777米奇影

This meant that among the 3 remaining competing museums, one of them was about to exit the stage soon.

“If only we had ignored everything else and focused solely on acquiring this dragon robe! I mentioned it to the director, but he just wouldn’t listen. Now, with a budget of 1.5 billion left, we can’t even get the dragon robe. We might as well have bought another copy of the Yongle Encyclopedia or secured that jade bowl!” The representative from the Guandi Museum could only vent his frustration at this point.

“Ha, it is our Jiangnan Museum that had the foresight! We knew from the beginning that the dragon robe would fetch an astronomical price, so we gave up on it. Had we saved our budget for the dragon robe, we wouldn’t have been able to acquire anything else earlier!” Lin Yide was delighted to watch their performance.

!!

Although their mission to acquire 2 volumes of the Yongle Encyclopedia had been interrupted by a hospital appearing halfway through, which caused their museum to only obtain one volume, it was still a stroke of good fortune.

As for the Guandi Museum, up until now, they had only managed to secure a few relics worth tens of millions of yuan. It seemed as if they had allocated most of their budget to the dragon robe, and by the looks of it, it seemed to be a fruitless effort.

“13.5 billion!” Long Jianfei sat in the front row of the conference room, eyes slightly closed, allowing his assistant to raise the bid card on his behalf.

“Goodness!”

“1.35 billion?”

“Have these museums gone mad?”

“Yes, the highest price at this auction has already exceeded 1 billion, hasn’t it?”

“I thought the jade seal would be the highest price, but the dragon robe is worth so much more!”

“It’s normal. I estimated from the beginning that it would definitely exceed 1 billion!”

“The people from these museums are usually quite stingy, but when it comes to the dragon robe, they suddenly become generous!”

“You have to understand that possessing this item could elevate a second-tier museum straight to the top tier. Do you think they can’t see the value of this dragon robe?”

“That’s right. For example, if the Xianyang Museum, currently ranked ninth nationally, were to acquire this item, they could at least enter the top three museums in the country!”

“If the Shanghai Museum gets the dragon robe, they may not surpass the Palace Museum in prestige, but they will have something to boast about since they have something that the Palace Museum doesn’t!”

“Yes, the Palace Museum’s foundation is too deep to be surpassed by a single dragon robe!”

“Hehe, but the Shanghai Museum has money and can attract many wealthy sponsors! The Palace Museum probably can’t compete!”

“I hope this time the dragon robe can reach 3 billion, surpassing the price of Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi!”

“Hehe, it’s not very likely!”

“Yes, throughout the history of China, there are only a handful of cultural relics with transaction prices exceeding the billion mark!”

“Unfortunately, the items cannot be taken out of the country. Otherwise, if foreigners participated, perhaps the price could soar to 3 billion without any problem.”

“1.4 billion!” Sun Daozhen raised the bid once more.

The dragon robe must belong to the Shanghai Museum.

Why should the Palace Museum have all the good fortune?

Is it fair? Is it appropriate?

Just because they are in the capital city? Are they so extraordinary?

“1.45 billion!”

Long Jianfei raised the bid by another 50 million with his eyes still closed.

Of course, he was just pretending tobe deep in thought. Showing no emotion on his face was the only way to prevent others from guessing his bottom line.

In a way, it was like playing cards; if you get three Aces, the highest hand, and you show an ecstatic expression, others will not place bets. Conversely, if you have a poor hand and show a miserable face, others will know that you have a weak hand.

Therefore, it is essential to remain stoic, showing no emotion, so others cannot gauge your position.

“1.5 billion!”

“We, the Guandi Museum, bid 1.5 billion!”

“We’ve said it before, we have the backing of top-tier sponsors. You all should step aside this time!”

Hahaha.

The Guandi Museum had gone for their maximum budget.

If the other two museums were to raise their bids now, the Guangdi Museum would have no other choice but to drop out from the battle. Nevertheless, it was a necessary bluff they had to take.

If they could not intimidate their opponents, the auction would be a game of heartbeats and gambling.

If you cannot win the psychological game, you either have to spend more money or admit defeat.

At this moment, the representative from the Guandi Museum was quite anxious. Either you place a bid, and I give up, or you do not bid, and the item is ours.

But during a tense 8 second wait, no one placed a bid. Heaven knows how he endured that period.

“16 billion!”

Sun Daozhen of the Shanghai Museum had been waiting for Long Jianfei to place a bid, but the old man remained still, like a mountain. Sun Daozhen had no choice but to bid again.

Otherwise, if Luo Feng announced the deal, everything would be over.

You should know that this was not a formal auction; there was no rule of counting to three before the hammer struck.

As long as Luo Feng declared it a done deal, any subsequent bids would be meaningless. Thus, in this regard, the gambling at this auction was even more challenging than a formal auction.

Of course, given Long Jianfei’s composure, he had naturally inquired about Luo Feng’s bottom line price for the item in advance.