188: Chapter 187 Watching the Show

Cao Xiao didn't know why he felt inexplicably compelled to help Xiao Pinger. It wasn't about her pure and refined beauty; he had always firmly believed that in terms of beauty, no one in the world could compare to He Yueyou. It wasn't because of her innocence or filial piety either; there were too many good people in the world, and Cao Xiao couldn't care about them all. He felt that this might just be the legendary, inexplicable work of fate.

He couldn't think of a good plan, so he had to take it one step at a time. He pretended to be indifferent and said to Xiao Pinger, "I just snuck in to see the world anyway, and I have nothing else to do right now. There's strength in numbers, so I'll go with you to look for it."

Upon hearing this, Xiao Pinger couldn't contain her joy. "Ah? Thank you! You're much more capable than me; it would be great if you could help me. Oh, right, I still don't know your name?"

"My name is Cao Xiao, and I'm from Huanghe City. Judging by your accent, your family is from the mainland, right?" Cao Xiao asked in return.

Xiao Pinger nodded and said, "Yes, our hometown is in Xijing, and we just moved to Hong Kong three years ago. What should we do now?"

"We don't know where the item is kept, nor do we know who brought it out. Security here is very tight, and we can't just wander around. We don't know anyone else, so it's hard to ask around without raising suspicion. When the auction starts, the items will appear. We'll go directly to the person who bought your family's item and negotiate with them, begging them to transfer it to us. For now, we have to wait patiently for the auction to begin. Don't worry, I'll help you reason with them later. That's stolen property; if they don't give it back, we'll call the police, and the police will help us get it back."

Cao Xiao analyzed the situation for Xiao Pinger with certainty. In reality, if Cao Xiao were just an ordinary person, Xiao Pinger's family item would never be recovered. Expecting the police to retrieve a cherished item from a wealthy tycoon was extremely unlikely; Cao Xiao was just trying to put her at ease. Unless the person who bought the item was someone he knew. Thinking of this, Cao Xiao had an idea. He couldn't show his face, but he could secretly ask someone else for help! Letting Chen Huaiming act as a philanthropist would solve it perfectly.

"Alright, I'll listen to you." Xiao Pinger was a bit disappointed, but she had just rushed in here on impulse and hadn't thought about exactly what to do to get the item back. She was in a strange place and felt completely lost.

"Sit here and don't go anywhere. I'm going to the restroom and will be right back," Cao Xiao said, standing up.

Arriving at the restroom, he immediately called Chen Huaiming. He didn't explain the specific situation, only telling him to cooperate and play along in a little act. They would pretend not to know each other and communicate via text message later. Although Chen Huaiming agreed readily, he kept asking questions, so Cao Xiao decisively hung up the phone.

"You're back. Let's go quickly; the auction is about to start." As soon as Cao Xiao appeared, Xiao Pinger eagerly grabbed his hand and walked toward the center of the hall.

Being held by the hand by Xiao Pinger, Cao Xiao didn't let his mind wander. The charity auction was relatively informal, not as serious as a formal auction; it was held in the style of a cocktail party. People held red wine glasses, sitting or standing, loosely surrounding the podium, whispering to each other in small groups. Xiao Pinger pulled Cao Xiao through the crowd and stood in front of the podium. Perhaps because of nervousness, she forgot to let go of Cao Xiao's hand and instead held it even tighter. Cao Xiao only realized this then. He wasn't distracted by impure thoughts, but he felt awkward. However, he couldn't bring himself to pull away, so he just let her hold it.

Suddenly, Cao Xiao noticed someone staring at him. He turned his head and met Chen Huaiming's eyes, which held a mocking smile. Fourth Sister-in-law was also looking at him with a disdainful gaze. Cao Xiao naturally understood that they had seen him holding another girl's hand and, combined with his mysterious request for help earlier, they could naturally guess all the messy things going through their minds. However, he felt he had a clear conscience and smiled nonchalantly, winking at them.

"Distinguished ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the 13th Charity Auction hosted by Mr. Lei Bishen. On behalf of Mr. Lei Bishen, I would like to thank everyone for coming here to contribute to the cause of charity..."

The host walked onto the podium and began the opening remarks in both languages. The atmosphere on-site was not serious; even the host was chatting and joking, spouting a pile of nonsense, and didn't get to the point for a long time. Cao Xiao listened with impatience, while Xiao Pinger seemed even more nervous. Cao Xiao felt his hand going numb from being held, and he really wanted to throw a wine bottle at the host, but that was just a thought. He still had to wait patiently.

