Artifact Reading Inspector

Chapter 25: Winner of the Auction (2)

“Even monkeys sometimes fall from trees. My appraiser is great, but he does make mistakes sometimes. I, however, don’t get all mad about just one mistake of the employee.”

Yaerin had told Eunhae that she was angry when seeing a person without a discerning eye, but now, she was blaming her appraiser. If it had been Haejin, he would have left the room. However, the middle-aged appraiser didn’t even flinch, as if he had heard nothing.

Was it the responsibility of a man who had to support his family? Or was it the loyalty to a rich family?

Eunhae ignored Yaerin’s nonsense and looked at Haejin. She was asking him what to do.

There was some time left, so Haejin first looked at No.72 and 79 that Yaerin wanted. No.72 was an inkstone of Ching period of China, and No.79 was Mui Nine Hills folding screen composed of 10 paintings made by Chae Yong sin.

Chae Yongsin was great at drawing portraits. He was famous for drawing king Gojong’s portrait. He was also good at landscape paintings.

His Mui Nine Hills is different from others’ Mui Nine Hills paintings. It had almost no empty spaces and the landscape that changes with the seasons fills the screen. There are also many men in all 10 scenes.

Both the folding screen and the inkstone were very valuable. Haejin excluded those two and the jade buddha. He then studied the other artifacts. Next, he saw No.81.

It was a painting of a man walking through a beautiful valley.

The shape of the bent pine tree was like a real photo and the fresh atmosphere had been recreated with elegant lines.

Haejin stared at it for a long time. Eunhae frowned and tapped him.

“What will you do?”

She meant he had to choose the artifacts she should buy fast.

“Hmm… but I would be losing too much if I look at all these and pick. You know I take 1% of the appraised price, right?”

“I know. You cannot be asking 1% of all the artifacts’ prices, so offer your terms.”

She seemed to accept Haejin’s terms, no matter what they were.

“How about this? 1% of the price you buy at. If you fail to buy, then that’s it. It’s a win-win.”

That was good for Eunhae, so she nodded.

“Okay. Then what do you…”

Haejin picked No.75 white porcelain and No.77 painting of Lim Sujin, instead of the No.81 painting.

“This and this.”

Haejin picked other things because Yaerin was glancing at them. Eunhae immediately realized this and smiled slightly.

“Hmm… okay.”

What Haejin had picked were good artifacts that would come out in the later part of the auction.

However, as they looked good to anyone, the competition would be hot. Eunhae, however, seemed to think she could handle that as they were not wanted by Yaerin.

The auction started soon. It started with some artifacts of low price, and they were not sold at a high price.

“I think everyone is after that jade buddha. Well, after what happened at the preview, words about it went around among the people with money. There are more people here than usual.”

Eunhae whispered.

“Is that why that Yaerin wants it?”

“I think… the Haevici Gallery is getting nervous. As you just heard, Yaerin’s aunt is the director of that gallery. As she has made a huge mistake with my uncle, of course, she is nervous.”

Haejin asked while looking at Yaerin’s cold face, “I guess it was quite noisy?”

“No, it’s not like they don’t know each other, he couldn’t make it noisy like a rude customer at a supermarket. But the point is that Haevici Gallery is no longer trustworthy to my uncle, the No.1 of Hwajin. That means my Saeyeon Gallery is about to become the best.”

She raised her eyebrows and smiled mischievously.

“Aha…”

“And in the middle of all that, the history of the jade buddha became an interesting story in Insadong and it became the hottest issue of this auction. So, she needs to go back with it, even if she gets humiliated.”

“So, that Yaerin has come as the representative of Haevici.”

“Today, yes. However, her family was always interested in antiques, she doesn’t always participate in auctions instead of her aunt. So, she is here for multiple reasons.”

“Then why didn’t Haevici send someone…”

Eunhae pointed at the man next to Yaerin with her chin.

“Strictly speaking, they don’t trust her. They trust that appraiser, Oh Jaepil. As I said before, he is quite popular in this field. Yaerin’s family once helped him greatly. After that, he’s been with Yaerin to help her, so she got bigheaded.”

Well, with such a good expert helping at the side, Yaerin could think she was also an expert, too.

After the boring auction of items with opening bids of hundreds of thousands, artifacts that were worth millions started to show up.

As the bidding price went over ten million, the rooms started to heat up, and the chief auctioneer’s voice was getting higher.

At last, the jade buddha, the hottest issue of today’s auction, appeared. As Haejin had felt before, the green jade buddha was charming. He even wanted to stroke it.

He lightly pushed Eunhae with his arm. She looked back, confused. He whispered.

