Chapter 440: 900 Million USD!Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
“The commoners are indeed stupid. They are actually fighting for the item that we avoid like the plague,” Henry, the vampire, said sneeringly. That item had existed for more than ten thousand years. It had been transferred around countless times. The funny thing was, some people thought it had only existed for hundreds of years.
The inner circles of the Blood Kindred had explicitly forbidden them to come in contact with the Hope Diamond. In the past, there had been two Blood Kindred Lords who died under the Hope curse. It was an agonizing loss for them.
“The power of the curse of the Hope Diamond is small for commoners,” Royce said plainly. “When a commoner acquires it, the probability of him being cursed is small. However, for us, the probability of being cursed is magnified. Hence, the commoners don’t take the curse of the Hope Diamond seriously. After all, many owners of the Hope Diamond didn’t encounter bad luck. In the end, they think that the Hope curse is merely a myth.” Only the existing ancient families understood the significance of the Hope curse. Otherwise, it would have been impossible for the Hope Diamond to be circulating among the commoners all this while.
“Those foolish people. They don’t know that they are buying a time bomb,” Henry said, amused.
The bidding for the Hope Diamond was continuing. However, its bidding increment was slow and had reached the minimum. Each bid increased the price by one million.
“800 million US dollars. It is indeed an exorbitant price!” A glint of amazement flashed in Yang Ting’s eyes. It was equivalent to five billion Renminbi. Even if her clan went all in, they wouldn’t enough much cash flow, unless they mortgaged their clan’s properties.
Andrea softly sighed. “The actual value of the Hope Diamond should be above 1.5 billion US dollars. That is what it would be worth if auctioned on a worldwide platform fair and square.”
Auctioning the Hope Diamond in this auction, and not promoting the news beforehand had caused its value to be underappreciated. If the promotion had been done properly and the diamond had been acquired through legal procedures, the auction price could reach two billion US dollars.
The blue diamond was one of the rarest diamonds in the world. It ranked second after the red diamond. The Hope Diamond was the king among the blue diamonds. Not long ago, a 122 carat blue diamond was discovered in South Africa. Its valuation was more than 600 million pounds, equivalent to one billion US dollars.
That blue diamond was far larger than the Hope Diamond. However, the value of a diamond was not completely dependent on its size. The quality and the historical value were taken into account too. The quality of the Hope Diamond was undoubtedly far better than that of the world’s largest blue diamond. On top of that, it was mysterious and legendary. Its value was not something that the value of a newly discovered diamond could be compared to.
So, for the Hope Diamond to be auctioned for more than two billion US dollars was not at all exaggerating its value.
But in this auction, it would clearly be difficult for it to achieve such a price. Even one billion US dollars would be very difficult to achieve. Andrea’s view that the Hope Diamond was wasted here was not without logic.
Yang Ting laughed coldly. “Even 800 million US dollars is most likely an exorbitant price, let alone 1.5 billion. It’s not something everyone can afford. For example, a certain person, who bites off more than he can chew.”
She looked meaningfully at Mo Wen. Mo Wen had not participated in the bidding at all. Most likely eighty percent of him had considered himself far behind and had completely given up.
“Indeed, he is biting off more than he can chew. He is most likely terrified by the starting bid,” Jiang Siyin seconded enigmatically.
“Are the two of you quite done?” Shen Jing looked at the two of them with a somewhat cold gaze. They had provoked them again and again. It was going too far.
“You people from Hua Xia, why is it that you all enjoy infighting so much?”
Andrea looked with puzzlement at Jiang Siyin and the rest, and, somewhat emotionally, said, “I have long heard that the people of Hua Xia love infighting. From ancient times until now, they have been infighting without end. If it wasn’t for this, Hua Xia would probably be able to stand at the top of the world, and not be inferior to America.”
Jiang Siyin and Yang Ting softly snorted. The two of them had been somewhat embarrassed by the words of a foreigner and did not say anything anymore. Both of them internally cursed at this foreigner who seemed to love to interfere.
Suddenly, in the middle of the display, a new bidding price appeared.
“900 million!”
The auction price had skyrocketed from 816 million to 900 million. It had completely overturned the situation where the competition had been getting slower towards the end. It had pushed the price to a new height.
Some people who were still bidding stared at the price on the screen, their throats slightly dry. They gave up on bidding. The price of 900 million had exceeded the baseline for many people. If they continued fighting for it, it would most likely be that they had to pay too much.
When this bid appeared, the whole hall was silenced for a moment. Nobody continued to bid.
Everyone had a baseline in their hearts. As Andrea said, it would be hard to sell the Hope Diamond with a price tag of one billion US dollars or above in this auction, due to the fact that the appearance of the Hope Diamond was not legal. When one acquired it, there would be a certain risk to bear. Additionally, some of the wealthiest nouveau riche in the world were most likely not at this auction.
In reality, most of the people bidding for the Hope Diamond in the auction were not intending to keep the diamond. Instead, they were prepared to secretly sell it off after they managed to bid for it and, from there, reap a profit.
If the bidding price of the Hope Diamond was too large, more than 1 billion or even higher, then for the businessman, it meant that the risk would be higher and the profits would be lower. Continuing to bid would not be a wise choice.
