The scene was in an uproar as everyone's eyes were focused on Nicole.

Roman looked at Nicole in confusion. "What do you want this for?"

Nicole hooked her lips. "It looks pretty nice, don't you think?"

"I don't think so."

'It looks like an ordinary tobacco pipe...what's so nice about it?'

Nicole noticed Quinn and Ingrid's gaze on her, so she smiled faintly and did not avoid eye contact with them.

The Ferguson mother-daughter pair were obviously startled. They knew that Nicole recognized this emerald pipe.

Back then, Quinn had asked Nicole to clean the memorial hall alone one night. Quinn deliberately took out the pipe from the safe and placed it on a high shelf as she hoped that Nicole would " accidentally" bump into the shelf and break the emerald pipe. If that happened, Old Master Ferguson would certainly kick Nicole out of their family.

However, Nicole was smart enough not to touch it.

If not for the surveillance camera in the memorial hall, Quinn would have broken it herself and falsely blamed it on Nicole. Unfortunately, her plan failed because Old Master Ferguson valued this pipe more than his own life!

Thus, Quinn never found the opportunity again.

This time, the Ferguson mother-daughter pair stole the emerald pipe and put it out for auction because Ingrid had lost her reputation when Nicole told the world that Ingrid had stolen the "Daydream" necklace to gamble. After Ingrid came back to the country, she was repeatedly humiliated by Nicole, so much so that Ingrid was almost ostracized by the gentry circle.

Ingrid wanted to regain a firm foothold among the high society ladies circle and find an opportunity to become the focus of the group again. As the Young Lady of the Ferguson family, Ingrid must always be the center of attention.

This charity auction banquet was a good opportunity to help Ingrid redeem her image and maintain her persona as a "high-society lady". This was the most suitable occasion.

Thus, Ingrid begged her mother to secretly take out her grandfather's emerald pipe as an auction item. The value of the emerald pipe was enough to put Ingrid in the spotlight.

The people who knew about their family heirloom would not dare to bid for it for fear of Old Master Ferguson. Those who did not know about it would not bid for it either, so her plan was perfect. She would take it out and bid it back herself as a show to gain back her reputation.

However, Ingrid and Quinn never thought that they would meet Nicole here...

Quinn was anxious as Nicole was clearly not holding back on her bidding price. Their limit was only $10 million because the two of them had no power in the Ferguson family. They only got a monthly allowance and did not have much in personal savings, so they obviously could not continue bidding.

Nicole's arrival was completely unexpected. Quinn had assumed that even if someone bid on the emerald pipe, it would not exceed $10 million. Even if it did exceed $10 million, no one would have the guts to fight with the Ferguson family.

However, Nicole was different.

She came for them, the Ferguson family!

"$10 million going once! " The host's eyes lit up as he shouted.

Ingrid nervously tugged at Quinn's clothes and whispered something.

Quinn also pretended to be calm and turned back to glare at Nicole fiercely as a warning.

Nicole raised her eyebrows, smiled faintly, and looked at the item on the stage. 'I must get my hands on it!'

"$10 million going twice! "

The host looked at the audience, but there was no sound.

They did not dare to compete with Mrs. Ferguson to steal the limelight, nor did they want to waste money on an emerald pipe that they could not get their hands on.

The host's eyes swept across the hall and saw that Quinn had raised her bidding paddle.

"$11 million." Quinn was calm and collected.

'I thought they'd cap it at 31o million. I didn't think that Quinn wanted to continue bidding...' Nicole thought.

" $12 million! " Nicole followed. She wanted to test their patience.

The phone in her hand buzzed. Nicole glanced at the phone number and knew who it was even though there was no caller ID.

'Ingrid Ferguson?' Nicole gently hooked her lips and refused to answer. She even blocked Ingrid while she was at it.

"$13 mlllion," Quinn called out again. She was visibly sitting on pins and needles at this moment.

The host seemed to understand that this was a game for both sides, and the atmosphere in the hall began to get tense.

He raised his voice, "Okay, $13 mlllion. Miss, would you like to bid again?"

Nicole did not respond, so the host thought that she had given up. "$13 mlllion going once! "

"$13 mlllion going twice! "

Quinn and Ingrid breathed a sigh of relief.

"$15 million! " Nicole immediately interrupted before the last call.

'How does that feel?' Nicole thought.

Quinn's eyes were so flustered. She lowered her head to speak to Ingrid.

Without hesitation, Ingrid looked like she had made a major decision. "$20 million! "

'Do they think that my limit is $20 million?' Nicole thought.

Even Roman got nervous and looked at Nicole. "Do you need help?"

Nicole smiled and raised an eyebrow. "No, this is nothing to me."

She raised her paddle again. "$30 million! " The crowd was in an uproar.

Nicole was no longer bothered to scare Quinn and Ingrid bit by bit. She wanted them to stop bidding.

The lights flickered and shone on Quinn and Ingrid's pale and gloomy faces.

"Okay, $30 million going once! " "$30 million going twice! "

No one in the room made a sound. Nicole knew that she won.

"$30 million sold! Congratulations to this young lady. The proceeds will be donated to Elementary School of Hope..."

The crowd began to applaud and finally broke the suffocating and tense atmosphere. Nicole greeted everyone with a decent smile and smiled widely at the two women in front of her. 'What a great day today...'

After greeting everyone, Nicole and Roman went backstage to get the item. As expected, Quinn and Ingrid still refused to give up and were waiting for her there.