“We cannot just let her have it. I also don’t think she will let us buy the things we have chosen even if we stay quiet this time…”

Eunhae smiled and slightly nodded.

“You want me to make her spend money? Okay.”

The young female chief auctioneer who was in her early 30s pointed at the jade buddha and spoke with a clear voice.

“This artifact is a jade buddha that was made in the Ming period. Its story is touching. The father climbed the high Gonryun Mountain and mined the jade for the son. The jade buddha has rings in it and contains the love of a parent for the child. Lot (number of artifact on auction) 68, starts at five hundred and thirty million and rises by twenty million. Bidding starts now.”

She spoke as if she had been trained by the military. As soon as she finished, paddles with bidding numbers came up here and there.

“Six hundred and fifty million, six hundred and seventy million…”

Yaerin raised her paddle the most often and she was followed by Eunhae. Yaerin looked at her and spoke as she raised her paddle again.

“I thought we had agreed not to strain ourselves.”

“Eight hundred and fifty million, eight hundred and seventy million….”

The price kept soaring.

“But this is something I also want.”

“Nine hundred and ninety million. 1.1 billion bidding on the phone? No more bidding higher than 1.1 billion? 1.15 billion came out!”

With the chief auctioneer’s excited voice, Yaerin and Eunhae’s faces started to get hot.

“You want a match?”

“1.5 billion! 1.52 billion. 1.54 billion. Highest bidding ever.”

After 1.5 billion, most of the people, except for Yaerin and Eunhae, gave up. However, there were many rich people in Korea as there were still some raising their paddles.

“I guess your aunt will spend some money today?”

The moment Eunhae raised her paddle, the chief auctioneer’s voice became a little hoarse. She was excited at the rare high bid.

“Two billion! The price rises by fifty million from now! 2.5 billion bid on the phone!”

Eunhae had decided she would pay three billion for that jade buddha. She didn’t hesitate to raise her paddle as if she really wanted it. Yaerin’s face turned red and they raised their paddles as soon as the chief auctioneer shouted.

The salesroom was heated. After three billion, only Eunhae and Yaerin at the front were raising their paddles.

“4.8 billion! Is there… 4.85 billion. Is there any more? If there isn’t, the bidding will end here.”

How could Haejin describe the Yaerin’s expression as she raised her paddle for the last time? She looked arrogant as if there was no one above her, but the nervousness behind it showed that she was hoping no one would raise paddle again.

“It is sold at 4.85 billion to customer No.178!”

Clap clap!

People around her clapped. Yaerin looked around with elegance and slightly smiled. Haejin wanted to laugh at the feeling of success on her face, but he held it back. The auction wasn’t over yet, and the real winner would be determined after it.

No.72 inkstone and No.79 Mui Nine Hills painting of Chae Yongsin also went to Yaerin.

Moreover, she also got the No.73 white porcelain Eunhae had openly chosen, but that was because she was forced to buy it after trying to raise its price as Eunhae wanted it.

Eunhae was delighted that their smokescreen tactic worked, but Yaerin again victoriously smiled after getting the item Eunhae wanted.

“Have you spent what, ten billion?”

Yaerin took that as envy. Although she had gotten the unwanted white porcelain with a lot of money, she was satisfied with the fact that she took what Eunhae wanted.

“If you don’t have the money, you shouldn’t have come to auction… what about your upcoming exhibition? Do you have anything to display? There must be some meat on the table to invite the guests, I’m worried there will only be a salad.”

“You may not know, but I have prepared some meat stew.”

As soon as Eunhae finished talking, the chief auctioneer spoke again.

“This is a landscape painting of the Joseon period. Its artist is unknown. It shows a beautiful scenery and the relaxed life of a seonbi (scholar). Fortunately, it was entrusted to us by an American businessman who moved to Korea. Lot No. 81, starts at two hundred million and rises by twenty million. The bidding starts now.”

Eunhae raised her paddle. Yaerin snorted and scolded her.

“Are you planning a landscaped painting exhibition? Will you fill it with paintings of unknown artists?”

“I think it looks good, although its artist is unknown.”

Eunhae was confident. Yaerin turned her head and looked at her personal appraiser, Oh Jaepil. He knew Eunhae’s choice was based on Haejin’s appraising, he stared at the catalog and thought about it for a long time. However, he then shook his head.

Yaerin looked at Eunhae and Haejin again.

“You think he can play the same trick again?”

She was saying that because Oh Jaepil had finished appraising the painting. Eunhae’s face darkened for a moment. However, Haejin poked her from behind and she raised her paddle.

“I don’t know about his other tricks, but he knows about paintings.”