Chapter 492 — The Final Bid
The Blossom Guardian · Page 1 of 2
The bidding began, and the first to jump in was Fatty Lai once more. He wriggled his massive bulk and raised his paddle: "Two hundred million!"
"Whoa—" No one in the hall had expected Fatty Lai to open at two hundred million. A moment's thought, though, and they understood: he had lost out twice already, and this was his last chance. If he did not seize it now, there might be no chance at all.
Of all those present, the one most baffled by Fatty Lai's bid was Yu Haitian. He had already won a Life-Extending Detox Pill, yet the more he watched, the more his heart raced, and he grew convinced the pill was a treasure. "Second Uncle, should we bid for another one?"
"No!" The middle-aged man shook his head. "The price you paid for your pill was already too low. Lai Changshan didn't raise his bid — most likely out of respect for the Yu family. The others are probably the same. If you start competing now, it would be beneath us. That is not how the Yu family does things!"
"What? Too low?" Yu Haitian was stunned.
"Just keep watching and you'll see." The middle-aged man spoke calmly. "This time, I suspect the price will break three hundred million!"
At his uncle's words, Yu Haitian silently cursed himself. He was still young and had not thought things through. He had assumed that matching the highest bid from the first round would suffice — but he had never imagined it would still be too low!
Ordinarily, when several identical items came up for auction, the first would fetch the highest price and each subsequent one would go for less, since the buyers had already fought their battles and the remaining prices only fell. This time, however, there was clearly an exception.
Liu Tianyi had meant to join the fun, but when he heard the two-hundred-million figure, he gave up the notion. The Liu family was wealthy, but much of its wealth lay in real estate and securities that could not simply be sold off. And even if there were liquid funds, he could hardly pour all of them into pills, could he?
"Two hundred and ten million..." A scion of one of the great houses, having received a nod of approval from his elder, raised his paddle — and was immediately met with a round of contempt. Everyone else was raising their bids by tens of millions; he had added a mere ten million. Rather stingy, wasn't it?
"Two hundred and fifty million!" Fatty Lai declared with swagger.
Divine Doctor Kang frowned. He had meant to bid in the second round, but the Yu family had beaten him to it, and he dared not contend with the Yu family. He had been waiting for the third round — yet from the look of Fatty Lai, the man was determined to have this one. Divine Doctor Kang began to grow anxious.
Wei Zhao and Guan Xuewen had remained seated throughout; it was only Fatty Lai who stood and raised the paddle. So no one could see Wei Zhao and Guan Xuewen clearly — and even Divine Doctor Kang did not give the matter much thought at that moment.
"Two hundred and eighty million!" At Divine Doctor Kang's signal, Kang Guifeng called out a rather high figure — the same price at which the previous two Life-Extending Detox Pills had sold. He had assumed Fatty Lai would not compete again, but life is always full of surprises.
"Three hundred million!" Fatty Lai gritted his teeth and rose without hesitation, paddle held high.
After a brief moment of astonishment, everyone understood why Fatty Lai had named three hundred million. He had let the first one go because there would be other chances; he had yielded on the second because the Yu family had bid, and he neither wished nor dared to compete with them. This third was his final chance — he had no choice but to grit his teeth and fight for it!
Seen in that light, three hundred million was not so high after all.