Charity Auction

The charity auction would be held at 8pm, but guests could register and enter from 6pm. The venue was in the top floor banquet hall of the Regent Hotel.

The organizer of this charity auction, Sir Chen, was also a celebrity. Sir Chen’s ancestral home was in Hong Kong. He started from scratch in his early years and acquired a large family business. After the age of 50, he began to devote himself to charity. Not only did he donate a large sum of money every year, he also used his influence to hold charity auctions regularly, and all the proceeds were used for charity. At that time, he had not yet returned and was still a part of Britain. The Queen of England heard about his deeds and in recognition of his good deeds, she awarded him the title of baron. From then on, people called him Sir Chen.

Sir Chan was now 80 years old, still energetic and vigorous. After returning to China, his charity auctions were not only held in Hong Kong, but also in a city every year, inviting the most prestigious and wealthy people in that city to participate.

Sir Chan’s charity auctions were open and transparent. Each invited guest would bring one or more donations, each of which would be marked with the donor, and then the items would be auctioned publicly on the spot. If some of the donations were not needed on the spot and failed to be sold, they would be handed over to the relevant auction house, and the auction house would still announce the selling price after the sale. After each auction, the invited guests would receive a booklet carefully prepared by Sir Chen, which contained the list of all the guests at that auction, the donated items, the prices, and the final auction price.

These celebrities were not short of money, what they wanted was face and fame. Sir Chen’s charity auction gave them enough face and provided a good opportunity to show off. It sounded good to talk about charity. Therefore, those who were invited would only feel honored and would not refuse.

Although there was no limit on the value of the donated items at the auction, even if you just donate a piece of paper, in such an open and transparent environment, everyone was afraid that their donation was not good enough and would be outdone by others.

Although the starting price was set by each donor, it was impossible to deliberately raise the price of the donated items by passing them off as good ones, because each auction would invite experts to conduct strict appraisals of each donation, especially antiques, calligraphy and paintings that were prone to counterfeits.

There was a guest who proudly donated his collection of valuable antiques in the hope of getting the first bid. However, the expert found that the antique was a fake. Although it was valuable, it was far less than what the guest thought. The guest immediately became a laughing stock, and for a long time, this incident was talked about as a joke by people in the industry.

After that, every guest was more strict in checking the donated items. After all, losing money was a small matter, but losing face was a big matter.

This year, Sir Chen’s charity auction happened to be held in this city. As one of the most prestigious families in the city, the Su family was naturally on the invitation list. For such an occasion, Su Mo would of course attend in person.

Each invited guest could bring a companion, whether it was a wife, lover, friend, or subordinate. The companion did not need to donate, but if they wanted to donate, they could, and they would also be included in the list.

Lu Yan and Su Mo met at the parking lot of the Regent Hotel. After reaching the top floor, as soon as they stepped out of the elevator, someone blocked their way and asked for their invitation letter. Su Mo handed over the invitation letter, and someone politely led the two to the registration office.

The item donated by Su Mo was a watch worth one million US dollars. After the expert nearby confirmed that there was no problem with it, it was registered.

Lu Yan was not required to make donations, but he came prepared today. When he took out his donations, the registration staff were a little bit incredulous. After saying “wait a moment”, they sent someone down to verify their authenticity.

Soon the appraiser came back and confirmed the situation was true. After getting further confirmation from Lu Yan, the registrar was also a little excited. He shook Lu Yan’s hand and said, “Mr. Lu, thank you very much for your generosity. This donation is definitely the most valuable donation since Sir Chen held the charity auction. Are you sure you want to donate it?”

Lu Yan smiled and nodded, “I’m very sure.”

The registrar said a lot of words of thanks and then had someone lead the two people to the front row.

The layout of the banquet hall was different from that of ordinary auctions. It was more relaxed and casual. Small round tables were neatly placed in the banquet hall, and each guest and his or her companions had an independent round table.

The arrangement of seats was also very particular, basically according to the value of the donations from near to far. Of course, because each guest arrived in a certain order, and the registration staff could not predict the donations of others, they could only arrange the seats roughly according to past experience. It was not exactly accurate. But if you could sit in the front row right away, it at least meant that the donation from this guest was definitely worth a lot of money.

Each round table was filled with drinks and refreshments. After the guests were seated, the staff quickly handed them a name tag to facilitate bidding when the auction started. Because there were not many people, they didn’t set numbers, but just used names. The names of the guests would be called out every time the prices were called out. Generally, the guests whose names were called out at this time would feel proud. This bidding card was not only for guests, but also for everyone who had donated items. Therefore, even Lu Yan, who was not a guest, got a bidding card because he had donated items.

