Crossing the Line – Chapter 5
by Little PandaHow Dare She
This year’s Spring Auction was divided into eight major sessions. The highlights were naturally the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy and Western Oil Painting sessions, but the Gold, Stone, and Jade session, which was about to begin, was also highly anticipated.
The bidding floor and phone lines were packed with buyers determined to win.
Yet a deceptive tranquility hung over the room, broken only by occasional low murmurs—the calm before the storm.
Today, Jiang Siyi had styled her hair into a low bun, with a few stray strands draping against the porcelain-white curve of her neck, as delicate as a fine-line gongbi1 painting. Combined with her moon-white, handmade qipao, she exuded a classical elegance that seemed to have seeped directly from Xuan paper2 into the physical world.
The qipao was the final, crowning masterpiece of the designer her late mother had loved most.
This low-profile master excelled at highlighting graceful curves. This was evident in the fluid, cloud-like contours of the collar and cuffs, as well as the striking proportions of Jiang Siyi’s waist and hips.
The garment’s design did not rely on vulgar, eye-catching exposure. The side slits rose only to the lower third of her calves; as she walked, a brief flash of snow-white skin was revealed with every rhythmic step. It was conservative, yet it did not detract from her beauty in the slightest. Her appearance possessed a quintessentially Eastern grace—gentle and dignified, inviting far more intrigue than any loud, garish colors ever could.
Jiang Siyi was reviewing the lot details when Duan Ning brought over a glass of water and handed it to her.
“You’ve already looked at those seven or eight times.”
Jiang Siyi said, “No amount of review is too much. You never know what kind of unexpected things might happen on the auction floor.”
Duan Ning sighed. “No wonder you’re participating in the Spring Auction at such a young age. In front of a crowd this big, for an auction of this scale… if they put me up there, I would’ve run to the restroom eight hundred times by now.”
Jiang Siyi smiled.
In truth, she was nervous too. But with the auction about to begin, no matter how anxious she felt, she had to force her racing heart to slow down so she could maintain her composure.
She had spent a long time preparing for this auction and refused to allow herself to make a single mistake.
The two were still talking backstage when they suddenly heard a low murmur ripple through the auction room.
The auction had begun.
The colleagues waiting in the wings exchanged bewildered glances.
“What’s going on? Aren’t there five minutes left?”
“It’s really starting.”
“Siyi is still back here, so how has it started? Who opened it? Who’s on stage?”
Jiang Siyi, Duan Ning, and the others looked toward the main podium. Their departmental colleague, Wan Xin, was already standing under the gaze of the crowd, delivering the opening address:
“Honored collectors, distinguished guests, ladies, and gentlemen, good evening. On this beautiful spring night, when all things shine with vitality, we gather here to officially commence the ‘Condensing the Essence of a Thousand Autumns’ Gold, Stone, and Jade Session of this year’s Spring Auction. On behalf of all my colleagues at the auction house, I would like to extend our most sincere welcome and gratitude to our guests for taking the time to join us…”
Duan Ning was dumbfounded. She turned to Jiang Siyi. “Why did she go up on her own?”
Jiang Siyi remained silent, recalling what Oliver had said to her earlier—
“You didn’t actually think you’d have a part in the Spring Auction, did you?”
Wan Xin was in the same cohort as Jiang Siyi and was Oliver’s apprentice.
During their internship rotations, Oliver had paid special attention to her. Word was that their families shared some history.
No wonder Oliver had the gall to claim that the Spring Auction wouldn’t go to Jiang Siyi. They had planned all along for Wan Xin to take the stage first.
Duan Ning realized it too. This was a blatant hijack of someone else’s job.
“How dare Wan Xin!” Duan Ning hissed.
Compared to Duan Ning and the whispering colleagues around them, Jiang Siyi, the victim of the scheme, was surprisingly calm.
She knew exactly why Wan Xin dared. Oliver was the manager of the Chinese Painting and Calligraphy Department, and his maternal uncle was a partner at the auction house.
No matter the setting, wherever there were people, factions would form, and competition would follow.
If someone were to enter the Painting and Calligraphy Department—where commissions reached their absolute ceiling—it would naturally be best to install one’s own protégé.
As a novice auctioneer, even with strong backing, Wan Xin needed solid results to secure a place in that department.
