The Versatile Master Artist

He didn’t have the patience to wait for the host to announce each winner one by one, so he moved ahead to the whiteboard in the miscellaneous area.

The host would announce, through a loudspeaker, the winner and winning amount at every main auction table for the crowd to hear.

Every time someone won, the crowd would applaud, out of courtesy and to satisfy the winner’s vanity.

There was no such fuss in the miscellaneous area; you just looked around yourself.

At this moment, someone had already started sticking the winning number tags onto the whiteboard with magnets, and Gu Weijing was bidding at table number 159.

As expected, logically speaking, the winning number was exactly the number 69 that he held in his hand.

He walked over to the payment counter.

”Miscellaneous area, table 159, buyer number 69... bid 2500 US Dollars?”

Gu Weijing immediately handed over his money envelope and number tag.

The young man at the payment counter stared at Gu Weijing for a while, as if looking at a fool.

After repeatedly checking with the bill machine to confirm this wad of US dollars wasn’t counterfeit, he handed Gu Weijing a payment receipt.

At the moment he received the receipt, the formal ownership of all the items on table 159 was completely transferred to Gu Weijing.

A huge weight in his heart felt like it had just dropped heavily.

Just as Gu Weijing was about to quietly take the painting away, something unexpected happened.

”Is there a cover-up at this auction? Who is number 69?”

As a woman’s angry voice rang out in the venue, the originally quiet and orderly atmosphere suddenly ruptured.

Everyone curiously looked toward the direction from which the voice came.

”Miss, you’ll have to take responsibility for what you say.”

Boss Wu stepped out from the crowd, looking at the woman standing by the whiteboard, his tone laced with anger.

In hosting such an event, he least liked it when someone accused it of being rigged.

”I...”

The woman, dressed like a professional office worker, realized she had misspoken in her urgency.

However, with police nearby and herself being a government employee, the woman wasn’t afraid of Boss Wu.

”I want to check the bid, which should be my right.”

She raised her head, staring directly at the crowd looking over.

”Table 159, I bid 300 US dollars, I want to know who bid higher than me. I suspect a mistake in your work.”

After finding the master wanted painting, she mostly lingered around table 159.

During this time, only that student-looking kid had shown interest in the table’s items.

No one else even had any intention of stopping in front of this table.

Having learned from experience, she didn’t want any mishaps, and had decisively bid three hundred US dollars.

Could there have been any higher number than hers?

”You bid 300 US dollars?”

Boss Wu glanced at the painting tube and broken candlestick on table 159 nearby.

If no one bought these pieces of junk, he was ready to clear them out as construction waste.

Boss Wu immediately lost his anger.

Even foreign tourists weren’t easy to trick anymore, and there weren’t many fools willing to spend three hundred dollars on these items.

”Miss, these were items from the Great Scholar Hotel, possibly used by famous writers back in the day. A higher bid price is only normal.”

While saying this, Boss Wu genuinely wondered if a mistake had crept into his brother’s hurried counting.

Could there be an even bigger fool than a three hundred dollar bid?

”Bring the winning list, and the bid box, check the winning amount.”

Boss Wu ordered.

Unexpectedly, the young man responsible for tallying the miscellaneous area bids immediately spoke up.

”Boss, no need to check, it’s number 69. 2500 US dollars was the highest bid across all tables in the miscellaneous area, I vividly remember, absolutely no mistake.”

”2500 US dollars? You sure? Not Myanmar Kyat?”

The professional woman gaped.

She immediately thought of the student-looking boy, scanning the crowd behind her.

With that remark, the crowd seemed like a pot of boiling water had been poured in, bubbling visibly.

”Who made this bid?”

”You gotta be joking, 2500 US dollars, no fool would take the table’s label seriously.”

”Even if it truly was a pen used by Maum, it’s not worth that price.”

Boss Wu was also shocked by this number.

”Quiet!”

He was a businessman; more buyers willing to pay high prices for junk were always welcome to him. Little Moustache now just worried if he had met a troublemaker randomly bidding.

Not likely.

Those attending the painting auction in Myanmar were notable figures in the local art scene, ordinary tourists had to pay 200,000 Myanmar Kyat entrance fee to attend.

This fee was essentially a deposit.

If items were purchased, 200,000 Myanmar Kyat was equivalent to one hundred dollars, which can be offset. Without purchase, it would usually be refunded upon exit.

Boss Wu jumped onto a metal box, personally taking the loudspeaker from the host: ”Congratulations to Mr. Number 69, for acquiring all items from table 159 at the price of 2500 US dollars. Who is Mr. Number 69? Let’s congratulate this art enthusiast.”

The crowd erupted into applause again, although mixed with laughter of ambiguous meaning.

”Ah...”

Gu Weijing reluctantly raised his hand.

He hadn’t intended to make a public spectacle of buying the painting.