Whoosh...
The entire venue fell instantly silent. Everyone looked in Qin Jiang's direction, unable to hide their astonishment.
It wasn't astonishment at the ten million price tag? The true value of these Qin Dynasty bamboo slips was at least around 15 million.
Nor was it astonishment that Qin Jiang could afford ten million; for him, such money was nothing.
What they were astonished by was that Qin Jiang had finally made a move!
You have to understand, many of the bigwigs from the Pu Region hadn't even intended to attend this auction. Some weren't even remotely interested in the artifacts; they had come solely for Qin Jiang. Yet, after more than a dozen important items had already been auctioned off, Qin Jiang hadn't been moved in the slightest. They had all been wondering internally why Qin Jiang came to this auction at all. Now that he had finally made a move, how could they not be astonished?
Qin Dynasty bamboo slips?
Longevity Technique?
Was Qin Jiang here for the Longevity Technique? That made sense! He was a young man, after all. It was normal to yearn for these ancient metaphysical things. Even without mentioning Qin Jiang, the other bigwigs participating in the auction were also a bit curious; otherwise, the Qin Dynasty bamboo slips wouldn't have fetched such a price. But the vast majority of the bigwigs were merely curious and didn't participate in the bidding—it wasn't as if they were dug out of Qin Shi Huang's tomb.
The so-called Longevity Technique recorded on them was likely just ancient alchemy, which science had long proven had no life-extending properties and would instead lead to lead poisoning.
Longevity?
Heh...
Compared to these ancient Longevity Techniques, the medicines developed through the progress of modern medicine were actually closer to reality. Many bigwigs were taking those medicines. Immortality was impossible, but they could extend one's lifespan and reduce illness.
At this moment,
Many bigwigs looked around with cold gazes and spoke up:
"Haha... So Chairman Qin likes Qin Dynasty bamboo slips. In that case, I, Old Zhu, will have to relinquish my interest..."
"Since Chairman Qin likes them... then I won't participate in the bidding either..."
"Chairman Qin certainly has a keen eye. These bamboo slips look very profound; they are worth examining..."
These bigwigs complimented Qin Jiang's taste while scanning their surroundings with a warning look. The implication was self-evident: anyone who dared to compete with Qin Jiang for this item would be making an enemy of them. Theoretically, a formal auction shouldn't allow this situation and should uphold the rule of the highest bidder winning.
In such a situation, the auctioneer would intervene!
Or even worse, they would expel those who spoke out!
But rules are made by people!
Rules are rigid!
People, however, are flexible!
And Qin Jiang clearly had the status to break the rules. The auctioneer glanced at Qin Jiang, then at the bigwigs who had spoken, and remained silent, waiting quietly as if they hadn't heard anything.
The auctioneer shouted aloud: "Ten million! The current price is ten million. Are there any higher bids..."
At this moment.
Some bigwigs were even hoping someone would stand up and raise the bid, so they would have room to perform.
For example, they could spend money to win the bid for this item and give it to Qin Jiang!
Or they could collectively discuss the faction that dared to offer a higher price!
But this was the real world!
Not a single person at the scene was a fool. It was just a Qin Dynasty bamboo slip, not an actual elixir of immortality. Who would compete with a bigwig like Qin Jiang for this? Buying it wouldn't bring any benefits and would instead offend a large group of people—it was absolutely a losing deal. The situation of a sudden challenger appearing out of nowhere, like in novels, did not happen. It soon entered the countdown:
"Ten million: once!"
"Ten million: twice!"
"Ten million: three times!"
Bang!
"Congratulations to Mr. Qin for winning the Qin Dynasty bamboo slips auction item!"
The other bigwigs on both sides also offered their congratulations:
"Congratulations to Chairman Qin for obtaining this treasure!"
"Congratulations, Chairman Qin! Qin Dynasty artifacts suit Chairman Qin! It is a match made by heaven. In the future, Chairman Qin will surely dominate the business world..."
"Congratulations, congratulations... With these Qin Dynasty bamboo slips as a blessing, Chairman Qin's career will surely take another step forward. A trillion-dollar conglomerate is just around the corner!"
The auctioneer up above couldn't help but curl their lip upon hearing those sycophantic words. It was just a Qin Dynasty bamboo slip!
What match made by heaven!
What blessing of luck!
What was all that nonsense! It was completely irrelevant!
What the hell!
Did they really think there was an elixir of immortality inside!
They were really damn good at bootlicking!
Qin Jiang's face remained impassive. Although he had obtained the target auction item for this trip to the Pu Region, it didn't mean much to him. From the moment he set out, it meant that this artifact belonged to him!
Qin Dynasty bamboo slips?
Elixir of immortality?
Heh... It was all just a gimmick!
For antique enthusiasts, the value of these bamboo slips lay in the age of the slips themselves, who wrote them, and what the content was.
For the bigwigs, what made these bamboo slips valuable was the content recorded inside. They wanted to see what the ancient Longevity Technique actually was.
To put it bluntly!
The bamboo slips themselves and the person who wrote them were only worth a few million; what was truly valuable was the content inside.
But was the content unique?
No!
From the time these bamboo slips were unearthed to their circulation and eventual arrival at the auction house, they had passed through who knew how many hands.
The content on them had long been copied countless times and was even widely circulated in certain circles.
Therefore, their value naturally dropped significantly. That was why Qin Jiang knew when he came that the auction price would definitely not exceed 20 million. Now, because of the great reputation he had established in the Pu Region, he had saved another ten million.
Of course, all the above deductions were within the collectibles industry. The value of these bamboo slips in the archaeological field was different. The text and content recorded on them would allow archaeological experts to have a better understanding of the Qin Dynasty and could make a huge contribution to the archaeological world!
The value was immeasurable!
It could even be said to be a national treasure-level existence!
How should one put it!
It was like a stone from the Qin Dynasty that was once discovered. A sentence was carved on it, the meaning of which was roughly: [Greetings, gentlemen of later generations. We are two fishermen who fished for the king.]
The stone was just an ordinary stone!
The person who carved it was also an unknown nobody!
The content was also a very simple sentence!
In the eyes of antique collectors, this item didn't have much collection value—at most, it was worth a million or so. But for the archaeological field, this item was indeed very important. The history it recorded and its heritage value were immeasurable.
There were many similar examples!
In the archaeological field, what was most important was often not the artifact itself, but the story behind it, as well as some bamboo slips and books that recorded content. The value of these things was far higher than ordinary artifacts.
Up above,
The auctioneer continued to auction items.
The competition remained fierce!
Especially when Qin Dynasty artifacts appeared, it would usher in a small climax, with those bigwigs from the Pu Region bidding to purchase them.
The purpose was self-evident...
They thought it was very likely that Qin Jiang liked things from the Qin Dynasty. Since they were both surnamed Qin, they would just buy them for Qin Jiang...
For these bigwigs with net worths of over ten billion, spending a few million to build a rapport with Qin Jiang was a worthwhile deal.
Among them, Qin Jiang made another move and auctioned off a General's Command Token engraved with the character [Wei], and took it on the spot to hand to Si Jiu:
[It's yours! Think of it as a toy.]