The Last Mecha

Chapter 170 Lawrence

At noon the next day, Lawrence Auction House.

The buildings of the civilized city are located near the second largest port in Jiangsong, and ships from all over the world unload large and small boxes of goods every day.

Among them, you can see ivory and precious wood from Africa, cigars, wine and strange inventions from America, and machinery and handicrafts from Europe.

Among them, the group with the highest value will often be escorted by Rizelan mercenaries armed with live ammunition, and will be pulled in a carriage to Lawrence, who is a street away.

This auction house was established 40 years ago, when Gao Fei, the chairman of the British Chamber of Commerce, invested [-] silver dollars to open the earliest foreign auction house in Jiangsong.

Facts have proved his excellent vision, and soon Jiangsong developed into the number one commercial city in the Far East. The huge cargo volume allowed a large number of valuable goods to settle here. After more and more merchants and nobles gathered here, the auction business demand is rising.

Lawrence's ranking has risen over the past 40 years, and it is now the number one international auction house in Asia. The emerging city of Jiangsong provides it with the best soil for growth.

In a cafe hundreds of feet away, Jiang Mulin turned his head leisurely, and Wu Gou walked towards him slowly in his eyes.

"you are late."

"Something happened and I was delayed." Wu Gou scratched his head.

"See?"

Jiang Mulin didn't care, following the direction he pointed, he could see a palace-like building, with angels and dragons engraved on several white marble pillars, the retro Roman style has clear lines, and the contrasting color changes are full of grace and luxury breath.

Foreigners in suits and leather shoes come and go. There are not many living facilities on the Port Avenue where Lawrence Auction House is located, so there are generally no other types of people except for crew, sailors, mercenaries and participants. appear around.

Once it appears, it will be very eye-catching.

Moreover, for this level of auction, the participants are either nobles who have long been famous at home and abroad, or they are also acquaintances in that rare class, who know each other.

Jiang Mulin went in like this, so it was not inconspicuous. Even though it was his first time coming to Jiang Song, it was impossible to say that no one would recognize him.

"Manager Cai, are you all ready?"

It was only then that he turned his head, looked at the thin man in a suit and tie across the round table, and glanced at Wu Gou next to him.

"No problem, absolutely no problem." Manager Cai rubbed the back of his hands and handed out two white letters, "This is a letter of introduction, and an account of Cai's foreign company, which is opened at Ruizelan United Bank. They have in-depth cooperation with Lawrence. In most cases, it does not take more than 5 minutes to verify the authenticity.”

"How much money is in it?"

"Because of several fraudulent auctions that occurred in the first half of the year, Lawrence has adopted full-amount auctions in recent times. He can only use the amount of money if he can prove how much property he owns. The biological machine tool you want to auction belongs to mechanical equipment, and the starting price is 8000 yuan. According to Lawrence's data, generally this type of auction item will not have an excessively high starting price premium. In 90.00% of the five cases, it will not exceed twice, that is, 2. Let's raise it a bit higher, [-] yuan is A very safe line."

"What about the other 5.00%?"

Wu Gou, who had been drinking tea in silence, suddenly asked a question, causing Manager Cai to scratch his collar. He looked at Jiang Mulin with a questioning intent, but the middle-aged man's eyes clearly signaled him to answer.

"This... the remaining 5.00% is only slightly more than that. 2 yuan is definitely enough. In fact, even 40% of the medical machinery and equipment auctioned by Lawrence in the past [-] years have been sold at the reserve price. Believe me, take it This thing won't cause any trouble."

"But I heard that something went wrong with these biological machine tools." This time it was Jiang Mulin who asked, "They encountered a sea monster, and the cargo ship threw away more than half of the cargo in order to speed up their escape. , and finally there is only one machine tool left that can be used for auction.”

"Ah——" Manager Cai rolled his eyes and wiped the sweat from his forehead, "There is such a thing, but I have done investigations, and Jiang Song has not seen any nobles who have such a demand in recent days, believe me, no one I will spend 2 yuan to buy a machine that can only be used to treat diseases.”

"What about research and development?"

"Well, I have also consulted people from several major research institutes and professors in the university hall. It is generally believed that there is not much room for research on biological machine tools, and the content of Qi metal in medical machinery is also very low. Especially in the first generation After interviewing for quite a long time, Lawson Heavy Industries launched the second-generation biological machine tool, which is more of commercial significance.”

"Troubleshooting, it doesn't sound like a problem, but since you know about it, why didn't you let me know?"

"Uh, well, I thought these were trivial things, not enough to bother Master Jiang." Manager Cai replied.

