Chapter 5 Overnight Wealth

  In half a month, at the Sotheby's auction house in London, a special auction is about to begin. Yang Feng, a translator from the Chinese Embassy in the UK, has entrusted Sotheby's to auction off a wristwatch that represents the pinnacle of modern watchmaking craftsmanship. This has been certified by several of Switzerland's most renowned watch manufacturers, including Patek Philippe, Vacheron Constantin, and Audemars Piguet, who have all acknowledged that they do not have the capability to produce a similar watch, at least in the short term.

  That's enough to make old pirates in Britain flock to it, and what's even more crazy is that there are only nine such watches because...

  "This is a friend of mine, who spent five years pouring his heart and soul into making it. He's an avid watch enthusiast, and his lifelong pursuit was to one day reach the pinnacle of watchmaking craftsmanship. He succeeded, but unfortunately, tragedy struck at that very moment." Yang Feng said, wiping away a tear from the corner of his eye, but more tears kept welling up instead.

  "Mr. Yang, although it's impolite to continue this topic at this time, we all hope to know what led to the downfall of such a great master." The reporter interviewing him said with an apologetic tone.

  "It's simple, this friend of mine is Jewish and he lives in Russia, the rest I think doesn't need to be said." Yang Feng said with a sob.

  Damn it, if I knew my acting skills were this good, I wouldn't have needed to put chili water on my handkerchief. He thought to himself while speaking.

  The journalist immediately understood the fate of this master watchmaker, as Russia had been expelling Jews for years and there had even been several massacres. Yang's friend must have also been killed by those barbaric Russians.

  Right after that, Boss Yang vividly described the legendary experiences of these ten wristwatches (including the one he kept for himself to commemorate his friend). In this legendary story, he transformed into Sydney Carton from Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities. Upon learning that his friend's family was in danger, he drove his yacht all the way to Russia.

  Unfortunately, just as he arrived, the bandits had already begun to attack the Jewish village. He protected his friend's family and fled towards the sea, but ultimately, due to being outnumbered, his watchmaker friends, a husband and wife, were killed by the bandits. Before they died, they gave him the ten watches they had spent their lives making.

  When telling the whole story, Mr. Yang also subtly showed his deep love for that friend's wife.

  With this legendary story as the background, the auction has added a sense of solemnity. And because Yang Feng has stated that only one of these nine watches will be sold in Britain, with another being presented to Her Majesty the Queen - not by him to Victoria, but by Xue Fucheng who bought it as the Chinese envoy and then presented it as her birthday gift.

  Considering they were old acquaintances, Yang Feng could give him a 30% discount off the auction price.

  As for the other seven, they will be sold separately in France, Germany, Italy, Switzerland, the United States, Turkey and China. As for why Russia is not included in the sales range, it doesn't need to be explained.

  So the British tycoons and watchmakers who rushed to hear the news, for this watch, can be said to have turned the auction into a show-off meeting. Boss Yang sat on the side, listening to the rising bids, the smile on his face was quite hard to bear.

  "Yang, ten million pounds, enough to buy a cruiser," Huang Zunxian said beside him, working together for so many days, he knew what kind of person this guy was, and his story was simply ridiculous.

  "No rush, no rush, it seems like there's still room for growth." Yang Feng said in a soft voice with a forced look of concern.

  "This price is too high, even if it's discounted by 70%, Master Xue won't be able to afford it." Huang Zunxian said calmly.

  "It doesn't matter, it just so happens that I still need one to sell in Spain." Yang Feng shrugged and said, at this price even if Xue Fu Cheng was willing he wouldn't be willing! To think that a 30% discount is a loss of nearly 40,000 pounds!

  In the end, this piece of seagull hollow flying wheel was bought by a British duke at a price of 120,000 pounds, which is almost as much as the cost of building the Zhuyuan, and Yang Feng couldn't help but feel that these British old pirates were really rich.

  As for the auction of other watches, he did not attend in person. Mr. Yang entrusted them to auction houses in various countries, but required that the auctions be staggered, one per month, to build up some advertising effect. In fact, the final seven watches were sold for a total of ￡1 million, with the highest price being in Turkey, where no auction was held, and it was directly purchased by the Ottoman Turkish Empire Emperor for ￡200,000.

  Yang Feng, who became rich overnight, immediately revealed his true nature as a prodigal son. He first bought a small villa by the river in the suburbs of London, then hired a bunch of people like butlers, servants, drivers, and bodyguards. He even carefully selected a blonde beauty, similar to Keira Knightley, as his private tutor, responsible for teaching him piano, painting, and oil painting. Occasionally, they would also indulge in some intimate activities, the true purpose of which doesn't need to be explained.