In the end, the price of 900 million was successfully bid by someone. And thus, the grand auction came to a close. Undoubtedly, the grand finale of the Hope Diamond had become the highlight of the entire auction, as the winning bid for the diamond was equal to the sum of all the other winning bids in this auction, making up half of the proceeds.
After the auction ended, Yang Ting came instantly to mock Mo Wen. She had been waiting for this moment. “Mo Wen, the Hope Diamond was successfully bid upon by someone else. Did you not swear that you would give the Hope Diamond to Shen Jing? What are you going to give her now?”
Before this, she had enough reason to believe that it was impossible for Mo Wen to have the ability to successfully bid for the Hope Diamond. As expected, from the very beginning up until the end, this fellow had not uttered a word. It was obvious that he had completely given up on bidding.
However, Jiang Siyin, who had always been in cahoots with Yang Ting, was not mocking Mo Wen now. Instead, he had descended into silence.
Shen Jing was also silent. Her hands were twisted tightly together, seemingly as though she was unspeakably nervous.
It was because just now she had seen that, at the last minute of the auction, Mo Wen had inputted a string of numbers into the bidding machine. Then, the central display had shown the price of 900 million US dollars, and then completely stopped moving.
Jiang Siyin, who was sitting to the side of Mo Wen, also saw Mo Wen make his bid. Right now, he felt that he was even having trouble breathing. Mo Wen had actually made a bid. An astonishing one.
Yang Ting sat beside Shen Jing and was a seat away from Mo Wen, so she had not seen him make his bid.
Shen Jing stared at Mo Wen. This fellow had actually successfully bid for the Hope Diamond. Right now, she was not feeling happy that he had managed to bid for the Hope Diamond. Instead, a sense of worry welled up inside. Could Mo Wen manage to pay so much money?
900 million US dollars! It was close to six billion Renminbi. It was so much money that even if she sold everything she owned and completely sold off Pu Yuan Pharmaceuticals, she would most likely not have enough. Pu Yuan Pharmaceuticals at most could only be sold for three billion, and the money that would be divided and end up in her hands would most likely be around 500 million. Even if she included Lin Qing’s share, it would most likely only amount to 1.5 to 1.6 billion.
Six billion!
Shen Jing felt a deep sensation of helplessness welling up inside her. In the entire country, aside from state-owned enterprises, there were surely not many businesses that could find such funds at a moment’s notice. Also, it would be impossible for them to do so in order to purchase a diamond.
Only the hidden consortiums that lurked within the country had such financial power and such daring and resolve.
“Mo Wen, I can’t believe that you can fork out that much money!” Jiang Siyin said with a somewhat twisted expression on his face. Before this, he had already accepted that Mo Wen had some status, but he did not believe at all that Mo Wen’s capabilities would be so vast. It was so vast that he did not dare to imagine it.
In the world, aside from those tycoons and the giants that controlled enormous consortiums, who else had the ability to spend a few billion to simply buy a diamond?
If Mo Wen could do it, then exactly how terrifying was the wealth that he held?
Andrea stared at Mo Wen curiously. Even he needed to convene a family meeting before he would be able to decide to spend 900 million US dollars on a non-commercial investment. If his goal was to purchase a rare diamond, the probability of his suggestion being approved was slim. After all, he was a businessman, not a collector.
By now, Yang Ting had realized that the atmosphere was slightly odd too. She stared at Mo Wen incredulously with her eyes wide open. She stared at Jiang Siyin again. In the end, she drew in a breath. Could it be that Mo Wen was the one who offered the shocking bid of 900 million USD?
Soon, she discovered the answer.
A few members of the auction staff walked over. Their target was none other than Mo Wen. “Sir, congratulations on winning the bid for the Hope Diamond, the most honorable item tonight.”
A beautiful woman in a cheongsam walked over. She was the auctioneer and had come to personally greet Mo Wen.
“Where is the Hope Diamond?” Mo Wen glanced at the few people. He noticed that they hadn’t brought the Hope Diamond along.
Upon hearing his words, the beautiful auctioneer was stunned. However, she came to her senses quickly, saying with a smile, “Sir, are you planning to complete the transaction immediately?”
The rule of the auction was the item was delivered upon receiving payment. They would only deliver the auction item when the bidder had cleared the payment. After all, every item auctioned was very valuable. It would be troublesome for the organizer if they encountered people who didn’t keep their word.
This was a transaction that involved 900 million US dollars. The beautiful auctioneer had never thought that Mo Wen could complete the transaction immediately because it was such a huge amount of money. The Settlement would involve a complicated process.
“If we don’t do it now, when will we do it?” Mo Wen asked incredulously. He had already bid for the item. Why wouldn’t they trade now? Could it be that the auctioneer regretted the sale and wanted to deny the transaction?
“Urm…” The beautiful auctioneer was speechless as she stared at Mo Wen. Only after a while, did she say with an embarrassed smile, “Apologies, sir, perhaps I haven’t understood you correctly. May I clarify, when you said ‘we do it now’, do you mean you plan to pay immediately?”
It was such an enormous amount of money. The probability of one settling with immediate payment was too low. There were not many people in the world who had this ability.