Chapter 256: Contest
Of course, other than the ashes grade [1] collector like Huang Rongjin who came to hunt for the best treasure, there were also some cultural snobs who were upstarts. In order to win a smile from their girl, these people didn't mind spending a lot of money and were not low-key at all. They would pretend to be high-profile and sit in the public seatings. They would fight for a celebrity's bra or stockings until they were flushed with anger, just for the purpose of spending the night with these little celebrities.
These people were the two extremes. These people were often not particularly rich. They were just some ordinary upstarts. Therefore, they wouldn't compete with those ashes collectors for those rare items. Similarly, those ashes collectors wouldn't even bat an eye on a little celebrity's undergarment. For people who had reached their level of wealth, how hard would it be to get any woman? They just had to wave their hand, and they would get plenty of women.
It was still the same auctioneer from the morning. However, the starting prices for many items in the afternoon were obviously much lower than in the morning. For example, a female pornstar with the name Hu Limei had her undergarment up for auction with the starting price of five hundred USD.
In the end, the price of this undergarment was sold at ten thousand five hundred USD. This was about the market rate to sleep with a pornstar! It wouldn't be worthwhile to pay for a higher price. No one was willing to be an idiot.
After that, there were a few more porn stars' bras and panties, and the highest transaction didn't exceed fifty thousand USD. Of course, there were occasionally a few proper celebrities who sold some of their personal belongings, such as keychains, teacups, earrings, etc. Those were the virtuous celebrities. Similarly, they were also very much in demand, and some of the wealthier businessmen fought for them here.
The only reason that Shu Ya participated in this auction was that of the influence of her father's good friend, Uncle Zhong. He was also the chairman of Huizhong Auction Group. It wouldn't be sensible for her to reject it, so she came along as a respect to her uncle.
After all, she was well known by many. She was the most popular young female celebrity in Asia. Debuted at the age of fifteen, she was only eighteen years old this year. However, she was already a famous star who already had tours and acting opportunities in Hong Kong, Taiwan, China, Singapore, and Malaysia.
In this era of materialism and money, there were many dirty and unspoken rules in the entertainment industry. Shu Ya was an exception for having no scandals record at all.
It was rumored that Shu Ya had a good father. If it wasn't because of her wealthy father, she wouldn't be able to keep her chastity! However, rumors still were just rumors. There were plenty of princesses of rich people. How many of them managed to be famous across Asia?
Shu Ya's origin was indeed better than other female celebrities. However, the main reason she was able to become famous was that of her sweet appearance, her clear and attractive eyes, as well as her proud figure. Most importantly, God had given Shu Ya the voice of a skylark [2], as any sound from her mouth was like the sound of nature.
Yes, Shu Ya was an all-rounded, perfect girl, an exception in an entertainment circle. No one dared to play dirty tricks to take advantage of her. According to gossip, her father had close ties with many associations in Hong Kong and had a certain influence in Mainland China. Anyone who dared to disturb his daughter would be courting death.
Shu Ya's father didn't have many other shortcomings. The only downside was that he overprotected his daughter just so she wouldn't be hurt in any way. However, this caused Shu Ya not to even have a single boyfriend even when she was already eighteen years old.
On one hand, her father simply didn't let any boys approach Shu Ya. On the other hand, Shu Ya herself didn't want to have a boyfriend.
However, Shu Ya who was single had become the object of many young men's pursuit in Hong Kong's upper-class society. Think about it. An outstanding beauty as such who never had a boyfriend before? Or at least no one had heard of Shu Ya having a boyfriend. Most importantly, Shu Ya was the only daughter in the family. If anyone married her, he would have the property of her family. How would the crowd not chase her like a duck [3]?
In this auction, Shu Ya had hesitated for a long time before she took out her collection box. She looked at it for a long time, and her eyes finally fell on the iron ring. This was a very old accessory. Anyone who used it now would be regarded as old-fashioned.
However, this was one of Shu Ya's favorite jewelry that she frequently wore. The media had once reported about this before, but no one knew of the real reason. They could only chalk it up as Shu Ya's personal preference.
Because of Shu Ya's family background, it would be near to impossible for her to not have enough money to wear a platinum-studded ring.
