Do Not Speak Ill of My Mother!
Chapter 179 made everyone go silent.

Chapter 179: 179 made everyone go silent.

"What’s going on?"

In booth number 8, Boss Bai and Boss Li were both stunned.

They had seen aggressive bidding before, but they had never seen a bidder raise their own bid twice...

Boss Bai scratched his head, "Did they enter the wrong price?"

"It doesn’t seem like it..." Boss Li shook his head, "The bidding tablet allows you to manually enter the price or simply press the increment prompts; but if they were entering it manually, the price should start with a 2; if they were following the tablet’s increments, there’s no way it could be raised to an even thirty million."

The increment buttons only offer one thousand, five thousand, ten thousand, twenty thousand, fifty thousand, and one million as options, and each round of bidding allows for only one click.

Any other bid outside this range requires the guest to manually enter and confirm the amount!

No matter how you look at it... it doesn’t seem like a mistake.

Boss Bai thought of something and a look of surprise appeared on his face, "The tycoon in booth number one... He isn’t planning on buying out the whole auction, is he?!"

Buying out an auction means that a major player, with an absolute price advantage, acquires all the auction items.

Such instances do happen but are extremely rare!

After all, there are so many auction items and numerous competing bidders. Everybody has a budget, and except for the few items they really want, everything else is just for a bit of amusement.

Why would someone come here to flaunt their wealth when auction items often sell at a premium?!

Unless... it’s a real heavyweight capitalist!

"A buyout?" Boss Li laughed at the suggestion, "Haven’t seen that in many years. Last time it happened was—"

He stopped mid-sentence, exchanging a knowing glance with Boss Bai.

The last time they saw that scene was over twenty years ago...

Back then, the Yan Family was on the verge of bankruptcy, with many assets going up for auction. Many in City C coveted that big piece of cake.

To everyone’s surprise, an unseen tycoon, using a price that intimidated all, acquired every item at the auction...

Shortly after, the Yan Family made a high-profile comeback, seizing the position of City C’s richest family!

Only then did people realize that the tycoon’s buyout was meant to serve as a show of support for the Yan Family!

Clearing his throat, Boss Li said, "After all this time, City C’s aristocratic families have changed one after another, yet there has never been a whisper of trouble from the Yan Family... Even when Old Master Yan fell ill and Yan Kang took over some responsibilities... But I heard that the core businesses of the Yan Family weren’t handed over to him for management?"

Boss Bai laughed, "Yan Kang was adopted, and as soon as he got a bit of power, he started acting like whatever! Just his gambling debts are over a hundred million, not to mention all the other messy affairs... Old Master Yan is a wise man. My guess? He’s pushing Yan Kang out front to take the hits! In reality, he still wants to leave all of the assets to his granddaughter!"

After some consideration, Boss Li said, "It seems the person in booth number one tonight is indeed Second Miss Yan... But if she really wanted to make a statement, why would she give up on the Watermark Paper just now?"

"That’s simple, she’s letting us weigh the price ourselves!" mused Boss Bai, "The actual price of the Watermark Paper is around six hundred thousand. Booth number six was clearly raising the price against Second Miss Yan! She’s not foolish. When the other party raised it close to a giving-up price, she backed out first! Doesn’t that show she has us figured out completely?!"

"Indeed! That’s someone raised by the legitimate line of the Yan Family, not someone like Yan Kang, a total loser by comparison?"

Boss Bai continued to analyze, "Second Miss Yan rarely engages in social events, and her foray into the entertainment industry is hard to make sense of... But regardless, as soon as she returned, Old Master Yan immediately had his granddaughter come to the auction house to make a statement! Not to mention that Boss Kang personally welcomed her, and her bidding was so high-profile... Hmm! Watch and see, with the Legitimate Miss back, the Yan Family is going to make a big move!"

With a smile, Boss Li added, "First with the Watermark Paper’s price to remind everyone; can she guess whether our bids are genuine or just slyly driving up the price? Making booth number six painfully pay up, but in reality, it’s a warning shot to us!"

"The price of the Crown is estimated to be around twenty-three million, with not much fluctuation above or below. Just now, we, number seven, and number eleven, bid the price up to twenty-three million, and she finally made a bid. This shows that Second Miss Yan knew the price of the Crown and only made a move when it was close to the right price!"

"Additionally, she only raised the bid by fifty thousand each time, which was actually intended to make us think she was driving up the price to get us to give up sooner! After all, according to the rules of the auction house, once the give-up button is pressed, the guest can no longer participate in the bidding for the item. Once we had all given up, she could have taken it directly for twenty-seven million and fifty thousand, but she raised the bid to thirty million on her own, which means—"

Boss Li met his meaningful expression, "I get it! This shows that Second Miss Yan wants to tell us that she was not driving up the price! Twenty-seven million was our limit, not hers—"

Boss Bai was shocked by this manipulative tactic, "Worthy of the legitimate line raised by the Yan family, with just two items they completely figured out our thinking!"

Boss Li also felt the strain, "It seems it’s going to be a bit difficult to bid on later items!"

It wasn’t just them overthinking; even the guests in the other boxes were startled by the self-bidding of thirty million by number one!

An operation they had never seen before!

After a brief exchange, being savvy business people, nearly everyone came to the same conclusion as Boss Bai and Boss Li.

In the center of the exhibition hall, the auctioneer, after confirming with the staff through his headset, announced with a beaming smile, "After verification by the staff, the bid of thirty million from box number one is valid! Are there any guests who wish to continue bidding?"

There was a deadly silence in all the boxes!

Who would bid?!

Who dared bid?!

The auctioneer wasn’t in a hurry, and after a full minute, he began his chant.

"Thirty million, once!"

"Thirty million, twice!"

"Thirty million, three times!"

With a bang of the gavel, ten thousand taels of gold.

He was both admiring and excited, "Congratulations to the guest in box number one, for acquiring the Star River Crown for thirty million!"

Tang Tang exclaimed, "Yay! Godmother got it!" Then she turned to Jun Yan and said, "Brother Yan is really amazing. He guessed everyone else’s bids exactly right!"

"Of course." Jun Yan understood all too well.

Yan Wang chuckled softly without a word.

Yan Yueqing looked at her two sons, her heart swelling with joy.

She had no idea that her own bidding had caused such a sensation!

As for everyone’s speculation about the bidding, indeed, it was Jun Yan who was analyzing with his mother what they would likely bid.

But the final thirty million was just Yan Yueqing finding it troublesome and rounding it up to a neat number. After all, the excess amount from the bidding is split seventy-thirty between the auction house and the owner of the item, the higher the bid, the more Uncle Kang earned! It would also enhance the reputation, attracting more people with treasures to bring their valuable items to his auction for trade.

A little money, doing so much—quite a bargain!

If those bosses knew her real thoughts, they’d probably be speechless!

Now, with their minds all over the place, they were sending people to inquire who the big shot in box number one was? Who could guess their thoughts so accurately?!

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