Chapter 181

Chapter 181: Fierce Bidding at the Auction Ruan Chutang's words planted a seed of doubt in Chen Wan's mind. After leaving the law firm, Chen Wan asked around in her social circle and learned that the Gu Group had indeed run into trouble recently. Moreover, word had it that the company's largest shareholder had long since transferred his shares and cashed out. Now the Gu Group was back in Gu Zechuan's hands, but it was already a complete mess. Chen Wan frowned. No wonder Gu Zechuan had been so busy lately. Every time she saw him, he looked exhausted, as if he hadn't had a good night's sleep in days. Could the Gu Group survive this? If the Gu family really went bankrupt, wouldn't marrying Gu Zechuan be jumping straight into a fire pit? She needed to wait and see. If the Gu Group really was about to collapse, then there would be no need for the child in her belly to be born. ...... Wednesday evening, Chutang attended an auction. When she arrived at the venue, Jiang Shixu was there too. He normally wouldn't attend such auctions in person—if he needed something, he'd simply have his assistant handle it. Chutang hadn't expected to run into Jiang Shixu here. The man was dressed in a black shirt and trousers, his bearing cold and distinguished. A crowd surrounded him, everyone eager to strike up a conversation. The young master of the Jiang family—wherever he went, he was the center of attention. Chutang merely glanced at him briefly before looking away. Jiang Shixu spotted Chutang and immediately pushed through the crowd toward her. "Tangtang." Jiang Shixu walked quickly to Chutang's side. "You're here for the auction too?" In truth, he had come tonight because he had his eye on several of the items up for bid. All the pieces in this auction were exquisite jewelry. He wanted to bid on them in person and give them to Chutang. And he wasn't the only one with that idea—Lu Shuci was thinking the same. Lu Shuci walked over to greet them, and Jiang Shixu's expression darkened instantly. "What are you doing here?" Lu Shuci smiled with refined elegance. "What a small world." Chutang nodded. "You two chat. I'll head in first." Lu Shuci quickly said, "I'll go with you." Jiang Shixu let out a cold snort and followed Chutang into the main auction hall. The auction began shortly after. Chutang took a liking to a pair of sapphire earrings with a starting bid of five hundred thousand. Chutang immediately raised her paddle. "Six hundred thousand." Seeing that Chutang liked the earrings, Lu Shuci raised his paddle to bid as well. He wanted to win them and give them to her. "Seven hundred thousand." Jiang Shixu followed right after. "One million." He had jumped the price by three hundred thousand in one go, looking utterly determined to win. Chutang glanced in Jiang Shixu's direction, her brow furrowing. Just then, someone else raised their paddle. "One million two hundred thousand." "One million three hundred thousand." "One million four hundred thousand." Lu Shuci: "One million six hundred thousand." Jiang Shixu: "Two million." Chutang had already stopped bidding. Lu Shuci and Jiang Shixu were now locked in a standoff. After Jiang Shixu called two million, Lu Shuci raised his paddle without a moment's hesitation. "Two million two hundred thousand." Jiang Shixu curled his lips coldly. "Two hundred fifty." Lu Shuci: "..." If you're going to bid, bid—there's no need to sneak in an insult while you're at it! Seeing the two of them going at each other, Chutang instantly lost interest in the sapphire earrings. Lu Shuci continued to bid. "Two million six hundred thousand." Jiang Shixu: "Two million eight hundred thousand." Lu Shuci turned to glance at Chutang. Seeing the lack of enthusiasm on her face—her expression utterly flat, clearly having lost interest in the earrings—he stopped bidding. In the end, the earrings that started at five hundred thousand were won by Jiang Shixu for two million eight hundred thousand. The next item was a high-quality jade bangle. Chutang liked it very much as well. The starting bid was five million. Chutang called out, "Five million two hundred thousand." Others in the room began raising their paddles one after another. "Five million three hundred thousand." "Five million four hundred thousand." "Five million five hundred thousand." ...... Soon the bangle was driven up to six million. Chutang felt that constantly calling out bids was too tiring, so she decided to wait until no one else was bidding before she raised the price. But just then, Lu Shuci suddenly called out, "Seven million." Lu Shuci could tell Chutang liked the bangle. Since Jiang Shixu had snatched away the earrings, he'd give her this jade bangle instead. The moment Lu Shuci's words left his mouth, Jiang Shixu's cold voice rang out: "Eight million." Even the auctioneer was genuinely startled—someone had actually raised the bid by a full million in one go! The auctioneer could barely contain his smile as he said, "The current bid is eight million. Is there any higher?" Lu Shuci's gaze deepened. "Nine million." Jiang Shixu didn't hesitate for a second. "Ten million." People began turning to look. Jiang Shixu's expression remained unchanged, as cold and composed as ever. Lu Shuci remained perfectly calm as well. "Eleven million." Jiang Shixu curled his lips in a cold smile. "Fifteen million." Chutang was starting to get annoyed. Were the two of them out of their minds? Why did they keep driving up the price on everything she liked? It wasn't that they couldn't afford it, but just because you had money didn't mean you should throw it around like this. Lu Shuci continued to match Jiang Shixu. "Sixteen million." Jiang Shixu raised his paddle calmly. "Twenty million." Lu Shuci: "Fine, I guess you're just rich and foolish. I'll let you have this bracelet. The color makes it look old-fashioned anyway—it doesn't suit Chu Tang." And so, the jadeite bracelet ultimately ended up in Jiang Shixu's hands for twenty million yuan. Chu Tang was on the verge of exploding. She wasn't particularly interested in the next three auction items. That was until the necklace she liked most came up for bidding. Chu Tang took out her phone and called Jiang Shixu. Seeing the incoming call, Jiang Shixu's heart leaped with joy—Tangtang hadn't called him on her own initiative in a long time. The corners of the man's lips curved upward, his eyes and brows radiating delight. However, the moment he picked up, he was met with a torrent of scolding. The smile on the man's lips froze in an instant. Damn it. He'd overplayed his hand. He'd bid on those items in the first place to make Tangtang happy, but instead he'd only managed to anger her. A hint of grievance actually welled up in Jiang Shixu's heart. Lowering his voice, he coaxed her gently: "I'm sorry, baby. I won't bid recklessly anymore." "Shut up," Chu Tang fumed. "Who's your baby?" "You are." The moment Jiang Shixu finished speaking, the voice on the other end cut off abruptly. Chu Tang hung up directly. This time, Jiang Shixu obediently refrained from bidding again. Lu Shuci noticed Jiang Shixu's unusual behavior and turned to look at Ruan Chutang. He was sitting diagonally in front of Chu Tang, not far away, and could clearly see her expression. She looked very angry. Was it because their bidding had disrupted the auction order? Jiang Shixu's bidding had indeed been unreasonable. With that thought, Lu Shuci shrewdly put down his bidding paddle and stopped calling out. Chu Tang ultimately got the necklace she wanted. When the auction ended, Chu Tang stood up and walked straight out. Jiang Shixu hurried after her. "Tangtang, wait." Chu Tang didn't slow her pace, walking out of the venue to the open-air parking lot outside. When Lu Shuci caught up, Chu Tang was in the middle of an argument with Jiang Shixu. "Jiang Shixu, when did you become so childish?" A hint of anger rose in Chu Tang's eyes. "Do you have to compete with Lu Shuci? He's already made it perfectly clear—he has no feelings for me!" Hearing this, Lu Shuci stopped in his tracks not far from them.