Chapter 66: The Underground Auction (Three)

  As expected, as soon as Qu Wen made a bid, Tao Jingying immediately followed suit.

  "I'll give 55,000!"

  Upon hearing Tao Jingying's voice, Qu Wen's body revealed a gentle smile, as if an intimate couple gazing at their own girlfriend, then raised his right hand again.

  "I'm out 57,000."

  "You're killing me! This deadbeat is such a freak. If I were in Hong Kong, I'd definitely find someone to beat you up into pieces!"

  Qu Wen's sweet smile not only didn't give Tao Jingying a good impression, but instead made her feel extremely disgusted, with goosebumps all over her body. Looking back, she couldn't help but want to take a bite out of him. Before the auctioneer could even speak, she immediately called out a price: "I'll offer 600,000."

  Everyone present knew that the young couple had just quarreled, and now they were bidding against each other, definitely a fierce competition. In such a situation, whoever tries to intervene will only get embarrassed, unless it's a matchmaker arranged by the host in advance.

  The auctioneer was not in a hurry, this situation is what he likes to see the most. As long as someone is bidding enthusiastically at the auction, the one who will benefit in the end is definitely the organizer. If possible, he would like to add more fuel to the fire.

  "The lady has bid again, 600,000 yuan. Is there anyone who is willing to bid a higher price?" The auctioneer said loudly, his eyes fixed on Qu Wen's direction.

  With a mentality of watching the excitement, everyone else also shifted their gaze over.

  This time Qu Wen did not rush to raise his hand, and his expression seemed hesitant. After a while, when the host on stage started counting, he slowly called out again: "800,000."

  "Whoa..."

  The whole room was in an uproar, and Qu Wen's bid had suddenly increased by 200,000. Anyone with some knowledge of antiques knew that the market price of this elephant ear square victory bottle was generally around 800,000. Now, the price Qu Wen had opened with was almost without any profit margin, unless he kept it at home for a few years and then took it out again, perhaps the price would rise somewhat. But in doing so, it would occupy this sum of money for a considerable period of time.

  Of course, 80,000 yuan is a small amount for the guests present, and it's worth spending 80,000 to save face.

  "One hundred thousand."

  As soon as Qu Wen's voice fell, Tao Jingying's voice sounded again, looking far away with a proud expression.

  In just a few minutes, the price of the Fang Sheng bottle had doubled. The auctioneer was secretly delighted and thought that if the two continued to bid against each other, it would only be more beneficial for the organizers. He loudly announced the price but hesitated to count down, hoping that Qu Wen could offer an even higher price.

  Just as everyone was waiting for Qu Wen to continue bidding, he spread his hand: "Forget it, it's just an ordinary civilian kiln, not worth me spending so much money. Since the young lady wants it so badly, let her have it."

  When they heard Qu Wen's words, many people looked at him with surprised eyes. It turned out that everyone had long known that it was a folk kiln porcelain, so why were they still fighting for it so eagerly. Unless he had the intention of embarrassing others.

  The host was unwilling to make a bid, and the guests present were also unwilling to make a bid. The host waited for a while and had no choice but to randomly count down three times before the hammer fell.

  "Sold for 100,000! Congratulations to guest number 12 for winning lot number 1: Qinghua flower butterfly pattern elephant ear square victory bottle."

  Although she had won the Elephant Ear Square Vase, Tao Jingying still felt that something was off. When everyone's attention turned to the second item up for auction, she quietly asked Wei Shu beside her, "Uncle Wei, is this Elephant Ear Square Vase really not worth 100,000 yuan?"

  The person who brought Tao Jingying to the auction is named Wei Boqing, and he was an old friend of Tao Hanshan, Tao Jingying's father. He had opened several antique shops in Hong Kong. This time, apart from attending the auction, his purpose for coming to mainland China was also to fulfill a request from Tao Hanshan, which was to let Tao Jingying gain some experience by following him around.

