80 Chapter Victory Belongs to the Strong

t to have a friendly match, but you guys will still face us!" Liu Rui quickly explained. In fact, among the three of them, Xu Yi Yang had the highest level in playing Pro Evolution Soccer (PES), follo...Vol. 5 Towards a Happier End Chapter 80 The Victor

Su Can was fully focused on the goal of Jia Hua's dinner party for three hours, his mind somewhat detached from the current situation, and he didn't expect to meet his cousin Tang Wu's mother Qian Yu and her friends here.

Mu Kaizhu first noticed Su Can. Initially happy, she wanted to greet him, but was preempted by Ning Dong beside her.

Ning Dong and Pang Yiran arrived with their mothers He Guoke. They were the children of Tang Wu's father's circle of friends whom Su Can met on his return from being an exchange student. Su Can remembered a girl named Ding Tingting who encountered conflict, which led to Ning Dong being tricked into participating in a scheme against her will. Later, Su Can and Tang Wu stepped in to help Ning Dong avoid being surrounded by others. As a result, the girl felt betrayed by her best friend and cried uncontrollably, feeling extremely attached to Tang Wu and unwilling for her to leave Shanghai.

Seeing Ning Dong now, she seemed different from how Su Can remembered her a year ago—wearing a Chardonnay necklace and a white one-piece dress that looked very innocent. She still had single eyelids but appeared more refined today in a black pleated skirt, suggesting she was already a college student.

Pang Yiran wore a high-neck sweater, looking tidy and neat. He was equally surprised to see Su Can and Ning Dong but didn't express it as clearly as Ning Dong did.

Su Can saw them and felt everything vividly in his mind. It seemed like he and Tang Wu had just landed from their trip abroad; however, the noisy corridor outside reminded him that this was already a year ago.

The auction's prelude was quite tense, but Ning Dong’s arrival injected some vitality into the murmuring crowd, prompting everyone to look at them curiously. They saw Ning Dong and Pang Yiran running up to Su Can, guessing they must be from wealthy families preparing their children for society.

Ning Dong and Pang Yiran quickly approached and stood before Su Can. Ning Dong, being more agile, greeted Lin Guangdong with "Hello uncle."

The two then had a clearer understanding of who Su Can was—they presumed he was just accompanying his family to the event. Lin Guangdong played the role of an extended relative, nodding at Ning Dong and Pang Yiran who greeted him.

"Let's go in and see," said He Guoke, who is vice-chairman of Shanghai General Trade Union. She asked Su Can, "You've come too Are you here with your family to bid"

Su Can was surprised that Ning Dong’s mother remembered him so clearly, despite how unremarkable he seemed back then. With He Guoke's status, she had no reason to pay attention to someone like Su Can.

He Guoke extended her hand to Lin Guangdong and shook hands with a smile, "Hello. Su Can is quite good. When he came to Shanghai, he was still a little boy. Now he should be in university, right Where are you studying"

Lin Guangdong couldn't help but laugh as he shook hands with He Guoke and responded with a smile, "Yes, he’s now at Nan Da University, I brought him over to look around." With that, he winked at Su Can, who found it irritating.

"Nan Da is quite good. My Dongdong is studying at Shanghai University; you two should keep in touch. Dongdong often talks about you and Tang Wu."

Hearing her mother's words, Ning Dong blushed slightly and said to Su Can with a smile, "So you're at Nan Da! Give me your phone number and QQ so we can stay in touch. After the auction ends, let's meet somewhere for a chat. My cousin Tang Wu came to Shanghai; I was surprised she didn't come to see me. Anyway, my mom wants to go inside first—see you later."

Su Can smiled as he watched He Guoke leave with Ning Dong and Pang Yiran before greeting Mu Kaizhu and Qian Yu who were just ahead of them.

Qian Yu simply smiled at Su Can, while Mu Kaizhu had wanted to greet him but was preempted by Ning Dong. She then glanced at Ning Dong with a slight disdain; similarly, Ning Dong and her mother also looked back coldly at Mu Kaizhu before leaving. Both sides sized each other up without warmth.

Mu Kaizhu smiled at Su Can and ignored Ning Dong's presence: "Brother Su Can, I didn't expect you'd come too. My mom and I are here to bid on a piece for my grandpa."

Su Can saw that she was just accompanying her family to look around. Though Mu Kaizhu did not greet Lin Guangdong, she put away her casual attitude towards Su Can, behaving very formally.

