247: Multiple-assessment auction

The auction was in a villa area in the suburbs. If Li Kangsheng hadn't told Su Yue and the others beforehand, they wouldn't have found the place.

This was also why the auction was little-known. If no one led the way, no one would know that an auction was hidden in the suburbs.

When the two arrived, the bodyguards at the door repeatedly checked their invitation letters, only letting them in after confirming the invitations were not forged.

What they didn't know was that at the same time Su Yue and Lan Zijun went in, Liang Yuzhu was also staking out nearby, but to avoid alerting the enemy, Liang Yuzhu didn't directly break in.

However, Su Yue and Lan Zijun had listening devices on them, so they could understand the situation inside from the outside.

The auction site was decorated very lavishly, resplendent with gold and jade, and bodyguards were arranged not far apart.

Lan Zijun casually scanned the surroundings and whispered into the hidden earpiece, "Liang Yuzhu, there are 6 bodyguards at the door and 30 bodyguards in the hall."

Looking at the number of bodyguards, you could tell that nothing auctioned here was something that could see the light of day.

The moment they entered, a man with a slightly rough appearance walked up to them.

Unlike his physique which looked hard to mess with, the words he spoke were very polite.

"Are you here for the first time? I am the Manager here, my surname is Wei. You might not understand the rules here as you've just arrived, do you need me to introduce them to you?"

Lan Zijun's expression didn't change, and she said with a smile, "Yes, this is my first time. A few days ago, I heard Li Zong say there were good things here, so I came to take a look today."

When the other party heard Li Zong, his eyes flickered, and he became even more polite to Lan Zijun.

"So this young lady was introduced by Li Zong. I was also very surprised by what happened to Li Zong these past few days and was thinking of visiting him when I had time."

Lan Zijun was calm, but she casually revealed her identity.

"My surname is Lan."

Manager Wei immediately realized Lan Zijun's identity, and his attitude instantly became more respectful.

"So you are President Lan, I have long admired your name. President Lan, how about we go to the private room first, so I can introduce our auction to you?"

Lan Zijun didn't refuse, and nodded coolly.

Su Yue quietly stood beside her, acting as Lan Zijun's male companion, not speaking, but stealthily surveying the surroundings with his eyes, taking a general look at the auction.

This auction wasn't very large. There were private rooms on the second floor, and the exhibition area in the center of the first floor wasn't big either. It was hard to imagine that such a small auction stage had auctioned off many items that even the country didn't have in its collection.

Manager Wei motioned for the two to go upstairs while explaining, "The auction is held once every half month, and the auction items include anything you want."

"However, each person can only bid on one item per auction. If you are still interested in other items after winning one, you can only wait for the next auction to bid again. This auction house only supports cash transactions.

"President Lan, you can also tell me what you need later, and I will find them for you as soon as possible."

Hearing Manager Wei's explanation, both Lan Zijun and Su Yue couldn't help but raise their eyebrows.

There was a lot hidden in his words. If this auction house really had anything they wanted as he said, then this auction house was not simple.

Perhaps because Li Kangsheng was famous at this auction house, Manager Wei's attitude towards the two was very good. He only turned to leave after preparing pastries and tea for them.

The moment Manager Wei left, Lan Zijun leaned closer to Su Yue, pretending to whisper to him.

"Su Yue, this Manager Wei is probably not simple."

Lan Zijun even had a feeling that the other party seemed to have seen through their intention to crash the place this time, and the way he looked at them was strange.

Warm breath hit his body, and the tip of his nose caught a woman's fragrance. Su Yue's brain, which was still on high alert, suddenly froze.

He uncomfortably wanted to step back, but his peripheral vision caught the camera above his head, so he ultimately pretended that nothing had happened.

"There are bodyguards outside the door, we need to be careful."

Lan Zijun was startled, and then became even more certain of the idea in her heart.

She said with certainty, "What's being auctioned here is probably not legal stuff!"

Don't look at how Li Kangsheng was threatened by Su Yue and the others into giving the invitation letter to Lan Zijun, but when he actually gave the invitation letter to Lan Zijun.

He still subtly reminded Lan Zijun that this auction was not easy to attend and hoped she would consider carefully.

Lan Zijun herself naturally had no interest in this auction, but she had to help Liang Yuzhu find out where the batch of tang dynasty antiques that flowed out of the ancient tomb had gone, and because of this, she could only pretend not to have understood Li Kangsheng's reminder.

