328: Chapter 328 Defective Products

One, ten, hundred, thousand... billion!

After clearly counting the balance in Shen Yan's electronic wallet, the manager did not hesitate to say to the man behind him, "The private room belongs to this gentleman."

The man truly hadn't expected Shen Yan to have that much money.

To know that everything he owned, including real estate, only amounted to a few tens of millions!

Realizing the person before him was someone he couldn't afford to offend, the man turned around and scurried away sheepishly, tail between his legs.

Once the irrelevant onlookers were gone, the manager immediately led the three of them to the private room.

"The auction will start in an hour. Before it begins, you can relax here, or you can go downstairs and look around."

"If there is anything you'd like to eat or drink, you can ask the staff to buy it for you from outside."

After giving a few simple instructions, the manager went off to attend to his own matters.

When only the three of them were left in the room, Lao Sheng couldn't hold back his curiosity and asked Shen Yan, "What do you do for a living? Why do you have so much money? Are you a second-generation rich kid?"

Hearing the question, Shen Yan smiled and replied, "I'm not a second-generation rich kid; I just run a company."

As soon as the words fell, Lao Sheng's mouth dropped open in astonishment.

He hadn't expected that the person he casually encountered was actually a wealthy man with assets in the tens of millions.

"Oh my god! It turns out my luck has really returned. I can run into a rich person just by grabbing someone randomly..."

"But I really have you to thank. Otherwise, I would definitely be crammed with others on the first floor this time."

Shen Yan shook his head, "No need to be so polite with me. If you hadn't told me there were no seats on the first floor and that we needed to book a private room, my girlfriend and I would be squeezed down there right now."

Hearing this, Lao Sheng scratched his head a little sheepishly.

There was less than an hour before the auction began.

The three felt the waiting time was too boring.

So, they played games while chatting about random things.

Through their conversation, Shen Yan and Liu Hui got to know Lao Sheng better.

Lao Sheng's purpose for attending this auction was very simple: he wanted to bet his entire fortune to see if he could cut out a top-grade emerald green.

"Isn't that too impulsive? No matter what, what's being sold at this auction are just stones. Even if you truly love the jade betting industry, you can't put your entire net worth on a single stone, can you?" Shen Yan said while pouring tea for Lao Sheng.

Although he had only spent about half a day with Lao Sheng, he quite liked Lao Sheng's personality.

If Lao Sheng truly intended to bet his entire fortune on the stones at the auction, he would only achieve one of two outcomes.

One outcome was leaving empty-handed—the top-grade rough stone being bought by Shen Yan through bidding.

The other outcome was becoming destitute and heavily indebted—buying a flawed item and failing to cut out good jade.

Although Lao Sheng knew Shen Yan's persuasion made sense, he still didn't plan to change his plan.

Even if he had gambled away his entire fortune and ended up deeply in debt before, he still believed that jade betting could make him rich overnight again.

"Stop trying to persuade me. I've already made up my mind. Whether I live or die depends on this auction!"

Seeing that he couldn't persuade Lao Sheng, Shen Yan stopped trying.

After all, he and Lao Sheng were just strangers who had only known each other for about half a day.

Persuading once or twice was fine.

Persuading too much...

He would get annoyed, and the other party would also get annoyed.

Time moved forward second by second.

Before long, the auction began.

The view from their private room was excellent.

From their vantage point, everything on the first floor, including the auction stage, was visible.

As the auction started, the area below began to liven up.

Muffled discussions drifted through the air, reaching their second-floor private room.

"I heard that quite a few stones were imported from abroad this time... the quality is excellent!"

"Don't even think about it. Stones like that will definitely be extremely expensive; we can't afford them."

"Even if we can't afford them, it's fine just to look!"

"Do you think anyone will buy a stone on the spot and cut it open immediately? I want to see if they can cut out top-grade jade..."

"I don't know..."

Listening to the discussions downstairs, Lao Sheng nervously clenched his fists.

His total net worth was exactly 12,589,765 yuan, down to the last cent.

He had truly brought his entire fortune.

He was truly prepared for either instant wealth or instant ruin.

"Good afternoon, everyone. Thank you all very much for taking time out of your busy schedules to attend our auction."

"Because I know everyone is eager to see the stones we are presenting, I won't waste time with pleasantries and will get straight to the point."

With that, the auction Host signaled the staff to push forward a large, round, black rough stone.

"This stone was imported from abroad. Because it has some flaws, we decided not to put it up for auction."

"To make everyone even more excited about this auction, we have decided to use the activity of cutting this rough stone to open the event!"

As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd on the first floor instantly erupted.

"Holy crap! It really is the biggest auction house! They're using such a large rough stone for the opening event..."

"The Host said this rough stone has flaws. Did you spot any flaws?"

"I'm too far away; I can't see..."

"I saw it! The water line on that stone doesn't seem very straight..."

Unlike the excitement downstairs, the private room where Shen Yan and the other two were was very quiet.

Liu Hui was quiet because she didn't understand stones and was more interested in the cutting process, so her gaze was fixed entirely on the rough stone.

Shen Yan was quiet because he wasn't interested in that large stone.

As for Lao Sheng...

He was silent because he was too nervous and overly excited, rendering him unable to speak.

Thus, the three of them watched the staff downstairs in unified silence.

"Vroom vroom vroom!"

The cutting machine began to operate.

With the first cut,

The people on the first floor began to celebrate wildly.

"Ahhh!!! Such a huge patch of green!"

"Heavens! Is this still considered a flawed item?!"

"The quality isn't bad; did they really cut out good jade?"

"Why are you all in such a hurry? This rough stone isn't completely cut open yet!"

"Right, right, everyone, don't rush!"

Discussions continued to erupt.

The staff member continued working with the cutting machine.

As his movements progressed, the guests on the first floor gradually realized that the jade inside the rough stone was not as large as they had imagined.

Not only was it not as large as they imagined, but the quality wasn't as good as they had imagined either.

Just as the auction Host had said, this rough stone was indeed a flawed item.

"Tsk! It seems this rough stone, which took so much effort to transport in, is nothing special after all."

"The boss of this auction house is truly impressive for being able to recognize that this rough stone was a flawed item..."