Road to becoming the wealthiest: Starting From Treasure Hunting in the Cabinets
Chapter 663 - 427: Such a Great Opportunity is Rare! _2

Chapter 663: Chapter 427: Such a Great Opportunity is Rare! _2

He immediately said to Robert:

"I want to participate, sign me up."

"Sure, I have a spot available, I’ll sign you up."

Hearing the happiness in Robert’s voice, Sean asked with a smile:

"Is there any benefit to you for introducing me into this?"

"Of course." Robert replied candidly:

"If you successfully bid on an item, I get a cut from the 5-10% commission the auction house takes."

"Alright, if there’s good stuff, I’ll bid more." Sean joked as well.

"Great, great." Robert laughed and hung up the phone.

It was rare to see Sean so happy, so Douglas, who was driving, couldn’t help but ask while driving:

"Boss, what’s making you so happy? What’s the deal with the ’tiger eating man’ vessel?"

"It’s a national treasure-level bronze ware from our country, China. It’s a figure of a tiger embracing a person, preparing to eat him." Sean explained:

"At the time, two such items were unearthed in our country, but both ended up abroad. One in Japan, and one in France. Now, if this one is genuine, I must bid on it!"

"Ah, a national treasure!" Douglas was excited as well.

After all, this was a national treasure!

Upon returning to the city, Sean received another phone call from Robert.

"I’ve registered you, but you need to pay a ten million dollar deposit first – not now, but when you enter the venue. This is to prevent people from successfully bidding on items but not paying for them. Of course, if you don’t bid, the deposit will be refunded."

Although ten million wasn’t much to Sean, he didn’t want to be a fool and asked:

"Is it safe?"

"You can rest assured. The person in charge of the auction is a local tycoon, Donald Wheeler, the second in line for the Donald Family inheritance. He has organized this private auction for six consecutive years now, and ordinary items cannot even make it to the auction."

Sean believed the information provided by Robert.

However, trust notwithstanding, he felt the need to do some more digging.

He sent Douglas to gather information on the Donald Family while he tried to find out more through his connections.

This time, he sought help from Francis Rowe.

If John’s connections were mostly among common people, Francis had more high-class connections.

Francis was delighted to see Sean. At the moment, he was helping a lady appraise a gemstone ring her husband had given her.

"I’m sorry, ma’am, but your husband may have been deceived. This ring is not set with a genuine emerald, but a piece of organic glass."

After the woman left cursing, Francis invited Sean into the back room and poured him some tea.

"You’re talking about the private auction organized by Donald Mackenzie? That’s true."

Upon hearing Sean’s intentions, Francis confirmed the authenticity of the auction.

"Did you receive an invitation?" He even asked Sean in return.

"Yes." Sean nodded, took a sip of his tea, and said, "Your tea is quite good."

"I know you Chinese have a habit of complimenting, but I’ll take it as praise for myself," Francis poured himself a cup, took a sip, and nodded. Then, with exaggerated emphasis, he said:

"Awesome!"

Sean successfully spat out the tea in his mouth.

Fortunately, he reacted in time and turned his head, avoiding spitting it on Francis’ face.

"What’s wrong? Did I pronounce it incorrectly?" Francis was confused. "I asked my friend and practiced for several days before I could pronounce it correctly!"

"It’s very accurate!" Sean wiped his mouth, suppressing a smile, "Who did you learn it from?"

"A friend of mine. He filmed a movie with a Chinese actor, and he learned this phrase from that actor. Oh, and this tea was also a gift from that friend."

Alright, Sean hadn’t realized that Chinese culture’s "invasion" here had started in this way.

Francis gave Sean detailed information about Donald Mackenzie.

Although Mr. Mackenzie was the second in line to inherit the Donald Family’s business, in reality, it was highly unlikely that he would inherit it.

After all, his older brother was only two years older than him, had a healthy body, and had much better business acumen.

However, Donald had no interest in managing the family business and mostly indulged in pleasure-seeking. Furthermore, he was proficient in many leisure activities.

