Chapter 2640 — Who Got the Better of Whom

This time, no one competed with You Panhu anymore, because the others had no idea what the thing even was. The only explanation they could come up with was that this Han Jingyi was probably a beauty, and that You Panhu had taken a fancy to her and wanted to curry favor with her, and so had spent a fortune to buy this so-called study notebook.

That was the only explanation that made sense. Otherwise, who would spend such a high price on something useless? Even if one did buy it, there was no way one would pay five million!

Under everyone's astonished gazes, You Panhu was thoroughly enjoying himself. He thought to himself: you fools don't understand a thing! The alchemist's insight notebook I bought for five million and ten thousand was an absolute bargain!

Wei Zhao probably never expected that I would have the nerve to raise the bid by only ten thousand, right? Hahahaha, he must have miscalculated, thinking the auction would fetch a much higher price—but what he never imagined was that when I'm shameless, I'm invincible!

"Five million and ten thousand, first time... five million and ten thousand, second time... five million and ten thousand, third time—sold! Congratulations to gentleman number 75 on winning this item." Seeing that no one was going to bid any further, Shen Yushu brought the gavel down for You Panhu.

And this time, Lai the Fatso did not come out to make trouble, which You Panhu was very glad of—if Lai the Fatso had made trouble, he would have had no choice but to raise his bid! And this also confirmed one thing even more firmly: Lai the Fatso's earlier bidding had not been to drive up the price, but because he genuinely wanted to buy Wei Zhao's item!

It was probably simply that Wei Zhao had instructed him to donate money in this way, and he had never expected Zhao Qibing to come out of nowhere! Later, Wei Zhao might have given him a hint to give up, which by sheer luck had also set a little trap for Zhao Qibing.

"Phew..." You Panhu let out a breath of relief. A close call—a real close call! Most importantly, he had actually won Han Jingyi's alchemist's insight notebook at the rock-bottom price of five million and ten thousand. What an absolute bargain!

"Say, Second Young Master You, what did you buy this thing for? Don't tell me you're also trying to curry favor with Wei Zhao?" Zhao Qibing asked, glancing at You Panhu with some curiosity.

"This insight notebook is something I've always wanted. Five million and ten thousand—that's just too cheap. I bet this final price will make Wei Zhao's heart ache!" You Panhu said smugly. "If he'd started the bidding at tens of millions, maybe I would have bought it anyway, but this was only five million—wa-ha-ha, shockingly cheap!"

"Oh..." Zhao Qibing could not be bothered with any insight notebook; what he cared about was his leg.

The auction continued. After a few more items came an item donated by Wang Xinyan! It was a jadeite bracelet, a birthday gift from Wang Xinyan's father. The item itself was rather valuable, and as a birthday gift Wang Xinyan had received, it naturally carried extraordinary meaning.

Of course, that extraordinary meaning was extraordinary only to Wang Xinyan herself; to anyone else, it counted for nothing. Still, be that as it may, Wang Xinyan's donated item did have value—the market price of the jade bracelet alone was around a hundred thousand or more.

So the starting price for this lot was set rather high, fixed at one hundred fifty thousand yuan.

Zhang Duopan and Fan Ganhe were sitting together. Zhang Duopan had heard that He Meiyue had also donated an item, so naturally he wanted to win it to put on a show. Fan Ganhe, who was fond of Wang Xinyan, had originally wanted to do the same, but when he heard that Wang Xinyan's bracelet would start at one hundred fifty thousand—and the final price would surely be higher—he wilted at once and did not dare to bid.

It was Kang Jinglong who was now preparing to make his move! All this time he had been suppressed by Wei Zhao, and he felt utterly stifled. Watching his own fiancée parade about with his sworn enemy, he counted himself among the most wretched fiancés in history. But there was nothing he could do—Kang Jingming had not yet secured a firm foothold in the Xuandan Sect, and even the Hidden You family did not dare provoke Wei Zhao lightly. To oppose Wei Zhao head-on was simply to court death.

So, with no other choice, he had opted for temporary forbearance, hoping to take a roundabout route and work on Wang Xinyan instead! If Wang Xinyan's heart belonged to him, then presumably Wei Zhao would have no recourse—given Wei Zhao's character, he would simply let it be.

"Two hundred thousand!" Kang Jinglong announced his bid.

"Gentleman number 73 bids two hundred thousand. Is there any higher bid?" Zhen Huanzi asked.

The Kang family might be wealthy now, and Kang Jinglong might be groomed as the Kang family heir, but he was not about to throw money around like a fool! He was older than You Panhu and Zhao Qibing, and he would not act too impulsively. In his view, this bracelet was worth only two hundred thousand, and paying more would be burning money!

As for donating to some orphanage, Kang Jinglong had no such charity in him. Whether those children lived or died had nothing to do with him—he was a selfish man.

Fan Ganhe heard the bid and felt his heart stir. After all, this raise was not as absurd as the earlier bidding. Before, when those entrepreneurs and bosses wanted to donate, they would not bid such a low price—they would raise it by at least a hundred or two hundred thousand each time. But this time, the bid was only two hundred thousand!

He glanced at Zhang Duopan and hesitated.

"If it stays under five hundred thousand, I'll cover it for you," Zhang Duopan said, seeing how Fan Ganhe had followed him like a shadow for so many years. But in his heart he figured the jade bracelet would never sell for five hundred thousand, so the promise amounted to nothing—it was merely a way to win Fan Ganhe over.

Fan Ganhe was overwhelmed with gratitude and immediately called out, "Two hundred fifty thousand!"

Kang Jinglong frowned. That someone else was bidding was no surprise; there had been bids on the better items before as well. After all, it was all for charity—who would not want to buy something of relatively decent value?

"Three hundred thousand." Kang Jinglong announced his price, still unhurried.

"Three hundred fifty thousand." Fan Ganhe was thrilled. For the first time he felt the thrill of competitive bidding—this was hundreds of thousands, flung out just like that.

"Five hundred thousand." Kang Jinglong was getting impatient. The other man kept bidding just above him, refusing to pay a cent more, so Kang Jinglong simply jumped to five hundred thousand to test the waters.

"..." Fan Ganhe had been enjoying himself, but Kang Jinglong's five-hundred-thousand bid jolted him awake, and he wanted to weep! The dream was over...

"One million." Wei Zhao naturally did not mind raising the price a little. In fact, he had wanted to bid earlier, but Fan Ganhe had beaten him to it, so Wei Zhao had waited.