However, after entering the auction house today and seeing so many bodyguards here, she could also guess that nothing auctioned here would be simple.

Su Yue agreed with Lan Zijun's view, but they couldn't be too conspicuous now and expose themselves prematurely.

He nodded slightly.

Because his current identity was Lan Zijun's male companion, to make it look more realistic, he picked up the pastries that Manager Wei had just brought and offered them to Lan Zijun ingratiatingly.

Taking advantage of the moment while feeding her, he turned his body to block his mouth and quietly asked Liang Yuzhu outside.

"Captain Liang, how is it on your side?"

Their action today was an inside-outside cooperation. Su Yue and Lan Zijun would enter the auction to collect useful information, and then Liang Yuzhu, who was ambushing outside, would come in and catch everyone red-handed.

Liang Yuzhu's cool voice sounded in their ears: "We are also ready here. The Manager you mentioned might suspect your identities, you must be careful."

It was Lan Zijun's first time being fed by someone. When Su Yue's hand was about to touch her mouth, her whole body froze.

If Su Yue hadn't spoken in time, she might have been so startled she would have spoken directly, and then they might have truly exposed their identities.

Unlike Lan Zijun's panic, Su Yue was very calm. Seeing that Lan Zijun didn't open her mouth, he touched her moist and glossy red lips with the pastry again, silently urging her.

Seeing Su Yue so composed, a surge of inexplicable anger rose in Lan Zijun's heart.

She glared at him slightly, and then resentfully opened her mouth to bite down on the pastry he offered.

Su Yue didn't know how he had angered Lan Zijun again and was a bit confused, but hearing Liang Yuzhu's reminder, he still answered her first.

"Captain Liang, don't worry, we will protect ourselves."

Although he wasn't great at fighting, he had just observed the entire auction house pretty thoroughly. If any accident really happened, he should be able to hide with Lan Zijun.

Anyway, since Liang Yuzhu was outside, Su Yue wasn't worried that they would be in any danger.

Moreover, he had just noticed that Manager Wei's reaction was very strange when he heard Li Kangsheng's name, and his attitude towards them became very fawning after knowing Lan Zijun's identity. This person probably wouldn't dare to provoke the Li family and the Lan family.

After that, Su Yue told Liang Yuzhu about his findings, and the auction began.

The two sat comfortably on the sofa, watching the large screen in the private room and listening to the host introduce the items for auction.

To make their act more convincing, they would occasionally communicate with each other.

"Is there anything you like? I'll bid on it for you."

These words were said by Lan Zijun to Su Yue, since Su Yue was currently Lan Zijun's male companion.

To cooperate with her, Su Yue also genuinely made a gesture of thinking, but when he saw the host enthusiastically introducing the items, he still shook his head.

"These things aren't very interesting, I don't like them."

Lan Zijun also nodded cooperatively: "I came because I heard Li Zong say there were good things here. Who knew these things were all the most common ones? I don't have much interest either."

Su Yue sat up excitedly and looked at Lan Zijun: "There's nothing good anyway, how about we leave!"

Lan Zijun frowned: "Could the later items be the good ones?"

Su Yue snorted disdainfully: "What good things haven't you seen? Can these things catch your eye? Since we're not interested anyway, why are we still wasting time here?"

Lan Zijun was somewhat persuaded by Su Yue. She nodded in agreement: "You're right."

Su Yue stood up and took Lan Zijun's hand: "Then let's go."

Lan Zijun didn't refuse and just let Su Yue pull her towards the exit.

Su Yue seemed genuinely uninterested in this auction. As he walked, he grumbled irritably, "They said there were good things, but it's just some ordinary tang dynasty porcelain. I don't know what's so good about these."

Lan Zijun said soothingly, "Don't be angry, I'll take you to bid on better things next time."

As soon as the two stepped out of the private room, they met the gaze of the bodyguard standing guard in front of their door.

Su Yue's face became even more displeased: "What's going on with this auction house? Do they still want to kill people and steal goods?"

The bodyguard knew that the people in the private room were not to be messed with. Hearing Su Yue say this, he quickly explained anxiously, "You've misunderstood, our auction house is just protecting your safety, there is absolutely no other intention."

