Chapter 1628: Overestimating One’s Potential
Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
The auction was about to begin. Li Du represented the school and brought the young group leaders to join in the bidding.
Li Du said, “Now, we should have a valuation for the warehouse. Based on what we found inside, there’s only one item that we found valuable, which is the cigar box. However, we are still not completely sure about what exactly it is, or what is inside. Hence, we need an estimated valuation…”
Some treasure hunters kept their eyes on him. Li Du laughed. Then he gathered the students closer and continued the discussion in a softer voice.
The auctioneer, who was wearing white gloves, stood by the door of the warehouse and started to shout, “Alright, everyone, gather around me. Children, don’t get anxious. Everyone, come over, there’s no need to push. Alright, I’m going to start the bidding. As everyone knows, the starting bid is 150 dollars…”
Li Du nodded and a blonde lady raised her hand happily and shouted, “One hundred and fifty dollars!”
There were not many competing bidders. In the beginning, less than thirty treasure hunters had come to attend the auction. After some who left after seeing that the students were there for an event, there were now only about twenty-four or twenty-five of them.
The bid of one hundred and fifty dollars was considered low. Another treasure hunter challenged, “Two hundred dollars.”
“Two hundred and fifty dollars for me.”
“Three hundred dollars.”
“Four hundred dollars!”
“Here, look here, five hundred dollars!”
Hearing the bids, Li Du shook his head. He could not comprehend, “What’s in that warehouse? How can there be so many interested parties? Five hundred dollars? That’s too high!”
Shaking his head, he walked to the next warehouse. This time around, there were children who raised their hands and shouted excitedly, “Six hundred, I’ll give six hundred dollars!”
Li Du was shocked. He turned and said, “Didn’t we agree? The highest we will go is three hundred dollars.”
That child smiled. “But I feel like bidding. I have money. My dad gives me a weekly allowance of one thousand dollars. I have saved them all up.”
A treasure hunter near them looked envious after hearing the child’s words. “Sh*t. That’s just like the students from Fountain Valley Christian School. They come from rich families.”
Even for an adult, a weekly budget of one thousand dollars was quite a tidy sum.
Li Du shook his head helplessly. The treasure hunters had heard what he said earlier. Hence, they also gave up their thoughts of wanting to bid higher.
They had previously followed the bids because they saw that Li Du had shown some interest in the box in the warehouse. The treasure hunters knew of Li Du’s status.
The auctioneer shouted thrice and then clapped his hands, “Okay, this buddy has bid six hundred dollars. Now this warehouse belongs to him!”
The boy jumped up and cheered. Li Du winked at him and the boy smiled and returned the wink.
Some treasure hunters noticed their actions. A man who had wanted to challenge Li Du earlier said, “He bought that warehouse above the threshold price, and still so proud?”
Li Du asked him back, “Who said it has passed the threshold price?”
The boy laughed, “You guys have fallen for it!”
The viewing and auction continued. The students took down the next few warehouses. Li Du shook his head helplessly. These were all warehouses that were not worth the effort. The students were doing it just for fun.
Besides, to those children, a few hundred dollars was nothing. They were bidding in groups. Every child had a few thousand dollars’ worth of allowance on them. When accumulated, the amount was quite impressive.
Later, the other treasure hunters tried their best to up their bids. However, they only managed to take down two warehouses. When the last warehouse was opened up, the treasure hunters were awe-struck. The things in the warehouse were neatly arranged. There were a few cupboards with watches and some ornaments in them. They looked quite valuable.
That warehouse was the highlight of the auction. The starting bid was higher than before. It started at one thousand dollars.
The treasure hunters increased their bids quickly. A bidding war was started for that warehouse:
“Fifteen hundred dollars. This warehouse is mine!”
“You wish to own it? Have you asked me? Two thousand dollars!”
“You dolts, move, I’m forking out three thousand dollars!”
“F*ck, five thousand dollars, who’s next?!”
The amount increased very swiftly. The children’s eagerness to win was triggered. Victoria shouted, “I’m biding six thousand dollars! Our group bids six thousand!”
A treasure hunter was about to call out a bid. However, Ivana, who was beside them, spoke up earlier, “What is six thousand dollars? We are bidding seven thousand dollars!”
“Seven thousand dollars? Ha, that’s impressive. We bid seven thousand and five hundred dollars!”
“Hey, hey, Jeron, what a stingy bast*rd you are! What’s the meaning of topping up five hundred dollars? Our group bids eight thousand dollars!”
Li Du was stunned. Hearing that, he immediately raised his hand and said, “Don’t act rashly. Who taught you guys to bid like this? Weren’t you listening to me?”
The situation was out of his control. The youth named Jeron pushed him away and then shouted at the children who bid, “Hey, you are stingy too, didn’t you top up five hundred dollars too?”
The children who had bid eight thousand dollars were stumped. It seemed that his math was not too good. He asked people around him, “Did I top up five hundred dollars?”
Someone by the side shouted, “Then we will bid ten thousand dollars, now it’s not just topping up five hundred, right?”
Li Du was starting to grow angry. He asked, “Are you guys so rich? We’re talking about ten thousand dollars!”
“We are. Our group had prepared a lot of money,” the child who had bid patted his backpack proudly.
Victoria refused to budge down and shouted, “We also have a lot of money, we are bidding…”
Li Du pointed at her and said sternly, “Victoria, you had better stop. How do you have so much money? Did Godzilla give you money behind my back?”
The young lady stuck out her tongue and disappeared into the crowd with her backpack.
The other children were still tempted. Li Du pointed at them and said, “Is nobody going to listen to the teacher? What did I tell you guys? The maximum threshold for this warehouse is five thousand dollars! Five thousand! And you guys have bid ten thousand dollars?!”
A teacher looked toward White Gloves nervously. “Sir, can I ask if the bids of these children can be retracted?”
White Gloves was put in a spot. According to the rules, in warehouse auction trade, the bids were final once called. Nobody was allowed to retract their bid.
A few treasure hunters started to cheer. A man said gloatingly, “You guys are participating in the auction in the name of China Li, haha, if you guys retract your bids…”
Li Du waved his hand calmly and said, “Continue the bidding, go on, the auction has yet to end.”
Saying that, he glared at the children and said, “All of you keep quiet, nobody is allowed to bid anymore!”
The children fell silent reluctantly. The scene was bustling.
The youth with the black jacket laughed, “This auction has ended. Who would fork out more than ten thousand?!
Indeed, the auctioneer continued to invite bids. Nobody followed up. The children had also taken down that warehouse.
The youth in the black jacket smiled at Li Du. “Congratulations, Mr. Li.”
Li Du laughed. His smile was very bright. As he fist-bumped the children, he replied to the youth in the black jacket, “Thanks a lot. This really is a good warehouse.”
Seeing that, and especially that the children were cheering, a treasure hunter asked, “What happened?”
Olly crossed his arms and laughed coldly. “What else could have happened? The children took the warehouse from you guys. You guys can’t even beat the children and you wanted to challenge Li? That’s overestimating your potential!”