Fortunately, after about ten minutes, the host ended his showing off and officially began the auction.

"Today's first auction item is provided by Mr. Lei Bishen: a prime piece of land in the Yuen Long District of the New Territories, covering an area of 8,200 square feet. Everyone knows that land resources in Hong Kong are very limited; it's no exaggeration to say that every inch of land is worth an inch of gold. Moreover, this is a vacant lot in a city block, so I don't need to say much about its value! Let us use warm applause to thank Mr. Lei for his selfless contribution!"

Before coming, Chen Huaiming had spoken to Cao Xiao about the organizer of this charity auction: Lei Bishen, the actual controller of Lei's Real Estate, who had just turned sixty this year. However, Cao Xiao could hear not a hint of respect in Chen Huaiming's tone. After Chen Huaiming told him about Lei Bishen's background, Cao Xiao was stunned. Lei Bishen had emerged from a gang in his early years and had been a prominent figure in Hong Kong thirty years ago, though his reputation was quite poor. Later, he got into real estate and everything went smoothly; in less than ten years, he had completely laundered his background and transformed into a respectable businessman. After years of development, Lei Bishen officially stepped into the ranks of Hong Kong's top tycoons. Although he wasn't in the absolute top tier, Lei's Real Estate had a market value of nearly 80 billion huaxia currency. Combined with his gang background, his status in Hong Kong was not much inferior to the old-money tycoons.

Perhaps because he did too many bad things when he was young, starting five years ago, Lei Bishen became keen on charity. Wherever there was a charity donation, his figure could be seen. He had donated quite a bit of money in recent years, but he also used the good reputation he gained to hype his company's market value from 30 billion to its current level. Two years ago, he even started hosting charity galas himself and established a special charity fund. In two years, he had actually held more than ten events, and each time before holding one, he would make a big fanfare, making it known to everyone in Hong Kong. But everything has its limits, and aesthetic fatigue is real, let alone having to pay money to help Lei Bishen gain a reputation. Once or twice was fine; friends and business partners in the circle were willing to give him face, but three or five times a year was excessive. Slowly, fewer and fewer people appeared at Lei Bishen's charity galas. So, Lei Bishen changed his method: he asked people to donate items directly and conducted charity donations in the form of an auction. This indeed attracted many newcomers to participate. After a few times, Lei Bishen got a taste of the sweetness, making the scale of the charity auction bigger and bigger, and the value of the auction items higher and higher. From personal items, it slowly turned into art collectibles with high value, and now it has become a well-known regular event, with people from not only Hong Kong but also the mainland and abroad coming to participate.

Even with a bad background, it wouldn't make Chen Huaiming show such obvious disdain. The fact that Chen Huaiming could come to attend Lei Bishen's charity auction proved that the two had no grudge. The real reason was that Lei Bishen was actually a miser. The money donated in the past was small change compared to the significant rise in his company's market value; it was just that the frequency was high. Someone had specifically calculated the account for him: over these years, Lei Bishen had participated in a total of 258 charity events, donating a total of 12,858,000—accurate to the last four digits. This included the value of items he donated, which had been inflated by his reputation. On average, each donation was less than 400,000, which was less than what other tycoons donated in a single go. Moreover, the Lei's Charity Fund was simply a money-laundering tool, with completely opaque finances. The money actually used for charity each year was pitifully small. Therefore, in the eyes of the wealthy circle, Lei Bishen was just an old hoodlum who sought fame, was shameless, and liked to target other people's wallets. If it weren't for the attractive auction items, it would be good if even ten people showed up today just to drink for free.

For example, the scene before them allowed Cao Xiao to witness the extent of Lei Bishen's shamelessness.

Amidst scattered applause, Lei Bishen walked onto the podium with restraint, boastfully summarizing his great life. Only when the boos below could no longer be covered up did he step down, still feeling unsatisfied.

Don't think it was over; the best part was yet to come.

"Thank you, Mr. Lei, for your wonderful speech! The auction continues. The starting price for the 8,200-square-foot prime land in the Yuen Long District of the New Territories is 230 million. Each bid increment must not be less than 1 million. Now, please start bidding!"

