Charity Auction 2

The two men who were walking over were both men, one old and one young. The old man looked to be in his fifties, and the young man was about thirty-something. They looked a bit like father and son.

After hearing Su Mo’s words, Lu Yan began to pay attention to the two people. However, Lu Yan was sure that he had never seen these two people before, he just felt that their faces looked familiar.

When the two men came up to him, the older man smiled and stretched out his hand, saying to Su Mo, “Boss Su, you’re here too.”

Su Mo also smiled and shook hands with him gently, “It’s rare to see Mr. Chen come in person.”

Mr. Chen still smiled and said, “Doing charity is a good thing.”

Su Mo didn’t say anything, but nodded slightly to the young man behind Old Chen and said with a smile, “The eldest master is here too.”

The young man stepped forward and said politely, “Hello, Mr. Su.”

Su Mo smiled and nodded.

After greeting, Mr. Chen took a closer look at Lu Yan, who was sitting next to Su Mo, and especially at the golden bidding card in his hand, and asked, “Mr. Su, who is this?”

Su Mo said in a casual tone, “Oh, his name is Lu Yan.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Yan smiled and nodded to the two of them.

Su Mo turned around and smiled at Lu Yan, “This is Mr. Chen Baisheng, and that is his eldest son, Chen Xu.”

Lu Yan suddenly realized that they were Chen Yue’s father and brother. The three of them looked very similar, no wonder they looked familiar. 

Chen Baisheng saw that Su Mo was friendly towards Lu Yan, which was different from how he treated others. In addition, seeing the sign in Lu Yan’s hand and the demeanor he displayed, he immediately had the same doubt as everyone else: Could he be a young man from a noble family?

From the looks in his eyes, Su and Lu knew there had been another misunderstanding, but neither of them wanted to explain.

Before eight o’clock, all the guests had arrived and the charity auction started on time.

The auction process was generally from low to high, and the items at the front had lower starting prices, so Lu Yan’s piece must be left to the end.

When the host showed each item, he would give a brief introduction and finally name the donor. Another advantage of this was that every guest present would have some connections, some wanted to build a good relationship with others, or some were partners who wanted to get closer to each other, so they would deliberately make offers of the donations of the person they wanted to establish a relationship with. 

After all, it would be embarrassing if no one wanted your donations at such charity auctions. Some people would even find a well-connected guest to buy the items and then pay to redeem them for the items in order to save face and avoid being ignored.

Therefore, it was rare for items to fail to be sold, and the more influential the person, the more popular the donations would be.

As you can imagine, the first few items had the lowest starting prices, and the donors were generally the least influential, so they were basically sold directly at the starting price plus one bid.

However, the guests present were basically all real aristocratic families in the city or newly emerging wealthy families, and their bids would not be too low, so the lowest starting price for donations was at least 500,000.

Most of the donations after that were between 500,000 and 1,000,000. Although the auction price was high, the donations were basically worth the price, and most of them were worth more than the price, so the guests present actually only donated their respective donations.

There were fewer donations worth more than a million, but there were still quite a few. The starting price of the watch donated by Su Mo was two million, not the highest, but it was also significant enough to match his status while also being low-key. But Lu Yan knew that the watch should be worth at least three million.

But these were not the main points. The main point was that the watch donated by Su Mo was the most competitive item in the auction. Except for Su Mo and Lu Yan, almost all the guests present participated in the bidding. The final transaction price was 7 million, which was not only several times higher than the starting price, but also far higher than its own value. 

The successful bidder was a middle-aged man in his forties. He looked so excited that he didn’t feel like he was being taken advantage of. On the contrary, many of the people who didn’t win the bid looked dejected.

Although there was nothing on the auction that interested Su Mo, it would not be a good idea to not buy anything on such an occasion, so he just casually bought two paintings. In stark contrast to the fierce bidding for his own donated works, once Su Mo opened his mouth, even those who were originally interested in the works stopped bidding, not to mention those who were not interested in the first place. So the two paintings that Su Mo wanted were sold with just one bid plus the starting price. This was very unusual for the most popular collectibles in such an event. But in Su Mo, all the unreasonable things become reasonable. 

