CHAPTER 297: CHAPTER 93: A MIRACULOUS MOVE FROM THE SKY

"She didn’t reach out to mainstream media? Not even newspaper ads were placed?" Chang Chi quickly organized a list of the auction, which was actually not much different from last time, except that Chang Chi added a few more spots, including some non-mainstream media known for malicious propaganda.

"No contact, her funds must be running low," Chang Mei reviewed the list from Chang Chi, noticing the added names.

"Indeed, it’s insufficient. During my last auction, because Su Bi wasn’t well-known, we paid approximately ten percent upfront to the sellers to prevent any unforeseen circumstances."

When Su Qingzhang handed Su Bi Auction House to Su Ziceng and Chang Chi, he also transferred nearly ten million in cash. Excluding the salaries and maintenance costs over the months, the actual cash that ended up in Su Ziceng and Chang Chi’s hands was at most four and a half million.

"Then there’s the cost of beverages, venue decoration, and basic transportation," Chang Mei, skilled at accounting, voiced the costs and knew roughly how much money Su Ziceng would have left.

At that time, Chang Chi had used some money from Chang Mei, which was only reimbursed later, but this time, although Su Ziceng had asked her family for help, she did not mention needing financial support.

"She wants to prove that she’s on the same starting line as me, responsible for her own wins and losses," Chang Chi said disdainfully, "Unless she auctions off her jewelry and high-end clothing, she could only spend around eight hundred thousand on publicity."

What can eight hundred thousand do? It’s only enough for a single page ad for one day in the largest national newspaper, Huaxia Daily. What’s the use of that?

Su Ziceng was aware of the advertising rates of Huaxia Daily, so she did not plan to advertise there. She even planned not to advertise in any mainstream media.

"No advertisements, then how will anyone know about the auction?" even Zhou Dagen, who knew little about auctions, felt something was off.

"All the money’s spent, what’s left for your trip?" Su Ziceng retorted.

"At least put up some banners at the city hall or TV station entrance," Zhou Dagen tried to recall scenes from political campaigning.

"I have my ways," Su Ziceng said, standing in the auction venue with Zhou Dagen and a group of Wine Shop employees, as there was much to do. In Subi Auction House, the most central and highest position is the auction podium. The overall layout cannot change, so they would have to focus on the details.

By Wednesday morning, Chang Chi had already distributed all the invitations, Mo City was still quiet, aside from those who had received an invitation, almost no one knew about the upcoming auction at Subi Auction House worth five hundred million.

At noon, including administrative staff from Zone 1 and office workers from various companies in Zone 3 who were going out for lunch, shops in Fourth District and Zone 5 opened, and even the streets of Sixth District were just starting to get lively.

Right at that moment, at twelve o’clock, it began to "snow." This winter was not cold, and Mo City didn’t even have time to experience a real snowfall. Even the most accurate national weather forecast of Nation Z did not predict that today it would "snow."

And this "snow" wasn’t simply in Mo City. It fell across twenty-three provinces, multiple municipalities, and autonomous regions, even including the special administrative regions.

Bright red "snow," fluttering in the air on the second floor, disappearing after the March fireworks, creating nearly thirty instances of "snow." The snowflakes, made of paper, carried only a nine-digit number, marked with Mo City, Su Bi Auction House, Saturday at 18:00, "Shengshi Auction."

Countless people on tiptoe caught these pages of sudden, cryptic advertising, each wondering what this auction was selling.

In Daoquan University, Hang Yishao, just walking out of the cafeteria, was also forced to catch such an "invitation" from the sky. He had already received an invitation from the Su Family days ago, and was one of the few who knew that Saturday’s auction was orchestrated by Su Ziceng.

"Five hundred million, Su Ziceng’s gimmick is quite something," Fei Qing had already heard about the auction from Yan Wuxu, but he didn’t expect Su Ziceng to use such a method for promotion. It’s like some countries claiming they don’t even have a single bullet then suddenly announcing they’ve developed nuclear weapons, quite a shock indeed."

"I wonder which company the Su Family hired this time, the planning is well done." Likewise, in the university campus of Kelly Women’s College, "billion-dollar invitations" fell, making even Wen Maixue think highly of today’s publicity.

Pello’s plate still had a lot of food left, and he watched as several teachers who walked into the dining hall were discussing the advertisement. Ms. Qian was also among them, her voice of surprise floated over: "Who came up with such a brilliant idea? Just this idea alone is worth a lot of money."

