Mr. Kong still had a lot of face. Those who had received favors from him all raised their paddles. The price soon reached 600,000, and the bidding speed began to slow down obviously.
After all, for them, who had a net worth of at least tens of millions or even tens of billions, it was worthwhile to spend 800,000 to save Mr. Kong's face and win his favor, but it was really unnecessary to spend more than that.
"One million!"
A middle-aged man with a big belly stood up and directly increased the price to one million. He also slightly bowed to Mr. Kong, who was sitting in the VIP seat, to show his respect.
Mr. Kong slightly nodded to return the salute, but disappointment flashed in his eyes. This bronze tripod was bought by him at an auction for five million Mi gold.
As a senior collector, if he could not figure out the origin and value of the auction items, he would not be able to eat and sleep well. This time, he deliberately set the base price of one yuan, hoping to meet someone who knew the origin of this bronze tripod to solve his doubts.
Ding Ning suddenly sat up straight and stared at the pocket-sized tripod, which was only more than a foot high, with stormy waves and inexplicable ecstasy in his heart. An alchemy furnace! It turned out to be Yan Emperor's Yan Dragon Alchemy Furnace.
There was a picture in the Compendium of Flora that, in order to compete with Chiyou in medical skills, Yan Emperor, who was born with a talent for controlling fire, took the essence of bronze to make the furnace embryo, used the stone of Buzhou Mountain as the furnace core, extracted his own blood to turn it into the Yan Dragon Alchemy Fire, and then spent 81 days on the top of the Thunder Mountain Range to forge the Yan Dragon Alchemy Furnace. It was the best alchemy furnace in the Shennong Tribe except for the Shennong Nine-Dragon Cauldron. Although it had not reached the level of an immortal weapon, it was also at the level of a top-grade spiritual weapon.
Unexpectedly, this Yan Dragon Alchemy Furnace, which had long disappeared in the long river of history, would appear in such a large-scale charity auction.
It was no wonder that so many treasure appraisal experts could not recognize the origin of this alchemy furnace. After all, this alchemy furnace could only be driven by Spiritual Power.
And Spiritual Power could only be obtained after entering the Sky Martial Arts Realm and constantly purifying and transforming the True Qi in the body, so it was not strange that those treasure appraisal experts could not recognize the origin of this alchemy furnace.
It was a dream for him to buy this alchemy furnace with only one million. Even if he lost all his fortune, he must get this alchemy furnace. With this alchemy furnace, he could start to try to refine elixirs.
Ding Ning sneered secretly. This Yan Dragon Alchemy Furnace!
"One million going once, one million going twice. Are there any more bids? If there are no more bids, this bronze cauldron belongs to this gentleman. One million going thrice …"
"Ten million!"
Just when Jiang Yimeng was about to drop the hammer, a cold voice suddenly sounded and quoted a high price of 10 million yuan, which made everyone in an uproar. They whispered to each other to find the trace of the bidder.
Ding Ning looked in the direction of the voice. It was a man in a black tuxedo, wearing a cap, a mask, and sunglasses. Ding Ning could not see his face clearly. He could not help narrowing his eyes slightly. "It seems that I have met someone who knows what I'm talking about."
Elder Kong was delighted. This person was willing to call out such a price. Although it was still far from the price he had obtained from the auction, it was very likely that this person knew the origin of the bronze cauldron.
"Ten million going once, this gentleman bids ten million. Is there anyone else who would like to bid? Ten million going twice, ten million going thrice … "
Jiang Yimeng was excited. She did not expect that such an inconspicuous bronze cauldron could be sold at a high price of 10 million yuan. Although she continued to tempt people to increase the price with a bewitching voice as usual, she did not think that anyone would bid a higher price, and she even increased the speed of the bidding.
"One hundred million!"
Ding Ning was shocked. "Is there any woman who bids like this?" Originally, he wanted to wait and see, but he did not dare to hesitate anymore and opened his mouth to bid one hundred million yuan.
"What? Are you crazy? "
Ding Qianlie was shocked and hurriedly pulled his sleeves. "Why do you bid such a high price for a broken cauldron?"
"Sister, don't worry about it. This cauldron is very important to me, and I must get it."
Ding Ning had no time to explain. After saying these words in an unquestionable tone, he stared at the Yan Dragon Alchemy Furnace with eyes full of determination to get it.
He expected that it would not be so easy to get the Yan Dragon Alchemy Furnace. The person who bid ten million yuan before was staring at him with knife-like eyes, which brought him great pressure.
That person was an expert, a very powerful expert, at least in the Sky Martial Arts Realm or the Master Realm. No wonder he could recognize the value of this Yan Dragon Alchemy Furnace.
"One hundred million yuan?"
Jiang Yimeng was so scared that she almost threw away the auction hammer. "Ding Ning bid one hundred million yuan for a rusty broken cauldron, which is too extravagant!"
On the contrary, Bai Qing showed a thoughtful look. "Ding Ning's identity seems to have no problem, but the mysteriousness he showed during this time proves that he is not as simple as the information on the surface shows."
"Since he can bid one hundred million yuan, it proves that he is determined to get this bronze cauldron. He must recognize its origin and know its value."
He looked at Mr. Kong imperceptibly. Among so many people on the scene, only he knew that Mr. Kong was a well-known overseas Chinese, a philanthropist, and a collector, and he was also a member of the Chamber of Commerce of Shenzhou. His task was to collect the national treasures lost in the warring years for the country.
