Chapter 56: The Situation Calms Down

The live stream auction proceeded very smoothly.

Xiao Ran opened the last private message containing a bid and reviewed the offer inside. At the same time, this bid appeared in the live stream, displayed right before everyone's eyes.

"3.2 million RMB, another invalid bid," Xiao Ran said, shaking his head.

The reserve price he had set for the pair of Yongzheng imperial blue-glazed celestial globe vases was 5.2 million RMB, which was slightly lower than the valuations given by several appraisal experts. Among the more than two hundred private messages received previously, there were about forty-some valid bids, while the rest were invalid.

After reviewing the final bid, Xiao Ran immediately announced the auction result.

"The winning bidder is Wukong, with a bid of 8.25 million RMB!"

As he announced the result, an immediate uproar broke out in the live stream.

"Impressive! Wukong has been keeping so quiet all this time, yet his financial strength is actually this formidable. You really can't judge a book by its cover!"

"Goodness gracious! Just how many hidden masters are there in our live stream? This is terrifyingly awesome!"

Listening to the chorus of gasps, Xiao Ran could not help but chuckle softly. Others might not know, but he was well aware of just how formidable this fan using the moniker Wukong really was. Previously, this guy had commissioned him to purchase quite a few luxury goods, but he simply preferred to keep a low profile, which was why people were unaware of it. As a result, when this pair of Yongzheng blue-glazed vases appeared, this habitually low-profile fellow finally could not hold back and showed his true colors!

As far as Xiao Ran was concerned, he was extremely satisfied with this closing price. It was only a pity that the reign marks on the bottom of the blue-glazed celestial globe vases had been hollowed out, which constituted major damage. Otherwise, their closing price would certainly not have been restricted to 8.25 million RMB; multiplying it by another five or six times would have been entirely unproblematic.

Next, Xiao Ran began auctioning off the pair of antique Tiffany lamp shades. The auction method remained the same as before—bidding via private messages—though the number of participants was considerably smaller. In no time at all, the results were out.

The pair of antique Tiffany lamp shades fetched only eighty thousand yuan and was won by a female fan.

Following that came the auction of the antique watches, which once again stirred up a climax, with virtually everyone participating. This round of the auction also took the longest, lasting right up until midnight before finally concluding.

The closing prices for those antique watches were exceptionally good, generally doubling or nearly tripling, with individual watches even exceeding triple their value. Even so, compared to the prices on the domestic market, they were still much cheaper, by as much as half. From this perspective, the fans who won those antique watches had all picked up quite a bargain, neither too big nor too small.

Xiao Ran did not auction off every single antique watch; he kept a Patek Philippe antique watch for himself, which could also be considered a reward for his own efforts. After the auction ended, he packed and boxed up all the items and stored them securely inside the Consulate General. In a couple of days, once the situation had basically calmed down, these items would be airlifted back to China on the earliest possible flights and subsequently delivered by his family into the hands of the respective fans. The family members responsible for receiving the goods in Beijing had already been arranged by Xiao Ran.

While he was handling these matters, his name was already spreading like wildfire across the country. It had even crossed the ocean to reach the circles of Chinese students studying in the United States, and eventually spread throughout the entirety of Los Angeles and the overseas Chinese community in America. Naturally, this included the entirety of UCLA as well.

The series of events that had taken place involving him, including his previous string of major windfall discoveries, were all dug up by people and passed around everywhere, becoming almost miraculous in their retelling. Upon hearing these stories, everyone felt deeply shocked and envious, finding them completely incredible.

His act of photographing the stolen national treasures in Los Angeles and sending them to the Consulate General at the earliest opportunity drew countless cheers back home, with almost everyone offering boundless praise. However, overseas, there were quite a few discordant voices, and even no shortage of personal attacks.

Xiao Ran simply paid no heed to these annoying discordant noises, turning a blind eye to them. What left him rather depressed was that he would never be able to play the pig to eat the tiger anymore, as everyone now recognized who he was!

Following his rapid rise to fame, the netizens applying to join his personal live stream had multiplied like crossing river carp, swarming in such numbers that there was simply no time to review them all. Fortunately, Xiao Ran had not yet opened the channel for joining the live stream, so he temporarily did not have to deal with this hassle. Naturally, this also provoked some criticism from certain netizens.

