The Unlucky Turn by Mark Twain 209
The crowd marveled at the strangeness of the Dragon Blood Vine, agreeing that it was worthy of being the finale product. The previous collectibles had started at five million at most, but the starting bid for the Dragon Blood Vine was already seven million. It was hard to imagine what the final transaction price would be.
The bidding began. Micah was the first to raise his paddle. “Eight million.”
Zoey, unwilling to be outdone, joined the battlefield. “Ten million.”
She had just been played by Leilani, and she didn’t believe she could be played a second time!
Leilani glanced at the two of them indifferently. She wasn’t affected by them. She raised her paddle. “Eleven million.”
Seeing that Leilani wasn’t increasing the price as decisively as the first time, Zoey assumed Leilani was afraid and became even more smug. Her next bid added a massive sum directly. “Twenty million.”
Zoey was clearly trying to give Leilani a hard time. People usually increased bids by one million at a time. Nobody added nine million in a single breath.
The people present were astonished. Low murmurs of discussion began to ripple through the auction hall.
In the front row, a white-haired old man frowned and shook his head, whispering to his assistant, “That girl from the Yetman family is really acting out. The Dragon Blood Vine is precious, but you can’t just jump to twenty million like that. How are people behind her supposed to bid? Is she treating the auction like a playground for her grudges?”
Such lack of manners! The Yetman family was looking more and more unpresentable.
The assistant whispered in agreement, “I heard Ms. Yetman was tricked by Ms. Sloan earlier and bought a useless Snow Reishi at a high price. She’s probably doing this out of revenge.”
Not far away, several heads of pharmaceutical groups whispered to each other, “Since when is the Yetman Oil & Gas so interested in medicinal herbs?”
“You haven’t figured it out? She doesn’t want the herbs; she clearly wants to embarrass Ms. Sloan.”
Someone sneered. “A dignified daughter of the Yetman family throwing a tantrum like this at an auction… truly…”
Before he could finish, his companion signaled him with a look to stop.
Micah leaned against the railing of his box, swirling his wine glass, amused by Zoey’s bold move. His gaze shifted between Leilani’s calm profile and Zoey’s tense back, and he suddenly chuckled. “Interesting.”
Micah’s assistant observed his expression. “Mr. Locke, Ms. Yetman is bidding so aggressively. Should we continue to follow?”
“Follow! Why wouldn’t we?” Micah took a sip of red wine and wrote down a number for his assistant
19:28
to hold up.
“Mr. Locke in Box 2 bids twenty-five million! Is there any gentleman or lady who wishes to add to the bid?”
When Micah’s twenty-five million came out, the guests present felt that these two had gone crazy and withdrew from the fight one after another, turning to watch the drama unfold among the three of them.
Compared to the boldness and recklessness of Micah and Zoey, Leilani was much calmer. She continued to increase the bid by one million at a time.
Micah and Zoey had money to burn. The price of the Dragon Blood Vine quickly climbed to thirty million, and only Micah, Zoey, and Leilani remained in the contest.
The expression of Zoey’s assistant shifted. He lowered his voice and urgently tugged at her sleeve.
“Ms. Yetman, we can’t bid anymore! The chairman only authorized fifty million in funds for this account. You already spent eighteen million on the Snow Reishi…”
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