Soon it was Saturday, and the members of the beach club, as usual, came to Castle Clinton for a regular weekly meeting.

It's still different, compared to the relaxed attitude of the past, today's members have much more solemn expressions, they all know that the auction of the rose company will be held today, and those who are eligible to participate in the auction are certainly apprehensive because they don't know how much it will cost, and those who are not qualified to participate are all kinds of envy and jealousy.

Yes, there is no hate, and if there is, then you can only hate yourself.

Hates himself for not fighting on weekdays, so he can't firmly grasp the opportunity when it appears.

The auction venue is located in the banquet hall on the first floor, and the display table is set up on the small stage where the band usually plays, and there are twelve high-backed chairs opposite the display table, which means that only twelve people participated in today's auction.

Don't look at the small number of people, everyone who wants to participate in the auction has to pay a deposit of 500,000 US dollars in advance, which is not a small amount, and not many people can come up with it.

What is certain is that the final transaction price will be much higher than 500,000 yuan, so there are really few people who are qualified to sit in the venue.

Aside from the twelve chairs, there were no seating around the venue, so only these twelve people were qualified to sit down in the entire auction.

From 7 p.m. onwards, members began to enter the auction in droves, and although they were not qualified to participate in the auction, they could watch it from the sidelines, and it was clear that no one wanted to miss the auction, even if it was just a rare experience.

It is indeed rare, and no one may believe it, there is no auction house in the United States at this time, although Sotheby's and Christie's have been established, but their business is still limited to the United Kingdom, and has not expanded to the United States, so the auctioneer of this auction is invited from the United Kingdom, Li Mu chose Christie's, which is good at auctioning artworks, rather than Sotheby's, which is mainly engaged in book auctions.

Although Li Mu doesn't like the British, he has to admit that the British have a lot of experience in doing this, and the auctioneer hired a lot of money attracted everyone's attention as soon as he came to the stage, with a high silk top hat, a black tuxedo, white gloves, and even a fixed pattern for how the shirt should be folded.

It was half past seven in the evening, and the members were entering, and the twelve chairs in the middle of the auction room were still empty, as if they had already been discussed, and the important people always had to come out at the end.

"You're not going to sit down?" Thanks to the hollow design of the ballroom, it can also be viewed from the second floor of the ballroom, where there are also no chairs, but there are railings to lean on.

Li Mu stood on the railing on the second floor, holding a glass of chilled champagne provided by the club for free, and looked at Rockefeller beside him with a smile.

"Why go? I don't want to be surrounded and watched as a monkey. "Rockefeller's words are very angry, a good thing, when it comes to Rockefeller's mouth, it changes taste.

Rockefeller served rum, which was also provided free of charge by the club.

The Beach Club offers a wide variety of wines, from weekly rum to European champagne to Oriental wines, which is one of the perks of the club, and some people join the beach club to drink a different drink every week, and they haven't drunk it all yet.

It is said that Li Mu should drink Moutai or burn knives, but Li Mu doesn't like spirits, so champagne is more suitable for Li Mu's taste.

"You're a little far from the venue here, so you don't have to worry about what will happen later? That way your people may not be able to receive your message in time. Li Mu smiled, looking at the fearless Rockefeller, and his heart smiled.

"Don't worry, I will get at least three bids in today's auction." Rockefeller is confident of being the biggest winner tonight.

"Then I wish you all the best." Li Mu is also confident that if twelve people divide up nine targets, there will definitely be three people who will not be able to do so, and Rockefeller will not be able to get three targets, and if he does not return empty-handed, he will be considered successful.

As the clock approached eight o'clock, someone finally came out of the crowd and was the first to sit in a chair, and there was no doubt that Wall Street tycoon J. P. Morgan.

J· P. Morgan was also dressed up today, and his dress was no less formal than that of the auctioneer on stage. P. Morgan sat down on the chair in the middle, then took out his pocket watch to check the time with a blank face, and then put it back with a blank face and began to close his eyes and recuperate.

Soon a second man appeared, steel industry rookie Andrew Carnegie, who had recently made a name for himself.

If someone benefits from the economic crisis, Carnegie is undoubtedly one of them, before the economic crisis began, Carnegie's steel plant performance was not very bright, but after getting the stainless formula, Carnegie's steel plant finally soared, just a few years ago, Carnegie's new plant was put into operation, production capacity to a new level, and at the same time Carnegie integrated the steel center of the United States Pittsburgh, established the Iron and Steel Industry Federation, and formally established the position of the leader in the steel industry.

Li Mu knew that Carnegie had been making frequent moves recently, so it was estimated that there was financial pressure, so Li Mu did not notify Carnegie of the auction, but Carnegie thought that he was Li Mu's partner and obviously couldn't miss such a grand event, so Carnegie took the initiative to sign up.

