Chapter 258: Chapter 259

“Thank you for your support, Mr. Lane.”

Casper waved to Tony. The porcelain jar was worth around two million, and it was more than enough for Tony to bid for it at a price of three million.

“Four million.”

Stephen raised his hand just before the auctioneer hammered the gavel. A miserable feeling washed over Casper as he forced himself to look at Stephen. The latter winked at him in response.

“Of course, I have to support our dear Casper.”

A bitter smile formed on Casper’s face, and he didn’t dare to utter a word. Tony didn’t fight with Stephen as well, and the porcelain jar was auctioned off to Stephen for four million.

“What a lively atmosphere. Do help yourselves, everyone.”

Just then, an old man with greying hair strode into the banquet. Casper turned to look at him and noticed that the old man’s face looked as withered as a corpse in the cemetery. There seemed to be no sign of life on him.

There was also a young man who looked to be about twenty who followed behind the old man.

Although he was young and dashing, he already had a head full of snow-white hair. His face was also ice-cold and indifferent.

Tony stood up and greeted the elderly man. Based on his attitude, Tony seemed to be a little patronizing toward the old man.

“Darian, you’re finally here.”

That old man was Darian Hunter, the head of the Hunter family. Casper scrutinized him from head to toe and tried to find if there was anything odd about him.

“Please take a seat, Old Mr. Hunter.” Victoria had been saving the best seat for him.

Stephen seemed rather indifferent to the Hunter family and merely nodded at them.

When Darian saw that there were two empty seats at the table, he asked, “Did Old Mrs. Yaeger not come today?”

“Aren’t you happy that she’s not here? If she was here, she definitely would’ve said that the entire place reeks,” Tony responded.

“Haha. Well, she’s not wrong. Unlike all of you from prominent families, the Hunter family only has one male descendant in every generation.”

He patted Jake Hunter, the young man with white hair beside him, and continued, “Jake, why don’t you show Mr. Lane the treasure that you got yesterday.”

At that, Tony scoffed. “There’s no need for that. We all know the authenticity of whatever your family brings, don’t we?” While he might have dismissed Darian’s suggestion, deep down, he actually still wanted to see what treasure the Hunter family obtained.

With that, Jake pulled out a box from his bag and passed it to Tony. Tony took it from him and slowly opened it to reveal a stained glass lamp inside.

“This…” As someone who was experienced, even Tony was stunned.

“This treasure only needs to be filled with pine oil for it to light up for three whole days. The most important thing is that the ancient people installed a mechanism inside it. As long as the surroundings were dark, an image would appear on the spot where the lamp shines. The most incredible thing is that the image would change every two hours, and there won’t be any overlapping images within twenty-

four hours.”

After hearing Darian’s explanation, a hint of greed flashed across Tony’s eyes as he looked at the stained glass lamp. A treasure like this was exactly what he wanted.

“This is good stuff. This really is the good stuff.” Tony couldn’t get enough of it.

Stephen took a sip of his tea before adding, “Although it is fascinating, it is only worth about ten million.

No matter how exquisite the mechanism is, antique lamps can only be worth so much.”

However, Tony shook his head and refuted, “No. It’s too lowly to put a price tag on a treasure like this.”

Not everything in the antique world was based on the price of the antiques. If that was the case, porcelain collectors would only prize the most expensive type of porcelain. Some antique collectors were only in it for the money and wealth, similar to those investing in stocks. Nevertheless, there were also those who were genuinely interested in antiques. To them, an emerald pendant worth around fifty thousand could be more valuable than a painting worth millions.

Tony reluctantly placed the stained glass lamp back into the box. “It really is an exquisite piece of craftsmanship. I knew that the Hunter family would always get good stuff like this.”

It was evident that Darian seemed smug after hearing that. “Mr. Lane, if you like it, you can take another look at it.” He only said that Tony could take another look at it but didn’t say that he would sell it to him. He was evidently trying to pique the latter’s interest.

As Tony looked at the box, he was well aware that Darian was angry at him. Despite that, there was nothing that he could do.

Looking at the two from the Hunter family, Casper noticed that they hadn’t taken a single bite of the food, which made them suspicious.

As of then, the auction was almost reaching its peak. By then, they were auctioning the porcelain vase with variegated glaze, and buyers started bidding for it at ten million.

Eventually, it was sold to someone at Casper’s table at a price of thirteen million.

“Ms. Stalling, did you say that Darian was the one who gave you the main treasure?” Tony asked.

He seemed to understand something as he looked at the cloth-covered object being brought up to the stage.

“Indeed. I was the one who brought it. It is a gold-threaded silk and feather jacket. Although it can’t compare to the silk-threaded jacket which is a national treasure, it’s still worth taking a look at,” Darian replied nonchalantly.

However, Tony was shocked by this. “Silk and feather jacket? Did you really bring such a thing?”

After the cloth was lifted off the object, Tony couldn’t take his eyes off it after just a glance. Although the silk and feather jacket on stage wasn’t as light and sheer as the national treasure, it was still almost as thin as a dragonfly’s wings. The feathers on top of it were also sewn with gold thread.

Gasps instantly rang out from the crowd. Everyone couldn’t take their eyes off just as how Tony had reacted.

“The opening bid is twelve million, and the minimum for bidders to raise the price each time is fifty thousand.” Once the auctioneer began the auction, people immediately started raising their hands.

“Twenty million!”

“Twenty-one million!”

“Twenty-five million!”

Winston glanced at his father and noticed that the latter’s breathing was slightly erratic after being stunned by the treasure. “This silk and feather jacket really is a gift from the heavens!” Tony muttered.

After heaving a sigh, Tony turned to Darian. “The Hunter family really is capable. If only my father didn’t get injured by the trap back when he went down the tomb with your family and eventually died, and my mother didn’t make me keep my distance from you to prevent the same thing from happening to me, I would’ve wanted to learn from you as well.”

“Back then, your father did that to protect the priceless statue. But didn’t we already give you the statue as compensation later on? Our family thinks that we have already paid our debt to you. As for what your family thinks of us, well, we have no control over that.”

Never would Casper expect that that was how the statue in the Lanes’ vault came about. The Hunter family really seemed like something else to be able to uncover so many valuable treasures when they went down into the tombs.

“However, he had put his life on the line back then to get this. So, of course, it’s valuable.”

Someone had already offered thirty million for the gold silk and feather jacket. Just then, Tony raised his hand and shouted, “Forty million!”

The crowd instantly fell dead silent. Those who were previously bidding for it were also dumbfounded.

It wasn’t because they couldn’t afford to bid at a price higher than forty million, but it was because Tony was the one bidding for it, and none of them dared to offend him.

Despite that, someone still tried to make a higher bid out of unwillingness. However, he could only last a few more rounds of bidding before Tony eventually acquired it for forty-three million five hundred thousand.