The Spring Auction was her golden opportunity.
And Jiang Siyi, who appeared to have no background or backing whatsoever, was undoubtedly the most convenient stepping stone.
In the VIP seating.
CEO Gu held a champagne glass, a stream of bubbles rising from the bottom to the surface of the pale liquid. A faint, barely perceptible chill touched the tip of his nose.
He murmured a soft “Huh?” in his mind.
Wasn’t the auctioneer for this session supposed to be young Jiang?
As CEO Gu wondered, Lin Ji, sitting beside him, lowered her gaze to the auction catalog she had been holding.
The catalog was open to the page introducing the session’s auctioneer.
There was a professional headshot of Jiang Siyi on the introduction page, displaying a faint smile.
The auctioneer for this session was indeed supposed to be Jiang Siyi.
CEO Gu did not know what had transpired. Perhaps young Jiang was unwell and had asked a colleague to fill in. He rarely paid attention to such minor details, so he quickly brushed it aside and resumed his casual conversation with Lin Ji.
Lin Ji’s attention, however, remained fixed on the auction stage.
The bidding commenced. The first lot was a jade tortoise.
“The starting bid is thirty thousand RMB, with increments of two thousand.”
“Thirty-two thousand, thirty-four thousand, thirty-six thousand… Thirty-six thousand, do I hear any further bids? Mr. Yu bids thirty-eight thousand, forty thousand, forty-two thousand…”
This served as the warm-up. The item was standard, and the bidding was not particularly fierce.
There were three bidders for the jade tortoise: one proxy agent on the floor, and two on the phone lines.
The three bidders took turns raising their paddles at a leisurely pace. Wan Xin conducted the proceedings in an orderly fashion, only stammering slightly over one of the bids.
For a beginner, she was performing well enough.
In the end, the jade tortoise sold for seventy thousand RMB.
Backstage, Duan Ning was pacing in circles, practically vibrating with rage.
She wanted nothing more than to splash a bucket of gasoline on stage and set that trash on fire.
Manager Wu, the head of their Gold, Stone, and Jade Department, rushed over in a flurry. Hands on her hips, she looked utterly baffled.
“What’s going on? Why is Wan Xin up there?”
Seeing that even Manager Wu was in the dark, Duan Ning did not have the nerve to ask How should I know? Instead, she said, “We don’t know either. I thought you had changed the roster at the last minute, Manager Wu.”
Manager Wu was completely lost. “I didn’t! Wasn’t young Jiang locked in long ago?”
Wan Xin was her subordinate, and this session belonged to her department. How could she not know if there was a change?
She was deeply perplexed. Having worked at Jiashibi for over five years and managed countless auctions, she had never once encountered a situation where an auctioneer was swapped without consulting the leadership first.
Spotting Oliver standing on the other side, leisurely sipping champagne, Manager Wu walked over and asked, “Did you egg Wan Xin on to do this?”
Oliver raised his thick, steel-bar-like eyebrows and drawled, “You shouldn’t make accusations without evidence. Besides, what do you mean ‘egg on’? Let the capable occupy the position.”
Duan Ning whispered in Jiang Siyi’s ear, “It really was him.”
Manager Wu frowned. “Oliver, you belong to the Painting and Calligraphy Department. Meddling in our Gold, Stone, and Jade session is highly improper, don’t you think?”
Manager Wu had less seniority than Oliver, and unlike him, she was not related to anyone on the board. She was just an employee, so speaking up to this extent was already incredibly loyal of her.
Oliver was a smiling tiger. Avoiding direct conflict, he offered a patronizing grin and teased, “Your department has so much talent. Healthy internal competition is a good thing. Xiao Wu, you should let the younger generation seek out their own opportunities to shine. That’s how a department stays dynamic. Why are you hovering over them like a nervous nanny?”
Manager Wu maintained a forced smile, though she was practically grinding her teeth to dust.
Duan Ning’s head was also buzzing with fury. Meanwhile, Jiang Siyi herself was like an old flip phone that had lost its signal, calmly staring down at the item descriptions and reserve prices.
“Wait,” Duan Ning hissed. “You’re still reading?!”
Jiang Siyi replied calmly, “I’ll go up and replace Wan Xin for the next session.”
