Chapter 49

"Hand it over to the state?" Li Ting's eyes widened as she stood beside them.

"Exactly, this is a national treasure, it must be handed over to the state!" Yun Haiyong said firmly.

Li Yi saw that the two antiques Yun Haiyong was referring to were the "Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion" and the Imperial Seal, the two most valuable items among all his exhibits. He couldn't help but smile slightly.

"Brother Yong, let me tell you a secret, don't tell anyone else, but these two antiques are actually fakes!"

"Ah?" Yun Haiyong was completely stunned.

"So you don't have to worry about the state's property being lost. I'm a patriot too; I wouldn't sell fakes to the state!" Li Yi patted Yun Haiyong's shoulder.

Yun Haiyong's face turned uncertain, and after a long while, he said, "Wait, I'll ask the experts!"

"Brother Haiyong is just too serious about things, don't mind him!" Zhang Hongjuan, seeing Yun Haiyong turn and leave, explained to Li Yi with some difficulty.

Now she also knew that Li Yi had extraordinary abilities and was not someone to be trifled with.

"Sister-in-law, you're making it sound too formal. I admire Brother Yong's straightforward character!" Li Yi smiled.

After a while, Yun Haiyong ran back, grabbed Li Yi's hand, and said, "Xiao Yi, all the experts have unanimously determined that your two antiques are genuine, so you must hand them over to the state! We have cultural relic protection laws, you can't sell them!"

Li Yi said, "Brother Yong, these are really fakes. Don't you believe me?"

Yun Haiyong said hesitantly, "I believe you, but I can't ignore the experts. If the national treasures were to be lost, it would be a serious issue!"

Li Yi said, "Brother Yong, I'm short on money recently and need to sell them urgently."

"No, if you sell these two national treasures, they must be purchased by the state! Wait, I'll call Zhong Yang to ensure you don't lose out, don't auction them!"

After saying this, Yun Haiyong turned and ran to make a call.

After a while, Tan Mingcheng walked over and said to Li Yi, "Mr. Li, I heard Commander Yun say that your two exhibits are too valuable and cannot participate in the auction. Please understand."

"Ah, then we won't make a lot of money, right?" Li Ting frowned in worry.

She knew that the "Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion" was valued at ten billion, and the Imperial Seal was even more valuable than the "Preface"!

All the exhibits at this exhibition combined might not be as valuable as these two!

"There's no way around it, we are Chinese. Money is just an external thing, don't take it too seriously." Li Yi patted his sister's shoulder, his expression very calm.

At eleven o'clock at night, the exhibition ended, and the highly anticipated auction began.

Businessmen, groups, and collectors from all over the country and abroad entered the auction hall.

At the same time, online and telephone bidding began, allowing those who couldn't attend the exhibition to participate in the event through the internet or phone.

The auction started with several items that should have been the highlights, and it almost became Li Yi's personal stage.

One by one, the exhibits were sold for astronomical prices, filling Li Yi's pockets. By the end of the auction, Li Yi's net worth had reached six billion!

At this moment, the auctioneer announced another item, and everyone held their breath.

Because they knew that the most valuable items of the exhibition were about to be auctioned!

Since the "Preface to the Poems Composed at the Orchid Pavilion" and the Imperial Seal were banned from auction, the highlight of this auction was Li Yi's two sets of Ru porcelain!

Perfect and flawless, "the sky after the rain, the clouds breaking" Ru porcelain!

"Isn't the item I'm about to introduce something that many of you have been observing for hours?" The auctioneer's first words made everyone laugh. Indeed, since the exhibition began, many collectors had gathered around Li Yi's booth, constantly examining these pieces of Ru porcelain. The auctioneer wasn't exaggerating when he said they had been observing for hours.

"This is a Northern Song Ru kiln, sky-blue glaze, carved goose-neck vase. As everyone knows, Ru kiln does not produce large pieces, and this vase, at 18 centimeters tall, is a rare large piece. It has a bright and lustrous opening, a slender neck, and a ring foot. Originally, it was a pair, one with a phoenix carved on the neck and the other with a phoenix. This one is the one with the phoenix."

"Oh, so it's the one with the phoenix!" A group of people nodded.

Li Yi brought two sets of Ru porcelain, one a tea set with one pot and four bowls, sky-blue in color, and the other a pair of sky-blue porcelain vases.

In theory, a pair of vases should be auctioned together, but since Ru porcelain is so valuable, selling them together would be too expensive for anyone to afford, and it would be difficult to get a good price. Therefore, the auction decided to sell them separately.

"This porcelain vase is a unique existence among the imperial Ru porcelain that has been passed down. Before Mr. Li's pair of vases appeared, there was only one Ru kiln vase left in the world, and that vase was covered in cracks, clearly inferior to this one."

"Um." Hearing the auctioneer's words, another group of people nodded. Li Yi's two sets of Ru porcelain were too perfect, so perfect that they were breathtaking, and could be considered the most beautiful Ru porcelain today!

"This vase is sky-blue. Ru porcelain is most valuable in sky-blue, followed by powder blue. Sky-blue is extremely rare, and before this, there were only four known sky-blue glazed pieces. You are fortunate to see the fifth one!"

...

Actually, even without the auctioneer's introduction, everyone understood that this was a rare and priceless treasure, worth any antique collector's entire fortune to own. So when the auctioneer announced the start of the auction, the scene erupted.

"Sky-blue glaze, carved goose-neck vase, the one with the phoenix in the pair, starting bid one billion yuan!"

"Three billion!"

Mr. Li from Taiwan, a major businessman, raised the bid by two billion yuan in one go!

Many people gasped, and even more deeply regretted it. Who wouldn't want to buy this priceless treasure at a lower price? Unfortunately, with Mr. Li's bid, they had no hope. They could only come up with one or two billion even if they sold everything they had.

Some people cursed inwardly, raising the bid by two billion yuan in one go, can you let us play nicely?

"Three hundred and fifty million!" Another voice came from Mr. Ni from the capital!

"Mr. Ni bids three hundred and fifty million!" The auctioneer repeated.

"Three hundred and seventy million!" This time, it was Bryant from the American Rockefeller Group.

Bryant was bidding through a video link, and by the time the translation was done, another person had already made a high bid.

"Three hundred and eighty million!"

This bid came from Amadeo, an Italian food tycoon, who was bidding by phone.

"Four billion!" Mr. Li from Taiwan called out another round number.