Chapter 433 Jade Pendant
“Two hundred million going once!
“Two hundred million going twice!
“Two hundred million going trice!
“Sold!”
When that word was uttered, the auctioneer raised his gavel and slammed it to the table. This signified that the guest in Room 9 now owned The King’s Portrait, having offered two hundred million for it.
Logan’s eyes widened when he saw the figures flashing brightly on the LCD screen. The King’s Portrait was valued at a whopping two hundred million!
Shocked, he turned around and asked, “Mr. Goldstein, is this painting really worth that much?”
Although he was the commander-in-chief of the Durbaine Special Forces, his yearly salary was only in the millions.
After tax deductions, he was only left with a few hundred thousand.
He used two hundred million! All of that just to buy a painting? Wouldn’t it be better if he dropped all this cash on raising a few hundred more troops?
“Two hundred million is nothing, really,” said Jonathan coolly. “Drake has a similar painting that fetched five hundred million on the black market abroad. There’s a price for this kind of thing, but it’s not necessarily something money can buy even if you have that much lying around.”
“Surely, this is ridiculous!” Logan was flabbergasted. He scratched his head, unable to imagine how a silly painting could be worth hundreds of millions. With this amount, he could’ve easily bought a brand new helicopter.
“That can’t be helped. There are too many rich people around,” Jonathan said. “Also, the painting isn’t the important thing here. Haven’t you heard?”
Jonathan cleared his throat. With a flourish, he continued, “The best way to launder money is by purchasing antiques and dealing in art! But it’s too complicated to explain. I can’t possibly tell you everything in such a short period of time.”
Jonathan could sense that Logan wanted to continue asking questions, so he stopped the latter immediately by saying those words. He was barely interested in paintings and antiques, nor was he interested in explaining the finer details of money laundering. Even if he explained anything, Logan would most likely not understand.
“How nice it is to have money!” said Logan, breaking the silence. After hearing what Logan said, Jonathan burst out laughing. “Have you fallen victim to capitalistic thinking? Speaking of which, I noticed that Ms. Haberly seemed to be quite interested in you. How about you consider marrying into the family?”
“Forget it!” Logan immediately shook his head. “I want nothing to do with them. Besides, why would she be interested in someone like me? It’s obvious she’s interested in my station as the commander-in-chief of the Special Forces. Aren’t they just going to use my rank as an excuse to expand their territory? I’m not dumb enough to fall for their schemes!”
Logan paused before continuing, “If you got rid of me, their family would kick me out without a second thought.”
“You may not look the part, but I guess you have brains after all!” Jonathan couldn’t help but laugh when he heard Logan’s outburst. “Why don’t we test out that theory? I’ll pretend to fire you, and we’ll see if they actually kick you out of the very seat you’re occupying!”
“Please don’t, Mr. Goldstein. I don’t think we should tempt fate.” Logan broke out in a cold sweat at Jonathan’s suggestion.
“Just kidding. Let’s watch the auction!”
Jonathan waved his hand and decided to stop joking with Logan.
In the blink of an eye, the action was already in full swing. Given how intense the bidding of The King’s Portrait went, one could say that the auction was going to be even more exciting.
The starting price for each lot was not lower than a hundred million.
There was also a blue and white porcelain piece priced at more than five hundred million. This came as a shock to Logan, who could not fathom how a mere vase could be more expensive than a gunship.
“These rich people really know how to throw money around!”
Halfway through the auction, Logan was seething.
Having fought enemies on the battlefield for half his life, he did not even know what the true value of ten million was. Yet somehow, there were rich people here spending up to five hundred million on a silly porcelain artifact.
What was the point of this?
Logan huffed and lit his cigarette angrily. Just then, a tray covered in red cloth made its way to the stage.
When the tray was handed to the auctioneer, it seemed obvious that she was trembling.
“Behold, our penultimate lot for tonight! It’s a dragon-patterned jade pendant!”
The moment this was announced, the red cloth was lifted.
Under the silver tray, a crystal clear, dazzling red jade pendant suddenly appeared in front of everyone’s eyes.
The jade pendant was a deep red as if it had been stained by blood.
On the body of the jade pendant was a lifelike carving of a giant dragon hovering above the clouds.
Jonathan’s eyes lit up when he saw the dragon pattern jade pendant.
His moment had come.
He attended this auction because he had been eyeing this pendant.
“I think you must all be wondering why the pendant is the penultimate lot for the auction tonight. To be honest, I’m just as clueless as you are. All I was told is that its origins are shrouded in mystery, and it is deeply rooted in myths and legends. However, what secrets it holds, nobody is certain.
“I only know that the starting price of this jade pendant is a hundred million. Every consecutive bid cannot be less than the starting amount.”
When the auctioneer said this, the audience became restless. Some people could also be heard yelling in disbelief.
What on earth is this?
How could a measly pendant be worth this much? On top of that, each bid has to be at least a hundred million? Why?
Even The King’s Portrait, painted by the famed Drake Walde, had a starting price of a hundred million. But this obscure pendant that is not dated and has an unknown purpose deserves to have the same starting price? This seems outrageous.
“Even if this jade pendant looks good, surely it’s not worth a hundred million?”
“Do they take us all for fools? And they want us to increase its value by a hundred million with each bid? I fear this pendant isn’t even worth ten million!”
“What a silly lot! Whoever buys this must be really dumb.”
“Forget paying even a million for this. I wouldn’t even want this as a gift!”
The audience was in an uproar. People started booing in a bid to force the auctioneer to remove the lot and stop wasting everyone’s time.
After all, everyone who had come to participate in this auction had money to spend. Time is money too.
However, just as things started to settle down, a loud, hoarse voice suddenly pierced through the silence from Room 0.
“I’ll give you a hundred million!”
What?
Is someone really insane enough to spend a hundred million on an unknown pendant?
When the bid emerged from Room 0, the crowd went wild.
Even Jonathan, who was sitting in Room 9, was shocked by this occurrence.