"Okay." Jiang Mulin nodded, then looked at Wu Gou, "What do you think? In fact, it is my request that the quota not be too high, because I don't want to be too conspicuous, otherwise it may cause trouble."

"Conspicuous?"

Wu Gou had doubts in his eyes, as if he hadn't figured it out.

"As for me, I'm not very good at dealing with relationships, especially with foreigners. There are many people who have made enemies and disliked them. If I let them know about this, there will be many people who want to make me unhappy, so keep a low profile It’s less troublesome.”

"But--"

Wu Gou's dark eyes stared at Jiang Mulin's face, showing hesitation on his worried face.

"I know what you mean. My old face wants to be inconspicuous. How can it be possible? So, this thing is not for me, but for you—"

As he spoke, he pressed the letter with his broad palm and moved it, gently placing it on Wu Gou's face.

"give me?"

Wu Gou's eyes flickered, he didn't know whether he was afraid of this huge sum of money that he had never seen in his life, or he was afraid to deal with this matter that related to his mother's life or death, or both.

"Yes, don't worry. There are often unremarkable children in Lawrence. Most of the people here are regular customers. They know what each other knows. In order to confuse others, they will spend some money to hire children like you. It's the so-called shopkeeper. So, understand what I mean?"

"Don't be eye-catching, take pictures of that machine quietly."

Wu Gou quickly reported the answer, put his slightly trembling hand on the letter, and took a deep breath.

"Don't be nervous, it's just an auction. Even if you don't buy it, so what if I ask someone to send your mother to Europa? It's just a little more expensive." Jiang Mulin smiled lightly, "I'll go this time, and I'll help you attract her." Be careful, secondly, I also have what I want, and thirdly, to prevent accidents."

"What accident?"

"If I knew what was going to happen, would it be an accident?"

Wu Gou's eyes swung up and down, looking at the letter in front of him, and suddenly he squeezed his palm tightly with force.

"I'll do it." His eyes were extremely firm at this moment.

"Okay, remember, you go first in a while, from the moment you come out of here, we don't know each other."

After Jiang Mulin finished speaking, he waved away Manager Cai.

He was about to leave, but Wu Gou called out from behind, "Master Jiang."

"how?"

"There's something else I want to tell you."

In front of the side entrance of the auction house, a Xia waiter in a suit with shiny curly hair straightened out, confirmed the identities of the people coming and going, and then smiled gently and courteously.

Lawrence hired many Xia people for non-core services for no other reason-cheap.In this city where body language plus "Yes", "Ok" and "Sorry" can be used everywhere, there is no major problem in communication.

But beside him, the pair of blue-gray eyes and light brown hair, the Rizelan mercenary with his hands behind his back, his hairy pectoral muscles almost bursting out of the neckline of his suit, could not help but lower his voice.

Not far away, a native Xia country boy was wearing a nondescript long coat, standing timidly behind a tree, looking into the door.

The waiter had seen it a long time ago, glanced at it twice, smiled secretly in his heart, and ignored him.

Finally, Wu Gou walked up to the waiter with a look of courage, and handed out two letters.

The man skillfully disassembled it, looked at it against the light, patted Wu Gou's body with his slender fingers and groped for a while, and after confirming that he hadn't hidden anything fatal, he smiled contemptuously.

When he opened his mouth, what came out of his mouth was a Cantonese accent that was vaguely Jiang Song's words: "Four Lang, I'm a dick, take it easy, don't steal, uh, kidnapping, you'll be fine, otherwise you'll be flying tails, and the guards won't let you down." The one with the window, the chicken or the chicken?”

Even though Wu Gou was well-informed and knowledgeable, he choked for a long time before he could react to his mixed tone of god and ghost, and then nodded heavily.

"Go in." The waiter stuffed the letter back into Wu Gou's palm, and gave him an exaggerated smile, and then added as if he remembered something, "Turn right inside, give your boss' things to the counterman People, do you know who needs to check the accounts? Otherwise, you don’t have to raise your placard.”

Wu Gou nodded and thanked cautiously, but thought in his heart, "I won't be fired for this accent for a week. I'll take your surname."

The process of entering Lawrence was generally smooth. After two body searches, certification letter verification, and licensing, Wu Gou walked into the home court after the whole thing was over.

The shape inside is a bit like an opera house, with layers of seats arranged in waves from high to low. On both sides are high platforms exclusive to VIP guests. The huge crystal chandelier exudes gentle brilliance, connecting the surrounding murals, Boli showcases and The sculpture was illuminated exceptionally clearly.

On the round table in the middle, the blue-eyed sales officer directed people to carry the goods covered by the black cloth, and showed a gentle smile to the distinguished guests around him from time to time.

