Vermilion Bird Egg
"What is this thing..." The audience gasped; no one had ever seen such a treasure before. Yue Qianchou turned to look at Wu Lixue, who happened to turn back to look at him as well. Their eyes met, and both were slightly taken aback. Yue Qianchou gave her a questioning look, as if to say, "Are you sure you want this? Don't you want to exchange it for something you like?"
However, it seemed that Wu Lixue hadn't yet reached the point of perfect understanding with him. Her pretty face flushed red, and she shyly turned her head away. Fortunately, her entire face was covered, so she could sit there blushing without anyone noticing. Yue Qianchou pouted indifferently, "Since you like it, I'll buy it."
The auctioneer on stage was Wu Tai, an elder of the Wu family. Wu Tai looked at Wu Sihai, the head of the family, in the dark room to the side of the stage, and the latter nodded.
Wu Tai turned around and glanced at the crowd below, then announced loudly, "Ladies and gentlemen, the auction will proceed as usual: the highest bidder wins. I won't waste any more words. Now, I will introduce the first item to you."
Looking at the red and black object before him, Wu Tai shook his head and sighed, "To my shame, for so many years, there has never been anything that my Wu family couldn't identify. This time, however, we've encountered something different. Even after our Wu family's examination, we can't determine the authenticity of this first item, though we believe it's a treasure. The seller estimates that it might be the egg of the divine bird 'Vermilion Bird.' My Wu family has consulted ancient texts and searched for legends, and the egg of the Divine Bird Vermilion Bird does indeed bear some resemblance to this, but we can't be certain. Therefore, after discussing with the seller, we decided to make this the first item for auction. Heh! Anyone interested might as well buy it and try to hatch it; who knows, it might actually hatch into a Divine Bird Vermilion Bird!"
"Haha..." These words immediately drew a burst of laughter from below. What a joke! The Divine Bird Vermilion Bird? That's something from mythology and legends; who has ever seen one? If it were real, why wouldn't the seller keep it to hatch instead of putting it up for auction?
Even Yue Qianchou himself found it somewhat absurd. He looked at Wu Lixue and saw two large eyes inside the black hood, curiously staring at the so-called "Vermilion Bird Egg." Yue Qianchou was speechless. "I'll buy it!"
"Everyone!" Wu Tai waved his hand and said, "The first item, the 'Vermilion Bird Egg,' has a starting price of five thousand high-grade Spirit Stones. Each subsequent bid must be at least one thousand high-grade Spirit Stones. Those who wish to buy, please place your bids. The highest bidder wins!"
"Haha..." Laughter erupted again from the audience. If it really was Vermilion Bird Egg, priced at five thousand was far too cheap. After the laughter subsided, everyone looked around, wondering which sucker would be willing to pay such a price.
For a long while, no one offered a price. Even Bi Zicong and the other three couldn't help but look at Yue Qianchou; this guy didn't seem like the type to go back on his word! Yue Qianchou sat quietly, unmoved. Wu Lixue, on the other hand, felt a little embarrassed. Was he afraid of being laughed at for buying this? She didn't seem to realize that everyone was keeping their secrets tightly under wraps; who knew who was who? Yue Qianchou simply had his own calculations.
"No one's bidding?" Wu Tai looked around and shook his head, sighing, "The Wu family's grand auction, which takes place every five years, has unexpectedly failed to sell this time." He then waved to his disciples on both sides, signaling them to carry the items away.
"Wait! I'll offer five thousand high-grade Spirit Stones." It was a woman's voice, with a pleasant tone. Everyone looked over and saw someone bidding from the far corner of the front row. Many guessed it must be some rich young lady from a powerful sect.
"Haha! At least there was no unsold item!" Wu Tai said happily. "If no one else bids, then this item belongs to this lady."
Just as everyone was secretly scoffing, Yue Qianchou raised one hand and said, "I'll bid six thousand."
Another uproar erupted around him. Little did he know, he was cursing inwardly, "Damn it! I was hoping to get an advantage at the most crucial moment, and you had to come and cause trouble."
The woman who had previously called out the price glanced over, then raised her hand and said, "Seven thousand."
"Eight thousand," Yue Qianchou called out again. The woman raised her hand again without hesitation and said, "Ten thousand."
Just as Yue Qianchou was about to raise the price again, someone shouted, "Fifteen thousand." It was a man's voice.
He immediately added five thousand, Yue Qianchou stopped bidding. Damn it! There's someone even more cunning than me. Like everyone else, they all looked towards the nonchalant man in black in the center. This time, no one laughed anymore; they all looked at the "Vermilion Bird Egg" on the stage. Could it be that someone really knows its value?
"Sixteen thousand." The woman raised the price again.
"Twenty thousand." The man raised the price again, clearly more generous than the woman. The woman hesitated for a moment, then finally shouted, "Twenty-one thousand."
Under everyone's watchful eyes, the man raised his hand and said, "Twenty-five thousand." He seemed determined to win. The woman finally stopped. After waiting for a while, Wu Tai looked around and called out, "Twenty-five thousand, anyone else bidding?"
"Thirty thousand." Yue Qianchou raised his hand again. There was no need to be stingy when bidding against someone so determined to win; after all, he was determined to win too. Everyone thought Yue Qianchou had been scared off, but who knew he was starting again? Now everyone knew there was going to be a good show; these two determined people were bound to clash.
The man paused, then raised his hand and said, "Fifty thousand." Yue Qianchou replied without hesitation, "One hundred thousand." The woman in the corner suddenly looked at him, realizing she had been tricked; the man hadn't even considered the thousand-yuan increments. Wu Lixue, standing nearby, watched his heart pounding; he really intended to buy it and give it to her.
After waiting a while, Wu Tai laughed and said, "It's already reached 100,000. Does this gentleman want to raise the price further?" He was naturally happy. The Wu family would take a 20% cut of the transaction price for each item, so with this 100,000, the Wu family could make 20,000 for free. How could he not be happy? The "gentleman" he was referring to was naturally the man in the middle. The latter raised his hand and said, "150,000."
The entire room erupted in uproar; this price was already extremely high. Yue Qianchou calmly replied, "Three hundred thousand!"
The entire room fell silent, as if struck by lightning. He had immediately doubled the bid, making it sixty times the starting price. The woman who had been the first to bid in the corner glanced at him. She had been somewhat annoyed earlier, but now she was completely speechless. It wasn't that he was playing her; she simply didn't have the strength to compete.
Upon hearing the bid, Wu Sihai, who was in the dark room on stage, suddenly looked at Yue Qianchou. He knew that Yue Qianchou's seat had been arranged in advance by the Wu family, so he naturally knew who was sitting there.
Wu Lixue didn't even dare to lift her head. This man, when he did unleash his power, was always so domineering and awe-inspiring, completely overwhelming her. For her sake, he had spent 300,000 high-grade Spirit Stones to buy something of unknown origin. Now she was truly uneasy, feeling that her request was too much.
Bi Zicong and the other three exchanged bewildered glances. They knew Yue Qianchou was wealthy, but they hadn't expected him to be this rich. Spending 300,000 high-grade Spirit Stones on something to give to a woman—it was truly ruthless! They admitted they would find it difficult to do such a thing. Wu Licheng, however, now genuinely admired his grandfather's foresight. If Xue'er really married Yue Qianchou, she certainly wouldn't be too unhappy; at the very least, she'd have more money than she could ever spend...
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