Naturally, Jiang Siyi could not just march onto the stage and shove Wan Xin aside right now. The auction was being live-streamed across the internet.
Wan Xin and Oliver had banked on exactly this when they decided to hijack the podium.
But Jiang Siyi had no intention of giving up.
There were two sessions for the Gold, Stone, and Jade department, with a thirty-minute intermission in between, during which the live stream would temporarily pause.
While Wan Xin had seized a brief window to snatch this first session, Jiang Siyi was fully prepared for the second. She would not back down.
Oliver took a sip of his wine, his eyelids drooping lazily as he drawled, “Replace her just because you say so? Wouldn’t that throw everything into chaos? Outsiders would think the management at Jiashibi is a complete mess. Take my advice, young Jiang—keep the bigger picture in mind.”
The most genuine power struggles often employed the most basic, shameless tactics.
While shifting the blame and playing the victim, Oliver stood stubborn and unyielding in the corridor connecting the lounge to the auction floor. He used his own body as a human shield, blocking the path so firmly that even a team of oxen could not have budged him.
Meanwhile, on the main stage, Wan Xin brought her gavel down once more, successfully selling a square-column jade cong3.
Wan Xin breathed a sigh of relief as her gavel struck.
This was her first time participating in a major event like the Spring Auction, but it did not seem like such a big deal after all. She could handle it.
Stealing Jiang Siyi’s assignment was indeed underhanded, but Oliver had told her: If you play nice, you’ll only end up clearing the path for others. Why should Jiang Siyi be the one hosting the Spring Auction? How are you any worse than her?
Naturally, Wan Xin did not believe she was inferior to Jiang Siyi. She also held a master’s degree in art history and had spent two years interning in Hong Kong. After returning to J City’s Jiashibi, she had spent her days rotating within the Gold, Stone, and Jade Department. With her thirtieth birthday fast approaching, her family constantly scolded her for being a failure. If she did not fight for a chance to prove herself now, her path forward would only become more difficult.
Raised on the tenets of social Darwinism, Wan Xin was currently burning with ambition. She could practically see this month’s commission adding several zeroes to her savings account, and her transfer to the Painting and Calligraphy Department felt well within reach.
Yet when one is too fixated on winning and losing, focus inevitably wavers.
On the podium was an electronic monitor facing the auctioneer, displaying the items scheduled for the session.
With each lot sold, the auctioneer would tap the screen to turn to the next page.
An auctioneer thoroughly familiar with the lots could introduce them without looking at the catalog. For those less prepared, reading directly from the catalog was perfectly fine—anything was better than giving incorrect details.
Wan Xin swiped past the current page and began introducing the next item.
“Distinguished collectors, our next lot is a set of three rare treasures possessing exceptional historical value and artistic charm: a trio of jade fish…”
Before the words fully left her mouth, her heart suddenly skipped a beat.
She had put massive effort into preparing for this Spring Auction. Her mentor had handed her this opportunity, and she had to prove she could handle it.
She had studied the condition reports and reserve prices of every single item, committing them to memory.
But what was this strange sense of misalignment?
What had gone wrong?
“Ahem…”
Beside the podium, the assistant auctioneer cleared his throat uncomfortably.
Wan Xin suddenly realized what she had done. While her mind had drifted for a fraction of a second, she had already tapped the screen once, only to tap it again—accidently skipping a page.
The item currently on the block was not the trio of jade fish. It was the Green-yellow Jade Dragon and Phoenix Pendant.
This was a rookie mistake, but it was not fatal.
Her scalp prickling with tension, Wan Xin tried to reassure herself. Even if the item displayed on the grand screen in the hall did not match what she was saying, surely no one would call her out in front of everyone.
She just needed to correct herself immediately…
Just as Wan Xin forced a smile, preparing to correct her mistake, a clear, cold sneer rippled through the quiet auction hall.
Wan Xin jumped her head up and immediately locked eyes with Lin Ji, who was seated dead center in the VIP section.
That blunt, dismissive scoff had come directly from Lin Ji.
Beside her, CEO Gu was staring at Wan Xin with an expression of pure, uncomprehending disapproval.
Wan Xin’s mind went completely blank. Failing to maintain her composure, her dazed, bewildered expression looked incredibly comical, prompting scattered chuckles to ripple through the audience.
