Chapter 7: Trash or Treasure

Page 1/3

Xiao Ran presented a bid with both zeros and whole numbers, markedly different from his previous bidding style. Everyone on site instantly understood from his hesitant gestures and expression, coupled with this somewhat unusual bid, that the young Chinese man’s funds had run dry—he only had so much money left!

With that realization, all eyes turned simultaneously toward Leon. Looking at Leon’s face, a triumphant smile finally appeared, filled with the satisfaction of a well-laid scheme coming to fruition.

Leon had observed Xiao Ran’s earlier behavior closely and concluded that Xiao Ran was out of money and wouldn’t raise his bid any further. As a professional treasure hunter himself, Leon naturally had no intention of increasing his own bid to claim this pair of antique travel trunks.

Although these limited-edition vintage trunks still held some profit potential, it wasn’t worth the risk. Doing so would go against his bidding principles.

“Alright, fool, you win. This pair of limited-edition antique luggage belongs to you!” Leon declared loudly with a tone of schadenfreude.

Xiao Ran, however, was stunned and did not respond immediately.

At that moment, Tom rapidly called out three times in succession, “$13,500!”

Seeing no one else raise their paddles, Tom quickly hammered the auctioneer’s gavel, as if afraid Xiao Ran might regret his decision.

“Sold! $13,200. Congratulations to bidder number 216 on successfully acquiring this pair of limited-edition antique trunks!”

The sound of the gavel snapped Xiao Ran out of his daze. The next moment, he looked disdainfully at Leon and sneered loudly:

“Fool? Who do you think the fool really is?”

With that, he gave Leon a tall, raised middle finger.

Seeing this gesture, Leon’s eyes blazed with anger. To the people present, Leon appeared stubbornly defensive, like a dying duck refusing to admit defeat.

Meanwhile, inside Xiao Ran’s live stream room, the atmosphere exploded.

“$13,200! Got it for so cheap? Is this for real? Did I hear wrong?”

“Bro just checked online—this brand of donkey-labeled antique trunks sells for up to 200,000 RMB domestically. A pair is worth 400,000 RMB!”

“But Xiao Ran snagged them at such a low price. That’s incredible!”

“Now I get Xiao Ran’s bidding strategy. Xiao Ran, are you sure you’re not an actor?”

Listening to the lively chatter in his live stream, Xiao Ran couldn’t help but smile proudly.

“How’s that? Think my performance was good? Deserve a little golden statue or what?”

“Had to pretend to be a clueless rookie, keep raising the bid dramatically—it’s the only way to scare off so many competitors.”

“This avoided the ‘boiling frog’ effect and allowed me to smoothly win this pair of donkey-brand antique trunks!”

Before he finished speaking, Sister Min’s excited voice came through.

Page 2/3

“Xiao Ran, you did so well! I’m deeply grateful!”

“When you come back to the country, I’ll definitely introduce you to the most beautiful girls. You can be picky, kid!”

“With you saying that, Sister Min, I’ll be waiting to pick my girls!” Xiao Ran joked.

His words brought a burst of laughter and joy to the live stream room. Those who had long claimed to be forever single now all begged Sister Min to introduce them a pale-skinned, beautiful, long-legged soft girl.

While Xiao Ran bantered with them, the auction continued. In the following rounds, Xiao Ran made several more bids.

These times, he wasn’t actively seeking out items but was encouraged by those in his live stream to compete for various lots.

They were interested in watches, pocket watches, figurines, electronics, and jewelry.

As for the sealed trunks, no one else showed interest.

After a round of bidding, Xiao Ran secured a niche antique pocket watch for $400, a batch of jewelry for $1,850, and a classic Megatron figurine for $1,350.

He lost out on the rest, mainly because those interested in those items weren’t willing to raise their bids further, effectively pushing him out.

They were far away domestically, and judging from Xiao Ran’s live video alone, it was hard to assess the true condition and value of those items, so they backed down.

This was their first time trying this kind of international blind box auction via live video, so naturally they felt a bit nervous.

Xiao Ran, however, didn’t mind and thoroughly enjoyed himself.

During the process, he realized he had quickly grown fond of this special kind of auction—or rather, this blind box game!

Thanks to his sudden clairvoyant ability, this so-called blind box game was like an open-book exam for him.

And the answers were written right on the test paper, so he didn’t even have to copy them!

Or perhaps more accurately, auctions of this type were like unsecured vaults for him—free to take whatever he wanted.

By participating in these auctions, he could quickly earn piles of green American dollars, rapidly achieve financial freedom, and then live life and enjoy it at his leisure.

Thinking of this, Xiao Ran’s eyes shone brightly with excitement.

He also silently resolved that he would join more auctions like this in the future to make a fortune.

While he was mulling these plans, Leon and others looked at him in astonishment.

When Xiao Ran had bought the pair of donkey-brand antique trunks for $13,200, everyone thought he was out of money and wouldn’t compete further.

But to their surprise, he kept raising his paddle and successfully won several decent items.

This outcome left many on site feeling stunned, even somewhat cheated.

Especially Leon and the professional treasure hunters who had competed for the trunks—they felt particularly duped.

Hence, they paid close attention to Xiao Ran, each with a sense of irritation gnawing at them.

As they spoke, another lot was placed on the display table.

It was a small plaster statue of Venus, roughly crafted, with many scratches and dust on the surface, exuding a sense of age and wear.

No one showed interest in this Venus plaster statue; many barely spared it a glance.

Page 3/3

The folks in Xiao Ran’s live stream room were the same, lively in their discussions, but their topics had nothing to do with the statue.

“Ladies and gentlemen, the next lot you see is a small plaster statue of Venus, which should have some historical value.”

“This statue has some surface damage, and the starting bid is $20. Who will bid?”

Tom briefly introduced the statue and then set a very low starting price.

Even so, nobody bid.

After all, no one wanted to take home a piece of junk. Disposing of junk costs money, and this thing was dead heavy and hard to move!

Tom called out the starting price three times with no response, then reluctantly lowered it.

First to $10, still no takers.

Then, helplessly, down to $5.

After calling $5 twice with no bids, Tom was about to declare the Venus statue unsold.

At that moment, someone suddenly raised a paddle.

“$5, I’ll take it.”

The bidder was none other than Xiao Ran.

Seeing this, everyone on site froze for a moment, then shook their heads in disdain.

Looking at Xiao Ran now, their expressions were as if looking at a fool.

Five dollars is still money! Spending $5 on junk and then paying extra to get rid of it—what kind of idiot does that?

But in Xiao Ran’s eyes, everyone else was the real fool.

The total value of everything else in this auction probably didn’t even equal that of this Venus statue!

Like the others, auctioneer Tom was momentarily stunned but quickly hammered the gavel without asking if anyone else wished to bid.

“Sold! Bidder number 216 has won the Venus statue!”

In his urgency, Tom forgot to check for other bids and quickly closed the sale.

In truth, no one else was interested in the statue.

The moment the gavel fell, a wild joy flashed in Xiao Ran’s eyes.

The heart that had been suspended in his throat finally settled back into his chest.

Meanwhile, in the live stream room, voices of doubt rang out.

“Xiao Ran, why the hell did you buy that statue? I wouldn’t take it even if it was free!”

“Exactly! It’s just junk!”