Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 1946: Chapter 1849: The Debut

As night fell, the highlight of the auction finally made its appearance.

When the two twelve zodiac animal heads appeared on the stage, the audience went completely wild. Even Fujiwara Seiho and Lu Huairu were taken aback, but soon, Fujiwara Seiho regained his composure, staring intently at the two animal heads with a determined gleam in his eyes.

The two animal heads, just as Huo Sining had previously speculated, were a Snake Head and a Rooster Head. Both were 50 centimeters tall bronze cast statues, with a dark patina and an inner brilliance. The folds and fur on the animal heads were vividly detailed, clearly showcasing the excellence of bronze artifacts.

It wasn’t just Fujiwara Seiho; even other attendees were buzzing with conversation upon seeing the two animal heads, picking up their phones to make calls. It appeared they were all preparing to gather funds.

This batch of highlight products from Clayflo seemed indeed to match his claims, with strict confidentiality measures. Many people had no idea that there were such valuable treasures among these items, so everyone was ecstatic upon seeing the two animal heads.

Huo Sining noticed that even a few Middle Eastern princes, identifiable by their white head coverings, seemed interested in the two animal heads, turning to consult with those beside them.

Seeing this situation, Huo Sining’s heart leapt into her throat. She instinctively exchanged glances with Zhou Shitao and Gu Xu.

After contemplating for a moment, Zhou Shitao said to Huo Sining, ”Let’s observe the trend of these two items first. If the price becomes outrageous, we shouldn’t bid. Let those people fight over it, while we can reap the benefits.”

Huo Sining nodded without speaking, but her eyes remained closely fixed on the scene.

At the auction, as the auctioneer’s gavel struck, the first animal head was officially up for bidding. At the moment the starting price was announced, over seventy percent of those present raised their number plates.

The bidding price gradually rose, steadily climbing from five million.

However, Huo Sining knew that this was still just the warm-up phase. Most of those bidding were not real buyers who could actually afford the two animal heads.

Fujiwara Seiho had not yet made a bid, and neither had the two Middle Eastern princes. Even the previously active, generous buyers in the crowd were still silent.

But Huo Sining knew that all these people were interested in the two animal heads. They weren’t bidding yet; they were just gathering their strength.

The real buyers hadn’t bid yet, but the price of the first animal head had already skyrocketed to eighteen million US dollars. In causing this, the hired shills Clayflo had found were undoubtedly a major contributing factor.

With shills in the mix to stir things up and inflate prices, the bidding process for this animal head was indeed bustling with activity. However, after the first wave of frenzy, once someone impulsively followed with a bid, they quickly came to their senses.

After all, it was just an animal head. Some years ago, when auctioned at the China Xiangjiang Poly Group in Huaxia Country, it was only worth a few million Hong Kong Dollars. How had it soared so quickly now? Could they have made a mistake?

Those involved mentally sighed with relief, grateful that despite having participated in the bidding, the animal head hadn’t ended up with them.

However, their thoughts were soon shattered by the ever-increasing bids on the floor.

Because after the initial warm-up, those genuinely interested in the two animal heads and determined to acquire them began to place their bids.

The first to raise a bid was among the two Middle Eastern princes. One bid twenty million, while the other looked on, exchanging a glance as if sharing opinions.

Huo Sining had noticed before that these two seemed to know each other, even sitting together. She had thought both were interested in the pair of animal heads, expecting an intense battle, but she guessed wrong.

After a brief whispered exchange between the two, whatever agreement they reached resulted in one placing a bid while the other stayed passive, seemingly not surprised at all.

”It seems those two Oil Tigers have come to an internal agreement: one animal head each, without interfering with the other, evenly split,” Li Jun remarked on the situation to the others in the room.

Huo Sining nodded, agreeing that Li Jun’s speculation was the most likely scenario.

However, twenty million was clearly not in line with Clayflo’s expectations for the animal head, because ultimately, he was aiming to fleece people like Huo Sining. While those Middle Eastern princes were wealthy, they weren’t his ultimate target.

So, just seconds after the Middle Eastern prince bid, a shill in the corner raised a bid.

”Twenty-five million!”

The shill instantly increased the price by five million US dollars, even provocatively raising his chin at the Middle Eastern prince.

The Middle Eastern prince had been interested in the animal head, but wasn’t foolish enough to throw money at the auction indiscriminately. His bottom line was thirty million, and if he couldn’t get the animal head for thirty million US dollars, he would withdraw.

But now that the shill had directly raised the bid by five million and even looked at him with disdain, the Middle Eastern prince couldn’t contain his anger. As a prince of oil wealth, he certainly had plenty of money, so being looked down upon by some unknown nobody was an insult he couldn’t abide.

”Thirty million!”

Enraged, the Middle Eastern prince immediately raised his number plate, adding another five million to the bid.

Huo Sining had anticipated this development, so she wasn’t surprised when the shill intentionally provoked and goaded the Middle Eastern prince.

But the others in the room were incensed, loudly condemning Clayflo for being so shameless.

”Using shills to inflate prices is utterly shameless. If he continues like this, isn’t he afraid of tarnishing the Rothschild family name?” Li Jun’s face darkened in disdain for Clayflo’s actions.

”Exactly, why doesn’t he have the shill bid twenty or thirty billion outright, so no other buyers dare to bid? Wouldn’t that be easier?” Su Qingqing was flushed with anger, almost cursing out loud.

Even the usually composed Xie Daoyuan was grimacing with fury, his eyes and brows filled with indignation:

”This Duke is betting that we will buy his goods, so he recklessly disrupts the market? Isn’t he afraid we’ll be dissatisfied with the prices and walk away, leaving those two animal heads on his hands?”