“Brother-in-law, are you eavesdropping on their phone calls?” Leng Zhimeng whispered.
“…” Boss Huang rolled his eyes, but that was indeed the case. Boss Huang was eavesdropping on the ABC representative’s call. Of course, he wasn’t just eavesdropping on this one; in fact, all five companies were being eavesdropped on, as no one knew which one would spill secrets over the phone.
Of course, Boss Huang hadn’t decided to eavesdrop on their conversations from the beginning. It was only after discovering that the situation on-site was not right that he directly ordered the people at the refreshment station to eavesdrop on their phone calls.
It took less than four minutes from issuing the order to completing the eavesdropping. This wasn’t due to the swiftness of Jiangnan Group’s operational capabilities, but because Jiangnan Group was responsible for the communication throughout the venue. It was incredibly simple for Jiangnan Group to quickly access the backstage of the communication base stations and retrieve the communications of several phones.
Some might think Boss Huang was cheating. Yes, he was indeed cheating. However, our Boss Huang was also pushed to his limit, making a passive counterattack, since it was obvious that these guys were trying to mess with him.
Some might also think this was wrong. Even if Boss Huang’s passive counterattack was understandable, he didn’t have proof that the people from these television companies were colluding and engaging in bid rigging. He couldn’t do such a thing without evidence.
To such people, one could only say, “Heh heh.”
It’s like saying officials can set fires, but the common people are not allowed to light lamps.
“Brother-in-law, they’re playing dirty. What should we do?” Leng Zhimeng asked anxiously. With Leng Zhimeng’s intelligence, she had already guessed that these five companies were planning bid rigging, so she couldn’t help but ask anxiously.
At this moment, the price of 27 million US dollars had been hammered down for the second time. The representatives of the other four television stations had all put down their phones. Someone quietly told Boss Huang that by eavesdropping on the calls of the other four television stations, they had all given up on continuing to bid.
In other words, Misty Travels was about to be bought by ABC Television for 27 million US dollars. It was a done deal.
At this moment, Boss Huang’s mind was racing. He quickly asked, “Are there any other representatives from American television stations present?”
“No!” The person at the refreshment station shook his head.
The best way to break the deadlock at this moment would be for Boss Huang to find a stooge to bid, as long as he kept bidding higher than the five major television stations. Even if it was a fake transaction in the end, it would be better than being so stifled and selling Misty Travels to these five bastards at a low price!
Therefore, Boss Huang’s first thought was to find other American television station representatives present to bid. However, the five major television stations had done thorough preparatory work beforehand. In fact, the representatives of the American television stations had basically left the day before, not daring to go against the five major television stations.
Therefore, besides the five major television stations, there were no other American representatives present.
And at this moment, as Boss Huang was speaking, the host on stage raised his auction hammer for the third time. In a few more seconds, the deal would be closed, and the exclusive broadcasting rights for Misty Travels would be sold for 27 million dollars.
“Cough cough!” Just at this critical moment, a violent coughing fit erupted, alarming everyone in the venue.
And when everyone’s attention, including the auctioneer’s, was drawn to the person who stood up coughing, it turned out to be none other than Boss Huang of Jiangnan Group.
Taking advantage of this opportunity, Huang He directly gave the auctioneer a look and subtly shook his head. This auctioneer was an employee of Jiangnan Group and was also confused by the final auction item.
So, when he received Boss Huang’s look, he immediately reacted and didn’t hammer down for the third time. Instead, he re-asked if anyone was willing to continue bidding.
Generally speaking, in a bidding or auction, the interval between two hammer falls should not exceed 20 seconds. If it’s too long, it’s easy to be accused of delaying, which can displease the buyers.
However, this was not a formal auction held by a regular auction house, but a bidding session organized by Boss Huang himself. With Boss Huang’s silent signal, everything naturally followed Boss Huang’s wishes.
So, even though more than a minute had passed, the auctioneer dryly asked if anyone was willing to continue bidding. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Huang Boss decisively said to the person by his side at the refreshment station, “Cut the power!”
“Huh!” The person was stunned for a moment. Boss Huang added helplessly, “The main power switch!”
“Understood!” The person finally reacted and quickly ran out. A dozen seconds later, just as the auctioneer on stage was shamelessly continuing to solicit bids, and the audience below was already feeling that something was wrong, a loud noise suddenly echoed throughout the venue, and it instantly went dark.
All the lights and sound systems disappeared in an instant, followed by a woman’s scream. The venue fell into a state of slight chaos.
