Ye Zhou struggled to move his gaze away from Jiang Tingyuan’s slightly reddened hand and took the initiative to ask, “What are you doing?”
“Making you stop hiccupping.” Jiang Tingyuan glanced at the tense Ye Zhou and calmly withdrew his hand.
With his reminder, Ye Zhou belatedly reacted, realizing that the endless hiccups that had plagued him earlier stopped after being given a fright.
Realizing Jiang Tingyuan’s actions were meant to help him, Ye Zhou felt somewhat embarrassed. He reflexively grabbed Jiang’s reddened hand and shamelessly blew on it in an attempt to ingratiate himself. “Sorry, Yuan-ge. You surprised me earlier.”
Jiang Tingyuan retracted his hand and said in a calm tone: “Let’s focus on the auction.”
Seeing that the boss didn’t seem intent on pursuing the matter, Ye Zhou breathed a sigh of relief. Somewhat awkwardly, he turned his head to concentrate on the auction.
About five minutes later, Cheng Ran and Jiang Yu emerged from the restroom area looking composed, with no visible signs of what had transpired earlier besides the lingering flush and moisture around Cheng Ran’s eyes.
Ye Zhou couldn’t help but admire them—as expected of the protagonists. Their psychological quality was too tough.
“Congratulations to Bidder Number Eighteen for successfully acquiring this work. Please proceed backstage after the auction concludes to sign the contract,” the auctioneer said pleasantly, pulling Ye Zhou’s thoughts back to the ongoing auction.
“The next item up for auction is ‘Rewind’ from Starry Skies Literature. The opening bid is 150,000 yuan. Each subsequent bid must increase by at least 10,000 yuan. Bidding starts now.”
Different from the previous excitement, there was a rare silence in the venue after the auctioneer finished speaking. Not a single person made an offer.
Ye Zhou racked his brains trying to recall if the novel ever mentioned this work. Judging from the lack of interest, he guessed it would probably fail to sell.
Skimming through the auction catalog, he located the information page for ‘Rewind’. Compared to the detailed introductions provided for other works, the synopsis for this one was extremely concise. Other than the title and author, there was only a single cryptic sentence:
“On the day he plans to commit suicide, Lin Yang discovers he has acquired the ability to rewind time.”
Despite the absurd premise, Ye Zhou’s curiosity was oddly piqued. Checking online, he found that the author seemed to be a newcomer with no other published works besides ‘Rewind’.
A mystifying phenomenon appeared when he searched for the book on Starry Skies Literature—while the number of collections was low at just over 4,000, the few readers who had seen it gave very high appraisals.
Starry Skies had an unusual rating system requiring a full subscription before allowing ratings. This book had an average rating of 9.8 out of 10 based on just over 900 ratings. A nearly 4:1 ratio of ratings to views was exceptionally remarkable for a debut work.
“It appears there is no interest for this work…” The auctioneer’s regretful voice was cut off mid-sentence.
“150,000 yuan,” Ye Zhou said, raising his paddle to become the auction’s sole bidder thus far.
Despite being the only bidder, his initial conservative bid failed to attract much attention. The occasional glances that came his way were met with perfect composure.
The auctioneer’s smile returned. Like others in his profession, he earned varying commissions per sold lot. Naturally, he did not want the lot to go unsold.
“150,000 yuan going once.”
“150,000 yuan going twice.”
“150,000 yuan going thr—”
Just as the gavel was about to fall to conclude the sale, a male voice suddenly rang out, “160,000 yuan.”
Ye Zhou froze momentarily before locating the source—none other than protagonist shou Cheng Ran seated in the back row with paddle raised.
Ye Zhou suddenly found it funny. Although everyone had the right to bid at the auction, he remained silent for so long and had to wait until a few seconds when the deal was about to be completed to bid. Was this not obviously causing trouble?
Sensing Ye Zhou’s gaze, Cheng Ran slowly lowered his paddle, the corners of his lips quirking upwards slightly. His intent was crystal clear without a single word exchanged.
It was common knowledge that Jiang Changsong, the former head of the Jiang family, was a romantic when he was young. Though his marital situation at home remained undisturbed, he engaged in romantic affairs with numerous extramarital partners1“家里红旗不倒” (jiā lǐ hóng qí bù dǎo) – the “red flag” at home (his wife) did not fall over, meaning his married lifestyle remained unchanged. “外面彩旗飘飘” (wài miàn cǎi qí piāo piāo) – the “colorful flags” outside (his affairs/lovers) fluttered everywhere, suggesting he had many casual romantic relationships..
Among these lovers, the most favored one was Jiang Yu’s mother.
Under the influence of Jiang Yu’s mother, Jiang Changsong also loved his son.
Unlike Jiang Tingyuan, who was brought up by the old man of the Jiang family as soon as he was born, Jiang Yu was raised by Jiang Changsong.
Compared with the indifferent and distant eldest son, Jiang Changsong obviously liked Jiang Yu, the younger son who was raised by his side, more.
Worried that Jiang Yu and his mother would be suppressed by Jiang family elders and Jiang Tingyuan after his death, Jiang Changsong not only helped Jiang Yu open a film and television company but also secretly made a will, leaving 15% of his Jiang Group shares to Jiang Yu.
