Translator: Henyee Translations Editor: Henyee Translations
Gu Ning was not deliberately hiding the truth. It was just that since they had not met recently, she did not have the chance to tell Master Leng about it. Now that the auction was taking place, it was inappropriate to talk about it and she did not know whether Cai Wenhong told Master Leng about it.
She decided to tell them about this later.
“Then are you staying for the rest of the auction in the afternoon?” asked Gu Ning. She was only planning to attend the auction in the morning.
“Probably not. I am only here to see the bronze chimes,” replied Master Leng.
“Let’s do lunch then!” said Gu Ning. Now that all of them were present, it would be rude to not buy them lunch.
.
Gu Ning was not simply suggesting to eat together out of courtesy. She genuinely treated them like they were family. Now that they finally had the chance to meet, she wanted to eat with them.
“Sure!” agreed Master Leng quickly. Even if Gu Ning did not suggest having lunch together, he was planning on asking. After all, he had not seen Gu Ning in ages!
Most of the people were here to see the bronze chimes get auctioned off, so the guests were not as interested in the other auction items. The other auction items did not get sold at exorbitant prices. All of them kept talking about the bronze chimes while they waited for them to get auctioned off.
“Many people are here to bid for the bronze chimes. I wonder who will walk away with it.”
“That depends on who is the most willing to spend the money. Since it is a complete set of bronze chimes, it would probably fetch over $5 billion.”
“Uh huh! Most of the time, antiques get auctioned off way above the market price, so the bronze chimes will probably go for as high as $7 billion!”
“Maybe even higher.”
“I am so envious of Xiangyun Antique-store for discovering such a rare antique.”
“Even though they obtained it through illegal means, they were able to auction it publicly. It goes to show how well connected the store is.”
“Look! Mr Chen, the store manager of Xiangyun Antique-store, is sitting in the second row right in the middle.”
“You’re right! I can’t believe he is sitting in the second row. I was looking for him further back, but couldn’t find him. I was just wondering where he was! Even though I saw him walking into the auction hall, I could not find him. However, he ended up sitting in the second row!”
Not everyone was aware that Gu Ning was the owner of Xiangyun Antique-store or knew of her background.
Yuan Yilin was unaware that Gu Ning was the owner of Xiangyun Antique-store as well. She only knew of Gu Ning’s other establishments.
“Was Mr Chen able to sit in the second row because the bronze chimes were provided by Xiangyun Antique-store?”
“I don’t think so. See that woman dressed in beige sitting beside him? Or rather, the young woman sitting beside him! She is the owner of Xiangyun Antique-store, Gu Ning. See the man sitting on her right? He is Master Leng.”
“What? Did Gu Ning get to sit with Master Leng?”
“Also, Master Xu, Master Jiang, and Curator Cai of the Palace Museum took the initiative to go with Master Leng and sit beside Gu Ning. They were previously assigned to the first row.”
“Uh huh! I saw it too. Also, they seemed familiar with each other and kept chatting. Otherwise, those important elders would never have bothered talking to her!”
“Heavens! I didn’t expect Gu Ning to be so well-connected…”
“Me neither! Considering the circles she runs in, no one would dare to hold her accountable for these bronze chimes even though they came through illegal means!
“That goes without saying. Who would have the guts to punish her for selling the bronze chimes?”
“Could Gu Ning be relatives with one of them?”
“Perhaps. Maybe she is the daughter of a family friend. Whatever it is, they must be related somehow.”
A lot of the people felt Gu Ning must be related to one of the elders. Perhaps one of her family members was friends with them.
Even though they did not know how close Gu Ning was with Master Leng and the others, many of the people secretly noted not to offend Gu Ning owing to her connections!
They were not sitting around waiting to get into conflict with Gu Ning. They were simply making notes to avoid getting on her bad side at all costs.
After Zhang Chengtao arrived at the auction, he did not expect to see Chen Darong at all. Since he was badly injured, he ought to be bedridden for some time and it was impossible for him to show up. However, now that he had overheard the gossip, he finally realized Chen Darong was at the auction hall and sitting in the second row no less. Also, he was even rubbing shoulders with some very important people.
Zhang Chengtao trembled in shock. He did not expect Chen Darong to be acquainted with so many bigshots. Zhang Chengtao could not imagine what would become of him if they caught wind he was involved in abducting Chen Darong and hurting him.
If he knew Chen Darong had such powerful friends, he would never have dared to touch him!
Although Harada Honichi overheard the conversation, he was unaware of their identity, so he did not take it to heart.
…
It was almost 12:00 pm and the first half of the auction was about to come to an end. Since it was time to auction off the rarest item, everyone felt exhilarated.
“Good morning, everyone. The bronze chimes were simply too heavy and huge, so they cannot be displayed on stage. Instead, we will project their images on the screen. The auction house guarantees their authenticity and the bidding will be conducted fairly. The successful bidder can authenticate the bronze chimes after the auction before paying for them,” said the host.
They had already sent word about this when they promoted the auction event to avoid any disagreement.
Although most of the guests were displeased with the arrangement, they were not in the position to complain. Also, the bronze chimes were genuinely too bulky to be put on display here and moved around. They trusted the auction house.
Unknown to the public, Cai Wenhong and Gu Ning had already come to an agreement that the bronze chimes would be sold to the museum.
The moment the host finished his sentence, images of the bronze chimes appeared on the screen. The pictures were taken on the day Cai Wenhong appraised them. Hence, a commotion started below the stage.
“This is simply mind-blowing.”
“In 19XX, two sets of bronze chimes were unearthed in the tomb hailing from the Eastern Zhou Dynasty somewhere. One set had 9 pieces, while the other had 7 pieces. Both of them caused a furor in the antique and music industries. Now, this set is even better.”
“Uh huh! Sadly, no music could be played on the previous sets of bronze chimes as they were incomplete. Since this set of bronze chimes is complete, they are priceless both culturally and monetarily speaking.”
“That’s right.”
Everyone started chatting with Gu Ning and Chen Darong while people talked about the bronze chimes, so Rong Zechen and Yuan Yilin learned that the bronze chimes came from Gu Ning.
