602: Huang Pengxing's suggestion

"Actually, there's no need to go to such trouble, specifically adding a role for her. We can have her audition later. If you feel it's not suitable, we'll just drop the matter. There's no need to add a role on the fly that feels forced and ends up causing backlash from the audience."

As a viewer himself, Ye Su knew all too well how much audiences detested those who got roles through connections.

the unsealed dossier was, after all, a low-budget indie film with no famous directors, screenwriters, or actors attached to it.

Any slight disturbance could potentially affect the film's box office and audience reputation.

Ye Su didn't want to force Chen Xinyi into the cast and end up causing any unexpected issues.

Furthermore, the system believed that Chen Xinyi was suitable to be the female lead in the unsealed dossier. Ye Su trusted that Chen Xinyi would be able to be successfully selected by the director, just like when she filmed the short drama last time, without needing Tan Xinyuan to specially add a role for her.

"I understand, Mr. Ye!"

Ye Su's thoughtfulness moved Tan Xinyuan even more.

To be able to meet an investor like this, he must have really been blessed by his ancestors!

"If there are no other issues, let's stop here for today. Once the contract is signed, I'll transfer the money to you."

"Alright!"

Under Tan Xinyuan's gaze, Ye Su got up and left the coffee shop.

After stepping out of the shop, Ye Su first ducked into his car. Under the cover of the vehicle, he took out the packaging bag containing the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company stock, and only then did he walk into the office building located just two storefronts away from the coffee shop.

Although he hadn't yet gotten his hands on the Qing Dynasty blue and white porcelain buried beneath the Longyue No. 1 villa.

However, Ye Su was worried that the jade pendant at Jiawen Auction House might be bought by someone else, so he decided to make an extra trip to secure the jade pendant first.

He would buy the villa later, retrieve the blue and white porcelain plate from underground, and then come back to the auction house.

He had just made an appointment with Manager Huang on his phone, and the receptionist recognized Ye Su at a glance.

Without encountering any obstacles, Ye Su was led to the door of Manager Huang's office.

"Mr. Ye."

As soon as Ye Su entered, Manager Huang stood up enthusiastically to greet him: "Good morning."

"Manager Huang, good morning."

After he entered, Manager Huang's eyes kept glancing intentionally or unintentionally at the bag in his hand. Ye Su stopped making small talk; after sitting down, he placed the packaging bag in front of Manager Huang:

"Manager Huang, let me show you something."

"Anything that Mr. Ye brings over must be a good item."

Seeing that there seemed to be only a piece of yellow paper in the bag just now, Manager Huang had thought it was some large-denomination official silver note from the Qing Dynasty Ministry of Revenue.

When he saw clearly what was in the bag, Manager Huang's heart shook violently, and he sprang up from his chair.

The reaction was so large that it even startled Ye Su.

"This is!" Manager Huang widened his eyes, looking at Ye Su in disbelief: "China Merchants Steam Navigation Company stock!"

The paper had large characters written on it that read [China Merchants Steam Navigation Company Share Certificate], so Ye Su didn't hypocritically compliment Manager Huang on his sharp eyes.

"Is this authentic!"

"Barring any surprises, it should be."

"Incredible!" Manager Huang didn't doubt it, his hands trembling slightly with excitement: "So there really were China Merchants Steam Navigation Company stocks preserved!"

After sitting down, Manager Huang asked Ye Su to wait a moment, then searched on his computer for books recording the style of China Merchants Steam Navigation Company stocks, and then compared the details of the stock in his hand one by one.

After careful comparison, Manager Huang confirmed that the various details of this stock that Ye Su brought could correspond to the sample tickets recorded in the books.

However, among those alive today, no one had ever seen the physical stock of the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company, let alone how to authenticate it.

Therefore, to determine if the stock Ye Su brought was authentic, Manager Huang still needed to perform a Carbon-14 test to confirm whether the stock in his hand had truly been passed down from over 150 years ago.

"Mr. Ye, may I ask, where did you get this stock?"

"This was entrusted to me by a friend to handle. Since he specifically asked me to handle it on his behalf, it's naturally not convenient to reveal his identity."

"Understood."

With a few words, Ye Su fabricated a 'friend' who could only be understood but not spoken of. Manager Huang deeply accepted Ye Su's implication and no longer pried into who was behind Ye Su.

"Because China Merchants Steam Navigation Company stocks have never appeared on the market, I have no way to authenticate the stock's authenticity with my eyes, so I still need to use professional equipment to conduct an appraisal."

"Understood."

"Then this time, what method do you plan to use to trade this item with us?"

"Do you have any good suggestions?"

"Just like last time, if you want to receive the payment quickly, I can make the decision to buy this stock for 5 million in cash."

"5 million…"

The price offered by Manager Huang made Ye Su frown.

He had originally thought that since someone was willing to offer 1 million to acquire it 20 years ago, even if this stock wasn't worth 10 million now, it should be worth 8 million. He hadn't expected Manager Huang to only offer him 5 million.

But thinking about it carefully, 20 years ago, gold was over 100 per gram. Ignoring the absurd rise in gold prices this year, in 2024, the price of gold per gram was only over 500.

And there had been no actual transaction records for China Merchants Steam Navigation Company stock.

If using the gold price increase over the last 20 years as a reference, the 5 million price offered by Manager Huang could be considered reasonable.

But looking at it from another angle, if Manager Huang could make the decision to accept this stock for 5 million, it meant that in his view, the actual value of this stock definitely exceeded 5 million.

Now that a single piece of intelligence easily required over 10 million in funds, Ye Su felt that selling the stock for 5 million just to get money quickly wasn't very meaningful.

Now that he knew the actual value of the stock would exceed 5 million, Ye Su felt it would be better to spend some time handing the stock over to Jiawen Auction House, letting them go through the auction process to see if he could earn a few million more.

Just as Ye Su decided to put the stock up for auction, Manager Huang seemed to see through his thoughts and spoke first:

"5 million in cash is already the highest price our auction house can offer. Even if I go to apply to the general manager, the final price won't be much higher.

Although this stock is very likely a unique item, as an antique collectible, 5 million is also a very high price. I believe that if you deal directly with antique collectors, they wouldn't offer a price higher than 5 million."

After hearing this, Ye Su thought Manager Huang was being persuasive, trying to trick him into selling the stock to Jiawen Auction House for 5 million, but then Manager Huang changed his tone:

"However, I personally recommend that you hand the stock over to our auction house to be auctioned at the future autumn auction. The final transaction price is very likely to exceed 5 million, and it's even possible for it to exceed 10 million."

"Hmm?"

Manager Huang's final estimated transaction price for the stock actually reached over 10 million, which surprised Ye Su greatly, and he couldn't help but ask curiously:

"What do you mean by that?"

Manager Huang smiled mysteriously: "You shouldn't be unaware of which group the China Merchants Steam Navigation Company has developed into now, right?"