404: Chapter 44 Inhumanity of Extravagance

That's what he said, but Xia Tiantian didn't seem angry at all.

He said excitedly to Mei Jinning, "Call him out! Let the few of us play a game!"

As soon as the words fell,

Chen Wu stood up and straightened his clothes.

"I won't play with you guys."

Ren Ling looked up in confusion.

"Where are you going?"

Chen Wu replied while walking out, "To work."

After he left, Mei Jinning also had no intention of staying any longer.

"Thud!"

Placing the item in her hand on the table, Mei Jinning smoothed her slightly wrinkled qipao, stood up, and walked away in her high heels, saying, "You guys keep playing. I'm leaving first."

Seeing that one by one they were all leaving,

Xia Tiantian and Ren Ling also lost interest and stopped mentioning calling Shen Yan over to play.

Time flew by.

Soon, it was the day of the auction.

Since it was an auction hosted by the local province, all the influential entrepreneurs from the area attended.

Most of the entrepreneurs present were involved in real estate or development.

For someone like Shen Yan, who was in IT, he stood out quite a bit among those entrepreneurs.

"Isn't this CEO Shen, who has been making waves recently?"

"Is CEO Shen also looking to venture into other fields?"

Hearing the questions from the other entrepreneurs, Shen Yan smiled and replied, "No, I just came to take a look."

After a few pleasantries, Shen Yan took a seat in one of the rows near the back.

Originally, Chen Guangke had wanted to come with him today, but because several technical issues suddenly arose with the company's project, only Shen Yan came.

Once all the entrepreneurs attending the auction were present, the auction began.

Since everyone here had a very clear objective, the person in charge of the auction upstairs didn't waste time and immediately started auctioning off the piece of derelict land.

The starting bid for the derelict land was eighty million.

Bidding officially commenced.

"Ninety million!"

"One hundred million."

"One hundred and twenty million."

"One hundred and thirty million..."

The pace of bidding grew faster and faster.

Everyone had their eyes fixed on this piece of land.

Shen Yan was not in a hurry to bid.

He was quietly observing from the back.

To see which person would be the final contender against him for this land.

As time ticked by second by second, the number of bidders gradually decreased.

Not long after, only two people were left bidding at the venue.

"Three hundred and sixty million."

When this price was announced, everyone else present stopped raising their hands.

"Three hundred and sixty million, once."

"Three hundred and sixty million..."

Just then, Shen Yan finally raised the paddle in his hand.

"Three hundred and eighty million."

As the words fell,

Everyone turned their heads simultaneously to look at the person who spoke.

Seeing that the bidder was Shen Yan, they all began to whisper and murmur amongst themselves.

"Shen Yan? Isn't his company focused on the artificial intelligence project?"

"I don't know, but he's quite hot on the internet recently..."

"Is he aiming for success in every field, allowing a hundred flowers to bloom?"

"Hmph! There's no such thing as having both the bear's paw and the fish in the world. He’s never done development before. If he really buys this land, I estimate he'll lose everything!"

Shen Yan ignored these casual remarks.

He quietly stared at the person in charge standing on the stage, waiting for him to bring down the gavel.

"Three hundred and eighty million, once..."

Before he finished speaking,

The other person raised his hand again.

"Four hundred and ten million!"

Upon hearing this, the entire audience fell silent for a few seconds.

Immediately afterward, everyone erupted.

"Damn! Who is this guy? Why haven't I heard of him before?"

"Even if this derelict land is quite valuable, is it worth spending this much money?"

"Tsk, tsk, tsk! It seems this auction is destined to be a game among the wealthy..."

The person bidding against Shen Yan was sitting in the front row.

Shen Yan couldn't see the person bidding against him, but he felt that voice sounded somewhat familiar.

Just as he was silently thinking about where he had heard that voice before, the person in charge on stage began to call the price.

"Four hundred and ten million, once!"

"Four hundred and ten million, twice!"

Seeing that the land was about to be snatched away, Shen Yan quickly raised the paddle in his hand again.

"Five hundred million."

Upon hearing this price, everyone gasped simultaneously.

"Jumping the bid by ninety million directly? That's unreasonably wealthy!"

"I heard that software he recently developed is very popular, so it's normal for him to have money."

"Sigh, comparing yourself to others makes you angry. I've worked diligently in development my whole life, and the money I've earned isn't even a fraction of his..."

"Don't sigh here. We just came to go through the motions."

This time, the person sitting in the front row did not raise his paddle again.

Shen Yan successfully secured the land.

The auction ended.

Shen Yan had intended to take the opportunity to see who the person bidding against him was, but as soon as he stood up, several unfamiliar entrepreneur bosses immediately approached him.

"Congratulations, CEO Shen, congratulations, CEO Shen!"

"CEO Shen is truly young and promising. We old folks can't compare!"

"CEO Shen, can we exchange contact information?"

Shen Yan: "..."

By the time he sent these people away, the person who had been bidding against him had long since vanished without a trace.

Helplessly, he first went to register for the procedures to transfer the land from the person responsible for the auction.

Half an hour later.

He walked out of the auction venue.

"Jingle bells!"

His phone rang. He pulled out his phone to look and saw it was Chen Guangke.

He answered the call, and heard Chen Guangke anxiously shouting on the other end, "Did you buy it?!"

Shen Yan responded with an "Mm."

Chen Guangke exclaimed excitedly, "Hahaha, I knew you could do it! But why don't you sound that happy?"

Shen Yan let out a laugh.

"What's there to be happy about for something that was rightfully mine?"

Chen Guangke: "... Alright, alright, whatever you say. When are you planning to come back?"

Shen Yan glanced at the time.

"It's already four o'clock, so I won't go back to the company."

Chen Guangke sighed.

"As expected, it's great to be the boss. You can get off work whenever you want."

Shen Yan laughed heartily.

Just as he was chatting on the phone with Chen Guangke, someone was watching him from a place he didn't notice.

"CEO Chen, should we play some tricks?"

Hearing the secretary's question, Chen Wu nodded, "This piece of land must be mine. Let him know when to back down."

The secretary lowered his head, "Understood."

Then, Chen Wu turned and left without any hesitation.

Originally, Shen Yan thought that buying this piece of land at the auction and securing the land use rights was a sure thing, but he didn't expect subsequent procedures to run into problems.

"What do you mean by this? What do you mean I'm not qualified?"

Hearing Shen Yan's question, the person in charge of auctioning the land said with a forced smile, "This... this means exactly what it says. According to the rules, you are unable to purchase this derelict land."