Chapter 341: Pick Up a Leak

Chapter 341

The first pair of small bronze lions, as the first auction item, was a rare little gem.

The little thing with a starting price of 50,000 yuan was soon auctioned up to 300,000 yuan.

Xiao Qi did not rashly bid, just watching how others were buying first.

Generally it was just raising the paddle to call out the price, with a minimum increase amount to prevent anyone from disrupting with increases of one or ten yuan.

Each price call had to add at least 5,000, or multiples of 5,000.

This pair of small bronze lions was finally sold at a price of 480,000 yuan.

Xiao Qi turned to ask Sister Wang, who looked very serious but was actually very nice to talk to: "Is this price normal or high or low?"

Although Sister Wang was not a professional, she had worked in this auction house for more than eight years. She patiently explained: “This price is ok, it’s not outrageously high. Because generally the first item in an auction house is given as a nice little gem to have a good start. If you like it, buying it is still very worthwhile."

Next was the painting Xiao Qi thought was from the wrong time period.

The starting price of the painting was over 500,000 yuan. There were many bidders, and it was even more lively than the first pair of bronze lions. This painter was very famous, and his works were rare. But Xiao Qi found the time period did not match up, it was clearly a fake. But it was a fake from that dynasty, probably for that reason the auction house had not detected it either.

It was finally sold for 1.2 million.

There are so many rich people... For such a painting, I don't know what it can be used for, moreover it's not even real, yet over a million was spent on it.

And so, Xiao Qi watched many auction items but did not bid on any.

Sister Wang was still very patient in introducing a sentence or two. Then a young girl could not help muttering: "She's just pretending with the paddle, with these things so expensive, if she could really afford them, why come here to work part-time."

Although the voice was small, almost everyone could hear it. Xiao Qi heard it too, and just smiled indifferently.

The money was hers, she could spend it whenever she wanted.

At this time, a pair of Guanyin and Buddha carved from chicken-bone white jade came up for auction. They had skin left on, carved from the same piece of material by the Suzhou jade carving master Jiang Yunhe. Jiang Yunhe was already over 80 years old, and rarely produced work anymore, it was usually his apprentices and disciples doing the carving now.

This pair of Guanyin and Buddha were carved by Jiang Yunhe himself, with his certificate. The chicken bone white jade material was very interesting. The color where the skin was left on was like a cloak, the original stone had cracks in the middle that were cleverly carved into two pieces for the Guanyin and Buddha figures, with the fine grain integrated into the carvings on their bodies, looking like beautiful robes.

The Guanyin had an extremely beautiful appearance, just looking at her made one's heart stir.

With this starting bid, the owner probably wasn't certain of the time period either. Ancient jade forgeries were too common, and the process of making them was also nasty, soaking in chamber pot fluid and such.

Moreover, ancient jade from the Qing Dynasty usually wouldn't be this bright in color... it didn't look Qing Dynasty, instead it looked like a modern artifact.

Bidding at charity auctions was more casual, without fixed bid increments, because the money from charity auctions was all donated to charity organizations.

Jin Yingying held the tray with the little sheep, standing there.

For a moment the audience below was quiet, surprisingly no one even bid the reserve price. The customer who owned it was going to buy it back himself, just counting it as donating 10,000 yuan.

Xiao Qi was a little nervous. First she looked at Jin Yingying. Among the group of girls, Jin Yingying was the most familiar to Xiao Qi. Her temperament was like an unfinished Chu Yu.

Put this way, Chu Yu was still much more outstanding, going through torment every day. When Xiao Qi thought of her, it was more admiration.

Then she looked at the little sheep on the tray she was holding. Xiao Qi was born in the year of the sheep. This was also why her grandmother detested her, her grandmother always said, women born in the year of the sheep have bitter fates and bad luck, and bring misfortune to their families, making Xiao Qi feel inferior since she was little.

The host introduced this was ancient jade from the Qing Dynasty, bright red, the little crimson lamb. As Xiao Qi looked closely at it twice, how could this be from the Qing Dynasty? This little sheep was at least over 1,600 years old, around the Wei and Jin periods, from the Eastern Jin dynasty. It wasn't modern, just not sure why the surface looked so bright red.

Seeing no one bidding, Xiao Qi decisively raised her paddle.

10,000 yuan.

The host said a few more times, no one else bid, so this item belonged to Xiao Qi.

Sister Wang next to her kept silent.

She thought to herself, the young miss is indeed from a wealthy family, not bidding on so many items earlier, yet bidding on this obvious artifact to do charity!

She became even more gracious to Xiao Qi after this.

All the way until the last auction item was brought out.

Xiao Qi also went up on stage with it.

Xiao Qi had thought she could lift the bronze vessel herself with no problem at all, but was worried that if she lifted it too easily, customers might think it was a fake, giving a light feathery feel. So she kept quiet and didn't say anything more.

Seeing her arrange for Xiao Qi to go on stage last, and the young miss also obediently following along without saying anything more, Sister Wang breathed a sigh of relief. She had been worried the miss from a wealthy family might throw a tantrum and refuse to keep working in the end.