Chapter 2: Chapter 2: Broadening One's Horizons!
Early the next day, Sean Knight cooked some porridge, stir-fried two dishes, cleaned up after eating, and headed to the edge of the Port District.
There are many big and small freight yard owners in the Port District.
Yesterday, at John's, Sean had heard that a small freight yard owner James would be auctioning off four containers today.
James' freight yard is located in the corner of the Port District, inconspicuous, and not very accessible. Those who rent containers here are generally not wealthy people.
Sean was here to try his luck - after all, the more popular freight yards in the Port District auction off containers full of hot commodities, costing several tens of thousands of dollars, which he can't afford.
When he arrived at the freight yard, he saw that there were already more than a dozen people there, which made his heart skip a beat!
These treasure hunters really don't care about the cold weather!
Some famous treasure hunters were present, such as Madden, Diana Smith, the black Joey Brothers, and others. These are the big names among the treasure hunters in the Port District!
You often hear of them bidding thousands or even millions of dollars for containers, earning tens of thousands or even hundreds of thousands of dollars a month.
Why would these people be here treasure hunting?
Seeing Sean coming, a few regulars at the bar greeted him with a smile:
"Hey, Sean, are you just here to enjoy the excitement, or are you going to try your luck?"
"I heard from Mr. John that this Chinese boy wants to gamble on his luck."
"It's all about luck once you're here!"
The friendly Madden said to Sean:
"Good luck to you then!"
Sean thanked him.
Madden appeared very polite, but according to John, he was the most astute among these people.
John also warned Sean not to let anyone, especially Madden, notice his intentions when bidding on containers.
Otherwise, he'd be cut off!
Sean mixed into the crowd, greeting people while looking at the four containers dangling in the vacant lot.
The auction hadn't started yet, and the four containers were locked.
Sean walked over and "scanned" the first container casually.
Inside were some old furniture, a few metal drums, and an old box.
According to John's experience, old furniture isn't worth much. People couldn't see inside the metal drums, but Sean could see they contained some old packaging bags.
The old box contained some game controllers, old records, and other things.
All together, not worth a hundred dollars.
He immediately stopped using the Sky Eye and went to look at the second container.
An old piano was placed right at the entrance of the second container. Inside were a few standardized boxes, all containing musical instruments.
Sean skipped over this container since it was an "open door" container and wouldn't be good for gambling.
He closed his eyes and took a break from feeling dizzy.
The black Joey Brothers, standing nearby, laughed at Sean:
"Chinese boy, you need to exercise more on your body, learn from us!"
Sean just smiled and didn't say anything.
Thinking if we really started fighting, the two of you together wouldn't be a match!
The third container was filled with several boxes of old clothes and a torn suitcase. An old table with a pile of old clothes blocked the view at the entrance.
The key point was the suitcase. Sean took a glance, and inside was an antique typewriter.
This thing is worth some money!
Sean immediately withdrew his gaze, feeling a little dizzy.
At this time, the freight yard owner had already arrived, but the auctioneer had not yet arrived, so they waited a bit more.
Sean took a break, then looked at the fourth container.
In the fourth container, neatly arranged were more than a dozen cardboard boxes. Sean took a glance; they were full of printing paper!
Boxes further back seemed to have machines or something, but Sean couldn't see clearly anymore!
His head was spinning even worse, so he had to give up using the Sky Eye!
He must take a break!
Just then, the auctioneer arrived.
Sean had seen the auctioneer before. He was about forty years old, bald, wearing a jacket, and usually quiet in the bar.
But during the auction, he was always the center of attention!
The freight yard owner quickly said a few words:
"These containers belong to people who didn't renew their leases. Some are from farmers, some from businessmen, I hope you can strike it rich inside these containers!"
With that, he signaled his assistant to start.
The assistant took a big wrench and unscrewed the lock on the first container.
As the container opened, the old furniture inside was revealed.
The onlookers immediately came over to have a look, but they couldn't cross the line.
After everyone had taken a look, the auctioneer immediately stood in front of the container, raising his hand:
"Starting bid fifty dollars, fifty dollars... Alright! Sixty... one hundred... one hundred..."
His speaking rate was extremely fast, but his expression was very clear!
As long as someone raised the bid, the number in his mouth would change immediately, and his hand would point to the person who raised the price.
Sean Knight took a break and listened to the auctioneer shouting prices, wondering how he could maintain the same tone and not even audible gasps from start to finish!
This auctioneer is not simple either!
Sean also symbolically offered a hundred dollars and stopped bidding after being surpassed.
There were not many people bidding.
Soon, this container was acquired by the black Joey Brothers for 200 dollars.
Others laughed and congratulated Joey, while some others made sarcastic remarks.
The second container was opened, and the Joey Brothers did not go to see their own container, clearly planning to take the next one as well.
As soon as the door opened, they saw an old piano, and the onlookers immediately became more animated.
The auctioneer was also happy. After everyone had seen it, he shouted loudly:
"Starting price 500 dollars, each auction bid must not be less than 50 dollars!"
"One thousand dollars!" Madden was the first to bid!
"Two thousand dollars!" Diana Smith followed closely behind.
"Two thousand five hundred dollars!" Sean also followed with a bid.
But his price was soon exceeded, and within a minute, the bid for this container had reached 6,000 dollars!
Everyone understood that although those musical instruments were second-hand goods, they were still worth some money!
In the end, the container was acquired by Matt for 9,000 dollars.
Matt showed a hint of triumph on his face.
Next was the third container.
The auctioneer started the bidding at 25 dollars this time, with each increase not less than 25 dollars.
Due to the old table blocking the entrance, it was not easy to see the inside clearly.
However, eagle-eyed people still noticed old clothes peeking out from the boxes inside.
The auctioneer also knew this and did not set a high starting price.
Even so, the number of bidders was not large.
Diana called a price once, raising it to 50 dollars.
Sean then increased the bid to 75 dollars.
Sean's performance was not eye-catching, and not many people paid attention.
Madden increased the price to 100 dollars.
Sean's palms were sweaty - he was determined to take this container, but he didn't want to be too obvious.
Seeing that no one else was bidding, he nervously raised the bid to one hundred and twenty-five dollars with a slightly tense voice.
The auctioneer looked at him with somewhat strange eyes - he had seen him several times at the auction, but had never seen Sean bid before.
But this time, the Chinese boy might lose!
After Sean raised the price twice, no one else made a bid.
Sean was a little worried, but he didn't show it.
Diana suddenly asked Sean,
"Sean, why do you insist on taking this container?"
Joey interjected:
"I heard that Chinese people know Kung Fu and some mysterious things. Sean, can you see if there is treasure in this container?"
Listening to the conversations of these two people, everyone else looked at him attentively.
Please allow him to speak.UTF-8Sean now wanted to strangle Joey!
However, he remained calm on the surface, laughing mockingly:
"I also wanted to take the previous container. But I only have a little over 1,000 dollars on hand, so I can only look at these containers with not much value."
He pointed to Matt and then to Diana, saying:
"You guys bid for containers that you have already liked, even reaching several tens of thousands of dollars. There is no need to compete with poor people like us for this small amount of money, right?"
His words successfully drew the firepower to these big shots.
After all, most of the dozen or so people had a net worth of only a few thousand dollars and could not compete with those big shots!
Sean let out a quiet sigh of relief.
Hopefully, he could get through this!