  However, the Chinese embassy translator's job was not fired, but just a bit unprofessional. When needed, he would still be available at any time, but he no longer lived in the embassy. To be honest, Yang Feng felt that if he continued to live in London, who knows how many years his life would be shortened!

  At this time, London truly lived up to its reputation as the Fog City, with towering chimneys spewing out rolling coal smoke, fog mixed with thick smoke creating a world of PM2.5. At that time, Europeans didn't care about environmental protection, that was something people talked about after they had played enough, now this is a symbol of national strength.

  Apart from his comfortable life, his career was also on the rise. After he had cured several dying patients who came to him in desperation, or rather, after he had used them as test subjects for his experiments with the mysterious oriental holy medicine Tianyishengshui, it quickly spread throughout London. Especially after Yang Feng easily cured an earl's incurable disease with it, this reputation turned into gold.

  Xue Fu Cheng and others also gave him a lot of help in this regard, because he increasingly relied on Yang Feng's reputation in high society, Old Xue had to reluctantly give him an excuse.

  "Yes, Tianyishengshui is indeed a famous medicine in Chinese legend, but it requires many rare medicinal materials, so it's extremely difficult to prepare. I've only seen it in some books, and I didn't expect to see the real thing now." Xue Fucheng, as the Chinese ambassador, forced a smile and brushed off the interviewing journalist.

  "Thank you, Mr Xue!" Yang said with a smile after seeing off the reporter.

  "In the future, stop messing me around with these things. There are not a few British people in our country, if these reporters investigate them and finally find that China does not have such medicine, it will have a great impact on my reputation, I am an envoy, not a merchant." Xue Fucheng said irritably.

  "Don't worry about it! Our traditional Chinese medicine is vast and profound, how can those foreigners possibly understand? Besides, you've already told them, this is just a legend, it's normal that they don't know. Legend has it that we also have an elixir of immortality, are they going to go verify whether it's true or not?" Yang Feng said with a sly smile.

  He came this time to ask Xue Fu Cheng if he still wants that watch, if not, he will really take it to Spain to sell.

  "We don't need to, we already have a gift prepared. If your watch is cheap, then it's no big deal, but if it's ￡100,000, there's no way we can afford it." Xue Fu Cheng said.

  This was within Yang Feng's expectations. He would just put the watch up for auction in Spain and be done with it. His coming to find Xue Fu Cheng actually had another purpose.

  "Mr. Xue, you must attend the Queen's birthday in person?" This guy whispered mysteriously to Xue Fu Cheng.

  Xue Fu Cheng nodded and looked at him.

  "As your translator, I have to follow you too, right?"

  Xue Fu Cheng nodded again, although he was not the only translator, but attending such occasions Yang Feng was the only choice. Sometimes he even doubted whether the elegant and refined young man in social gatherings and the cunning businessman in front of him who was full of copper smell were the same person.

  "Can I say a few more words when translating?"

  Xue Fu became vigilant, if he ran to the Queen's birthday party to sell his own things, it would be a big joke.

  "No way!" Old Xue said without hesitation.

  "Listen to me! First of all, those medicines of mine have an astonishing effect, you should admit that, shouldn't you?" Yang Feng said slowly.

  Xue Fu Cheng did admit that he had personally witnessed Yang Feng using Tian Yi Sheng Shui to cure people's illnesses, and it could be said that the medicine was so effective that it almost instantly cured the disease.

  "So, if you recommend me to the British royal family, it's absolutely a win-win situation. First of all, as a Chinese person, they wouldn't have thought of me unless they had no other choice. In other words, any illness that I'm asked to treat must be one that British doctors can't cure. If I can cure it, it would be an unexpected surprise; if I couldn't, it would be understandable. So, there's no risk at all," said Yang Feng.

  Xue Fucheng thought for a moment, and indeed it was the case. Yang Feng's Tianyi Shenshui had an effect that could be said to bring people back from the dead. If he really could cure the illness of a certain member of the British royal family, it would be extremely helpful for Sino-British relations.

  The old man's eyes rolled around for a while, feeling that this matter was worth taking a gamble on. Either way, there wouldn't be any loss, it was just a matter of finding an excuse to recommend Yang Feng, besides, he indeed had great confidence in Yang Feng's innate talent.