Super Zoo

After Luo Ben called out the starting bid of one hundred thousand US dollars, there was a brief lull in the audience.

Many of the attendees at the auction began to whisper among themselves, probably negotiating something.

"One hundred thousand!" Finally, the first person raised a sign.

"One hundred and twenty thousand!"

"One hundred and fifty thousand!"

"One hundred and eighty thousand!"

After several rounds of bidding, the final price settled at two hundred and twenty thousand US dollars.

"Thank you, Earl Downton, this mysterious bottle of red wine now belongs to you!" Luo Ben gave a slight bow to the last bidder, a middle-aged English gentleman.

Earl Downton stood up and, with very traditional British classical noble etiquette, returned the gesture to Luo Ben.

"Is that really okay? What if it turns out to be fake wine?" Suming was speechless; perhaps this is what real rich people are like.

Zhao Yun explained to Suming, "Mystery and the unknown are also a huge attraction. Sometimes what they are paying for is the thrill, especially for these old nobles who have been ousted from the power struggle; they particularly like to show their presence in this manner."

He sipped his red wine and said lightly, "Actually, there are many factors that influence the final price. Some are simply speculation or clandestine bribes. But there are also true miracles. After all, there are many people in this world who don't take money seriously."

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The second auction item was a bottle of champagne called Snow Champagne.

This bottle's history was not especially ancient; at least compared to the previous Aceto Balsamico from 1787, the 1907 vintage seemed like a little brother. The vineyard it came from wasn't particularly famous—just a purveyor to Tsar Nicholas II.

Royal vineyards may seem mysterious and noble in the eyes of ordinary people, but to real connoisseurs, they are only slightly better than mass-produced products. To the traditional aristocracy of Europe, the Tsar's official vineyard was entirely seen as a second-rate establishment forcibly pretending to be elegant from a world of ice and snow.

Then again, this bottle had a legendary backstory; in 1916, a German submarine sank a Russian vessel which held a case of 2000 bottles of Snow Champagne.

The case of Snow Champagne and the sunken ship remained buried at the bottom of the sea for 82 years until they were salvaged in 1998 and brought back to light.

Since the Tsarist regime was replaced by the Soviet Union in 1922, and the royal vineyard was transformed into Comrade Stalin's private holiday villa, Snow Champagne thus became swan song and was also known as 'the last royal banquet'.

"Whether this bottle is still drinkable, I can't be sure, but even if it is, with my modest income, I definitely could not afford to drink such history!"

Luo Ben made a little joke, and after a few light chuckles from below, he continued, "Any one of these two thousand bottles has the same starting price, one hundred and fifty thousand US dollars."

This time, the number of people bidding was much greater than for the mysterious red wine; the signs went up in rapid succession, and the price soared quickly.

"Third call, three hundred and fifty thousand US dollars! Sold!" Luo Ben's hammer came down hard. "Congratulations, Jacky!"

The winning Jacky seemed to have a good private relationship with Luo Ben, lifting his glass in front of him and giving a slight smile and nod to Luo Ben.

"Is it really him?" Suming finally noticed that this 'Jacky' from Xiangjiang was actually a very famous king of the entertainment industry. Suming had practically grown up listening to his songs.

Zhao Yun said softly on the side, "This is Xiangjiang, after all; you often see celebrities of all sorts here. If you have something like watches or other collectibles, you might even run into Doctor Ho."

Doctor Ho, also known as Stanley Ho, was a casino tycoon who adored collecting watches. Though he rose to fame through gambling, the elderly gentleman preferred to be addressed as 'Doctor'.

The next few auction items varied; one was unsold, and the rest fetched prices between three hundred thousand and six hundred thousand, in US dollars—not the Huaxia currency Suming had assumed.

The atmosphere at the auction was not as tense and confrontational as Suming had imagined, with face-slapping and people being stepped on. Instead, those who came to the auction were all individuals of a certain status. For them, collecting was merely a hobby. It wasn't worth making enemies over a few hundred thousand US dollars—that's kid stuff.

"The next item up for auction is a first for Sotheby's, and indeed, any auction house in the world,"

Luo Ben's words immediately sparked a stir of quiet gossip. Sotheby's had been established for over two hundred years—what hadn't they sold? Not to mention, it being a world first!

