Chapter 261: The Royal Symphony (Part Two)

"Zheng Qian, I'm telling you, I'm not paying you back that extra five hundred million!"

Jiang Yanran pursed her lips, crossed her arms, and put on a cold expression.

This was exactly what he wanted!

Zheng Qian never intended for Jiang Yanran to pay the money back.

"Let me tell you, the big financial backer behind Yuehua Shipping has just sent two high-level officials, and it's rumored they brought five billion in cash."

"It's better to go high."

Five billion???

Could it be... was Zheng Qian talking about Xingyao Group?

Jiang Yanran had investigated the background of Yuehua Shipping; the backer was Xingyao Group from Qilu, which mainly focused on real estate development and had a market value of tens of billions.

In that case, Zheng Qian's intelligence was quite accurate.

But this price...

At two billion, it was a bit not worth it.

It was almost the price of a large merchant ship.

One was for tourism and sightseeing, the other for long-distance heavy transport.

The profitability definitely couldn't compare to the latter!

However, owning a cruise ship was a symbol of strength for a shipping company.

It was also an admission ticket into the world of capital and fame.

What should she do?

Zheng Qian had already submitted the price.

Was it too late to back out now?

Jiang Yanran fell into a dilemma for a moment.

"It's fine, consider the extra amount a favor from me to President Jiang."

A favor to her?

How rich must Zheng Qian be?

A favor worth five hundred million?

Paying back money was easy; it would be paid off in a few years at most.

But how was she supposed to repay a favor worth five hundred million?

Zheng Qian actually hadn't thought that much about it.

He just wanted to farm a bit more cash back from the system.

Spending 2 billion meant getting 20 billion back!

By the time Jiang Yanran recovered from her daze, the stage had already started announcing the lower-end prices.

"The bottom three are: 1.05 billion, 1.14 billion, 1.21 billion."

The bottom three were already starting at one billion.

Jiang Yanran's analysis was quite correct.

The VIP guests didn't seem very surprised.

After all, the prestige of the royal symphony was just too high.

Plus, Zheng Qian's actions over the past two days had driven the prices very high, with everything being bought at a premium.

Everyone was intimidated.

For the last one today, everyone gritted their teeth and filled in a very high number.

For some of them, one billion was their entire net worth.

Even if they won the bid, it would be difficult to operate, and they would likely just resell it to make a profit of a few tens of millions.

The voice of Auctioneer Wang Xiaoqi on stage rang out again.

"Now announcing the top three bids!"

"The third-place bid is: 1.499 billion!"

"The second-place bid is: 1.577 billion!"

Upon hearing this, the entire venue suddenly fell into silence.

Jiang Yanran couldn't help but gasp.

It really was 1.577 billion?

She looked at Zheng Qian with an expression of disbelief.

"See? I said it would be 1.577 billion, and it was 1.577 billion."

"Hmph, wasn't there someone afraid that the other party would drive up the price?" Jiang Yanran said, unconvinced.

If you were so confident, why did you fill in 2 billion!

It was because he wasn't entirely sure!

After the stunned silence, the venue suddenly erupted into a state of frenzy.

1.577 billion, and it only ranked second?

Most people's valuation of the royal symphony was around 1.5 billion, so 1.577 billion was already a premium of seventy million.

Unless they operated it themselves, they wouldn't be able to make much money reselling it for a profit.

However, the nature of a blind auction meant that, except for the winner, the information of the other participants remained confidential, so no one knew who the second-place bidder was.

If the second place was this high, didn't that mean the winner's price was even higher than 1.577 billion?

Who could it be?

In the last row of the venue.

In a secluded corner.

The expressions on the four people's faces were exceptionally ugly.

Just a moment ago, Xiao Xinhao had been bragging to Shanshan for a long time, saying how high the price was, that it was a premium of tens of millions, and that they would definitely win the bid.

Shanshan listened, mesmerized, thinking that Tang Xingyu was throwing money around like water.

Tang Xingyu also felt that he had face.

Having the glib-tongued Xiao Xinhao by his side wasn't bad either.

Xiao Xinhao's greatest trait was knowing when to be the protagonist and when to be the supporting character.

In this kind of setting, he definitely had to bolster Tang Xingyu and the prestige of Xingyao Group.

But he hadn't expected that after bragging in front of Shanshan...

Before the prices were announced, the three of them were all full of confidence, as if the cruise ship was already in their pocket.

But they didn't expect the slap in the face to come so quickly.

"How could this happen?"

Even with Tang Xingyu's composure, he couldn't help but exclaim in surprise.

Auctioneer Wang Xiaoqi on stage continued to announce the price: "The winning bid is: 2 billion!"

2 billion?

The whole venue was in an uproar.

Is this guy sick in the head!

2 billion could buy a brand-new Symphony-series cruise ship!

Can he even do the math?!

Does he have any brains at all?!

"The winner is: ..."

When Auctioneer Wang Xiaoqi saw the name, she was stunned.

How is it him again?

An expression of surprise appeared on her face.

The people in the audience, seeing this expression, realized something was wrong.

"The winner is: Qianhe Group, Zheng Qian!"

Boom!

The ears of the entire audience instantly exploded.

How is it him again?!

Zheng Qian?

How rich must this kid be!

Even Tang Xingyu and Vice President Qi Chunqing in the back row couldn't sit still anymore.

It's Zheng Qian again?

This turn of events was truly beyond everyone's expectations.

Tang Xingyu's face was livid.

"This... how is this possible?"

Vice President Qi Chunqing let out a cry of disbelief.

How could Zheng Qian possibly still have 2 billion to take out?

Where did all his money come from?

He acted repeatedly, and every time it was a huge amount of capital.

Did he print it at a mint?

Even printing wouldn't be this fast!

There were only three cruise ships in total, and Zheng Qian had bought them all.

At least give others a chance!

Otherwise, why did everyone go to so much trouble, even traveling thousands of miles to come to the Jiangnan venue?

Just to watch Zheng Qian show off?

For a moment, everyone, including Vice President Qi Chunqing and Tang Xingyu, felt intense hostility toward Zheng Qian.

From start to finish, Zheng Qian had already spent billions.

Did Qianhe Group have that much money on their books?

It looked like a company of similar scale to Asia Shipping, so how could they produce so much cash?

Upon hearing that Zheng Qian had bid 2 billion, Shanshan was deeply shocked.

She had thought that Tang Xingyu bringing 5 billion in funds down to Jiangnan was already exaggerated enough.

She didn't expect that Zheng Qian could actually still pull out two billion.

What has the world come to?

Zheng Qian had only graduated a few years ago, and he already had a net worth of ten billion?

You have to know, Xingyao Group, which Tang Xingyu's father, Tang Chuanyan, had painstakingly built up over decades, only had a scale of twenty to thirty billion!

Taking out five billion at once was already the limit for Xingyao Group.

Zheng Qian took out billions so calmly, as if it were a small sum of money.

What exactly had Zheng Qian done in these last few years?

This could no longer be described as a salted fish turning over or a carp leaping over the dragon gate.

It could only be said:

A golden scale is no creature of the pond; once it encounters the wind and clouds, it turns into a dragon!