Chapter 011 - Purple Dragon King Jade Stone
She, still in the daytime outfit, was wild, wild, and very beaten.
She scornfully swept a glance at the Chinese auctioneer on the auction stage, then walked over to Cao Yi's side and sat down as if no one else was there.
"You?"
Cao Yi was perplexed at the sudden arrival of this neon-killer girl.
"Your esteemed master heard that Daoist Master came to the auction and was worried that he didn't have enough money."
Yoko took out a bank card with a puzzled look in her eyes.
In her impression, Cao Yi was just a Taoist priest who was slightly better than her in terms of physical prowess, and she didn't know why the god-like Venerable Master was currying favor with this man.
"No need to, but thank you, Senior Advisor Ying."
Cao Yi didn't ask for it.
The starting price for the Purple Dragon King he was going to auction was one million six hundred thousand dollars, and the five million dollars Ying Caihong had given earlier was enough to cover it anyways.
Yoko very simply put the bank card back.
"Where's Mark?"
Cao Yi asked.
Mark had gone to pay the auction deposit and should have returned by now.
"I told him to go back."
Yoko replied.
"I think everyone can't wait for the auction to begin."
The Chinese auctioneer on the auction stage, resumed his previous calm appearance. As a professional auctioneer, the small storm just now was nothing to him.
A staff member with white gloves carefully brought the first auction item of the day to the auction stage.
A bronze vessel with a lid and spout in the shape of a tiger was quietly placed in a glass vessel.
"Today's first lot, is a bronze from the Western Zhou Dynasty, called the tiger polish, three thousand years ago, this kind of 'Ying' type of artifacts in the world there are only seven remaining, five of which are collected in museums.
Included with this lot is a letter to his family from its previous owner, Captain Harry Lewis Evans of the Eikoku Navy, which recounts how Colonel Evans 'got his hands on' a number of bronzes and enameled vases in the Yuanmingyuan.
Mr. Alastair Gibson, our auction house's consultant for oriental art, said that this 'Tiger Ying' is valuable because none of the other 'Ying' objects that have appeared featured the 'King of All Beasts ' of tigers.
For his part, Mr. Xue Hao Pei, a scholar at the University of Cambridge and a historian of oriental art and culture, said that such bronzes with tigers were only used by emperors, nobles and officials of such high status, which represented their social influence and status.
The starting price for this lot is 50,000 dollars, with 10,000 dollars per bidding increase. Perhaps by bidding only once, you will be able to pocket this treasure that was collected in the nineteenth-century Qing Imperial Palace and has a history of three thousand years."
The Chinese auctioneer's words caused a commotion in the arena.
Cao Yi heard a few rich men from Hong Kong and Taiwan whispering in exasperation.
Selling the robbed things to the nationals for a second robbery, not to mention, but also auctioning the robbery process together, too unselfish.
Ten seconds, twenty seconds, one minute, the entire auction house was silent.
The first lot, cool.
The trained Chinese auctioneer's face did not have any change, just a slight bend of his right thumb.
"I bid fifty thousand dollars."
An Asian-faced, Japanese-speaking middle-aged man in the first row raised the number plate in his hand.
Undoubtedly this was a trust that the auction house had recruited against the Chinese.
"No. 4 from the neon country friend bid 50,000 U.S. dollars, I have traveled to the neon country, I can responsibly tell you that the neon country people are the most love Chinese culture people, many of their buildings, customs, words, clothing, all with a strong Chinese cultural symbols.
If there is no bid, this Sao bronze, which is one of the few in the world, will go to this friend from Neihong country who loves the culture of the great eastern country. First time, second time ...... third time, sold"
The Chinese auctioneer's eyes flashed with a hint of disappointment as the three hammers were set.
This group of people from a certain big country in the East did not fall for his ruffled feathers.
Cao Yi, however, felt that this Chinese auctioneer had succeeded, and the faces of many Hong Kong Island and Chinese tycoons changed.
The second lot was bound to be a bit of a dragon fight.
"Now auctioning the second lot, the horse head of one of the twelve bronze animal heads of the Yuanmingyuan Zodiac.
Yuanmingyuan twelve zodiac animal head bronze statue was originally part of the fountain outside the Yuanmingyuan Haiyan Hall, is the Qing dynasty Qianlong years of red copper casting. 1860 British and French allied forces into the East, from the Yuanmingyuan took them away.
This bronze statue of a horse's head is one of three bronze statues that were inadvertently discovered by an antique dealer in a private residence in California in 1985.
The starting price for this lot is one hundred and fifty thousand dollars, and each increase is still ten thousand dollars, I wonder which rich man is willing to take your country's cultural relics home?"
The Chinese auctioneer finished his speech and looked with a smile on his face to where the rich people of Hong Kong and Taiwan were gathered.
"One hundred and sixty thousand dollars."
In the third row, a Mandarin-speaking old man raised the number plate in his hand.
"One hundred and seventy thousand dollars."
"US$180,000."
"One hundred and ninety thousand dollars."
"I bid 200,000 dollars."
"Two hundred and ten thousand dollars."
With the first offer, the tycoons from Hong Kong and Taiwan seemed to be ignited, scrambling to quote higher prices.
The smile on the Chinese auctioneer's face was getting bigger and bigger, the nail he had just planted during the auction of the first lot was working, the tycoons from Hong Kong and Taiwan seemed to be like moths pouncing on the fire.
"I bid 220,000 dollars."
"Two hundred and fifty thousand dollars."
The first bidder, the Taiwanese-speaking old man directly added thirty thousand dollars.
All the people were silent, everyone is not a fool, if the competition goes on like this, it is the foreigners who will be cheaper.
"There is a higher bid, once, twice, three times, sold."
Chinese auctioneers fall hammer sold, heart happy bad.
Four years ago, that antique dealer to buy three bronze head, spent a total of 4500 U.S. dollars, that is to say, four years ago only 1500 U.S. dollars of horse head, in his hands rose more than one hundred and sixty times.
"Now for the third lot ......"
Behind, Cao Yi was not in the mood to listen and closed his eyes to fake sleep. I don't know if he was too tired, but he fell asleep in no time.
I don't know how long it took, Cao Yi felt someone shaking his shoulder, opened his eyes and saw a staff with white gloves, holding a large purple jade stone in a glass cover to the auction stage.
Even though he was separated by a distance of seven or eight meters, Cao Yi could still feel a familiar force coming from within the purple jade.
Aura.
However, it was of the earth and yin attributes.
"This is a piece of jade from Myanmar, there are quite a few jewelry and jade merchants present, there is no need for me to tell you how good it is, the starting price is one million six hundred thousand US dollars, with each increase of fifty thousand US dollars."
This time there was no room for maneuvering, the Chinese auctioneer was very straightforward.
"One million six hundred thousand dollars."
Soon after, a jeweler from Hong Kong Island opened the bidding.
"One million six hundred and fifty thousand dollars."
"One million seven hundred thousand dollars."
......
Immediately, several jewelry and jade merchants joined in, and the Purple Dragon King's price rose all the way up to two million nine hundred thousand dollars.
"Anyone else bid higher? For the first time ......"
The Chinese auctioneer inquired.