Who came up with the idea? Pello remembered that day, sitting in the rooftop restaurant, Su Ziceng had said, "Tonight, above Jiefang Square, it seemed like I saw a helicopter." She mentioned it casually, and Pello, feeling guilty, didn’t dare to say much, just vaguely responded, not expecting... she wasn’t just talking, but actually applied it directly.

Millions of "invitations" were distributed within half an hour, and over thirty helicopters, almost simultaneously, wobbled back.

As the papers fell from the sky, inside the Su Family’s "Shengshi Huasha," the annual mobilization meeting was just about to end. From the conference room on the twenty-seventh floor, one could clearly see a helicopter hovering over Mo City, all department managers were dumbfounded by this sight. After a long pause, Secretary Wang, who was hosting the meeting, cleared his throat, "Let us welcome the chairman to speak."

A few sparse applauds, everyone’s mind was no longer on the meeting. The next twenty minutes of meeting summary, even Su Qingzhang, who spoke, seemed distracted, finishing his speech hastily.

Just after the meeting adjourned, Su Qingzhang called Secretary Wang, "Immediately notify the government administration office, Ziceng might have caused big trouble this time."

"The incident outside was done by the young miss," Secretary Wang looked out the window in disbelief, he had thought it was a government fire safety campaign, only to realize it was...

Chang Mei, who went outside to check, returned with an ugly expression, "It’s probably not that simple. Besides Mo City, capitals and several major cities nationwide launched this activity around twelve o’clock, even foreign media now know about the five hundred million auction in Z country."

"Call Ziceng over here immediately," Su Qingzhang never would have imagined Su Ziceng would take things to an almost uncontrollable level.

Distributing business information publicly on a large scale requires approval and review by relevant government departments, let alone millions of copies, such a huge amount of flyers could lead to penalties if pursued by relevant authorities.

The Su Family, due to a failed acquisition recently, had already caused concern among some people domestically, another issue at this point would likely not bode well.

"What next? The flyers have already been sent out, we can’t stop her from holding it now," Chang Mei along with Chang Chi who rushed over after hearing the news both looked worried.

"What can we do? Wait for reactions, from the government and the public," Su Qingzhang said fiercely, no matter what, since the flyers are out, the Su Family must continue with the auction at the risk of administrative penalties. However, Su Ziceng is no longer suitable to step forward, she can’t be in charge of this auction, Su Bi Auction House indeed should be handled by Chang Chi.

The people at Su Bi Auction House had already completed most of the setup, at this time, Zhou Dagen rushed in like a man possessed, the flyer he was waving in his hand was exactly Su Ziceng’s "masterpiece". He said out of breath, "So this was the advert you mentioned."

Su Ziceng looked at the crumpled flyer, feeling upset: "Exactly, if it weren’t for the helicopter and printing costs amounting to one and a half million, I would have really considered renting a few to fly abroad." It was a spur of the moment idea when she remembered the helicopter flying over Jiefang Square that day, attracting countless people’s attention, and thought, since it’s about advertising, it should match her grandeur.

"One hundred and fifty thousand on publicity," Zhou Dagen couldn’t help but swallow, "and you previously mentioned eight hundred thousand..."

"That fits my aura, don’t you know? The Su Family is famously known as the nouveau riche in Mo City, and I’m the most notorious spender in town," Su Ziceng spread her hands, her phone rang persistently, she looked and grinned as she picked it up, "Secretary Wang, even you saw my flyer, huh?"

"Miss, it’s bad news, you’ve caused trouble, the chairman is very angry, the problem is serious, you... you better come to the company immediately." Secretary Wang broke down a straightforward message into several parts, it took quite an effort to finish saying it.

The auction’s dust had just settled, no one specifically estimated whether the auctioned items were worth five hundred million, everyone still remembered that astonishing advertisement method.

Simultaneously, national media, both mainstream and non-mainstream, were also waiting, none of these media immediately released reports about today’s "five hundred million auction". Each person was by the phone, waiting for reactions.

In the office of China’s largest newspaper directly under the government, Huaxia Daily, the phone rang, and after picking up the call, the editor said solemnly, "The news has come down." (To be continued. If you like this work, you are welcome to vote for it with recommendation tickets and monthly tickets at Qidian [qidian.com]. Your support is my biggest motivation.)