Chapter 152: This move is brilliant!

What?!
Five hundred million?!
The crowd gasped in shock!
A wave of burning gazes instantly locked onto the source of the voice!
The one who had spoken was none other than Ling Qiu, who had remained silent beside Qin Siyao all this time!
Ling Qiu, whom everyone had assumed to be merely Qin Siyao's subordinate or bodyguard!
"Huh?! The bidder is... him?!"
"No way... The young miss of the Qin family... judging by her expression just now, she should have given up... why is she still bidding??"
"And... he raised it straight to five hundred million!!"

Clearly, everyone believed Ling Qiu was merely acting as Qin Siyao's proxy, and his bid must have been authorized by her.
"Hey! Ling Qiu!! Have you lost your mind?!"
Qin Siyao's heart skipped a beat as she asked in a startled voice.
Ling Qiu smiled faintly. "Do I look like I've lost my mind?"
"You don't just look like it! You are out of your mind!"
Qin Siyao's expression turned severe. "We only have a capital of three hundred million! My bid just now was already the absolute limit! ...If you don't understand anything, stop messing around!..."

Meanwhile...
Wu Hantao frowned and turned back to look.
To be honest...
He never expected Qin Siyao's side to be able to bid five hundred million.
Increasing the bid by that much in a single leap made him momentarily think Qin Siyao had gone crazy.
However, when he saw the scene of Qin Siyao questioning Ling Qiu, his eyes narrowed slightly.
Hm?
Who... is this brat?
Judging by Qin Siyao's attitude toward him... it doesn't look like a subordinate or a bodyguard...
Could it be...
Some other kind of relationship?

"Five hundred and ten million!"
Wu Hantao reined in his smile and turned serious.
On one hand, this price was slightly too high, even for him!
On the other hand... he had a lingering feeling that the way Qin Siyao and the young man beside her looked at each other was rather strange... Could that brat happen to be some wealthy young master playing the pig to eat the tiger?
That previous bid of five hundred million... could it be that brat's... personal bid?
Just to curry favor with Qin Siyao???
Realizing this, Wu Hantao let out a cold internal scoff!
In Jiangnan Province, apart from the young masters of the other two families among the top three, I truly have no fear of fighting anyone to the end!!

"Phew! Thank goodness! Wu Hantao took over the bid!"
Qin Siyao let out a sigh of relief. "Ling Qiu, you must not pull any more stunts, otherwise—"
"Six hundred million."
However...
To Qin Siyao's utter astonishment...
Ling Qiu suddenly raised his hand and placed another bid!
Oh, sweet mother of God!!

The entire venue completely exploded into chaos!!
Qin Siyao lost her mind as well!
Wu Hantao completely snapped, violently turning his head to glare directly at Ling Qiu with a pair of icy eyes!
What the hell...
Does this bastard have so much money he doesn't know what to do with it?!
Is this any way to raise a bid?!
Normally, raising the bid by one million at a time was standard, and Wu Hantao upping it by ten million at once was already an outrageously tyrannical display of wealth.
Yet you... you're raising it by a hundred million at a time!
Does your family own a gold mine or something?!
No, wait...
Does your family farm jade blocks by the cartload?!

"Ling Qiu! You... you..."
Qin Siyao's face turned pale...
She panicked.
If Ling Qiu continued to act this recklessly, they were doomed!
In her eyes, Ling Qiu's bid was equivalent to a bid from the Qin family, meaning she would ultimately be the one footing the bill!
Seven hundred million...
It wasn't that the Qin family couldn't afford it...
But it would still hurt...
Furthermore, this wasn't some business investment; it was merely a decorative artifact!