"231 million!" "235 million!" ... "560 million, going twice! Are there any more bids? Everyone, imagine: current housing prices in Yuen Long District are around 15,000 huaxia currency per square foot, and prime commercial and residential buildings are as high as 26,000 per square foot. With 8,200 square feet of prime land, even if you only build ten stories, that's over 2 billion. After deducting construction costs, even if you buy it for 800 million, there's a huge profit to be made!"

"Good! This gentleman bids 600 million!" "601 million! Very good, it seems everyone has a good eye for investment. Even if you don't use this land yourself after buying it, you can make a big profit by flipping it!" ... "730 million, going twice, any more... 730 million, going third... Mr. Lei bids 731 million!"

Under the auctioneer's energetic encouragement, the price reached a staggering 730 million huaxia currency!

Land in Hong Kong is scarce and expensive, and real estate transactions are calculated by the square foot. About ten square feet is one square meter, and the average transaction price of Hong Kong property reaches over 10,000 per square foot, which is over 100,000 per square meter. This is almost ten times the price of luxury areas in second or third-tier cities in the mainland. Not to mention villas and mansions; a 100-square-meter apartment costs at least 10 million, and up to tens of millions or even hundreds of millions. For people from the mainland, such astronomical prices are shocking just to hear. Land transaction prices are naturally much higher, but the real estate industry in Hong Kong is very mature. Coupled with factors like high taxes, high construction costs, bank loan interest rates, and the developer's reserved profit margin, buying an 8,200-square-foot plot for over 700 million is on the expensive side. Hong Kong housing prices are relatively stable. Unless held for a long time, there is no room for short-term appreciation. Real estate construction and sales cycles are long, and currency is constantly devaluing. For those big tycoons, earning less is considered a loss, and anything more is not cost-effective.

But what many visiting merchants didn't understand was that Lei Bishen, as the organizer of the auction and the donor of this piece of land, actually bid at this time! They thought Lei Bishen was dissatisfied with the price, so one tentatively gritted their teeth and added 5 million. Unexpectedly, Lei Bishen immediately added 1 million, adding bit by bit as if the auction had just begun. Another merchant also followed up by adding 1 million, while also watching Lei Bishen's reaction. As always, Lei Bishen added 1 million again.

Now everyone was even more confused. Those who considered themselves smart thought that perhaps the actual value of this land was much higher than estimated and that Lei Bishen regretted it. Believe it or not, there really were such people, and quite a few of them. Even those who hadn't participated in the bidding before became interested and started to probe with bids. This actually triggered a chain reaction, confirming to everyone the fact that this piece of land must have a reason they didn't know about that made its actual value higher. In a few moments, the price was pushed up to 860 million, and even at such a high price, no one gave up.

But just at this moment, Lei Bishen bid again. It was no longer 1 million but a real increase of 40 million, bringing the price to a staggering 900 million! The high price of 900 million couldn't stop others' curiosity, but when someone started to bid again, Lei Bishen added another 100 million, directly scaring off most of the bidders. To earn high profits, one must bear higher risks. Obviously, not many people dared to take the risk of losing hundreds of millions to speculate.

In the end, only Lei Bishen and two other bidders remained. Those two were stubborn and refused to give up until the end, daring to gamble based solely on their own speculation. However, Lei Bishen once again shattered their illusions, impatiently bidding 1.2 billion directly, completing the kill. As the auctioneer's hammer fell, the land was back in Lei Bishen's hands.

Many Hong Kong tycoons were watching coldly. As fellow Hong Kong tycoons, they knew a lot about the information regarding that plot of land. Lei Bishen was notoriously stingy, treating money as his lifeblood. He would absolutely not be willing to donate a piece of land worth hundreds of millions. Everyone knew the tricks behind the Lei's Foundation; charity donations were tax-exempt. No matter how much money Lei Bishen spent to buy it back, he wouldn't lose a penny; it was just moving money from his left hand to his right. This was just a money-laundering farce directed and acted by Lei Bishen himself. What was pitiful were those uninformed outside merchants who thought that getting this land meant an opportunity to invest in Hong Kong real estate, not knowing they were being used as stepping stones by the foolish Lei Bishen. If these people ever learned the truth and saw through Lei Bishen's true face, they would definitely be furious.

Looking at Lei Bishen, who was now complacent amidst the compliments of others, if it hadn't been for Chen Huaiming telling him in advance, Cao Xiao might have even felt admiration for Lei Bishen. But at this moment, he felt as if his understanding of "Thick Black Theory" had deepened.