Rebirth: A Cinderella's Counterattack

Chapter 694: Chapter 674: Auction

This was not Luo Qianqian’s first time attending an auction, but it was her first time attending such an unreliable one; the items purchased might not hold any value and could simply be a large Stone, and worse, one might end up spending a lot of money on junk. However, there was that one in ten thousand chance that, if encountered, could mean becoming rich overnight—it wasn’t just a dream. But there was one saying that Luo Qianqian remembered very clearly, and that was, ”Even Gods Struggle to Judge Small Jade.”

And now the techniques for creating fakes had become very sophisticated, including fake leather, fake openings, fake colors, and even fake cores. Although Luo Qianqian had no understanding of this before, she still looked up some information overnight, since she couldn’t comprehend her own feelings and hoped professional knowledge might resolve her doubts. Of course, she only managed to find some basic common knowledge.

Having put on a cocktail dress, Luo Qianqian was especially curious. She hadn’t seen Jimo Cheng have the time to prepare—when had this been placed in the room?

Following Jimo Cheng to the general spectator seats, they didn’t join Elder Hei and others, not wanting to cause the price to skyrocket by participating in the bidding from a VIP booth over a small Gambling Stone.

After all, there were always those who believed that the people in the booths were impressive, and that whatever they bid on would surely increase in value.

With thoughtfulness, Jimo Cheng got a drink for Xia Nianqiao, even though this wasn’t a movie theater, they still had everything that was needed.

She and Jimo Cheng sat on the right side in the middle of the venue, right next to the entrance. Above their heads were the VIP booths, which used one-way glass; people outside couldn’t see into the booths, but those inside had a clear view of what was happening outside.

Even so, the curtains inside the booths were drawn at this point, and the occupants were accustomed to sitting comfortably on the sofas, watching a live broadcast of the event on the TVs inside their booths.

It wasn’t long before the venue’s lights gradually dimmed, converging on the front of the stage. The curtains slowly opened, revealing a handsome man and a beautiful woman standing at the center of the stage, a sight for sore eyes. The two of them played off each other, delivering an ornately worded opening speech before the public plate auction officially began.

The first to be auctioned were Gambling Stones contributed by the six VIP booths upstairs, some with ”windows” and others without any openings at all, but they were only considered trivial in size compared to the type of jade materials they were interested in. These stones were within Jimo Cheng and Luo Qianqian’s purchasing power, as for the intense competition that would come later—they were not financially equipped for that.

”Will Young Master Jin Nian make a move?” Elder Hei, seeing two children whispering to each other below, returned to the sofa with his companion and quietly watched the stones on the stage.

”Young Master Jin Nian, huh... but I have greater expectations for Miss Jin Yuee.” Elder Hei chuckled, thinking of the ashtray mentioned earlier that morning, and he couldn’t help but smile. He was too excited. Now that he thought about it, wasn’t that an obvious tease? Who would be so extravagant? And besides, Old Master Luo didn’t know, but Jimo Kong had quit smoking many years ago, ever since Jin Nian’s parents passed away—he had not touched tobacco or alcohol since then.

”Miss Jin Yuee seems somewhat spiritual, but...”

”Old Wu, you still need to work on your discernment,” Elder Hei shook his head, his face wearing an inscrutable smile: ”Just wait and see, I have high expectations for this young lady now.”

However, Luo Qianqian simply pursed her lips as she looked at the Gambling Stone on the red ribbon on the stage, not saying a word.

Jimo Cheng, on the other hand, was getting a bit restless. The Gambling Stones from four different booths had already been changed, and people around had started shouting their bids, yet he hadn’t even entered a price on his bidding device: ”Jin Yuee...”

Luo Qianqian lifted her head from the drink in front of her and seeing Jimo Cheng holding the bidding device with a conflicted expression, she knew what he was thinking. Looking at the gaze he cast her way, she merely shook her head gently.

Jimo Cheng breathed a sigh of relief when he saw that Luo Qianqian had not lost interest or fallen into a deep sleep, and her eyes were still clear.

The two elders upstairs moved toward the glass window again, looking at the Gambling Stones on the stage, which appeared to have decent quality, and at the two children below who had no reaction at all. The old man nodded slightly and said to Elder Hei: ”Hmm, I’m also looking forward to it. Do you think Miss Jin Yuee will stay seated until the end?”

Elder Hei glanced over and didn’t miss the scene where Jimo Cheng spoke to Luo Qianqian. He raised an eyebrow, his face showing a lack of interest: ”You don’t understand, Miss Jin Yuee made a big splash yesterday, and now this is called hiding her light under a bushel. What’s the point of acting rashly if one is a real expert?”

Old Wu directly rolled his eyes helplessly and shook his head, ”I said that the Tricolor Fortune was a stroke of dumb luck, and you didn’t believe it, well, keep your disbelief then.”

While they were speaking, the current batch of items on stage had already been auctioned off, and a new one was brought up. Looking at the hostess standing to one side, Old Wu raised an eyebrow, ”The goods over there.”

Luo Qianqian’s expression suddenly changed. The Jade Token she had deliberately hung on her white dress as a decoration started to heat up again.

Luo Qianqian locked onto a Gambling Stone, her face looking a bit odd. That stone didn’t look remarkable at all, so why could it be?

After some thought, she tugged on Jimo Cheng’s sleeve, ”Senior brother, look at my Jade Token.”

”What’s wrong?” Jimo Cheng took the Jade Token, puzzled, turning it over and over, ”Is it scratched somewhere?”

She was stunned by Jimo Cheng’s reaction, then without thinking, she took back the Jade Token. It still felt burning hot, but Jimo Cheng’s face didn’t show any strangeness. After some thought, Luo Qianqian shook her head, ”It’s gotten dirty here, how do I clean it?”

Jimo Cheng chuckled upon hearing this and was just about to explain when the first two stones on stage were sold. When they reached the stone that Luo Qianqian had felt, she quickly tugged at Jimo Cheng’s sleeve again and pointed to the bidding device.

Jimo Cheng was startled, then his eyes lit up. He didn’t care what the item on stage was and directly entered a bid. The Gambling Stone that had just reached 300,000 instantly soared to 1 million.

Luo Qianqian’s mouth hung open. Was senior brother not following the normal protocol at all?

But after thinking about it, this seemed more promising since by directly doubling the price and more, it indeed made others hesitant to bid.

Half a minute later, no one else bid, and the stone successfully ended up in Jimo Cheng’s bag.

Seeing this, Luo Qianqian breathed a sigh of relief, but still wore a puzzled expression, ”Senior brother, why...?”

”If you increase bit by bit, the final price might end up even higher than this without people noticing. Calling out a high price from the start can stop some from continuing to bid,” Jimo Cheng explained softly, watching the ongoing auction on stage.

His eyes fell on the Purple Jade with a skylight on stage, ”Jin Yuee, that piece seems to have a nice color.”

Meanwhile, the bidding price on the big screen kept climbing, reaching 1.5 million, surpassing the Gambling Stone that they had bought which didn’t look that impressive.

Luo Qianqian touched her Jade Pendant and shook her head.

Although she felt it was nice, she preferred to trust the Jade Pendant that brought her surprises.

Eventually, the price on the big screen stopped at 2 million, and Luo Qianqian drew in a cold breath. Was money so inconsequential now?

However, the subsequent transparent stone auction refreshed her worldview. It turned out there really were people who treated money like paper, and there were quite a lot of them...