However...
Ling Qiu maintained a faint, calm smile from beginning to end.
His gaze drifted indifferently toward a certain corner.
He looked at Xing Mantang, whose appearance was concealed.
Xing Mantang gave Ling Qiu a slight nod, an expression and posture that clearly indicated they had reached a tacit understanding.
Ling Qiu had two reasons for doing this.
First, he was determined to secure this Ghost Buddha statue. Never mind several hundred million, even if it cost tens of billions, Ling Qiu would keep bidding to the very end—and if worst came to worst, he would simply resort to extraordinary methods.
Second, he was signaling Xing Mantang to foot the bill for this auction. To put it bluntly, this could also be considered Ling Qiu helping him spend money to redeem his sins. Regardless of who Xing Mantang was working for, committing acts of harm inevitably accumulated karmic retribution. The saying that spending wealth averting disaster held a certain truth.
Xing Mantang was exceptionally shrewd. The very first moment Ling Qiu looked at him after raising the bid, Xing Mantang instantly understood the King of Hell's intention.
After all, the Xing family was one of the top three prominent families in the provincial capital, and he himself was the head of the family, so...
Even if the bidding genuinely reached tens of billions today, he, Xing Mantang, could afford to play along with Ling Qiu!
A man like Xing Mantang had long since seen through the vanity of the world. To him, money was merely an external possession!
Ingratiating himself with the King of Hell was infinitely more practical than mere wealth!

"Seven hundred and fifty million!!!"
Suddenly, Wu Hantao's voice rang out!
This time, Wu Hantao's voice carried a hint of anger; clearly, he was furious!
Ling Qiu smiled faintly. "Eight hundred million."
Boom!! ——
The crowd erupted once again!
They finally realized something was amiss...

"Could this brat... not be Qin Siyao's bodyguard or proxy after all?"
"Yeah... Look at that, Qin Siyao's expression has completely changed... Clearly, she has no control over this kid!"
"Could it be... this kid is actually the young master of some powerful family?"
The crowd began wildly speculating about Ling Qiu's true identity!

Wu Hantao suddenly stood up, turned around, and fixed his unblinking gaze squarely on Ling Qiu!
That look was a blatant intimidation!
Every single gaze in the room converged on Wu Hantao.
Wu Hantao sneered coldly, "My friend, it seems you are utterly determined to win this jade statue!"
Complete silence fell over the hall; everyone's attention was locked entirely on Wu Hantao and Ling Qiu!
Even the auctioneer on the stage forgot to count down!
Ling Qiu swept an indifferent glance at him, lazily let out a yawn, and completely ignored him!
Wu Hantao narrowed his eyes, glaring viciously at Ling Qiu, slowly raised his hand, and declared with an aura of absolute dominance, "I bid... one billion!"

Holy crap!!!!! ——
They've lost it, absolutely lost it!!
What the hell... The young master of the Wu family has lost his mind too!!
Just for a jade statue!
The price has actually skyrocketed all the way to one billion yuan!!
He was clearly trying to drive the price straight through the ceiling and completely crush his opponent in one fell swoop!
As expected of the young master of the Wu family! Domineering! Tyrannical! Outrageously wealthy!
Wu Hantao glared malevolently at Ling Qiu, making no effort to conceal the murderous intent in his eyes!
Damn it...
Where did this damn punk pop out from, forcing this young master to spend a full billion yuan just to buy this thing?!
I'll be keeping score of this debt...
This young master is taking note of it today!
Yes, Wu Hantao believed that having reached one billion yuan... this was already an astronomical sum. By jumping the price by two hundred million in a single bid, that brat standing next to Qin Siyao should finally know when to back down...
However...
To his utter disbelief, Ling Qiu slowly raised his hand once again and casually dropped a phrase: "Two billion."

Ahhhhhhh cisterns of screaming!! ——
The entire audience shrieked!
Yes, the entire venue screamed out loud!
Young and old, men and women alike, everyone let out bizarre, piercing cries!
They clutched their heads, completely losing their minds!
Two billion!
This was a staggering two billion yuan!!
Moreover, with a single price hike, he had doubled the previous bid of one billion right on the spot!!
This son of a bitch...
He was utterly trampling the young master of the Wu family, Wu Hantao, straight into the dirt and grinding his face into the pavement!!
Who on earth... is this kid?!