"Final bid—one hundred and fifty million!"
The crowd gasped. A hundred and fifty million, just like that?
That painting could have gone for fifty million at most, but the price tripled.
People looked around, stunned and speechless. Whispers spread like wildfire from one corner to the other.
"Wait… aren't they not inheriting anything?"
"Where did he get that kind of money?"
"Isn't he only in his teenies?!"
Unfazed, Lu Zi Zhen stepped forward and pulled out his bank card. It was sleek. Black. Embossed with a platinum crest shaped like a 'Crowned Cipher'—simple, elegant, unmistakable.
For a moment, the room went silent with jaws wide open.
Then—
"Wait... Is that—?"
"The Crown Cipher?!"
"Oh my god... I have only heard of that in rumors!"
"Even Lu Zhi Hao doesn't have one of those!"
"The qualifications to get one are insane—you don't apply. They come to you!"
"I heard only five people have it worldwide!"
"That one ain't owned by just anyone."
Even Lu Zhi Hao was surprised! He was seeing it for the very first time in his life, but they didn't know that amongst the five existing cards, Lu Zi Zhen owned one, and Lu Ting Cheng had another one.
Gasps echoed through the auction hall. Phones were discreetly lifted under tables to capture it's image. Eyes were wide open. Faces had turned pale. Some people instinctively sat straighter, suddenly aware that the boy they thought was just another rich heir was far more than that.
He wasn't what they thought he was! If Lu Zhi Hao didn't have one, then this boy here must have immense wealth and power.
Lu Zi Zhen handed the card to the staff with a casual confidence, not even sparing the surrounding murmuring people, a glance. He was proud because this was what he had worked hard for, no one was gonna tell him otherwise.
He turned to his mother and said gently, "Mommy, it's going home with us. I loved it, even though I don't understand much when it comes to art, I know it radiates contentment and full life."
And in that moment, no one doubted that he wasn't just spending a fortune—he was declaring to the world exactly where his loyalties lay.
"Hehe... You!" Lu Wan Ruyi was speechless, but she knew he was obsessed with her paintings. He was one of the many collectors who owned a lot of her art pieces. She couldn't change his mind otherwise; after all, he had been by her side all this time.
Song Yaya, watching from the sidelines, clenched her hands tightly. They knew he was Lu Wan Ruyi's son but wondered who the father was as Lu Zhi Hao wasn't his biological father.
So, where did this boy come from? Who is the father?
"Yaya! Calm yourself down and stop exposing yourself and our motive! You told me you would behave, what now? Don't you see you have already caused several scenes? You don't want the boys to misunderstand you even more." Gabriel was losing his patience with her. From the time they had gotten into the hall, she had been making one scene after another.
"Don't you see what's happening here? Zhi Hao didn't give my sons anything and left everything to that woman and she gave everything to her son! Do you think this is fair? Did you think she would be fair to the boys who weren't biologically related to her? And you are telling me to calm down? How could I give birth to such kinds of kids who can't even use some common sense?" Her eyes were burning with anger and jealousy.