Forced to marry a disabled man in the countryside? I'll repay you tenfold!

"marvelous!"

After hearing what Su Wanqing said, Deputy Commander Zhao waved his hand and said, "In that case, everyone can take whatever they want to eat. You can't dance, so just eat here."

"Excellent! Commander, you are brilliant!!"

"They're dressed so nicely, they just go dancing and don't eat. They won't eat, but we will!"

"My goodness, what is this? It's so delicious!"

Lu Mingxuan explained from the side, "This is baked snails, roasted with butter and minced garlic. It tastes really good."

"My God, American food is so high-class."

"Ptooey, ptooey, ptooey! What is this? It's still raw and bleeding! I can't stand eating this." A soldier forked a piece of rare steak, frowned and spat it out, but after thinking about it, he decided not to waste the food and swallowed it with a strange expression.

Suddenly, the atmosphere at the ball became strange.

On one side, there was beautiful music, and hundreds of people dressed in formal attire danced gracefully while slowly sipping champagne.

On the other side, at two rows of buffet tables, two groups of Chinese people, though trying to be restrained, were all eating with their cheeks bulging, like hamsters hoarding food.

These people who have lived a life of hardship in China can't understand it at all—with so much delicious food made, and people able to eat as much as they want, why aren't they eating and instead dancing?

Seeing that Deputy Commander Zhao also looked quite impressed, Su Wanqing smiled and asked, "It seems the Commander is quite satisfied with the food here. When I return to China, I'd like to open a buffet restaurant like this."

Deputy Commander Zhao was elegantly covering his mouth with a handkerchief, but was actually eating large mouthfuls of barbecue quickly, and mumbled, "A buffet? Like this? But the United States does have things we can learn from."

Su Wanqing picked up an egg tart, took a bite, and nodded: "It's something like this, where everyone pays a few yuan and there are hundreds of kinds of food that you can eat as much as you want until you're full."

Deputy Commander Zhao looked up in surprise, then shook his head:

"I don't know about others, but look at these people, who doesn't eat ten or eight pounds of meat in one meal? Even the cheapest pork costs seven or eight cents a pound. If you charge a few dollars for this buffet, you'll be losing money hand over fist when you have a bunch of people like us."

Su Wanqing smiled and said, "Yes, we won't lose money. We'll open a few branches first to test the waters, build our reputation, and benefit the public. As long as there's no waste, everyone can eat as much as they want!"

Losing money? She gets everything for free at ten times the price, so she definitely won't lose money. Besides, even if she did lose money, it wouldn't matter; she wants to do something beneficial for everyone.

Elena pushed little Arend through the crowd, smiling and greeting everyone, chattering away as if announcing the future ownership of the Arend family. Those around her raised their glasses in response, their faces beaming with ingratiating smiles.

"Those people are so rude! They're wolfing down their food like that, they've never seen anything like it." A lady in an evening gown covered her mouth with her hand and muttered under her breath. In America, such people are called "country bumpkins."

"Shh, keep your voice down. They were brought by Mr. Arend. From now on, Mr. Arend will be in charge of this area, so don't offend anyone."

Fortunately, there were enough ingredients prepared, and the servants kept bringing out new food, while the kitchen was still roasting meat continuously.

In short, even Su Wanqing enjoyed the meal.

Of course, not all white food is delicious. For example, the vegetable salad is just a bunch of lettuce leaves mixed with some sour dressing, which isn't tasty at all. And she also couldn't get used to the bloody steak.

The baked snails and cream of mushroom soup were indeed delicious, making her even consider getting some live snails to raise in her space so she could eat them that way later.

The owner of Johnson, dressed in a sharp tuxedo, walked onto the stage and cleared his throat:

"Ladies and gentlemen, the time has come. I hereby declare tonight's private auction officially open!"

The music slowly stopped, and everyone sat down in twos and threes around the round table. The servants set out fruit and arranged various delicacies and wines.

The Chinese delegation was finally able to sit down and eat, and everyone took their full plates and sat down at the table.

Little Arendt and Su Wanqing sat at the same table. He whispered, "Miss Su, if you see anything you like, just tell me and I'll take a picture of it for you."

Su Wanqing nodded: "Thank you, Mr. Arendt."

"First up is the first item up for auction tonight—" Jason unveiled the red cloth, revealing an oil painting, "This is one of Monet's 'Water Lilies' series. There's not much else to say about the others. Let's start the bidding with a minimum bid of five hundred thousand dollars."

"Five hundred thousand!" The members of the inspection team were dumbfounded.

Even the usually mild-mannered Secretary Zhou couldn't help but complain, "In America, a painting can actually sell for this price? With that much money, you might as well buy food!"

Deputy Commander Zhao shook his head, gave a bitter smile, and muttered, "Behind the red gates, meat and wine go to waste, while on the road, frozen corpses lie."

While the Chinese are still struggling to feed themselves, wealthy Americans are spending fortunes on a single painting.

Lin Meihua gritted her teeth: "At this price, how many raw materials would our foreign trade department have to sell to earn this much foreign exchange!"

Ultimately, the painting was sold to an oil tycoon for one million dollars.

Jason was pleased: "Alright, that's the appetizer over. Now for the main event of the evening—the second item up for auction: mining rights to a molybdenum mine in Jackson Hole, Wyoming! The mine has proven reserves of approximately 200,000 tons of molybdenum and about 500 tons of rhenium ore. The mining rights are for a term of twenty years, with a starting bid of three million US dollars."

"What?! It's molybdenum ore and rhenium ore?!" Su Wanqing was so shocked that she almost spat out the egg tart in her mouth.

Molybdenum and rhenium are both rare metals urgently needed for space upgrades, especially rhenium, which is the core material for single-crystal blades of aero engines.

"In the US, mineral mining rights can actually be auctioned off? And they're even auctioning off something so rare?"

In China, mineral resources belong to the state; how could they be auctioned off? After all, things related to the national economy and people's livelihood, such as subways, road construction, and electricity, are all under the unified management of the state.

Arendt Jr. nodded excitedly: "This is normal in America. And it's not real ownership, just mining rights. But it's still very valuable." After all, in America, all resources belong to capitalists.

"Three and a half million!"

"Four million! This mine isn't as good as our own, but with a twenty-year mining right, we'll make a profit as long as it's under eight million! I'll offer four and a half million!"

"Five million!"

Prices skyrocketed.

Such a large molybdenum-rhenium mine is indeed valuable, and it's not just the ore itself that's profitable; the associated rhenium is a hard currency in the aero-engine industry, with a price even higher than gold.

Su Wanqing's eyes darted around; this was exactly what she desperately needed!