This private auction initially started just as a casual idea for him.

Due to his family background, his circle of friends was primarily made up of wealthy people. Although these people were not controllers of a single family or company, the resources they possessed were incomparable to ordinary people.

The original purpose of the auction was to let these people trade things they had.

Unexpectedly, the auction grew bigger and bigger, and many insiders wanted to join.

If someone was ambitious, they could use this completely as a way to expand their circle and even turn this into a business opportunity.

However, Mike clearly didn’t have this idea. Not only did he not expand, but he also limited the number of participants in the auction through various conditions.

But he didn’t mind introducing newcomers - in his words, if it was always the same people going back and forth, you would never see anything new.

This is why Robert got the chance to introduce Sean Knight to the auction.

Because of this, Sean felt that participating in such an auction was worthwhile.

"At this type of auction, besides several fixed participants, the rest are all newcomers. Basically, each person can only participate once. If the items provided at the next auction don’t meet the required standards, they won’t be invited to participate in the auction again," said Smith. Then looking at Sean, he continued, "With your abilities and what you possess, you definitely qualify to join the auction."

At his words, Sean understood that even though his unassuming demeanor usually went unnoticed, if someone with real intentions wanted to investigate, there would still be a lot of information available to find on the surface.

After getting the desired information from Smith, Sean originally planned to leave. However, Smith didn’t let him go and mysteriously said, "Sean, I have a favor to ask you!"

"Tell me," Sean said, "as long as I can help."

"I’m sure you can," Smith said somewhat shyly, "I’ve always been really interested in some aspects of your Chinese culture. I specifically asked someone to look it up, and I am a Horse in the Chinese Zodiac."

To himself, Sean thought, That’s funny, I’m also born in the Year of the Horse.

However, Smith was clearly older than him by a whole cycle - he was 26, and Smith had to be at least 38, possibly even 50.

"I’d like you to help me get an object that has been blessed at a temple from your country for someone born in the Year of the Horse..."

Sean wondered, do foreigners also believe in this stuff?

However, he remembered that places like Famen Temple seemed to have blessed golden cards and the like, which he could ask about next time he went back to China.

So he nodded and asked in passing, "What day is your birthday?"

"January 10th."

"January... Lunar January?"

"No, just January. The tenth day after New Year’s Day."

"Well, you’re not a Horse then, you’re a Snake," Sean said with a mix of laughter and tears:

"In Chinese culture, zodiac signs are based on the Lunar calendar, and after the Spring Festival is when the Year of the Horse starts. Your birthday is before the Spring Festival..."

"What? I’m a Snake? I don’t want to be a Snake! I’m terrified of snakes! That’s impossible..."

Smith couldn’t believe Sean’s words and was somewhat reluctant to accept it!

How could he be a Snake?

Snakes are such dark and terrifying creatures!

Watching the genuine white person struggling with the fact that he wasn’t a Horse, and that he even had to be a Snake, Sean tried to suppress his laughter and consoled him, saying:

"Actually, being a Snake is not bad. In our culture, a Snake is called a little dragon, which is way more powerful than a Horse..."

"Really? Little Dragon? LONG? It’s the same one as the dragon in the Chinese zodiac?"

"Yes, yes, yes. It’s the little LONG!"

Sean didn’t use the English word for a fierce dragon - in his view, that was just a descriptive term for a winged lizard, not worthy of China’s divine dragon.

"Then...then I’ll be a Snake - no, I’ll be a little dragon! Can you help me get a piece of that? I’ll pay!"

"Sure." It wasn’t a big deal, and though it was a bit troublesome, Smith had helped him out a lot. Sean didn’t mind going to the trouble of doing this for him.

"Then it’s settled!" Smith was delighted, as if he’d accomplished something big.

After leaving Smith’s store, Sean still wanted to laugh in his car.

A foreigner obsessed with Chinese zodiac culture was really...

The influence of Chinese culture was unknowingly so huge!