Qian Yu had noticed the auction item by the British craftsman and wanted to buy it for the elderly Mu Grandpa as a gift since he liked placing wooden carvings around his home. Chinese wood carvings were plentiful, but foreign ones added another flavor. Qian Yu planned to purchase this piece under Mu Kaizhu’s name to earn points with her parents who often focused too much on Tang Wu.

Qian Yu was also aware of the recent conflict between Su Can and Zhang Yue's father, Zhang Taolue. Seeing Su Can now, she wondered why he had come here and gave Lin Guangdong a subtle glance that revealed deeper intentions.

"I heard Jia Hua is auctioning off his dinner time; I came to take a look," said Su Can with a smile.

The people walking past him turned their heads in surprise, then shook their heads and continued on.

Qian Yu frowned at the other's expressions, wondering how arrogant this Su Can must be for Zhang Taolue to say he was overly presumptuous, even daring to argue with him publicly.

As money needed to enter the venue, Qian Yu didn't plan on exchanging too many words with Su Can either. They walked in together and a spacious room greeted their eyes.

There were 150 admission tickets, each allowing three people entry. Even if not all of them brought three people along, there were still over two hundred people present. Various groups of people could be seen, and Su Can didn't know whether among the more than a hundred seats, they were sent by Fei Fengshan and his strategic allies.

Upon entering the venue, an atmosphere of impending battle immediately pervaded. It seemed that the entire place had turned into a battlefield, with the auction stage being the city they needed to conquer, while these two hundred or so people stood as soldiers besieging the city.

Fei Fengshan and others had planned this move meticulously; they had already arrived at the venue. Seeing Su Can, Fei Fengshan waved him over and indicated for them to sit next to him. Su Can walked over with Lin Guangdong and sat down beside Fei Fengshan.

Introducing Lin Guangdong to Fei Fengshan, he shook hands with each other. Because they put themselves in others' shoes, they weren't very surprised that Su Can had a manager accompanying him. Fei Fengshan then whispered, "We've used our three million yuan deposit to secure one hundred spots and sent company staff to fill up the remaining ones. Don’t worry, according to our agreement, we won’t bid on any items to ensure your victory. But don't drink too much at Zhan Hua's dinner; you might end up spilling everything."

Su Can smiled but didn't comment on Fei Fengshan’s dry humor.

Although Fei Fengshan had carried out such operations countless times, he still felt rather excited about this one. What interesting phenomena would occur if a nineteen-year-old youth won Zhan Hua's dinner bid

The media would likely be dumbfounded and silent at first, but they would soon spread the news that Zhan Hua had dined with a nineteen-year-old young man. What could they talk about during their meal Discussing university courses That might provoke laughter from those big shots. Fei Fengshan knew if one viewed this matter from an ordinary person's perspective and saw Su Can as just another individual, it would be a major mistake.

Wasn't the boy who had raised three million yuan to outbid Zhan Hua an ordinary person

No one in Fei Fengshan’s years of dealing with capital business had ever seen such a thing before.

Zhan Hua arrived and sat in his designated front-row seat. He only needed to say a few words before the last item's auction ended, then wait for someone who could dine with him to appear among these hundreds of people.

The auction began at ten o'clock in the morning. The first item up for auction was Zhan Hua’s collection of Shi Shicheng’s calligraphy piece "Taibei Qingxue." When a beauty in cheongsam presented this precious artwork, there were murmurs of surprise from the audience. After ten rounds of bidding, it sold for 770,000 yuan. The buyer was a middle-aged man dressed in Zhongshan suit who looked reserved but definitely wasn't ordinary; his bodyguard's serious expression also garnered much praise.

Afterwards, this person remained calm and waited quietly until the end of the auction or Zhan Hua’s dinner event. Many people speculated about his identity.

Fei Fengshan gave a rather awkward smile to Su Can; if there was any real risk involved, this powerful-looking figure would definitely be one of them.

The second item up for auction had relatively lower value - a wood sculpture by a British modernist artist. Zhan Hua bought it when he traveled in Europe through intermediaries. The starting price was 15,000 yuan RMB.

Bidding continued with someone calling out 23,000 yuan; Qian Yu raised her paddle and called out "26,000." Su Can looked over at Qian Yu who glanced indifferently back at him but the girl beside her—Mu Kaizhu—winked and stuck her tongue out at Su Can. He smiled inwardly thinking that Tang Wu's cousin had such a completely different personality from Tang Wu.

