Only after the auctioneer repeated Xiao Fan’s name again did Li Xia notice this bidder that had appeared for the nth time.

The auction hall was not big, there were five seats in a row and a small round table was placed between the seats. An exquisite tea set and a vase with fresh flowers were placed on the table.

Li Xia’s number plate was No. 21 and belonged to the first seat in the fifth row while that man named Xiao Fan sat in the second seat in the third row.

Li Xia looked forward and could only see the back of that man’s head above the seat.

The luxurious villa that the Gu Real Estate chose would definitely catch the eyes of others as she had also taken a liking to it, so Li Xia did not find it strange and raised her number plate again.

The starting price of the villa was 150 million and now it had been raised to 230 million.

Paying 230 million was just a matter of swiping her card a few more times so Li Xia was fearless. Regardless, she must have that villa.

When she entered the auction hall, the staff in charge of the auction told her that raising the number plate in her hand meant adding 10 million.

At first, Li Xia exclaimed in her heart that for the wealthy, they used “10 million” as a unit of measurement. However, after a few times of bidding, she was annoyed that the number plate could only represent 10 million each time it was raised.

The value of that villa quickly increased to 300 million from the 180 million since Li Xia had entered the auction hall as Xiao Fan and Li Xia tried outbidding each other.

Other bidders who liked this villa gave up on participating in the auction as they saw the price of the villa increase higher and higher, and there were no signs of the both of them stopping. The other bidders sat on their seats leisurely, awaiting the results.

“Hey, Chairman Li, do you think that this year’s bidding price will break the highest record?”

The person who spoke was President Zhang Ting of Chang Sheng Pharmaceutical Company. He had already participated in the villa auction for many years, but every time, he only pretended to bid once or twice. He did not want to buy the villa and he had only participated to expand his network. 

The person who was called Chairman Li was the Chairman of Xin Tai F&B Company, Li Qing, who had also gone to the auction quite a number of times. However, he truly wanted to buy a villa with excellent geomantic omen, it was just that he had set a limit for himself for the price of the villa and felt that it was not worth it if it was over that price.

Li Qing shook his head. “The highest record is 600 million, how could it be broken?”

Last year, the Gu Real Estate’s auction sold a European-style manor and the starting price was 200 million. Coincidentally, a billionaire on the Forbes list wanted to buy an estate in China, so he participated in that auction.

When he had bid 400 million, there was no one else bidding already. However, once that billionaire knew that it was a charity event and the Gu Real Estate would donate all the proceeds from the auction to charity organizations, he added another 200 million to the price and bought that manor with 600 million.

That billionaire who had paid 600 million was a person on the Forbes list, how could those two compare with that billionaire?

Zhang Ting agreed, “Even if Xiao Fan is able to pay the price, that Ms. Xu would most likely not have the capability to raise the price that high.”

Li Qing smiled and did not continue speaking, it was a silent agreement.

Xu Zhiyu, he had never heard of such a name before. He knew all the people with the surname Xu in the upper-class society, there was no such person.

Li Qing looked at how that woman acted and guessed that she might be some parvenu who wanted to show off and prove her status by buying a villa.

Thinking till here, Li Qing revealed an expression of contempt.

As expected of a parvenu, how shallow!

He wanted to see just how rich that parvenu could be, he did not believe that she could use hundreds of millions to buy a villa.

However, as a matter of fact, Li Xia did not stop at all.

“400 million!”

After Li Xia raised her number plate, she stretched her arms and immediately looked at that person sitting in front of her.

She secretly wished in her heart, please don’t raise it again, please don’t raise it!

It was not the problem of money, it was just that the auction had gone on for half an hour already so it was really boring and dull. Also, the number card was made of metal. It looked impressive and at the same time, it was not light either so her arm ached after raising it too many times.

However, contrary to her expectations, that long, slender, and fair hand appeared in Li Xia’s line of sight again.

The auctioneer had hosted many auctions, but it was the first time the auctioneer has seen two people outbidding each other so many times.

At first, he could still raise his voice to liven the atmosphere but as the bidding continued, he started to turn quieter and his voice even dropped by several keys.

“Mr. Xiao Fan adds another 10 million, the total is now…”

Before the auctioneer could finish his words, he saw Li Xia suddenly stand up from her seat so he hurriedly asked, “Ms. Xu, are you going to continue bidding?”

Li Xia did not answer the auctioneer’s question, instead, she looked towards the second seat of the third row and spoke in a voice loud enough for the whole hall to hear, “Mr. Xiao Fan, may I know what is your upper limit for this villa?”

Xiao Fan was not surprised by Li Xia’s sudden question. His smile widened, but he instantly turned expressionless the moment he stood up and turned back. He looked at Xu Zhiyu, who was at most two to three meters away from him. It was not the first time he had seen her, but each time, she would leave a different impression on him.

Xiao Fan looked at Xu Zhiyu and in the instant that their gazes met, he revealed a polite smile.

