Chapter 489 — Just Add a Hundred Million
The Blossom Guardian · Page 2 of 2
There was nothing to be done about it. Though Xiao Ji and Xiao Ben were furious, they were lucky enough to have received an invitation at all—what more could they demand? The more it went on, the more keenly Xiao Ji and Xiao Ben felt that they must ally themselves with the Kang family if they were to preserve their standing among the great houses.
The Divine Doctor Kang, however, furrowed his brow as though something had occurred to him, though he could not be sure. Dr. Guan… could this Dr. Guan be Guan Xuewen? Recalling that the man beside Kang Xiaofeng back then seemed to be on good terms with Guan Xuewen, could it be that the true owner of these Longevity Detox Pills was Guan Xuewen?
While the Divine Doctor Kang hesitated, someone had already risen to call out a bid.
"One hundred million!" Lai the Fatso raised the paddle in his hand.
"Huh?" The whole hall erupted, and even the auctioneer gaped at Lai the Fatso. He had served as the Yu family's auctioneer for ten years, yet never had he encountered a scene like today's. Someone bidding like that? An item with a reserve of one million, called out at one hundred million on the very first bid? How was that possible?
"Would the gentleman with paddle number one hundred eighty-three please repeat your bid? I did not quite catch it…" Though it was a humiliating thing for an auctioneer not to hear a bidder clearly, the auctioneer no longer cared, for the situation was simply too incredible. He truly could not believe Lai the Fatso would bid one hundred million. He felt certain he must have misheard.
The auctioneer was bewildered, but Yu Haitian, who had been sitting all this while in the auction seats below, knit his brows slightly. Though the Yu family was the host, they too took part in the auction, and at that moment Yu Haitian was seated beside a middle-aged man. If one looked closely, the man wore a headset over his ears.
The auctioneer did not know, but Yu Haitian was well aware: these Longevity Detox Pills had been provided by Lai the Fatso himself.
Buying back the very medicine he had supplied? Or was it to drive up the price? At auctions there were indeed people who bid falsely to inflate the price of their own lots. The organizers were well aware of this, and to prevent such occurrences they took their fee as a commission, with the Yu family's auction charging as much as twenty percent.
In this way, even someone wishing to inflate the bidding had to bear great risk. If the inflation succeeded, everyone was happy—the organizers' commission would not be reduced, and the seller got the price he wanted. But if it failed, the seller would have to pay to buy back his own lot, which is to say he would be forced to pay the organizers their twenty percent commission.
Of course, one could also refuse to buy after the sale was struck, but then one would still have to compensate the organizers a twenty percent fee. So in any case, that twenty percent was a certain loss, and ordinarily no one would casually inflate the bidding.
But for someone like Lai the Fatso to come right out and bid a hundred million, just like that, was nothing short of a joke. So although Yu Haitian was puzzled, he said nothing.