Mr. Kong exchanged a look with him, in which the meaning was complicated and hard to understand. "Ding Ning must know the origin of the bronze cauldron, which makes them very hesitant. If this bronze cauldron is really a national treasure, the country must take it back and never allow it to wander outside, which will lead to a conflict with Ding Ning. On the contrary, they hope that the man in the tuxedo will bid for the bronze cauldron, so that they will have no psychological burden when they snatch the treasure."
"Two hundred million yuan!"
As expected, the man in the tuxedo did not want to show weakness. He directly bid two hundred million yuan and gave Ding Ning a threatening look.
"Three hundred million yuan!"
Ding Ning did not care about it at all. Not to mention that he still had more than one billion yuan and was confident, even if he could not outbid this man, he would not hesitate to stop him and snatch the treasure.
"Four hundred million yuan!"
The man in the tuxedo also seemed to be very confident and determined to get it.
"Five hundred million yuan!"
"Six hundred million yuan!"
"Seven hundred million yuan!"
"Eight hundred million yuan!"
"One billion yuan!"
When Ding Ning calmly bid one billion yuan, the man in the tuxedo seemed to have reached his limit and stopped bidding.
He glanced at Ding Ning indifferently, with a trace of cold killing intent under his sunglasses undisguised. Then he withdrew his eyes and remained silent as if nothing had happened.
The whole auction house was in an uproar as if it had exploded. One billion yuan! A broken cauldron of unknown origin and use was sold at a sky-high price of one billion yuan.
It should be noted that in such a charity auction, people just wanted to show their love. Over the years, it was rare for a cauldron to be sold at a price of more than ten million yuan, let alone one billion yuan.
The way people looked at Ding Ning changed again. Previously, they just thought that he was a descendant of a big family with an extraordinary background. But at this moment, they did not think so. A person who could take out one billion yuan at one go was definitely not a descendant of a big family. At least, he must be the direct heir of a big family to be able to control such an astronomical figure at will.
It was not that these people present could not take out one billion yuan. Not to mention one billion yuan, there were many people with tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of yuan.
However, wealth was wealth, and cash was cash. In the business world, market value was one thing, and liquidity was another.
Although many rich people who claimed to have tens of billions of yuan lived an extremely extravagant life, in fact, a large number of real estate, rising stock prices after listing, huge bank loans, arrears of payments, and so on, after careful calculation, their assets might even be negative, let alone taking out one billion yuan in cash.
The reason why they could still live in villas, drive good cars, drink red wine, wear famous brands, and go to high-end places to live an upper-class life was because they had industries in their hands that were constantly increasing in value and attracting investors to raise funds. It could be said that many famous tycoons were actually using the money of investors and banks to make money.
Although it sounded incredible, this was the reality. Except for some people who were engaged in industries, most rich people started by buying short and selling short to make profits.
This was the inevitable product of the bubble economy. In fact, they engaged in business activities with the money of investors and banks, so that they could live a superior life.
And as long as the stock price of the company did not collapse, they could live such a rich life forever.
This was also the reason why once the stock market collapsed, many rich people immediately became insolvent, went bankrupt, and had no choice but to commit suicide by jumping off a building.
Birds of a feather flocked together. The rich often talked about some business information, and sometimes a piece of information inadvertently obtained might be a huge business opportunity. Therefore, rich people were keen to participate in various high-end wine parties to broaden their contacts and obtain some useful business information at the same time.
Did you expect a rich person to talk about the price of cabbages today with the people at the bottom of the society who could not even afford to eat? There was no common language at all, okay?
This also led to the artificial division of society into different classes. Although wealth was not the only measure of class division, there was no doubt that it was the most practical watershed.
Therefore, whether in China or other places, the concept of equal social status was always the eternal theme among the aristocratic and wealthy families.
In the final analysis, in this era where people laughed at the poor but not at the prostitutes, luxury cars, mansions, famous brands, watches, and other luxury goods had become the symbol of the identity, status, and financial resources of the rich, so that they could enter the upper class and capture more wealth and opportunities from it.
This could not be said to be a retrogression of society or a moral decay, but from the day of the emergence of private ownership, this kind of hierarchical system had become the inevitable trend of social development, also the driving force to stimulate social progress, and also one of the criteria to evaluate whether a person was successful in this life.
Perhaps some people would blame heaven and earth, think that this was unfair, and extremely hate the rich. They thought that why people were born as the second generation of rich people, the second generation of officials, or the second generation of stars and so on. They did not have to worry about food and clothing all their lives, and they had to eat and drink in the wind and dew for three meals a day, and they could not even afford to pay the rent.
In fact, it was really not necessary. After all, whether it was the second generation of rich people or the second generation of officials, without the struggle of the first generation, how could these rich and healthy second generation come about? Thinking about how their ancestors struggled, they would feel balanced in their hearts.
If everyone was born equal, it would be unfair instead. For example, a person who worked hard to realize his dream and a salted fish who did nothing all day and slept after eating all day started at the same starting line, and finally found that his descendants were actually at the same starting line as the salted fish's descendants when they finally ran to the finish line. Then, for these people who had worked hard all their lives, how was it fair?
Select text and click 'Report' to let us know about any bad translation.
