Chapter 27: Liquor Auction

Before the meal, Suming and Luo Ben agreed on the details of sending the wine for auction.

Luo Ben suggested it would be best to send the wine-making tree along with it to be auctioned together, which would make the Monkey Wine appear more authentic and enhance its legendary aura.

For Luo Ben, using his social influence, chopping down a tree in the mountains was not a significant issue; all Suming had to do was show the way.

After finalizing their plans, they finally sat down for dinner, gathering around the table without any hierarchy.

Zhaoqian and Luo Ben were college classmates. While Luo Ben's business was booming, Zhaoqian worked as a teacher in a school in Yangchuan City. Since Luo Ben's business was culturally oriented and already on track, he didn't need to run around daily. The family lived harmoniously, and the couple was loving.

Zhaoqian was quite skilled in cooking, and the table was filled with delicious dishes, including a bottle of Maotai.

However, both Luo Ben and Suming found their meal somewhat bland. It was not too bad for Suming, as he had grown used to drinking Monkey Wine every day, but this was Luo Ben's first time tasting it. Afterward, other drinks seemed lackluster in comparison.

"You've really done me in, kid. How am I supposed to enjoy other drinks from now on!" Luo Ben chuckled and playfully tapped Suming with his chopsticks.

Zhaoqian widened her eyes curiously from the side and said, "I remember in the novel 'The Smiling, Proud Wanderer', Linghu Chong tricked an old beggar out of a bottle of Monkey Wine. I had no idea such wine actually existed in the world!"

"There are endless wonders in this vast world. What we humans know is just a small patch of sky above our heads. The saying 'a frog in a well knows nothing of the ocean' refers to our limited human perspective," Luo Ben said with a smile.

Chengcheng, on the other hand, wasn't concerned about the wine at all, and kept begging Suming to take her to see the monkeys. Suming said he would take her on her vacation.

This response was somewhat perfunctory since Chengcheng was currently on summer vacation. The truth was that Zhaoqian had been quite frightened last time and likely wouldn't dare to let her daughter go to a 'dangerous' place like the zoo again so soon.

Chengcheng pouted, her chubby cheeks puffed up as she said indignantly, "All you adults are in it together!"

...

A few days later, at Sotheby'sArt Center in Xiangjiang Golden Bell Road Pacific Place.

Sotheby's is the world's oldest auction house with over two hundred years of history, growing from a small-town book market into one of the top three auction houses globally. It is renowned for its high commissions, quality service, and high reputation.

In Asia, Sotheby's established its Xiangjiang Branch. Its main business consists of porcelain, calligraphy and painting, and wine, with regular categorized auctions held annually.

"Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to Sotheby's annual wine auction in Xiangjiang."

On the auction stage, a middle-aged Englishman, impeccably dressed and sporting a neatly-trimmed mustache, opened the proceedings with his flawless aristocratic manners.

The auction hall was quite spacious, split into an upper and lower section similar to an opera house. Yet the guests, numbering fewer than fifty, were sparsely seated throughout the large hall.

But those in the auction industry knew that the fewer the guests at an auction, the higher the caliber and the more specialized it usually was.

After all, the wealthy are few, and those affluent enough to collect in a specific field are even fewer.

Only the kind of mass-market auctions gather a large crowd, where ordinary office workers can spend a few dozen dollars on a ticket to enjoy the hustle and bustle.

In a semi-open private room on the second floor, sat a young man who didn't even qualify as an 'ordinary office worker'.

"Don't be nervous, you're the seller, just think of today's crowd as people coming to give you money," Zhao Yun said to Suming with a smile, in a low voice.

Suming wasn't nervous but very curious; he had only seen this kind of 'high-end' affair on TV and in movies before.

After dinner that day, Zhao Yun immediately contacted the auction house, even fronted the seller's deposit, and arranged the auction details. Suming took two days off and followed Zhao Yun to the auction in Xiangjiang.

Upon arriving at the auction house, Suming discovered that Zhao Yun indeed had significant influence; the deputy head of Sotheby's Asian Division personally received them and even arranged a private room at the venue.

"Then you're mistaken, the private room isn't for my sake, but yours," Zhao Yun shook his head and said with a smile.

"For me?" Suming asked, puzzled.

Zhao Yun grinned and said, "Think about it, if there are good items, would there be a lack of buyers? There are too many wealthy people in the world, but good items are numbered. So, what auction houses truly value are the sellers, especially sellers with potential. Though my museum has quite a few cultural relics and treasures, national regulations stipulate that precious cultural relics of a certain level can be collected but are not allowed to be traded internationally. So in Sotheby's eyes, my value is mainly my professional level, not the collectibles I own."

"Is Monkey Wine that precious?"

Suming thought Monkey Wine might sell for tens or even hundreds of thousands, considering the magnitude of the event.

But even if it was hundreds of thousands, while it was a substantial sum for the average person, to Sotheby's, items worth a few hundred thousand were probably too numerous to count, hardly enough to warrant special treatment.

"The auction has started," Zhao Yun didn't answer but pointed below.

The first auction item was a bottle of 1787 Chateau Rieussec sweet white wine from France.

Chateau Rieussec, also known as the Golden Drops Chateau, was the only First Great Classified Growth for sweet white wine in the Bordeaux 1855 classifications, a supreme honor which at the time elevated Chateau Rieussec above the present-day five great chateaux including Lafite, Latour, and Margaux.

Just the origin and vintage alone made this bottle of wine very valuable.

The auctioneer, a small-mustached man named Luo Ben, revealed a playful smile and addressed the audience, "However, I need to clarify one thing to everyone, this bottle may be a fake! Of course, I said 'may'!"

The crowd below instantly buzzed with surprise, and Suming was also taken aback, asking Zhao Yun, "Is it really okay to publicly sell fake wine?"

Zhao Yun was unperturbed, smiling as he said, "Just keep watching."

"Ladies and gentlemen, in 2006, American collector Corrillo bought this rare wine for $100,000, setting a record for the world's most expensive white wine at the time. However, shortly after, Mr. Corrillo claimed the wine was a counterfeit, providing an authoritative authentication document. Yet the wine's previous owner also produced an equally authoritative certificate of authenticity, so..."

Luo Ben shrugged his shoulders and said, "So, the authenticity of this bottle of wine has become a mystery. Earlier this year, Mr. Corrillo entrusted us to auction off this mysterious bottle of red wine, with a starting bid, well, the same as the price it fetched in '06, $100,000! Now, please raise your paddles!"