  As the owner of an antique shop, Wei Boqing was very familiar with the antique market. He smiled helplessly: "If it were official kiln porcelain, it wouldn't be just this price, but this is ordinary folk kiln porcelain, and the market price is around 80,000 yuan. That young man earlier seemed to know a lot about the antique market, and deliberately dug a pit for you to jump into. Who knew you'd be so impatient, not even asking questions before quoting a price."

  "How dare you, you scoundrel, try to deceive me!"

  After hearing Wei Boqing's words, Tao Jingying was so angry that her face turned red, and she suddenly grabbed Wei Boqing's hand and shook it hard: "Uncle Wei, you must help me, or I won't be able to swallow this breath!"

  Wei Boqing not only was a good friend of Tao Jingying's father, but also taught Tao Jingying antique appraisal for some time, and deeply understood Tao Jingying's character. He could only sigh softly: "Alright, Uncle Wei will help you deal with that kid, but this time you mustn't rush to take action."

  The two of them said as they pushed out the second item for auction on the stage.

  "The second item up for auction today is a coral red glaze plate with an official seal from the Yongzheng period, starting price 120,000, each bid increase by 5,000..." The clear voice of the host rang out again, focusing everyone's attention on the center of the display platform.

  When the host finished speaking, he was the first to walk onto the stage, no matter whether the exhibits met his expectations or not, the spiritual energy above could not be easily missed.

  Jian Wen stepped onto the stage, Tao Jingying hastily shook Wei Baicheng's hand: "Uncle Wei, he's on stage again."

  "No rush, no rush," said Wei Boqing as he followed and walked up to the platform, observing Qu Wen while appreciating the exhibits at the same time.

  "What should I call you, young brother? You're so young yet have such a deep understanding of antiques?"

  Qu Wen turned his head to glance at Wei Boqing, knowing that the other was also with Tao Jingying, and didn't know what intentions he had. He replied lightly: "I'm Qu Wen, I just have a hobby for antiques."

  "What about this coral red glaze plate, then?" Wei Baqing said this intentionally to test Qu Wen's knowledge. If Qu Wen only had a superficial understanding of antique appreciation, there was a chance to deceive him into buying a possible high-quality fake.

  "Oh, is the old man testing me?" Qu Wen said, he wasn't afraid of being tested. Knowing that his knowledge of antiques was extremely lacking, he had read countless books on related subjects over the past few months, especially those on ceramics and painting. The theoretical knowledge in the books had almost been etched into his mind.

  "Nowhere, since it's an academic exchange meeting, there must be some exchange after all." Wei Boqing didn't expect Qu Wen to answer his question, and the seemingly smiling expression had a provocative tone.

  "Right, old sir didn't say it, I almost forgot this is an academic exchange conference. So... let's exchange, exchange." Qu Wen dragged out the two words "so" for a long time, satisfying Wei Boqing and several other guests beside him.

  "Let me first talk about the shape of this coral red glaze plate. The plate body is light and thin, with a regular and beautiful shape, and both inside and outside are applied with coral red glaze, showing a reddish color with a slight yellow tint, which is a characteristic of the glaze during the Yongzheng period. There is a circle of exposed white porcelain at the edge of the mouth, commonly known as 'lantern grass mouth', which makes the plate clearly distinguish between red and white, and even more delicate... Sir, am I right?"

  Qu Wen intentionally asked a question, but before Wei Boqing could answer, he continued: "As everyone knows, the red glaze of the Yongzheng period is light and thin in body, although not as gorgeous as the Ming Yongzheng red glaze, but the color is pure and correct, the glaze is fine and smooth, the glaze is even and clean, and there are rarely uneven spots inside the glaze layer, just like this piece we see. So I judge that this piece is indeed an official product of the Yongzheng period, a coral red glaze plate."

  Wei Boqing originally just wanted to try out Quwen, but didn't expect the other party to have such deep antique appraisal skills at a young age, and immediately withdrew his underestimation. With a look of surprise in his eyes: "Young brother is still young, but his appraisal skills are impressive, I don't know how long you've been studying antique appraisal?"