Another round of bidding pushed the price to 45,000 yuan.

Qian Yu paused briefly before finally raising her paddle again and calling out "50,000." After three more rounds of bidding, the item's price rose to 73,000 yuan. At this point, Qian Yu hesitated but looked at Mu Kaizhu beside her before steeling herself and raised her paddle one last time saying “80,000.” This immediately drew many gazes; perhaps due to Mu family lineage being of higher quality or that Qian Yu was indeed a beautiful young woman, people around started admiring her more. Even though she had seen plenty of high-stakes situations before, this time she still felt rather pleased.

When the host asked for a second bid at 80,000 yuan, his gaze swept over everyone present; this process was longer than in previous rounds, professionally scanning through the whole venue as if looking at each person individually. Then he struck the gavel and announced "Sold for 80,000 yuan."

Qian Yu sighed with relief, her grip on the paddle loosening slightly. At this moment, some people around gave her a smile of congratulations.

The next item would be Zhan Hua’s dinner auction.

When the host announced that the next item up for auction was a Qing Dynasty "Qianlong imperial edict," there was a stir among the audience. People were surprised; wasn't this supposed to be the three-hour dinner auction by Chan Hua What was going on

The reporters waiting with cameras and flashlights at both sides of the venue expressed their dissatisfaction.

Confidently, Chan Hua walked onto the stage and stood in front of the auction table. Adjusting his microphone, he smiled and said, "Please calm down everyone. My lunch will be given away as a bonus when this Qianlong imperial edict is auctioned off. That means if someone here manages to bid on this item, I personally will invite you for dinner."

In fact, Chan Hua had realized that openly auctioning his lunch was too superficial and belonged to the category of "non-physical" auctions, which could also be considered an opportunity auction. This kind of special event might face certain restrictions in news reporting by the media due to censorship from relevant authorities. To align with his goal of increasing exposure through the press, he decided to add a physical item for auction: essentially, it was still his lunch but rephrased.

Upon hearing this statement from Chan Hua, everyone present suddenly understood what was going on. However, most in the audience were part of Su Zhan's proxy bidding team and had no intention to actually purchase anything; their mood remained unchanged.

The response below did not seem quite right to Chan Hua, but he couldn't pinpoint exactly why. With his keen sense, he still could not detect what was amiss.

However, with the auction of an imperial edict paired with dinner underway, some people started thinking privately: "Huh, this Chan Hua isn’t simple at all. Although it looks like just a lunch auction, there’s also a Qianlong imperial edict involved here. Since he's already on Forbes China’s Top 20 Rich List and still isn't satisfied, he seems to be aiming for something bigger—like becoming an emperor in the business world. How would people react if word got out: 'Chan Hua’s Imperial Edict Dinner Auction Astonishes Everyone' This Chan Hua has quite ambitious plans."

The Qianlong imperial edicts had been heavily hyped up by collectors, leading to inflated prices that were difficult to determine accurately. In reality, some of these edicts weren't worth much, as their value depended not just on the material and year but also on the content; if they correlated with significant historical events, they would be priceless treasures at a national level, never entering circulation. Ordinary imperial edicts could range from several hundred thousand to tens of thousands or even just a few thousand dollars, without fixed market prices, making them suitable for investment.

"Now we will proceed with the auction for this Qianlong Year One imperial edict and Mr. Chan Hua’s three-hour dinner. The starting price is ten million yuan; who would like to bid"

The audience was initially silent.

Pei Fengshan looked around, realizing that most of the attendees were those they had invited. As for the remaining third genuinely interested in bidding, they too fell into a silence, since no one had seen such an auction before. Even though there were similar auctions abroad like Warren Buffett's lunch, Chan Hua was simply following suit. But this was still an experiment; many people just came to see what would happen.

Su Zhan was about to bid when Luo Zhiyi suddenly raised his paddle: "Eleven million."

Lin Guangdong had been in a tense state, thinking that if no one else bid and the item went for ten million, their team could have it. He knew Su Zhan's strategy but was just about to celebrate when someone actually bid.

