Mu Jinyu didn't raise the price again, and no one in the auction hall wanted to take over.
Thus, after the host said a few words and saw no further bids, he finally congratulated Gu Youlan for purchasing the Elderly Buddha Jade Bracelet for seven hundred million yuan.
The jade bracelet, which led the auction, fetched a high price of seven hundred million yuan, marking a great start to the event.
The next auction item was the Golden-threaded Jade Clothes, starting at one hundred million yuan.
Mu Jinyu, seeing this, was not interested at all.
The Golden-threaded Jade Clothes eventually sold for one hundred and eighty million yuan.
In the subsequent auctions, Mu Jinyu and Su Zijin, among others, were basically uninterested, just waiting for Mei Yinxue's Blood-Drinking Sword to appear.
Meanwhile, Gu Youlan participated in several bids and, after purchasing another item, muttered in her box, "Why aren't they reacting? Could they really be scared?"
Whether truly scared or just pretending, Gu Youlan didn't care about these matters; she only thought about severely outbidding Mu Jinyu later when a certain auction item came up to take revenge for the previous trick he had played on her!
"The next auction item is from the internationally renowned fashion designer 'Julianna,' a new creation, a gown made from the expensive Heavenly Silkworm Silk, handcrafted over three months. Ladies present will undoubtedly dazzle in it, starting price, eighty million yuan, with each increase no less than five hundred thousand!"
At that moment, the host introduced the new auction item, and several maids, who had already several people holding the gown, brought it up onto the high stage.
The maids unfolded it, allowing those underneath and in the private boxes to clearly see the specifications and style of the gown.
This was a shoulderless black gown, cut in a very noble and elegant style, which visibly stirred the hearts of many famed ladies and noblewomen present.
But this price…
Eighty million yuan!
They could only console themselves that spending so much money on this rather than a normal fabric gown of the same design, would cost them only about a hundred thousand to a few hundred thousand yuan.
They could buy eight hundred of those.
As for the so-called Heavenly Silkworm Silk, who knows what it actually does.
Of course, those with such thoughts were just about qualified to enter this auction.
But for the real top-grade wealthy elites of Jinling, their female companions immediately wrapped themselves around them, begging to buy the gown.
Thus, without the host needing to hype up the atmosphere much, the bidding for this gown, starting at eighty million yuan, soon surged to eighty-five million yuan.
"Ninety million yuan!"
At this moment, Gu Youlan's clear, orchid-like voice rang out in the hall.
Once Gu Youlan made a bid, it was basically considered final, with few daring to counter bid.
Only...
Just as everyone was thinking of Mu Jinyu,
True to expectations, Mu Jinyu spoke up in a timely manner, "Ninety million and fifty thousand yuan."
In box number seven,
Su Zijin, hearing Mu Jinyu bid, glanced at him, thinking it was for Mei Yinxue, so she said nothing.
Mei Yinxue, however, felt it wasn't for her, especially since during Yu Linglong's birthday, Xiang Mantang had gifted her, Gu Xiyan, and Wen Rou each a set of gowns, not as birthday gifts, but as a courtesy during their meeting.
But it didn't matter, after all, they all had evening gowns and high heels.
So, Mei Yinxue believed that Mu Jinyu was probably gifting it to someone else. As for who? She wasn't sure, but it wasn't her place to ask more or advise him against it, to avoid being seen as jealous.
After Mu Jinyu had made his bid, he was initially expecting Mei Yinxue and Su Zijin to persuade him as before not to waste money since they all had gowns and the like.
But seeing that they didn't, he was surprised for a moment.
Then he realized, it seems that for women, clothes are indeed more persuasive than jewelry!
On the other side,
In box number three, Gu Youlan, hearing Mu Jinyu's renewed bid which she guessed was probably for Mei Yinxue, also bid again, saying, "One hundred million yuan."
"One hundred million and fifty thousand yuan," Mu Jinyu immediately followed, calling out.
"One hundred and ten million yuan!"
"One hundred, ten million and fifty thousand yuan."
"..."
Soon, under the bidding of the two, the evening gown reached one hundred and fifty million yuan.
The crowd below, upon hearing Mu Jinyu's bids, felt somewhat peculiar.
Why did this guy always just add the minimum bid increment?
Previously with the Green Emperor Jadeite Bracelet, each minimum increment wasn't less than one million yuan, and he would always add exactly one million yuan; now with this evening gown, where the increment wasn't to be less than five hundred thousand, he was doing just that.
As for Gu Youlan, she was adding ten million yuan each time.
To say Mu Jinyu was short of money, how could he possibly attend this auction and even compete with Gu Youlan, but if he was wealthy, then why was he seeming so miserly?
Could it be that Mu Jinyu was deliberately trying to annoy Gu Youlan?
Was this why?
The crowd speculated as such.
Gu Youlan actually thought so too.
Originally, when the price had reached one hundred and thirty million and fifty thousand yuan, she hadn't wanted to continue bidding.
After all, even if she gave up proactively, since Mu Jinyu had already conceded to her once, she wouldn't lose too much face, and everyone would just think she didn't see value in continuing.
But it was precisely because of Mu Jinyu's behavior of adding only the minimum increment each time that she felt disgusted and raised the bid to fifty million yuan.
And then, as Gu Youlan directly shouted one hundred and fifty million yuan from one hundred and thirty million and fifty thousand yuan, she suddenly realized something.
She thought about the lesson from being tricked by Mu Jinyu previously and suspected that Mu Jinyu was likely trying to trick her again.
She was somewhat afraid that Mu Jinyu would suddenly stop following her bids, making her overpay by more than fifty million yuan.
Though fifty million yuan meant little to her, the feeling of being duped was hardly pleasant.
Gu Youlan silently congratulated herself on realizing this early on, otherwise, if she let Mu Jinyu infuriate her again and he called out one hundred and fifty million and fifty thousand yuan, and in a fit of rage she shouted two hundred million yuan, wouldn't she be duped even worse?
Now, being duped by fifty million yuan, although it felt as uncomfortable as swallowing a fly, was still somewhat acceptable.
Afterwards, she hoped that Mu Jinyu would call another bid so she could smoothly pass the buck to him.
"One hundred and fifty million and fifty thousand yuan."
Under Gu Youlan's hopeful mentality, as if by miracle, Mu Jinyu spoke up again and added fifty thousand yuan.
Gu Youlan immediately felt joy, and then, imitating Mu Jinyu's earlier behavior, congratulated him with a tone full of mockery.
In Box Number Seven.
Mei Yinxue reminded Mu Jinyu that increasing the bid by fifty thousand yuan incrementally could easily upset the other party, possibly causing them to end up paying a higher price for the gown than simply bidding ten or twenty million yuan outright, projecting a determined attitude that might even push others back.
Mu Jinyu said, "What if I call one hundred and seventy million yuan and she doesn't follow? Wouldn't I lose twenty million yuan?"
Mei Yinxue said, "What if she directly calls two hundred million yuan next?"
Mu Jinyu replied, "Then I'll just raise it by two hundred million and fifty thousand yuan, after all, I'll compete with her up to three hundred million yuan."
No sooner had the words left his mouth.
Than they heard Gu Youlan's sarcastic congratulation, though her words were full of mockery, Mu Jinyu didn't mind.
Instead, he smiled at Mei Yinxue and raised his eyebrows, saying, "Right? If she doesn't follow, I save twenty million yuan."
Mei Yinxue was speechless for a moment.
Why had Gu Youlan grown timid?
However, although it was incomprehensible, it was still a fortunate outcome.