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The thirty-some antiques present, though several were of considerable age, were at best replicas from the Republic era and not worth much.

Thus, Greg Jensen had no interest in these items whatsoever.

On the other hand, others were enthusiastic, successively calling out several bids over a million.

Nathan Humphrey had set his sights on the Tao Te Ching, so he didn’t bid on the earlier items, waiting for the Tao Te Ching to be auctioned. When it was, his eyes suddenly lit up.

Greg Jensen couldn’t help but remind him, “I’ll remind you once more, that copy of the Tao Te Ching is a modern imitation, worth at most five hundred yuan. It’s not worth a penny more.”

Before Nathan Humphrey could speak, Creed Humphrey next to him couldn’t contain himself.

He glared at Greg Jensen and angrily said, “What the hell do you mean? Are you intentionally trying to ruin my business?”

Nathan Humphrey said, “Uncle, don’t mind him. Bid for this Tao Te Ching for me.”

Greg Jensen couldn’t be bothered to pay them any more attention; he let them show off for a while, ready to take his money back later if need be.

After all, those two swindlers couldn’t escape the palm of his hand.

Though the Tao Te Ching wasn’t the most valuable, manuscripts like it had indeed been increasing in price over the years, so there weren’t a few who followed in bidding.

The price quickly rose from the initial one hundred and fifty thousand to five hundred thousand.

“Five hundred and fifty thousand!” Nathan Humphrey, his eyes red, raised his hand and shouted a bid, directly increasing the price by fifty thousand.

This move completely stunned the others.

Everyone exchanged glances, feeling that paying this price for a manuscript seemed somewhat unwarranted.

Quinton Creed sat at one end of the long table, holding a conspicuous gavel, excitedly announced, “Five hundred and fifty thousand for the first time!”

“Five hundred and fifty thousand for the second time…”

“Five hundred and fifty thousand for the third time, sold! Congratulations to young master Humphrey for acquiring the Song Dynasty hand-copied Tao Te Ching.”

Quinton Creed smiled very happily; having bought it for five hundred, he directly turned over a thousandfold profit. If he could sell all thirty-plus items, the little capital he invested would all come back to him.

A hostess, holding a box containing the Tao Te Ching, placed it in front of Nathan Humphrey, then took out a POS machine for the card payment.

After making the payment, Nathan Humphrey couldn’t wait to admire it and even turned his head to Greg Jensen with a smile, his expression full of scorn.

His expression seemed to say: You’ve never seen anything this good, have you?

Greg Jensen, smiling, shook his head and looked towards the center of the table.

Because what was up for auction next was the Eight Forms Mirror.

“A Tang Dynasty Eight Forms Mirror, said to be a Taoist object with protective capabilities, starting low at five hundred thousand!”

Goodness, the starting bid was five hundred thousand.

Upon hearing this, Greg Jensen couldn’t help but click his tongue in wonder and then was taken aback.

Because he suddenly thought, if the amulets he made were put up for auction, how much would they sell for?

The amulets he made were genuinely protective, and were much stronger than this Eight Forms Mirror.

Thinking of the difficulties involved in making amulets, Greg Jensen shook his head; never mind, selling amulets seemed like a good business, but on further contemplation, it seemed unnecessary.

Not to mention how much they could sell for, just the energy expended in making an amulet was worth a couple of million.

His current businesses were earning at least two million a month.

Wouldn’t it be nicer to spend that time on Dual Cultivation with a girl?

Many among the audience knew their stuff. Even ignoring the so-called “protective” capabilities, they knew that this Eight Forms Mirror was an old object.

Therefore, the price of the Eight Forms Mirror quickly rose to a million. Joe Locke was the most aggressive bidder.

“I’ve set my sights on this Eight Forms Mirror; who dares to compete with me?”

Seeing Joe Locke’s determination to win at any cost, everyone else dropped out of the bidding, and the atmosphere cooled down for a moment.

Quinton Creed felt a bit annoyed inside, cursing Joe Locke for being too domineering; otherwise, the price could have gone higher.

Just then, a voice suddenly rang out, “I bid one and a half million!”

The hall went silent, everyone turned to look towards the source of the voice.

“Hey, isn’t that the kid who just spilled the beans earlier?”

“It’s actually him!”

“He’s got some nerve, he just seriously offended the Lin family, and now he’s here to compete with Joe Locke for the Eight Forms Mirror.”

“Haha, this is what they call ‘having a lot of debt doesn’t worry you, having a lot of lice doesn’t itch,’ I guess.”

Joe Locke was also stunned for a moment, then angrily said, “Greg, are you done playing around?”

“Hey, Mr. Lin, that’s not right of you.”

Greg said with an innocent face, “Isn’t an auction about the highest bidder winning? Are you saying that just because you fancy something, no one else is allowed to bid?”

“You…”

Joe Locke’s face turned an iron blue as he nodded and said, “Fine, then compete for it. I want to see just how much money you have to dare to compete with the Lin family for something!”

After that, he said to Quinton Creed, “I bid two million!”

Quinton Creed, seeing this, was already delighted inside, and hurriedly said, “Mr. Lin bids two million, does anyone wish to challenge the bid?”

The question was addressed to everyone, but his eyes were fixed on Greg.

Greg smiled and raised his hand, saying, “I bid two and a half million.”

“Three million!”

“Three and a half million!”

Joe Locke, now driven to fury, raised his hand and said, “I bid five million!”

“Mr. Lin bids five million, does anyone wish to counter?”

Whoosh!

Everyone’s gaze turned to Greg once again.

Joe Locke said with a sardonic smile, “Are you going to follow that?”

“Err, five million, well, I’ll pass on that.”

Greg laughed and shook his head, saying, “Since you want it so badly, I’ll let you have it. After all, ‘a gentleman does not snatch what others desire,’ right?”

“You…”

Joe Locke originally intended to properly humiliate Greg, but upon hearing his words, he was so frustrated he nearly spat out blood.

What a guy, bidding this whole time, jacking the price from one million to five million, and now bringing up ‘a gentleman does not snatch what others desire’?

What were you even doing before?

Frustrated as he was, being able to buy the Eight Forms Mirror still made Joe Locke very happy. He promptly paid for it and then left the auction hall directly.

Greg watched his retreating figure and couldn’t help but let a cold smile play about his lips.

In the following auctions, Greg and Nathan Humphrey didn’t participate much; Nathan exclaimed several times that he wanted to leave, but Greg never agreed.

Nathan didn’t know what he was up to. He wanted to leave, but he was afraid of Greg snitching to his mother, so he had to stay.

After waiting for quite a while, the auction finally ended and the crowd gradually left.

Only Greg remained seated with the air of someone without the slightest intention of leaving.

Nathan frowned and said, “Greg, the auction is over. Aren’t you leaving? What are you waiting for?”

Greg looked up, glanced at him, and said indifferently, “I’m waiting to clean up your mess!”

Nathan’s face darkened, and just as he was about to ask what he meant, Quinton Creed and Max Milton approached them.

The auction had netted a total of forty million. Although it didn’t recoup the entire lost fortune, it at least provided capital for a comeback.

Quinton was in a great mood and asked with a smile, “Mr. Greg, right? Would you like to stay for a meal?”

Greg looked around and noticed they were the only three left in the hall, then replied directly, “No need for a meal, just refund me for this item.”

As he spoke, he took the Tao Te Ching from Nathan’s hands and tossed it onto the table.

“Greg, what are you doing? This is something I bought!”