Chapter 228: Chapter 228 Is it related to you?_1
In Box 2, Qin Haowen’s face had completely contorted with rage. His lackey, Zhang Qiang, knew that Qin Haowen was truly furious. If it weren’t for being at the auction and surrounded by other Martial Artists, Qin Haowen would probably have already ordered Elder Qiu to kill someone.
However, after communicating with his family, Zhang Qiang managed to secure another two billion in funds. Added to the previous three billion, Qin Haowen now had a total of five billion at his disposal. If he couldn’t secure the Blood Bodhi with this amount, then the Qin Family would truly be out of options.
This five billion was all the liquid funds the Qin Family could muster.
Despite the Qin Family’s vast enterprises and assets exceeding a hundred billion, most of it was illiquid. Companies with assets of several hundred billion often had debts of a similar magnitude, and these assets couldn’t be used to settle debts at auctions.
This auction only accepted cash.
“I bid five billion!” Enraged to the extreme, Qin Haowen had calmed down slightly. He grabbed the bidding device firmly, entered a string of zeros following the 5, and hit send.
“Box 2 has now bid five billion! Five billion! Is there anyone else willing to bid on this millennium fruiting Blood Bodhi? The gavel is about to fall!” Elder Wang spoke into the microphone, addressing the hall.
Although he didn’t want Qin Haowen to win this treasure, the Qin Family did indeed have the funds and were determined to get the Blood Bodhi at whatever cost — even the astronomical amount of five billion.
This meant at least fifteen million in commission for himself. Coupled with the income from earlier auctioned items, just today, Wang Fangtong could earn over twenty million, making him the biggest winner of the auction.
As soon as the bid of five billion was announced, everyone took a sharp breath, and the whole room fell silent.
In Box 3, Gu Xiaorui sighed heavily and said to her big brother, Gu Changfeng, with a pitiful look, “Brother, shall we raise our bid one more time? This time, we can surely crush the Qin Family.”
“No, we can’t. Five billion is already far beyond my expectations. Even if we won it, we wouldn’t be able to explain it to the family. In fact, the family only gave me three billion. I managed to scrape together the remaining one and a half billion through various means. I truly can’t raise any more,” Gu Changfeng said helplessly.
After coming down, Qin Haowen went up to the stage, swiftly signing his name on the contract with a flourish, and then instructed his lackey Zhang Qiang to stay on stage for the handover, while he slowly descended.
Seeing Qin Haowen come down, many of the bosses below plastered on smiles and greeted him, but Qin Haowen largely ignored them, and quickly made his way to Xu Yixue and Ye Xiaoning’s seats.
“Ah, Yixue, how coincidental that you’re here at this auction too!” Qin Haowen said in feigned surprise to Xu Yixue.
Actually, it was precisely through his arrangements that Xu Yixue had the qualification to attend this auction; he would have been truly surprised if Xu Yixue hadn’t come.
Xu Yixue was a sharp woman herself, and upon seeing Qin Haowen’s insincere eyes and his over-the-top acting, she instantly had a hunch. Last time, Qin Haowen had coaxed her into attending a so-called charity auction, where he bid on a ten-million ‘Heart of the Ocean’ Sapphire Necklace.
She didn’t expect that this time would be even more outrageous, with Qin Haowen casually dropping half a billion on a small tomato, the details of which nobody knew.
Xu Yixue could tell that Qin Haowen was just trying to show off his family background and wealth, to make her take a liking to him.
Only Xu Yixue was not the type to be swayed by wealth. What she despised the most were the likes of Qin Haowen, these rich second generations. He might have been better off not scheming so much; now, Xu Yixue found him even more repulsive.
Watching Qin Haowen look at her with a hint of superiority, Xu Yixue was unmoved, and calmly said to him, “Congratulations on getting what you wanted. The auction was indeed exciting, but it’s quite late now, and we’ll be leaving first.”
“Don’t be like that, let me give you a ride, my car is parked just downstairs!” Qin Haowen quickly said to Xu Yixue, hoping to strike while the iron was hot, using today’s triumphant demeanor to change how Xu Yixue saw him, maybe even to make her look up to him. But Xu Yixue wasn’t buying any of it.
“Sorry, we have our own car!” Ye Xiaoning, hugging Tongtong, stood up and said coldly to Qin Haowen.
“Er, this little girl is so cute, is she your relative?” Qin Haowen, having been rebuffed, felt a bit awkward. So, looking at the obedient Tongtong in Ye Xiaoning’s arms, he tried to make conversation with Xu Yixue.
He shouldn’t have mentioned it. As soon as he did, Xu Yixue’s expression turned even colder.
“Is that any of your business?” Xu Yixue sharply retorted, standing up with Ye Xiaoning, and they both walked out of their seats toward the exit.