It was said that during a certain period of war, a famous auction house even sold the sovereignty of a small country!

"Most of you live in Xiangjiang and must have a certain understanding of Chinese culture. Some friends present are even close friends with Mr. Jin of Xiangjiang Ming Pao..."

The crowd found it strange. Why bring up Mr. Jin, the venerable swordsman from the novels where snow blankets the earth and arrows fly toward a white deer?

However, out of trust in Luo Ben's professional level, everyone still listened patiently, with quite a few becoming more curious.

Hearing this, Suming knew his Monkey Wine was about to take the stage!

Luo Ben's Mandarin was exceptionally fluent. If Suming closed his eyes and disregarded Luo Ben's appearance, he would almost believe he was listening to a true native Huaxia person.

"In Mr. Jin's books, there is a hero named Mr. Linghu, a character who loves wine as much as life itself and is never happy without it. He has tasted countless wines in his life. Speaking of wines that are naturally made, that embody the essence of heaven and earth and the spirit of nature, none surpasses a kind of wine brewed from a variety of fruits by monkeys. Ladies and gentlemen, the next lot is indeed a bottle of Monkey Wine, accidentally discovered in the Qinling Mountains on the mainland!"

The auction hall erupted into an uproar; many Huaxia people even stood up, with a superstar of heavenly king stature directly asking, "Robben, don't joke around, does Monkey Wine really exist in this world?"

"Oh, Jacky raises a very critical question. Indeed, I cannot provide an exact answer,"

Luo Ben shrugged and said with a smile, "Because up until now, Monkey Wine has never appeared before. So, there isn't a real sample to compare with, and, of course, it's impossible to capture the wine-making monkeys for interrogation to have them confess whether or not it was made by their hands."

Luo Ben's humor elicited a round of good-natured laughter before he continued, "However, we invited several experts to appraise it. They unanimously agreed that the winemaking process and ingredients of this bottle are indeed different from any known method of making wine. Moreover, it has a unique flavor and extremely high nutritional value. Quality-wise, the wine should have undergone at least three fermentation processes. Additionally, although we have not captured that clever monkey, we did find the tree used for brewing, and after comparison, it appears that this wine was indeed brewed inside the tree."

As he spoke, the projection of a hollowed-out large tree appeared on the big screen behind him.

"So, unless a monkey brews wine in person for everyone to see, we can never be absolutely sure whether it is Monkey Wine! I think, apart from Tarzan, there won't be a second person in the world who would have the chance to witness a monkey brewing wine.

If this is, in fact, a genuine bottle of Monkey Wine, then it may well be the only bottle ever found by humankind, and its value goes without saying! Of course, there's always another possibility—maybe this is just a strange and mysteriously made fruit wine with a heartbreakingly good taste,"

Luo Ben pressed down with his hands: "All right, ladies and gentlemen, this equally mysterious bottle of Monkey Wine, will start the auction at the price of one hundred and eighty thousand US dollars!"

Jacky, without hesitation, raised his sign: "Two hundred thousand!"

"Two hundred and twenty thousand dollars!" Earl Downton, who had won the bid on wine earlier, raised his sign.

Before Jacky could raise his sign again, another Huaxia businessman called out a bid of two hundred and fifty thousand.

A businessman from Taiwan directly raised his sign: three hundred thousand.

Jacky spread his hands in a smile towards the Taiwanese businessman, signaling his inability to compete, then turned his head, whispering with a smile to his assistant, "Knew it—shouldn't have bought that Snow Champagne."

The assistant shrugged helplessly.

The Monkey Wine made its first appearance before the world as a once-in-a-lifetime find, not like other wines that, no matter how rare, are always available in a few bottles. But this Monkey Wine might be, as Luo Ben put it, never seen again, so the bidding quickly reached the significant threshold of four hundred thousand US dollars.

As for the possibility of it being fake, these tycoons weren't too concerned. A few hundred thousand US dollars for a glimmer of hope was still within their reach.

Not to mention, even Sotheby tended to believe it was genuine Monkey Wine. Then who could say it wasn't?

After the four hundred thousand dollar mark, the number of bidders finally began to dwindle. After all, it was only a bottle of wine.

At this point, the three still raising their signs were all Asians.