Su Mo was indifferent to this phenomenon, as he had long been accustomed to it.

Lu Yan looked at Su Mo with particularly bright eyes and laughed softly, “It turns out that Director Su is so influential!”

Su Mo deliberately glanced at him sideways, “I thought you knew it a long time ago.”

Lu Yan smiled meaningfully and said, “It’s not too late to know now.”

The two chatted quietly for a few words. The auction had already come to an end, and the host’s tone became particularly excited. “Next is the last item of this auction, which is also the most valuable donation I have seen in all the charity auctions I have hosted. Please forgive us that this item cannot be shown to you for the time being, but you can rest assured that we have already authenticated it and it is absolutely authentic. This item is now under the care of our staff, waiting for the right person to take it away. I think everyone must be very curious about what this lot is. Well, I won’t keep you in suspense. This lot is…”

As the host spoke, he motioned for a staff member holding a plate to come over, removed the cover, and said loudly, “Aston Martin’s latest global limited edition this year! There are only 100 of this latest limited edition sports car in the world. Whether it is performance, appearance, or collection value, it is currently the top…”

The host then continued to introduce the items in a torrent of words, which was completely different from the previous concise introduction of each item.

The guests present were also a little excited. As long as they were interested in cars, especially sports cars, few people could resist the temptation of this top-of-the-line sports car. This Aston Martin, which was limited to 100 units worldwide, was truly priceless and not something you could buy just because you have money. Chen Yue had spent countless thoughts and tried every possible means to finally get this car. If he had not been so overconfident and had not been so impulsive at the time, he would never have gambled with Lu Yan on this car.

The host introduced the event for almost ten minutes before finally saying, “Let us applaud Mr. Lu Yan, the most generous donor tonight.”

The host pointed his finger over there, and everyone’s eyes turned to him. Lu Yan stood up slightly, bowed, and then sat back down. Everyone else suddenly understood. No wonder he had a gold medal. It turned out that it was donated by Aston Martin. What a generous person.

At this time, the host was already bidding, “This is a top-of-the-line sports car that is limited to only 100 units worldwide and is extremely valuable. The starting price is: 35 million!”

In fact, this price was lower than the price of the car itself, not to mention its added value, so the bidding was very fierce at the beginning. However, only a few guests who really loved sports cars participated in the bidding, and there was no situation of bidding all over the place like Su Mo’s donation just now.

The only two people who felt uncomfortable were the Chen father and son.

When the host started introducing the car, Chen Xu whispered in Chen Bosheng’s ear, “Dad, could it be the one he lost?”

As far as he knew, only one of his younger brothers, Chen Yue, had bought this top-of-the-line sports car, which was limited to 100 units worldwide. He just lost this sports car some time ago, and it appeared at the auction today. It was too coincidental. Besides, if it wasn’t obtained so easily, how could anyone be willing to donate it?

Chen Bosheng’s face also looked unhappy. “This prodigal son, I think it’s 80% true. Moreover, this car should have been donated by Mr. Lu who is next to Mr. Su. No wonder he didn’t tell us who he lost to when we asked him.”

Although he was willing to accept the loss, he felt annoyed that his own things were used by others to show off. Chen Xu sighed in his heart, this little brother was too ignorant, and he whispered, “Do you want us to bid for it?”

Chen Bosheng shook his head. “No matter who Mr. Lu is, didn’t you see how Mr. Su treated him? He is not someone we can afford to offend. If bid for the car, doesn’t that mean we’re not happy with him winning the sports car?”

Chen Xu nodded. His father still thought long-term. “I understand.”

Chen Baisheng glanced at his eldest son and sighed in his heart. Although the eldest and second sons had good qualifications and had helped a lot in the company over the years and had gradually matured, they were still far behind the Su brothers. But then again, even these old hands had to obey Su Mo, so who among the young people nowadays could be his opponent? In the future, they still had to follow the Su family’s lead.

