent as if a mute button had been pressed.