Because this item was incredibly expensive, everyone was still quite conservative when bidding, so not only was it lower than the base price, it only had increments of one or two million. The further it went on, the range of increment reduced too, especially after the bid had crossed the base price of $ 30 million as everyone started to bid more cautiously.

The reason for the slow climb was because if the bid went past the base price, it meant that the bidder might suffer a loss compared to the actual item value.

Of course, because this item had such a stellar reputation, even if the bidding price went over slightly, the bidder would not suffer too much of a loss. Besides, at such an occasion, whether or not something could be successfully sold depended on the bidders wanting to prove their reputation. No one wanted to show that they were weak in terms of resources, so the bidding continued...

"$ 38 million!" CEO Sun shouted in a hoa.r.s.e voice.

When they heard CEO Sun's bid, everyone looked at each other in shock. Moments later, someone shouted, "$ 40 million!"

Once it pa.s.sed $ 40 million, the crowd started to s.h.i.+ft around restlessly because it had surpa.s.sed the base price by a large amount. Even if one were to successfully bid for it now, it would not be worth it. Thus, the remaining bidders were the richer people or those with an extraordinarily strong interest in the item.

Su Yan was one of them. "$ 45 million!"

In such a situation, his bid caused a commotion instantly.

The auctioneer's voice was shaking at this point. "Number 60's Mr. Su Yan calls for $ 45 million! Is there anyone else who would like to continue? Even though the base price of this crown is $ 30 million, it's a rare treasure of the world..."

To encourage higher bids, the auctioneer started to introduce the fame and value of the crown.

There were only four bidders left in the compet.i.tion. Apart from Su Yan, there was still CEO Sun, the rich merchant who had coveted Ning Xi earlier, CEO Zhao Haisheng, who wanted to give it to his wife, Ling Fei, as a gift, and another person's ident.i.ty who was a little unique. It was Su Yan's half-brother, Su Xun, who shared the same father but had a different mother.

The reason Su Xun was bidding was obviously to simply compete with Su Yan.

Those in the circle who were up to date with the gossip would know that because Su Yan had a lung disease and was ill when he was young, the Su family was afraid that he would not make it into adulthood, thus they took Su Xun in. The idea was to raise him to be Su Yan's replacement; if Su Yan died, Su Xun would take his spot.

Unfortunately for him, after Su Yan recuperated in the village for a few years, but not only did he not die of sickness, he had even slowly recovered and was finally brought home to the Su family. On the other hand, Su Xun, who had initially been raised to be the heir, had suddenly become an awkward existence.

Today, these two brothers were fighting in the Su family. Su Yan was still the eldest son and was born in wedlock, so he was deemed right and proper. Su Xun's current circ.u.mstances were very awkward, but because of the connections he had acc.u.mulated in his adolescence, he still had some power to fight back.

The two brothers had started to compete on such an occa.s.sion. It was going to be an interesting show to watch...

"$ 46 million!" Su Xun followed Su Yan's bid.

"$ 47 million!" Su Yan shouted.

"$ 48 million!" Su Xun again.

"$ 50 million!" Su Yan retorted.

"Fifty... $ 55 million!"

When Su Xun's bid rang out, the crowd looked at him with their jaws dropped. The Second Master of the Su family was really going all out just for vindication.

"Mr. Su Xun bid $ 55 million! Are there any more bids? Mr. Zhao, do you still want to continue?" The auctioneer looked at Zhao Haisheng's direction.

Zhao Haisheng scratched his head uncertainly. "Um...hold on, I need to call my wife to ask for further instruction!"

The entire crowd roared with laughter and teased him mercilessly.