...

In the blink of an eye, it was noon the next day.

During the morning, David called to inform Xiao Ran that Elaine was free to leave. She was an outsider and would not face any trouble. Upon confirming this, Xiao Ran immediately relayed the news to Elaine. This French beauty, however, had grown fascinated by the authentic Chinese cuisine at the Los Angeles Consulate General and insisted on eating lunch before leaving.

After lunch, Xiao Ran and Fang Yufei accompanied her downstairs to her apartment building. Just as they were about to part ways, Xiao Ran suddenly smiled and said, "I've transferred fifty thousand US dollars to your bank account, Elaine. That's your remuneration for participating in the auction with me yesterday!"

"Ah!" Elaine gasped, freezing on the spot. Immediately afterward, she said in pleasant surprise, "Didn't we agree on two thousand dollars? Why did it suddenly jump by so much? Do you have some kind of ulterior motive, you guy?"

Xiao Ran shrugged helplessly. "It seems one really shouldn't be too nice to people; otherwise, it's always misunderstood as having ulterior motives."

"Feel free to accept it. These fifty thousand dollars cover both your compensation for participating in the family auction yesterday and reimbursement for taking risks alongside me."

"If it weren't for your strong recommendation yesterday, my resolve to bid on that Cubist oil painting by Braque might not have been so firm. Otherwise, I very likely would have missed out on a colossal windfall. These fifty thousand dollars are primarily to thank you for your professional advice."

Before his voice had even faded, Elaine suddenly stepped forward and gave Xiao Ran an enthusiastic hug. "Thank you, Sean. You really are a generous guy. This is the most money I've ever earned in my life! It looks like as long as I continue working with you, I'll be a millionaire in no time!"

This was precisely what Xiao Ran wanted to hear. Before he even had time to properly appreciate the sensual body pressed against his chest, he quickly nodded and said, "If you're willing to continue working with me, that couldn't be better. I need your professional aesthetic eye!"

Without the slightest hesitation, Elaine immediately nodded in agreement. "Alright then, from now on you're my boss. I've got nothing else to do anyway. The Hollywood film industry is in a complete depression; even if I write a good script, nobody wants it at all. Let's just treat this as experiencing life—it's fresh, exciting, and I can make a lot of money."

Xiao Ran nodded with a smile and continued, "This is a job filled with moments of freshness at all times. Perhaps you can find inspiration from it and write a great script after all."

Hearing this, Elaine's eyes instantly grew even brighter.

After a few more pleasantries, the beauty took her leave and returned to her apartment near UCLA.

The moment she left, Fang Yufei hurried over and whispered, "Such a sexy beauty—wasn't holding her in your arms quite intoxicating?"

Xiao Ran smiled awkwardly. "That's just French etiquette; they're always so enthusiastic. If we weren't both wearing masks, there definitely would have been a goodbye kiss too!"

With that, he turned around and hurried into the apartment building as if fleeing.

"A goodbye kiss? You're dreaming," Fang Yufei said with a disdainful sniff, before walking into the apartment building as well.

...

Three days later, Fang Yufei also left the Consulate General and returned to the University of Southern California.

Under the joint mediation of the Los Angeles Consulate General and David, this incident was quickly placated. The Americans, having secured certain tangible benefits, simply acted as though the entire affair had never happened.

The Los Angeles police officers who had originally rushed to target Xiao Ran, keeping watch outside the Consulate General and the apartment building, were all withdrawn. For the US government, as long as they could collect taxes, that was all that mattered. As for those stolen cultural relics from China, since it was no longer possible to intercept them, they might as well sell a favor and do a good turn. Once those items came to light, they were bound to be returned to China anyway. The objective of the US government or the Los Angeles authorities had primarily been those priceless treasures, not Xiao Ran. If they could have clutched those priceless treasures in their own hands, perhaps they would have come in useful for something big later on.

Now, the reality was that such a possibility no longer existed. Under these circumstances, continuing to deal with Xiao Ran served no purpose whatsoever; instead, it would simply sever a source of tax revenue, resulting in losses that outweighed the gains.

Precisely because of this, the matter was able to be resolved so swiftly.