Lan Zijun saw that the bodyguard's expression wasn't very good either. She frowned: "Why didn't I know that when bidding on items, there would be people guarding the door? Are you doubting that I can't afford it? Do you need to send people to guard here because you're worried I'll leave?"

How could the bodyguard dare offend them? He quickly begged for mercy.

It was also at this time that Manager Wei hurried up from downstairs. When he saw Lan Zijun's sullen face, he was a bit anxious.

"President Lan, what's wrong? Isn't the auction still going on? Why are you leaving? Do you have any opinions about our auction?"

Hearing this, Lan Zijun snorted coldly and sneered, "So you also know your auction house is no good? You show me so little trash and dare to talk about good things? Li Zong didn't take your advertising fee, did he!"

At this moment, Manager Wei's rough face was full of fawning smiles, and his attitude towards Lan Zijun became even more enthusiastic.

"So President Lan, you are dissatisfied with our auction because of this. I am very sorry that President Lan had a bad experience today, but could President Lan give us another chance? I guarantee that this time the items on display will definitely satisfy President Lan."

Lan Zijun frowned, looking Manager Wei up and down suspiciously, with a face full of displeasure.

"What do you mean? Do you have other items on display privately?"

Hearing this, Manager Wei didn't speak, but instead made a fawning 'please' gesture towards Lan Zijun.

Manager Wei's rough face and muscular physique actually didn't match fawning at all, but now he was flattering Lan Zijun with a fierce smiling face.

Lan Zijun was almost getting goosebumps from his nauseating behavior, but seeing victory was close, she naturally wouldn't give up so easily.

She snorted coldly: "If I'm still not satisfied this time, I'll be an anti-fan of your auction house in the future, and I'll definitely tell everyone not to come here."

Manager Wei quickly apologized to Lan Zijun and repeatedly promised that this time he would definitely not disappoint her. Only then did Lan Zijun 'reluctantly' agree to follow him and take a look.

Su Yue feigned confusion and asked, "Does your auction house also divide items into good and bad? Why don't you just bring them all out at once? It's not like we can't afford them."

Manager Wei's body stiffened the moment Su Yue asked the question. He chuckled a few times before stiffly explaining.

"No, it's not that our auction house is saying you can't afford it, it's just that some items are relatively rare, and we wouldn't recommend them to some guests if they don't like them."

Hearing this, Lan Zijun said coldly, "So you let me see that trash? Do you think I, Lan Zijun, can't afford those things?"

A layer of hot sweat appeared on Manager Wei's forehead. He racked his brains trying to figure out how not to anger these two 'gods of wealth'.

As the President of Yuantu Investment, Lan Zijun naturally wasn't short of money.

It's just that the things inside hadn't been assessed, and he didn't dare to easily take people in to see them...

Manager Wei kept thinking about how to explain things to appease Lan Zijun and Su Yue's anger, naturally not seeing the smug smiles on the faces of the two people behind him.

After descending the second floor, Manager Wei led them to the backstage, then pushed open a door with no markings, and inside that door, there was actually a hidden path.

Seeing Manager Wei's practiced movements, Su Yue spoke with full sarcasm.

"It seems your auction is really not simple. Bidding on an item even requires going through your layers of assessment."

Manager Wei subconsciously looked at Su Yue, and a cold sweat broke out on his back.

Su Yue's words implied too much. Manager Wei couldn't tell for a moment if he was mocking their auction or if there was a deeper meaning.

Thinking of a certain possibility, Manager Wei was startled. All the explanations in his mind instantly vanished, replaced by another uneasy thought.

Manager Wei's gaze towards Su Yue was full of suspicion, and his tone became much colder.

"You are exaggerating, sir. We just want to give our guests a better auction experience only."

Lan Zijun looked coldly at Manager Wei: "The 'experience' you're talking about is treating me like a monkey? If there are no good things, there are no good things. What are you pretending for? It's all trash anyway, nothing worth seeing. Let's go."

After speaking, Lan Zijun pulled Su Yue and turned to leave.

Manager Wei dared to bully the unidentified Su Yue beside Lan Zijun, but he absolutely dared not provoke Lan Zijun. Seeing Lan Zijun about to leave, his previous suspicion was immediately thrown aside, and he anxiously stepped forward to stop Lan Zijun.

"No, that's not it, President Lan. Our auction house absolutely didn't mean to trick you. We're almost at the auction hall, won't you come in and take a look? I guarantee you won't be disappointed."