The skirts of several blond women in the surroundings were as short as their buttocks, serving tea and cigarettes and casting bright and watery eyes.

He circled around, and then sat in an area where photographers gathered, surrounded by teenage children, given the least money to do the most work, most people can't bear an overly magnificent environment, a A man pinches his knees with his hands and sits awkwardly with his head bowed.

But there are also a small number of overemployed young men who flirt with the water delivery woman with their legs crossed, or brag about their knowledge to the people around them.

For example, the one sitting next to Wu Gou, not long after he sat down, fell down with a "boom" beside him. He was also fifteen or sixteen years old, with a Chinese character face and small eyes.

"First time?" The other party smiled and said before his butt was hot.

"En." Wu Gou nodded.

"You can call me Jerry. This is an auction house for Westerners. It's better to use a nickname to fit them in."

"Would those Briton buyers want to talk to you?"

Wu Gou said something irritating with innocent eyes, Jerry twitched the corner of his mouth, coughed twice to avoid the topic and said: "I've been here for a long time, I'm a veteran, just ask me if you don't understand anything, you can help others what to shoot?"

"Picture, uh no, it's a...jewelry."

"Hehe, you slipped your mouth. You want to buy paintings, right? It's okay. We don't compete with each other. I'll teach you. When you're shooting later, hurry up and shout loudly. If you have more momentum, others will be scared. If you get too scared, you may be scared." Just slow down, if you slow down, maybe the hammer will fall over there."

Wu Gou sighed secretly, dragging his head to endure the chatter of the guys around him, thinking about whether to change seats.

"Sir, sir, you can't go in like this."

In front of Lawrence's main entrance, two Xia servants hurriedly blocked a middle-aged man who was not polite.

I saw that he was wearing a burlap blouse, with his two round arms exposed, and the bamboo slippers under his feet were still wet with mud. He didn't look like a person who would come to such a place.

The guards of the two teams of Rui Zelan also came up together, inadvertently wiping the barrel of the gun in their hands reflecting the sunlight.

But the middle-aged man seemed to be invisible, and cheerfully took out a big white envelope and moved forward, with simplicity written on his face: "I came here for shopping."

The two people in front of him compared the things for a long time, and there was no trace of forgery, but they were really worried about letting this person in, and they couldn't come up with any good excuses after dawdling for a long time.

When he was at a loss, he only heard a steady voice of tobacco and alcohol coming from behind.

"What's going on, Mr. Jiang, who is well-known in the Xia Kingdom, came to participate in the auction, and you dare to stop him outside? Don't worry."

The two looked back and saw that it was Russell, the current president of the British Chamber of Commerce, who also had a lot of friendship with Lawrence's boss in private.

The nobleman spoke to guarantee that there would be no more problems, and the flow of people in front of him was divided into two rows.

When Jiang Mulin saw this person, he couldn't see any joy or anger on his face. He just walked in and asked, "Mr. Luo, no, how is Mr. Russell, are you here to buy something too?"

"It's free, let's go around."

Russell had a cigarette in his mouth, and there were small scars on his pale face. He was tall and thin, but now he was standing on the ground, with a few red bandages tied on his arms, which were very conspicuous. Like a scarecrow wrapped in a cloth.

"Ouch~ You're hurt." Jiang Mulin drew a long voice with concern on his face, "What did you do? You were so excited at the paper lantern festival, did you drink too much?"

"Small injury, it's not worth mentioning." Russell licked the tip of his teeth, and his voice was a little sullen, "I've heard about Jiang's name for a long time, but I only read about it in the newspaper before, but I saw it for the first time today. It's really hard to judge."

"See you for the first time, see you for the first time, hehe."

Jiang Mulin nodded, ignored him, and walked straight inside with his hands behind his back.

"If you don't mind, can I arrange a high seat for you?" Russell raised his eyebrows and said from behind.

"That's so embarrassing to cause you trouble." The figure who was about to go away suddenly stopped.

"No trouble, it's just me, I'm interested today, and I want to buy something."

"Oh? What do you want to buy?"

"I just want to buy, what to buy, I don't know yet."

"Mr. Russell's vision, I think it must be very good to see things."

"Each each other."

"Hey, I don't want each other. I'm a poor old man. I can't beat you."

"What's the matter, it's an auction, just for fun. Together? I'll treat you to a seat."

"Anyway, I don't have a lot of money in my pocket. What you said, then I'd rather be obedient than respectful."

The eyes of the two met for a few rounds, and then no one spoke, and they walked in silently, and the atmosphere seemed a little strange.

(End of this chapter)