When Lin Fan's group arrived in Elder Hua's VIP room, Elder Hua who had been waiting for a long time stood up to greet them.
Bao Bao understood that this was a private meeting, so after leading them here, he quickly left to take care of the auction. After all, there was going to be a special ending tonight, there were still many things he had to prepare.
Elder Hua came forward with a smile once Bao Bao left, as she said, "Owner Lin, you really took your time in getting here."
Lin Fan said, "Well, there was some trouble on our way in and we had to drop off the item as well."
Elder Hua noticed Angela on the side before saying with a smile, "I can imagine that trouble must follow you around. Well, still it's been hard on you."
Lin Fan and Angela both had blushes on their faces, but Lin Fan still said, "It wasn't much trouble."
Elder Hua nodded before she revealed a serious look, "Has everything been taken care of?"
Lin Fan revealed a smile, "Didn't you see how that Bao Bao was acting just now? Everything has been taken care of."
Elder Hua also revealed a smile, "It's in the nature of a businessman like him to flatter. Since you came with Xiao Hai, it's not hard to imagine how he would treat you, but it was a bit more than usual. I guess you really hit him hard with that pill."
Lin Fan looked around before asking, "Where's Elder Gu? He didn't come today?"
Elder Hua pointed out the glass window at another VIP room, "He's here, but he's in a different room. Besides don't you think it would be strange if he and I went everywhere together?"
Lin Fan fell into thought at this and he couldn't help admitting that what she said was true.
Elder Gu looked like an old man with white hair and a white fu manchu, he looked like a grandpa would be practicing tai chi in the park on weekdays. As for Elder Hua, she was a little girl with brown twin tails.
If they walked around together, one might even think that they were a grandfather and a granddaughter going out together.
Elder Hua noticed that Lin Fan wasn't speaking, so she narrowed her eyes to look at him. After a while, she said, "I don't know why, but it feels like you're thinking something rude."
After she said this, she raised her fist.
Lin Fan quickly revealed an awkward smile and changed the topic, "So do you know what is being sold on the auction today?"
Elder Hua put down her fist and shook her head, "I've heard some rumours, but even with my status, I still can't find out any information on the items in this auction. But it's the same as each year, they always hide it, so just wait to be surprised by what they'll offer."
Lin Fan nodded before inviting Elder Hua to sit down.
They moved over to the seats in front of the glass window and began chatting while waiting for the auction to officially begin. Yang Yun took this time to bring over tea and snacks since Elder Hua had already dismissed the servants of the Treasure House.
It was better to be safe than sorry sometimes. Even if they weren't talking about anything important, people could still be bought for the right price.
While they were chatting, they also saw people starting to fill the hall beneath them.
Elder Hua told Lin Fan that most of these people were all nobles and only a few of them were rich merchants. Then she pointed at a few special seats in the front row of the hall and informed Lin Fan that those were the special seats for the royals.
Eventually, the hall was filled with people and everyone patiently sat in their seats waiting for the auction to begin.
Less than five minutes after the entire hall was filled, the lights suddenly dimmed and there were spotlights that had appeared on the stage.
Then with the sound of explosions, there were five large plumes of red smoke that appeared on the stage. As the smoke covered the stage, there was an hourglass figure that moved through the smoke until she came to the front of the stage and appeared in front of everyone.
Hong Mei had a microphone in her hand as she said, "Welcome honoured guests to our Treasure Pavilion's annual action. We guarantee that you'll leave here satisfied and with the item of your dreams!"
Lin Fan was surprised to see Hong Mei here. Last time he had seen her, her legs had given out under her and she almost lost her mind from being overwhelmed by Angela's aura. But then when he looked closely, he found that her face was still a bit pale and she was forcing herself to come onto the stage.
As for Angela, the moment she saw Hong Mei, her eyes turned a bit cold.
During her introduction, Hong Mei couldn't help feel a chill run down her spine and she gave a shiver, but her professionalism forced her to keep going.
As he continued to think about it, Lin Fan was actually filled with a bit of admiration for Bao Bao. He had an eye for good items and he was an astute businessman. He could tell that Lin Fan wasn't a normal person, so he was even willing to offer his auctioneer to serve Lin Fan.
Looking down at the crowd, he could see several people looking at Hong Mei with infatuated looks since she was indeed quite beautiful. She had nice round mounds on her chest that were just covered by her strapless dress and there was a slit at the bottom of her red dress that showed off her legs. Adding in her perfect features and fire red hair, she was indeed quite a knockout.
Then thinking of how Bao Bao was willing to offer her to Lin Fan, it seems like his position in Bao Bao's mind wasn't low.
Hong Mei continued her introduction for a bit, before suddenly changing the tone of her voice, "Now, I'm sure that you've all been waiting patiently for long enough, so let's get this auction started!"
With a wave of her hand, the wall behind her suddenly slid up as a cart was pushed out to the center of the stage where a spotlight was waiting. The show girl who pushed out the cart didn't wait at all as she pulled off the curtain to reveal a glass case under the box with a shining stone placed atop a pillow.
This stone was aquamarine in colour and it released a light blue glow that was as pure as the sky. It was also perfectly cut, making it look like a gem rather than a normal stone. There were strange fluctuations that were coming from the stone that even the glass case couldn't hold back that spread through the crowd.
Hong Mei spread her hand at the stone while saying, "Ladies and gentleman, for our first item, we have this mysterious stone that was brought to us by a mysterious source. According to that source, this stone was found deep in the bottom of the Red Ocean. While we don't know the source of this stone, we do know that it is a stone of abnormal strength. Our Treasure Pavilion had even invited a Platinum Realm Expert to test this stone and that expert couldn't leave a single dent on this stone. Then there's the fact that it is perfectly cut and has a beautiful sheen, which makes it the perfect gift for any lover. As well, there is this strange fluctuation that comes from it that I'm certain that all of you can feel."
Once she was done trying to hype up the stone, Hong Mei got to the main part, "Now, seeing that this is a special item, we will begin the bid at one thousand crystals."
There was a silence that came over the crowd when she announced this as no bids came in. But eventually, one of Hong Mei's admirers bit their teeth as they raised their sign and announced the first bid.
During this time, Angela had actually moved forward to the glass window to look down at the strange stone while tapping on the window.
Everyone else in the room looked at her with confused gazes, but no one said a thing and just let her continue with her strange display.
Then after a few seconds, Angela turned to Lin Fan and said, "Get it."
Lin Fan was surprised to hear this before asking, "Are you sure?"
Angela just nodded and said, "Certain."
Lin Fan didn't hesitate any longer as he pressed the button on his chair and said, "Two thousand crystals."
The previous bid was still a thousand crystals from the one admirer of Hong Mei, who looked happy to see Lin Fan bidding for this because he only made that bid to try to impress her, even though he didn't really want it.
But then before Hong Mei could even announce that bid, there was a bid that came from another VIP room.
"Two thousand and one crystals."