Su Zhan was stunned; what was going on Was Luo Zhiyi changing sides and trying to disrupt things

Turning to Pei Fengshan, Su Zhan saw him gently patting his thigh and whispering: "Chan Hua might have picked up on something. Luo Zhiyi is probably playing a distraction move. Don't worry; whatever the final price, we'll adjust your interest rate accordingly."

Pei Fengshan was someone Chan Hua knew about; if no one bid at his auction and Su Zhan won outright, Chan Hua might deduce something.

With Pei Fengshan footing the bill, Su Zhan nodded in agreement and signaled to Lin Guangdong with a look.

Lin Guangdong raised his paddle: "Twelve million."

The audience turned their attention toward Lin Guangdong; some people were impressed while others wondered if anyone would really pay such a high price for dinner.

"Twelve million first bid. Twelve million second bid."

Su Zhan felt relieved, as expected of Pei Fengshan's prediction that Luo Zhiyi was merely distracting. The hundred proxy bidders they had arranged filtered out the majority of genuine competitors.

A voice from behind called out: "Twenty million."

Su Zhan and others turned around to see a man in his late twenties raise his paddle, then say to his companion: "It's just the price of an ordinary car."

Lin Guangdong raised his paddle again: "Twenty-two million." He didn't overbid; this was their turf, so it wasn’t necessary to engage in a bidding war. Though Su Zhan had said they had 150 million yuan for the operation, Lin Guangdong hadn't pulled out all stops.

The young man seemed just to be having fun with his bid. Seeing Lin Guangdong's serious demeanor, he shrugged, knowing that making an impression here wasn’t worth it when other opportunities could achieve the same effect with less money in different settings.

"250,000." The speaker was an ordinary-looking man in a plain shirt, someone who might be reading the newspaper at a bus stop on the street and blending into the crowd as just another middle-aged office worker.

Su Cen felt this situation to be somewhat troublesome. He glanced at Pei Fengshan, who responded with a bitter smile. Although they had filtered out two-thirds of the people, those remaining still seemed quite formidable.

"300,000," Lin Guangdong raised his paddle, intending to bid high to deter others and wage psychological warfare. After all, was it worth spending such an amount for a dinner It would be better if they could let the meal go to someone who actually values it.

"400,000," a flashy young woman raised her paddle and smiled at Zhan Hua below. She had a mole on her chin; this smile made Zhan Hua feel somewhat uncomfortable as he turned away from her.

Zhan Hua gently clenched his fist, having seen many ups and downs in the business world with capital flows worth hundreds of millions or even billions. However, the value of his dinner came as a surprise, yet left him feeling somewhat disappointed.

"600,000!" The middle-aged man from before persisted in raising his paddle.

Around them, people were shocked and looked at the man, while the young woman who had bid earlier glanced nervously at him and decided to stop bidding.

Pei Fengshan shook his head and said, "We underestimated the situation. We heard that a few individuals from mining companies in Wenzhou and Zhejiang were determined to win this auction, but we thought we could push them out of contention. However, it seems there are still some overlooked competitors."

"600,000, first bid," announced the host.

Su Cen shook his head and said, "Any venture carries risks; your information was precise enough."

Lin Guangdong handed his paddle to Su Cen since he couldn't make a decision past this point. He left everything to Su Cen.

"600,000, second bid," the host called out.

The moment the host announced the second bid, Su Cen's paddle rose in the dazzling light of the hall, standing out strikingly against the background of flashing camera lights from reporters.

"1 million!"

1 million!

Zhan Hua immediately focused his eyes on Su Cen. His first thought was: What a joke! This person is too young, isn't he

The crowd erupted into chaos; it seemed as if they might lift off the ground. A bid of 1 million for dinner!

Su Cen had prepared himself for the worst and decided to take this gamble.

If his opponent insisted on competing further, even inching up the price step-by-step wouldn't shake him off. However, if he had a psychological bottom line, then with this bold move, he would force his opponent out of contention once and for all.

This was a gamble.

A dinner worth 1 million.

Such an amount in that society at the time seemed unimaginable. The flashes from reporters' cameras underscored everyone's amazement. Auctions were indeed places full of surprises and excitement.

Today, Su Cen was on the winning side.

When the host struck the gavel twice and announced "1 million, sold!" followed by a resounding clang, the audience erupted into thunderous applause.as never won a million-dollar prize wouldn’t know what kind of expression they would make upon winning such a huge sum.Zeng Ke's eyes instantly well up with tears.Su Licheng, meanwhile, bangs his head...