"Dang, dang, dang." The sound of the mallet hitting the table was heard. "Ladies and gentlemen, I'm the auctioneer for this auction. First of all, I would like to thank His Highness Wilson for coming. Please stand up and welcome him. Thank you."
Hearing the auctioneer's words, William could not help but roll his eyes. Although he was reluctant, he immediately said to Shen Cheng and the other guests from the Celestial Empire, "Please stand up out of courtesy, my friends. Thank you."
After that, he took the lead to stand up and applaud Wilson. With his friendly relationship with Wilson's family, William would not embarrass the royal family at such a time. Instead, it was more important to protect the cooperative relationship. Anyway, he just applauded.
Apart from the English people who would consciously stand up and applaud, the others were stunned at first. When they saw William taking the lead to stand up, they followed suit and applauded.
Wilson was stunned for a moment at first. When he saw William standing up and applauding him, he regained his senses and stood up with a smile on his face. He nodded to the people around him and kept saying, "Thank you, thank you." He did not dare to be rude at all.
After being polite, many people stared at today's auctioneer. If it were not for him, they would not have to stand up out of courtesy to a young man who had just turned 18. Not only did Wilson not feel anything for him, he would even blame him for being meddlesome.
"God, this is the most annoying thing," William complained to Shen Cheng as he sat down. "Today's auctioneer must be English, and he must be a supporter of the royal family. Otherwise, Wilson wouldn't be able to enjoy this kind of treatment."
After saying that, William turned to tease Wilson, who was still excited, "Right, Wilson? This is probably the first time you're receiving everyone's welcome alone on a non-festive occasion."
"Haha, thank you, thank you very much," Wilson expressed his sincere gratitude and then complained with a smile, "Buddy, can you not expose my beautiful dream so quickly?"
"Sorry, my bad," William said in a serious and strange tone, "Your Excellency, the Duke of Cambridge."
Hearing William's tone, Wilson knew that he was unhappy. He laughed and replied, "God, be serious, Your Excellency, the Earl of Oxford. We're in public now, and you and I are on the same side."
"Haha." Everyone laughed cooperatively, alleviating the awkwardness just now.
After joking around, the auction officially began. The first item to be auctioned was the Ming Jia and Jing Dynasty official kiln porcelain jar with the word "Cloud Dragon Longevity".
After the bidding started, many people turned to look at William. Professor Guan, who had come with Shen Cheng, saw that William was not interested at all. He smiled and asked, "Mr. Devonshire, this official kiln is a good item that can be easily identified by generations. Are you not interested?"
"Professor Guan, you don't have to be so polite. Just call me William."
Professor Guan nodded. William smiled and nodded in response. "There are too many pieces of porcelain from the Jiajing Dynasty. I have more than ten pieces that are a few grades higher than the ones being auctioned now. There are too many repetitive items that I'm not interested in."
Alright, these words made everyone choke immediately. They couldn't help but curse in their hearts, 'You're a tycoon, you're right.'
In less than ten minutes, more than ten pieces of porcelain, calligraphy, and paintings were auctioned off. However, William did not raise his card even once. This made the treasure owners, who were expecting William, a super tycoon, to join the auction, disappointed.
After bidding for a few more antiques, the auction house staff brought out a tray. William was only interested when he saw the sheep-fat white jade.
This piece of jade was the best sheep-fat white jade that had been mined for ten years. The treasure owner had spent a few years looking for the best master to carve it. After it was completed, he had kept it and had never tried it himself. No one had ever touched it before. Of course, William was interested.
The entire piece of jade was the size of a goose egg. It was perfectly round and flawless. There were only eight faint carvings of horses on the jade. It was very suitable to be held and played with.
Therefore, when the auctioneer announced the starting price of 200,000 pounds, William raised his card.
Those who were interested in this piece of jade saw that William had raised his card without thinking and could not help but worry. When the price reached 500,000 pounds, which was six times higher than the market price of this piece of jade, no one bid anymore.
"Is there anyone else bidding?" The auctioneer asked twice. Seeing that no one had the intention to bid, he said a third time and immediately knocked the mallet in his hand. "Congratulations to Mr. Devonshire for winning this piece of Eight Horses Sheep-Fat Jade."
Seeing that the item had been bought, Shen Cheng asked William in a low voice, "Do you buy things without caring about the price at all?"
"Why do I care so much?" William said with a smile. "It's a pity if I don't get it when I see something I like. Besides, it's only 500,000 pounds."
"Alright, it's only 500,000 pounds, more than 6 million celestial coins." Shen Cheng crooked his mouth and said self-deprecatingly, "I might not even earn 6 million celestial coins in my lifetime. Should I say that you're extravagant or that you view money as …"
"Stop." William quickly stopped Shen Cheng. "Old Shen, you're not being honest. Sheep-Fat Jade is something that needs to be held in one's hand every day. If I think of the word you said when I hold it in my hand in the future, how can I play with it like this?"
"If you think it's disgusting, you can give it to me. I don't mind." Shen Cheng joked.
William curled his lips and laughed. "Haha, would you dare to take it if I gave it to you?"
"Of course, why wouldn't I dare? I don't have any official position right now. Why wouldn't I dare?"
"Go to hell." William rolled his eyes. He hadn't even gotten his hands on the item yet. He would rather stay in the basement and not see the light of day than give it away for free.
The auctioneer knocked the mallet. "Alright, ladies and gentlemen, today's highlight is here."
Three staff members carried three trays covered with red cloth and placed them on the display table. Taking off the red cloth, the three pieces of beast head were immediately displayed in front of everyone.
The auctioneer said loudly, "In response to the treasure master's request, we have temporarily changed the auction plan. The monkey and tiger heads will not be auctioned separately but as a set. The base price is 2 million pounds and each bid must not be less than 100,000 pounds. Please make your bids."
"Damn it." The people who were interested in the three beast heads immediately cursed. The price of 2 million pounds for the three pieces immediately made many people hesitate. The price of the three pieces would definitely be much higher if they were auctioned together. Many people loudly protested.
"Bang, bang, bang." The auctioneer hurriedly knocked the mallet in his hand. "In order to express his apology for changing the auction plan, the treasure master will give us a 5% discount after the transaction. Alright, ladies and gentlemen, the base price is 2 million pounds. Is there anyone who wants to bid?"
With a 5% discount, the people present felt a little better and their conflicting emotions were not as strong. Only Shen Cheng suddenly felt that they had been schemed against. He turned his head and looked at William in confusion. He wondered if the treasure master's sudden change in the auction plan was caused by that brat William.
After discussing it with his other companions, he had no choice but to accept it. To them, it would be best to buy all three pieces. If that didn't work, then they would have to buy at least two pieces to bring back. Now that all three pieces were auctioned together, it immediately disrupted their plans and they began to feel uncertain.
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