Her cheeks burned fiercely as she scrambled to look down at her catalog.
She swiped back to the correct slide, doing her best to steady her nerves and resume conducting the auction.
This lot was indeed the Green-yellow Jade Dragon and Phoenix Pendant—the very reason Lin Ji had come.
Lin Ji leaned back against her sofa, raising her bidding paddle in rapid succession, matching almost every bid from the opposing collectors the moment they occurred.
Every bid was countered instantly. While Wan Xin managed to keep up with the pacing at first, Lin Ji’s speed only intensified. Online and telephone bidders joined in, creating a chaotic battle as six different collectors contested the piece simultaneously.
After stumbling over her words twice, Wan Xin had her rhythm completely broken by Lin Ji’s aggressive pace.
In her rush to match the speed of the bidding, Wan Xin began calling out numbers prematurely. This backfired when Lin Ji suddenly slowed down her bidding cadence; Wan Xin called out a higher price before a paddle had even been raised.
It was a glaring error.
Her heart pounded against her ribs. She tried her best to ignore the quiet snickers and disdainful looks spreading across the room.
“My apologies… the current bid remains at two hundred sixty-eight thousand RMB,” Wan Xin corrected in a weak, trembling voice.
CEO Gu let out an irritated grunt through his nose. He set down his champagne flute and said to Lin Ji, “Pardon me, Ji Dong. Please excuse me for a moment. I will be right back.”
Oliver was still blocking the corridor, though his earlier composure had vanished. He had even forgotten to drink the wine in his hand, his eyes glued to the main stage.
Suddenly, a sharp pain in his rear-end made him hiss. He spun around, thinking Manager Wu had actually dared to lay a hand on him.
Instead, he turned to find himself looking right into CEO Gu’s furious eyes.
“CEO Gu…” Oliver stammered.
Hands on his hips, CEO Gu glared at him with deep suspicion. “What are you doing blocking the way here?”
Oliver faltered, letting out a weak “I…” before finding himself entirely speechless.
CEO Gu turned to Manager Wu. “Where is young Jiang? Is she alright?”
Duan Ning immediately nudged Jiang Siyi forward. “She’s right here, CEO Gu! She’s completely fine!”
Seeing that Jiang Siyi was not only perfectly fine but also holding her catalog, CEO Gu understood exactly what had happened.
Lin Ji had just secured the Green-yellow Jade Dragon and Phoenix Pendant, and the next lot was about to begin.
CEO Gu commanded Manager Wu, “Get Wan Xin off the stage right now. Have young Jiang take over.”
Oliver gasped. He made a final, desperate attempt to salvage the situation. “Wait, CEO Gu, we’re live-streaming! Switching auctioneers mid-session is highly unprofessional.”
“You actually remember we’re on a live stream?” CEO Gu snapped. “She’s calling out the wrong bids on air! Don’t you find that embarrassing? If a real legal issue arises from this, are you going to cover the financial losses out of your own pocket?”
While Oliver was still sputtering “But…”, Jiang Siyi pushed past him without a word, walking briskly toward the main stage.
“You…” Oliver sputtered.
Manager Wu stepped in front of him, blocking his view. “Don’t get too worked up. Let the capable occupy the position.”
Oliver was left speechless.
Wan Xin was replaced, and Jiang Siyi stepped up to the main stage.
In the center of the hall, the light refracting from the crystal pipes of a magnificent chandelier fell like a heavy snowfall from the ceiling, blanketing Lin Ji where she sat in the middle of the crowd.
Suddenly standing on the stage she had dreamed of, Jiang Siyi felt her heart tighten.
The atmosphere and sheer scale of this Spring Auction were entirely different from anything she had experienced before.
Looking out at the sea of dark heads made her feel as though she had entered an examination hall, with Lin Ji serving as her chief examiner.
With nervousness tight in her chest, she unconsciously bit her lip.
The author has something to say:
Lin Ji: Step three of winning my wife: control every venue she appears in, so she can make a brilliant debut.
Footnotes
- A traditional Chinese painting style characterized by highly detailed, precise brushstrokes.
- A high-quality, absorbent handmade paper from China, traditionally used for calligraphy and ink wash painting.
- A type of ritual jade object from ancient China, typically carved in a square tubular shape with a circular bore, used for ceremonial purposes.
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