“Ms. Xu, are you in a hurry? 

Li Qing saw that Xu Zhiyu did not continue bidding but instead, started speaking with Xiao Fan. He thought that she probably did not have any more money so she wanted to find him to give her an out.

Zhang Ting whispered to Li Qing, who was seated beside him, “Looks like it won’t be able to surpass the record, but who do you think the villa’s owner would be?”

Isn’t the situation very clear now?

Li Qing glanced at Zhang Ting and thought that Zhang Ting was too insensible, no wonder Zhang Ting’s company was only average and could only be an onlooker in such an auction.

Li Xia was stunned for a second as she looked at Xiao Fan.

She had never expected for him to actually be this good-looking.

His appearance was simply too handsome.

Li Xia could not find any suitable phrase to describe Xiao Fan.

However, if she really had to use a phrase, she could only think of the phrase “refined rascal”. Of course, in this case, it was in a positive way. 

 

[*Coughs* Just some pictures for reference… who’s drooling…]

 

Li Xia came back to her senses and immediately replied, “Can I not be in a hurry? Only adding 10 million at one time, how long are we going to dawdle for!”

Li Qing snorted after hearing her words, he thought that her manner of speaking was very imposing for such a young age.

However, in the next moment, Li Xia’s words made Li Qing completely dumbfounded and in disbelief.

“No matter how high your upper limit is, I’ll add another 100 million!”

The auction hall was not big so Li Xia’s voice resounded in the whole hall, entering the ears of every person present. Everyone looked at Li Xia in astonishment, doubting their ears.

Everyone was clear about Xiao Fan’s identity and background. He was the son of a famous oil tycoon and owned billions of assets the moment he was born. It could be said that he was truly born with a golden spoon.

Not only that, Xiao Fan also started his own business after graduating and in just a few years, he had become one of the top entrepreneurs in the industry.

Therefore, this nameless Ms. Xu who was trying to compete with Xiao Fan was like using an egg to strike a stone, she was overreaching herself.

Everyone looked at Xiao Fan and looked forward to him stating an astonishing number to teach this arrogant woman a lesson.

However, Xiao Fan did not. He looked at Li Xia with an ambiguous gaze.

He spoke slowly, “Since Ms. Xu has said so, then I’ll let Ms. Xu have this villa. However, I was planning to break the highest bidding price of the Gu Real Estate’s auction to also contribute to charity.”

“How much?”

Before Xiao Fan could speak, someone else present answered first, “600 million!”

“Then I’ll pay 700 million!”

Xiao Fan looked at Li Xia with a smile and kept quiet.

He was invited by Gu Real Estate to participate in this auction so originally, he only wanted to help raise the price and he did not care about who won the auction.

However, he had never expected to meet her again on such an occasion. 

Seeing how she hurriedly raised her number plate to join the bid, Fan Xiao could not help but remember what happened at the breakfast restaurant. It seems like she would never admit defeat in terms of spending money.

Therefore, Xiao Fan started getting curious, just where was her limit? How much money could make her give up?

It was a pity he did not get an answer in the end.

From 400 million to 700 million, 300 million had been added at once.

Everyone took a sharp breath as they were shocked by Li Xia’s words, especially Li Qing.

Li Qing had never expected that Li Xia could actually spend 700 million. It looks like Xu Zhiyu had quite a strong background so he had to go back and investigate properly.

As a result, the villa was sold at 700 million and set a new record for the highest bidding price in the Gu Real Estate auctions.

This was a charity auction where all the proceeds would be donated to charity organizations so there was quite a number of reporters present.

When the two of them were signing the house purchasing contract, Li Xia had been photographed. Originally, the reporters wanted to interview Li Xia but Ning Meng suddenly called her to tell her that An’an started making a fuss because he did not see her for a long time. Thus, she could only give up on the interview.

After swiping her card seven times and having the money deducted, Li Xia heard the cold system’s prompt message in her head.

“Ding—Wealth Flaunting Bar increased by 5%, the current progress of the Wealth Flaunting Bar is 27%.”

Li Xia could not help but complain, “The Wealth Flaunting System is too stingy, only 5% is increased after spending 700 million? Are you serious?”

System-kun. “Cough cough, Ms. Koi Fish, do you know that you must pay attention to the long-term interest?”

Such an abrupt “long-term interest”, even the reason System-kun came up with to dodge her question was this nonsensical.

There was no use in saying anything else as it was impossible for the stingy system to increase her progress anymore so Li Xia could only give up.

However, on the next day, Li Xia was woken up by the system’s prompt messages early in the morning.

“Ding—Wealth Flaunting Bar increased by 1%, the current progress of the Wealth Flaunting Bar is 28%.”

“Ding—Wealth Flaunting Bar increased by 1%, the current progress of the Wealth Flaunting Bar is 29%.”

“Ding—Wealth Flaunting Bar increased by 1%, the current progress of the Wealth Flaunting Bar is 30%.”

    ……

What happened? Has the system been infected by a virus?