This type of bidding card was also divided into different levels. According to the starting price of the donated items, those below one million were yellow, those above one million and below five million were silver, and those above five million were gold. Su Mo’s card was silver, while Lu Yan’s was the highest grade gold. The organizers really spared no effort to arouse the competitive spirit of the guests. Lu Yan sighed in his heart, but he had no intention of buying anything, so he just held the sign.

Lu Yan and Su Mo arrived earlier, they were almost the first to arrive.

Su Mo knew Lu Yan’s schedule for the day very well, so he asked directly, “How was the audition today?”

Lu Yan smiled and said, “It’s already been taken.”

Su Mo also laughed, “Not surprisingly, I knew you would be suitable when I saw the script.”

“Oh, why do you say that?” Lu Yan simply ignored the fact that Su Mo had “read the script”.

“I know Chen Li’s style, and I worked with him in the early years. When he selects actors, his main consideration is not acting skills, but the fit between the actor and the role. Therefore, every time he auditions the leading role, he will not let the actor perform a segment in vain, but will directly match the costumes and styling. He will only continue to consider it if the actor has a feeling at the first sight. I have read the script. Chen Li’s requirements for the protagonist this time are youth, temperament, and acting skills. In the current entertainment industry, most of those who have excellent acting skills and temperament are not suitable in terms of age. And you are the best if you meet both the age and temperament. I believe that as long as Chen Li is not blind or deaf, he will definitely choose you.” Su Mo said calmly.

Lu Yan smiled and said, “You should really tell Brother Feng about this. Didn’t you see how nervous he was? It was as if he was the one who was going to audition instead of me.”

“He cares too much and gets confused” Su Mo said.

“So you don’t care?” Lu Yan asked with a meaningful tone.

Su Mo’s eyes were firm, and he whispered, “Because I have more confidence in you.”

Lu Yan pursed his lips, a smile in his eyes, and quietly reached out to hold Su Mo’s hand which was under the table.

The two of them appeared calm on the surface, but secretly held hands. This kind of intimacy in public had a special kind of exciting sweetness.

Soon, other guests arrived one after another.

The invited guests were all celebrities in the city, and most of them knew each other, but their relationships varied in degree.

Although Su Mo was young, he had achieved a lot and held a high position, so all the later generations took the initiative to come over and say hello to Su Mo when they saw him, and did not dare to wait for Su Mo to come forward. Su Mo also took it for granted, and his almost innate high-pressure aura became stronger the stronger he was.

Everyone who came over to say hello turned their questioning eyes to the young man sitting with Su Mo. Just like that time at the golf course, Su Mo just introduced him briefly, “This is Lu Yan,” and didn’t say anything else.

Most people just said “Oh” as if they suddenly understood something, then shook hands with Lu Yan enthusiastically, saying “Nice to meet you”, but in fact they didn’t know who he was at all.

There were many people coming, especially some of the beauties brought by the guests who usually paid close attention to fashion and entertainment, so they naturally recognized the big star Lu Yan. But they only dared to talk to the people who brought them here, and basically, they had no room to speak on such occasions.

The guests who knew Lu Yan’s identity didn’t say much. Most of them were wondering in their hearts, could it be that this young man was from a noble family who wanted to try his hand in the entertainment industry just because he was interested?  This idea was especially confirmed when they saw that the bidding tag in Lu Yan’s hand was golden, one level higher than Su Mo’s.

Almost no one dared to step forward to verify this idea. After all, in the eyes of most aristocratic families, no matter how famous a star is, he or she is not presentable. They were afraid of asking the wrong question and violating taboos. Even if there were one or two curious people who wanted to ask in a roundabout way, Su Mo would just smile and brush it off.

When there was no one around, Su Mo smiled softly, “They are probably trying to guess your identity now. They may think you are from a big family. Maybe some people even want to get close to you.”

Lu Yan smiled nonchalantly, “I’m sorry to disappoint them. I’m just an ordinary person.”

Su Mo glanced at the bidding tag in his hand and said with a smile, “You are holding this thing in your hand and you still say you are an ordinary person. If I didn’t know you, I wouldn’t believe it.”

Lu Yan whispered, “Tell me, am I taking advantage of the power of the tiger?”

Su Mo looked up at the two people who were approaching and lowered his voice, “If you are a fox, the tiger is coming.”