"Reem, we're the best partners, you shouldn't forget me, now that I'm here, I'm going to mess up your auction!" Carnegie sat on a chair and waved his fist at Li Mu, who was looking at the railing on the second floor, with a loud voice.

Well, no one in the beach club dared to speak to Li Mu like this, and Carnegie's words successfully caused a burst of laughter, and the atmosphere was suddenly relieved.

"Are you going to join in the fun? Really, if you want a stake, why not just go to Reem? ”J· P. Morgan couldn't maintain his aura and looked at Carnegie with dissatisfaction.

"I'm here to raise the price, as long as I'm here, you have to pay more if you want to get the shares, and if I do well enough, Reem may transfer some of the original shares to me, and then I'll make a lot of money." Carnegie made no secret of his purpose.

J· P. Morgan shook his head and muttered, Carnegie didn't hear clearly, but Carnegie didn't take it to heart, it was probably not a good word, and Carnegie didn't mean to ask.

One after another, people sat down, many of whom were acquaintances, such as William Vanderbilt of the Vanderbilt family, railroad tycoon Jay Gould, Mitch Gilbert, the head of the Boston consortium, Dick Anderson, president of the Union Pacific Railroad, and so on, all of whom were well-known figures, who took the auction very seriously and showed up to express their position at all costs.

There were also a few people who were unfamiliar with the tycoons in the field, and one of them, a fat man with a big belly, had been burying his head in the information provided by the club, and no one knew what his name was.

The other was a capable young man, he wore a rimless glasses, his eyes moved slowly in the venue, and when he saw Li Mu on the second floor, the young man smiled and nodded, looking very familiar with Li Mu.

The last one is Situ Lei, as a Chinese, this is the first time Situ Lei has officially appeared on a formal occasion dominated by white people, Situ Lei wears a long gown often worn by Chinese, and wears a white top hat on his head, which looks very Chinese and Western.

"Which one is yours?" Li Mu asked Rockefeller.

"Guess?" Rockefeller is still messing around.

Li Mu was about to turn on the mockery mode, but the auctioneer who presided over the auction finally took a step forward and officially opened his mouth with a smile on his face: "Gentlemen, welcome to this splendid auction house, I dare to swear to God, I have never seen such a dreamlike scene——"

This year's auction is not very formal, although the auctioneer is neatly dressed, but there is still a lot of talk, come up and don't talk about business, first slap a sycophant.

However, what the auctioneer said is also true, for ordinary people, the lighting facilities in Clinton Castle are a bit too luxurious, if you talk about the number of light bulbs alone, it is estimated that the bulbs used in the presidential palace are not as many as Clinton Castle, and the light bulbs used in Clinton Castle are not only the kind of transparent bulbs, but also the colored lights that use stained glass, this kind of bulb has not yet been put on the market, only Clinton Castle is used in the world, and even Li Mu's Governor's Island has not been used.

Well, in fact, the reason why Li Mu doesn't use colored lights is because if the lights are too rich, it will affect the lighting, and Li Mu usually doesn't like bells and whistles, which can be seen from Li Mu's clothes.

Li Mu's clothes are either black or white, and basically there are no other colors, except for the tie.

After five minutes of rambling, the auctioneer finally got to the point: "-- The auction of the shares of the Rose Company that we are going to conduct today will be carried out in a total of nine rounds, the first eight rounds of five percent each time, the last round of nine percent, and every hundredth of a hundred shares, so we will auction a total of 4,900 shares today - although the Rose Company is a new company, I believe everyone knows the potential of the Rose Company, as far as I know, the honorable Mr. Ream will grant the Rose Company a British franchise for electric lights, telephones, automobiles, etc., And we all know that in the last year alone, the above patents have made more than 30 million dollars in profits for the Kufco Group, and I ask you to think, this is only in New York and Boston, and the Rose Company will get the franchise of the whole of the United Kingdom, think about how many rich people there are in the whole of the United Kingdom, I don't mean to belittle the United States, but the fact is that the number of billionaires in the United Kingdom is much higher than the number of billionaires in the United States, especially the invisible rich, whose families have accumulated wealth for hundreds of years, and I can guarantee that, The value of that wealth must not be as valuable as the wealth of the Rose Company—"

The auctioneer is still very level, and the mood is in place, with the auctioneer's exaggerated performance, not only everyone in the venue, but even the onlookers and beach club members can't help but breathe heavily.

"So, we're going to start the auction of the first share now, five percent of the shares of the Rose Company, with a reserve price of $1 million, and a $10,000 increase each time, and now, is anyone willing to get it for a million dollars?"

Finally it began, and before the auctioneer's words fell, Jay Gould's sign was raised: "Two million!" ”

"Hiss-" There was a neat gasping sound in the venue, and everyone knew that the competition would be fierce, but they didn't expect that the reserve price would be doubled for the first time.