Shu Ya sighed softly. The person was no longer here. All that was left was emptiness and memories [4]. Every time she picked up this ring, Shu Ya would be lost in thought for quite a long time. Shu Ya attempted to put the ring on her middle finger. It was already a bit tight for her, but still wearable. It was a tight fit.
Shu Ya smiled sweetly and tried to wear the ring on her ring finger instead. This time it was a good fit.
Shu Ya shook her head. She had finally made up her mind to auction the ring. We can't really live in our memories all the time, can we? Since he had already forgotten her himself, why would I still abuse myself this way?
The letter she wrote to him had disappeared forever. Shu Ya laughed at herself bitterly for a moment, and she put the ring back to her jewelry box.
Looking at her daughter's absent-mindedness, Shu Ya's father's didn't feel good either. He knew about some of the origins of this ring, but he didn't expect that his daughter would still remember these things after so many years!
Since his daughter could auction this item this time around, it seemed like his daughter had finally resolved the knot in her heart.
When Liu Weishan's "Four Galloping Horses" appeared, it immediately sent the atmosphere of the auction to its climax! The collectors in the VIP lounge who were resting before this immediately opened their eyes with lustrous desire!
This was the biggest set of creations in Liu Weishan's artwork in the world thus far! And the material was some fine-graded emerald jade!
"... What was most impressive was that this masterpiece also includes a photo of Mr. Elder Liu Weishan carving the sculpture which makes it far more valuable for the collection!" The auctioneer's words had really hyped up the atmosphere of the crowd!
The photos of Liu Weishan himself carving the sculpture had undoubtedly increased the authenticity of this artwork! No matter how, this had ensured that there wouldn't be a need for verification and everyone could be assured of the authenticity of this artwork!
This immediately dispelled the doubts of certain collectors who had suspicion beforehand. Most of them were prepared to put in their best effort and take down this treasure no matter what it took!
"The starting price is one hundred million USD." The auctioneer stated the starting price succinctly.
"Ah?" Yang Ming was stunned. According to yesterday's discussion with Mr. Zhong, the starting price of this artwork should only be thirty million USD. How did it suddenly increase to one hundred million?
Xiao Qing was also shocked, "Yang Ming, what? Aren't you going to become a billionaire right after this?"
"I will become a billionaire?" Yang Ming shook his head with a bitter smile. He still didn't feel that much different. Maybe because this money wasn't earned through his own efforts! Yang Ming still loved the joy of making money himself. For example, that exciting feeling of jade gambling back then when he was in Tengchong.
Due to the demand and popularity of the several pieces of artwork by Liu Weishan in the morning, Mr. Zhong from the Huizhong Auction House had taken all these into account. In the afternoon, he had checked the identity of the collectors who came to the mysterious auction site in the afternoon. After knowing these people's family background, he had decided to spontaneously increase the starting price of Liu Weishan's "Four Galloping Horses!"
In particular, he heard that many collectors regretted that they couldn't take a photograph of Liu Weishan's artwork in the morning. Because of this, Mr. Zhong had more confidence in the value of this "Four Galloping Horses."
The starting price of one hundred million wasn't an exception in history, but it was exceptionally rare. It scared off the upstarts who came to compete in front of the little celebrities! Many of them didn't even have a net worth of more than one hundred million USD!
However, in the eyes of the ashes grade collectors, even though one hundred million USD wasn't a small figure, it was absolutely acceptable. But unfortunately, this was only the starting price. No one could tell what the final auctioned price will be yet!
Huang Rongjin was firm in winning this time, but he wasn't eager to bid right away. He was observing at the side for now. The situation wasn't good!
In a few bids, the price of the "Four Galloping Horses" had risen from the starting price of one hundred million USD to one hundred fifty million! It seemed like there were a lot of rich people like him who disregarded money as money. Huang Rongjin smiled bitterly.
Once the price had escalated to more than two hundred million, the first few bidders had started to withdraw from the bidding. However, several new bidders had joined in! It seemed that these people were doing the same as Huang Rongjin, observing by the side.
"Three hundred million!" Huang Rongjin raised his paddle.
The price was still two hundred and forty million just now. Suddenly someone raised it to three hundred million! The whole scene fell into a moment of silence.
"The number 12 VIP bids three hundred million. Three hundred million going once..." said the auctioneer.
"Three hundred and ten million!" said a reluctant voice.
"The number 14 VIP bid is three hundred and ten million!" repeated the auctioneer.