According to the original owner’s memories, Jiang Yu relied on these shares and connections during Jiang Tingyuan’s hospitalization to gain standing within the Jiang Group and steady their situation.
The ongoing struggle between these half-brothers was already an open secret within elite circles. To be precise, the hostility was entirely one-sided on Jiang Yu’s part as he ceaselessly tried to prove his superiority over Jiang Tingyuan in every possible way. This instance was no different.
Realizing Cheng Ran’s bid was because Ye Zhou was associated with Jiang Tingyuan, Ye Zhou found the entire situation rather amusing.
Glancing at the ever-composed Boss Jiang beside him, he leaned over and whispered, “Jiang-ge, shall we continue bidding?”
Though Jiang Tingyuan’s tone remained aloof, his response was music to Ye Zhou’s ears. “Ignore him. Keep bidding if you want it.”
Once more, Ye Zhou marveled inwardly at the mentality of elites—to them, money was merely a figure. Nothing more.
How thrilling!
“170,000 yuan,” Ye Zhou said, waving his paddle.
The moment he finished speaking, Cheng Ran countered from behind, “180,000 yuan!”
Checking his watch, Ye Zhou decided to quicken the pace. “300,000 yuan.”
This price had doubled from the original price.
Cheng Ran was clearly unprepared for such a sudden exponential increase. After a brief hesitation, he followed, “310,000 yuan!”
“400,000 yuan,” Ye Zhou raised his bid.
The price jumped again, eliciting surprised murmurs within the venue. This amount could already purchase a decent work with an established readership. In contrast, “Rewind” was a debut novel lacking comprehensive sales data.
To some, this seemed to be a doomed transaction. Yet unexpectedly, the bidding war raged on with no deal in sight.
Hearing Ye Zhou’s 400,000 yuan bid, Cheng Ran’s confidence visibly wavered. Glancing at Jiang Yu beside him and receiving an affirmative signal, Cheng Ran finally quoted, “410,000 yuan.”
Without batting an eye, Ye Zhou immediately responded, “500,000 yuan.”
“510,000 yuan!”
The protagonist was obviously determined to humiliate Jiang Tingyuan during the auction, so no matter how much Ye Zhou offered, Cheng Ran persisted in raising the bid by 10,000.
The stalemate continued with the price soaring from the initial 150,000 yuan to 1 million yuan. Aside from the rapid bidding, a tense silence descended within the spacious venue.
“1.01 million yuan,” Cheng Ran gritted out. He had already lost his initial calmness. Beside him, Jiang Yu’s expression had turned ominously dark.
Jiang Yu really didn’t expect that his hypocritical and cold brother would actually embarrass him so much this time. Even more unexpected was that Ye Zhou, the dog-skin plaster who had always been obedient to him, would be so stubborn today. With Jiang Tingyuan’s support, he would dare to challenge him in person.
A simple face-slapping was now somehow at this stage. Though his father doted on him and gave generous allowance, Jiang Yu had invested nearly all his and his mother’s savings into starting his film and television company, even borrowing a huge sum from his father.
At this time, there was not much working capital on hand. Although one million was not too much to spend, it was still enough to cause Jiang Yu pain for a while.
Before Jiang Yu’s thoughts progressed further, Ye Zhou’s languid voice sounded again.
“1.5 million yuan.”
The voice was not loud, but it exploded like thunder.
It made Jiang Yu so uneasy that cold sweat even seeped through his skin. Cheng Ran’s face also looked unpleasant. As Jiang Yu’s partner, although Jiang Yu had a bad temper and was a bit arrogant and overbearing, he treated Cheng Ran extremely well.
After Jiang Yu established his company, Cheng Ran was the first to join and help him manage it. Cheng Ran knew Jiang Yu’s funds as well as his own. This time when they attended the auction, they had raised three million in total, intending to use this money to acquire several good works and make a name for the company in the industry.
However, now half of their funds would be spent on the debut work of a new author with mediocre data. This was simply not cost-effective no matter how one looked at it.
Cheng Ran subtly tugged Jiang Yu’s sleeve, signaling to end the reckless bidding. But clearly, he had underestimated Jiang Yu’s competitive streak, especially with Jiang Tingyuan present—it easily overwhelmed reason.
Jiang Yu lived in Jiang Tingyuan’s shadow since he was born.
As the legitimate Jiang heir, Jiang Tingyuan was raised by his grandfather from childhood. Meanwhile, Jiang Yu was just an illegitimate child who had to be careful to conceal his identity to avoid judgment whenever he appeared in public.
Jiang Tingyuan inherited the Jiang Group immediately after graduation while Jiang Yu and his mother expended great efforts coaxing Jiang Changsong into starting a small entertainment company for him.
Why? He was also Jiang Changsong’s son. Why must he continually lower his head before Jiang Tingyuan when they share the same father? A mocking smile stretched across Jiang Yu’s face as he snatched the paddle from Cheng Ran’s hand and thrust it aloft, voice ringing out clearly, “2 million yuan!”
Author’s Note:
Ye Zhou: Take it, take it! Don’t be polite!
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