Chapter 266 IQ Tax

Zhao Liya removed the red silk from the tray, revealing a jade flute, about 40 centimeters long and entirely green, clearly made of extraordinary material.

She said, “Ladies and gentlemen, this is our first item for auction today. It is both an exquisite jade artifact and a perfect flute.

Whether as an antique or a musical instrument, it holds extremely high collection value…”

As expected of a top Auctioneer, though she used few words, she comprehensively introduced the value of this jade flute.

Finally, she called out, “The starting bid for this jade flute is 50,000 yuan, with each increment no less than 2,000 yuan. Bidding starts now!”

“100,000 yuan…”

“150,000 yuan…”

“200,000 yuan…”

As the bidding began, the price of the jade flute quickly rose to 200,000 yuan, but it stopped there, with no one bidding higher.

“300,000!”

Ye Bufan raised his bidding paddle.

Overall, this flute was not bad; he could play with it when he had nothing to do.

Most importantly, he had looked through all of today’s auction items and found nothing he particularly liked. He couldn't possibly attend an auction and leave empty-handed, could he? Besides, he was now a wealthy man.

Originally, he thought his price would be enough to shock the entire room and secure the flute directly.

But unexpectedly, as soon as he spoke, Tian Sheng, who was beside him, immediately called out, “1,000,000.”

This guy originally didn't understand musical instruments and had no interest in this flute. His reason for bidding was simply to compete with Ye Bufan.

After calling out the price, he shot a provocative glance at Ye Bufan, an implication that everyone could understand: “I am richer than you.”

Ye Bufan frowned, then angrily called out, “I bid 2,000,000…”

“4,000,000…”

Tian Sheng immediately doubled the price, without any hesitation.

Ye Bufan was provoked: “8,000,000…”

The price was doubled again. Tian Sheng hesitated for a moment, but it was only for an instant.

As the Tian Family Young Master, he couldn't possibly be intimidated by a poor kid in public. Otherwise, how would he ever make a name for himself in Jiangnan City’s high society?

Immediately after, he called out again, “32,000,000…”

Although it pained him a little, he still doubled the price.

Seeing the two men competing, He Shuangshuang quickly said, “Don’t compete with that guy. The Tian Family is indeed very rich.”

In an instant, the anger on Ye Bufan’s Face vanished, and he said calmly, “It’s fine, I was just bidding for fun. I’ll stop now.”

After speaking, he placed his bidding paddle on the table and smiled playfully at Tian Sheng: “Congratulations, this flute is yours now.”

He had originally been indifferent to this jade flute, but since the other party wanted to show off, he would just raise the price a bit and make the other party pay the price for showing off.

“Oh my goodness, a 50,000 yuan flute sold for 32,000,000 yuan? Am I seeing this right?”

“The Tian Family Young Master actually bought a jade flute for 32,000,000 yuan. He’s too rich…”

“Is this being rich? I think this is being a big idiot. Even if you have money, you don’t spend it like this…”

Only then did the surrounding crowd recover from their shock. No one had expected that an ordinary jade flute would fetch a sky-high price at the start, all because two people were competing.

Zhao Liya also hadn't expected such a situation. Recovering herself, she raised the Auctioneer’s gavel and called out, “Mr. Tian has bid 32,000,000 yuan. Is there any other gentleman who wishes to bid higher?”

In truth, she was just asking casually. A 50,000 yuan item had been inflated to 32,000,000 yuan, which was already incredibly absurd. Besides a prodigal son like Tian Sheng, who else would add another penny?

Soon, she brought down the Auctioneer’s hammer, “Congratulations, Mr. Tian, on successfully bidding for this jade flute.”

Soon, the service staff brought the jade flute to Tian Sheng and then handed him a POS machine.

Glancing at Ye Bufan, the guy was smug, swiping his card and paying, completely in the stance of a victor.

The auction continued, and the second item was brought to the front: an antique vase with an ancient charm.

After Zhao Liya gave an introduction, she began the bidding: “Gentlemen, the starting bid for this vase is 100,000 yuan, with each increment no less than 10,000 yuan…”

As soon as the bidding began, Ye Bufan immediately called out, “1,000,000!”

After calling out the price, he provocatively glanced at Tian Sheng, as if to say, “Dare to compete again.”

As a profligate Young Master, Tian Sheng naturally wouldn’t care about this and immediately followed by calling out, “2,000,000!”

He hadn't even clearly heard what this vase was. None of that mattered; what mattered was that he absolutely had to put this kid down.

“4,000,000!”

“8,000,000!”

“16,000,000!”

“32,000,000!”

In just a few seconds, the two men successively called out bids, once again driving the price of this vase to 32,000,000 yuan.

The people nearby were all stunned; not a single person followed with a bid.

Are you kidding? Only an idiot would join in such a situation; it was clearly a losing proposition.

Ye Bufan didn’t give the other party any time to react, directly raising the price to 32,000,000 yuan. Feeling it was enough, he directly put down his bidding paddle and withdrew from the auction.

He Shuangshuang was startled. She had already seen Ye Bufan’s intention, which was purely to treat Tian Sheng as a fool. Patting her ample chest, she said, “Xiao Fan, can you please stop playing like this?

What if the other party directly withdraws, and you really spend 16,000,000 yuan on something like this?”

Ye Bufan laughed, “It’s fine. Anyway, Da Shao has plenty of money; he doesn’t care about spending a bit of extra money.”

Although the two spoke softly, the surrounding people heard them clearly.

Only then did Tian Sheng realize what was happening, and he angrily said, “Kid, you actually tricked me?”

Ye Bufan laughed, “Young Master Tian is indeed smart; he only spent over 60,000,000 yuan to realize it. I thought it would take at least 100,000,000 yuan in IQ tax!”

“You…”

Tian Sheng was so angry he almost exploded. Although he didn't care about the 60,000,000 yuan, what he lost was Face.

But he glanced at Fei Tong beside him, and in the end, he held back.

“Kid, you just wait.”

At this moment, the third item was brought to the stage, and the auction resumed.

It was an ancient sword, about 1.2 meters long and seven or eight centimeters wide, but it looked rusty and didn’t have a good appearance.

However, when he saw this ancient sword, an uncontrollable excitement immediately flashed in Ye Bufan’s eyes.

He had seen the introduction of this sword on the promotional poster, named Dragon Tooth, with an unknown age.

From the photo alone, he hadn't seen anything special about this sword, and he hadn't paid it any mind.

But now it was different. After seeing the physical object with his own eyes, he immediately sensed that this ancient sword was emitting a rich Spiritual Qi. This was definitely a good item, perhaps even on par with the Demon Refining Bottle.

The excitement in his eyes flashed and then disappeared. He then desperately suppressed his excitement, fearing that others would see through him, otherwise, bidding for this sword would surely lead to great trouble.

Zhao Liya introduced, “This sword is named Dragon Tooth, a fine sword that was recently unearthed.

Sword collectors should seize this opportunity! The starting bid is 200,000 yuan, with each increment no less than 10,000 yuan. Bidding starts now!”