The final transaction price of the car was 45 million, which was exactly in line with the value of the car itself.

After the deal was concluded, the host specially invited Lu Yan, the biggest donor of the night, to come on stage to say a few words. Lu Yan did not refuse, but walked up to the stage generously, smiled and said, “Actually, the generous person is not me, but someone else. Tonight, I am just borrowing flowers to offer to Buddha1¹. The real donor of this Aston Martin is Mr. Chen Yue. He cannot attend the auction tonight because of something, so he asked me to donate on his behalf. I think we should give applause to Mr. Chen who is truly generous! “

The Chen family father and son were stunned amid the applause. They had never thought that Lu Yan would say that.

At this time, a guest who was already on good terms with Chen Bosheng came over and touched him, “Isn’t your second son called Chen Yue? Is this the car he donated?”

“Why, you didn’t know? Why didn’t he let you donate the car, and instead asked someone else to donate?”

Chen Bosheng had come back to his senses and deliberately said angrily, “He probably wanted to surprise us. We definitely support this kind of good deed. We must teach him a lesson when we get back.”

“Hey, stop it. Your second son has finally grown up. Shouldn’t you be happy?”

Chen Bosheng’s face was already full of smiles, but he was still saying, “No, no, the kid is naughty, naughty!”

At this time, other people who were acquainted with the Chen family also came over and praised Chen Yue to Chen Bosheng.

Chen Bosheng’s heart was filled with joy. For a father, it was more fulfilling to have his son praised by others than to praise himself directly.

When Lu Yan came here, he drove the Aston Martin that had been donated, and now when he went back, he happened to be with Su Mo.

The two were looking for a car in the parking lot when they heard someone calling out from behind, “Mr. Lu, Mr. Lu, please stay!”

The two of them turned around together, and as expected, it was the Chen father and son who caught up with them.

Chen Bosheng bowed to Lu Yan and said, “Mr. Lu, thank you very much for saying that today.”

Lu Yan smiled and said, “Mr. Chen, you are too polite. I am telling the truth. The car is indeed Chen Yue’s. I just took the initiative to deal with it. I hope you don’t mind.”

Chen Bosheng waved his hand and said, “Mr. Lu, don’t say that. We all know that Chen Yue lost the car to you. You have the right to do whatever you want with it. I want to thank you for helping us save the face of the Chen family and letting Chen Yue shine. Thank you.”

What Chen Bosheng said was true. Anyway, Chen Yue bought a limited edition Aston Martin, and many people in the circle knew about it. He was not the kind of person who could keep secrets, and young people like to show off. When he first bought the car, he showed it off in the circle. Now that he no longer had the car, many people would definitely ask about its whereabouts. Even if they didn’t ask directly, the fact that he lost the car would soon be exposed. And since Lu Yan donated the car “on behalf of ” Chen Yue with great fanfare today, most people will no longer ask about the car and would only be surprised at Chen Yue’s generosity. Because no one believed that someone would donate such a good car that they won, and in the name of the original owner.

For the Chen family, money was not an issue; face was the most important thing.

Lu Yan’s words not only saved the Chen family from becoming a laughing stock, but also made the Chen family famous, so Lu Yan deserved his thanks.

After the Chen family father and son left, Su Mo looked at Lu Yan and said with a smile, “You are quite cunning, Mr. Lu.”

Lu Yan spread his hands and said, “It’s just a small effort. What’s wrong with doing a favor? Besides, I didn’t intend to be in the spotlight in the first place.”

Su Mo nodded, “It’s a good idea. Although the Chen family doesn’t have a lot of money, they are one of the richest families in the city. Sometimes, money makes the world go round. Even if some noble families say they are nouveau riche in their hearts, they still try to please them on the surface. It is much smarter to make friends with them than to offend them.”

“I figured it out.” Lu Yan said with a smile.

A playboy from the Chen family who did not work could easily lose a sports car worth tens of millions without blinking an eye, which showed how wealthy he was.

Notes

1. Metaphor for using someone else’s things as a favor. ↩︎