“Dear guests, we sincerely apologize for the power outage. Due to the complete darkness, to prevent further chaos, our staff will guide you out. The auction will continue in the afternoon. Please follow the staff and leave in an orderly manner!”
Staff members immediately stepped forward to direct. Then, more than a dozen staff members with flashlights entered and began to guide the audience out of the venue in an orderly fashion, row by row.
Of course, the representatives of the five major American television stations were dumbfounded. The representative of ABC Television jumped out and shouted loudly, “Even with a power outage, it shouldn’t affect the auctioneer from continuing to auction. We can all leave after the hammer falls.”
However, the on-site staff completely ignored them, as if they couldn’t hear him. The auctioneer on stage even walked off the stage directly, giving the five major television stations no chance to react.
In the end, the representatives of the five major television stations could only watch as the venue emptied and leave helplessly.
“This is not a normal power outage. There’s a conspiracy involved!” After leaving the venue, the representative of ABC Television, who was on the verge of securing exclusive broadcasting rights, said angrily.
“More than that. The whole situation became strange after that Huang He started coughing. It’s obvious his cough was a signal to the auctioneer to not hammer down. Of course, it was too awkward to keep delaying the hammer, so he directly caused the power outage to postpone the auction until the afternoon!” Xiao John said coldly.
Everyone was not a fool. Huang He couldn’t cover things up perfectly in a moment of desperation, so he could only resort to such a crude method. Anyone with a normal mind could guess what was going on. The method was indeed quite unseemly.
However, even though the method was unseemly, its effect was very obvious.
Whether it was the cough or the power outage, they were all accidents. And a power outage could indeed lead to danger, so interrupting the auction and evacuating the guests was a very correct course of action.
No matter where this matter was brought up, not a single flaw could be found. Unless these people could obtain evidence that someone from Jiangnan Group deliberately caused the power outage, they would have no way to accuse Jiangnan Group.
But this was China, and these people would not be able to obtain any evidence.
Of course, anyone could guess the truth of what happened here, but observant people could also see that the five major television stations were playing games. Otherwise, they wouldn’t have bid such a low price.
And Jiangnan Group probably sensed the trickery and had to do this to avoid their own losses.
Therefore, those guests who were forced to leave would not have any negative feelings towards Jiangnan Group. In their eyes, Jiangnan Group might be the real victim, forced to use such unseemly methods to recover their economic losses.
“It’s useless to talk about all this now. The most important thing is what to do with the auction in the afternoon. Huang He probably won’t let us continue bid rigging. He will find a way to retaliate against us!” Tony said.
“He won’t have a way! Unless he doesn’t intend to have Misty Travels aired on American television!” Xiao John said in a deep voice. “The only means Huang He can use now is to find another television station to stir up trouble, trying to break our tacit agreement with higher prices.”
“But all the television stations in China have already been dissuaded by us. Where can he find other television stations to cooperate with him?”
“There will always be some!” Tony said. “There are definitely some small television stations here. We may not be able to gather all the information about these television stations. If one suddenly appears, then we will be in real trouble.”
“Can small television stations afford to spend tens of millions of dollars to buy the exclusive broadcasting rights of a TV series? Gentlemen, as long as the five of us work together, don’t give the opponent any opportunity, and don’t get picked off one by one by Huang He, and don’t make any private agreements, then no small television station will dare to snatch the exclusive broadcasting rights from us!” Xiao John said.
In Xiao John’s opinion, finding any small television station to disrupt the auction was meaningless. Because no sixth television station could snatch food from the five major television stations. Huang He’s only way would likely be to use the noon break to deal with one of the five major television stations.
To entice one of them to buy the exclusive broadcasting rights of Misty Travels at a relatively low price, thereby breaking the alliance of the five major television stations, that was what Xiao John was most worried about.
So, he had made prior arrangements with these five people, telling them to keep their promises and not be picked off individually.
Of course, the representatives of these five television stations all patted their chests and assured him that they would never betray him. Then, they all dispersed, went back to rest, and prepared to welcome the auction in the afternoon.
“Listen, if a representative from Jiangnan Group comes to find us…” After everyone dispersed, Xiao John whispered to his subordinate.
“I understand. I’ll directly turn away the people from Jiangnan Group!” The subordinate said righteously.
“Nonsense!” Xiao John cursed, then whispered, “Secretly use the fire escape to have him come to my room, understand?”
Well, since Jiangnan Group had already caught on, his plan might be ruined. So, it was better for him to reach an agreement with Jiangnan Group. If he could buy the exclusive broadcasting rights of Misty Travels privately for only fifty to sixty million dollars, that would be excellent.