Chapter 113: Buying Treasures

Hearing the voice on the other end of the phone, so full of swagger and wealth, Si Yaren was momentarily stunned. He didn’t come back to his senses until the call ended and the dial tone beeped several times. Only then did he dazedly hang up the receiver.

Chen Haisheng, the director of the procurement department, had been waiting at the office door for quite some time. When he saw Si Yaren finally put down the phone, he hurried in and asked, “Factory Director, we haven’t had any new orders lately. Should we go back to producing corduroy coats? They’re wind-resistant.”

Si Yaren glanced at Chen Haisheng and spoke with a hint of dejection, “Old Chen, do you remember how many people were wearing corduroy coats on the streets last autumn?”

Chen Haisheng scratched his head. “The old men in our alley all wore corduroy coats last autumn. They said they’re windproof and wear-resistant. Some have been wearing the same coat for over ten years, and it’s still good.”

“What about the young people?” Si Yaren couldn’t help but ask again.

“Young people?” Chen Haisheng muttered discontentedly, “With all the flashy stuff they wear these days, who knows what they want?”

“Exactly. I don’t know either. That’s why our factory’s doing worse and worse.” Si Yaren sighed. “Don’t worry about procurement for now. I need to think something over carefully.”

After hanging up the phone, Wang Xinzhi checked the clock on the wall. He waited until after 6 p.m., figuring Zhenzhen would have gotten home from work by then, and finally dialed her home number.

“Chairwoman, it seems Factory Director Si from the clothing factory is interested. If you’re serious about entering the clothing business, I’ll start negotiating with the government about acquiring the factory next,” Wang Xinzhi said, full of confidence over the phone. He had always been interested in business, which was why he went to business school. With the booming entrepreneurial climate in the country, plus Zhenzhen’s full financial backing and autonomy, he was filled with enthusiasm.

Without hesitation, Zhenzhen replied, “Go ahead, I’ll leave it to you. Once the clothing factory is acquired, you’ll come over and take over as factory director. But over at the furniture factory, Director Sun can’t handle everything on his own. Deputy Director Liu still has that old habit of being slow and inefficient. You’ve been at the furniture factory long enough—if you notice someone with management potential, talk to Director Sun about promoting them. If we don’t have anyone suitable internally, we can hire from outside.”

Wang Xinzhi thought for a moment before saying, “I do have two people in mind, but I’ll have to talk to them first to be sure.”

“Alright, I’ll wait for your update,” Zhenzhen said crisply. “And if the government drags its feet on the acquisition, don’t get discouraged. Worst case, we’ll start a clothing factory ourselves. The profits from just the past two months are enough to fund a factory. Clothes, food, housing, and transportation—these are things ordinary people can never go without. Especially now, it’s the perfect time for a transformation in how people dress. As long as we seize the opportunity, we’ll make money.”

Wang Xinzhi was fired up by her words and immediately promised, “Don’t worry. Whether it’s acquisition or new construction, I’ll get it done as quickly as possible.”

After the call, Grandma Li looked at Zhenzhen and shook her head. “You’re about to get married, and you’re still not nervous? Always worrying about factories and making money—how much is enough?”

Zhenzhen giggled and wrapped her arm around Grandma Li’s. “There’s never too much money, because your granddaughter is about to start burning cash.”

“Burning cash?” Grandma Li jumped. “You’re setting fire to it? Are you crazy?”

Zhenzhen couldn’t hold back her laughter. “Where’s your mind going? I mean what I’m about to do will be pretty expensive.”

Grandma Li didn’t know what her granddaughter was plotting, but she did know that whatever Zhenzhen was doing, it was big. Not just in Beicha or Yidong—even in the capital, she couldn’t believe any girl was more capable than her granddaughter. So young and already running such a big factory. According to Guihua, Zhenzhen had even placed a clothing order this summer, and Guihua alone made twenty thousand yuan off it. An astronomical number they’d never dared dream of before, and now it rolled off the Li family’s tongues like nothing.

Pulling Zhenzhen to sit down, Grandma Li started talking about the wedding. Since September began, she had called their relatives—Li Musen from back home and Li Mulin from Ice City—telling them the date of Zhenzhen’s wedding and inviting them to bring their families.

Both were delighted to get the call. Partly because they were happy their eldest niece was getting married, and partly because they missed Grandma Li. It had been over four years since they’d last seen her, ever since she moved to the capital with Li Muwu’s family. They sent her money every month and telegrams to check in, but hadn’t visited.

It wasn’t that they didn’t want to. The capital had always been a dream destination. But Grandma Li wouldn’t let them visit—not even for the New Year.

She had her reasons. Of her four sons, the eldest, Li Muwen, needed no explanation—he’d carved out a future with sword and bullet on the battlefield and now held a high military position, always with an orderly in tow. The second, Li Muwu, and his wife didn’t have much talent, but they were filial, and Grandma Li had lived with them all her life and felt nothing but peace. The third, Li Musen, was honest like Li Muwu but didn’t have a capable child like Zhenzhen, so he just lived a simple life. The fourth, Li Mulin, was a scatterbrain who nearly drove her to her grave, and his wife was a schemer who kept her thoughts to herself but still made Grandma Li uncomfortable just by existing.

When Grandma Li had just moved to the capital, Li Musen and Li Mulin’s sons were already married—three generations in each family. They could have squeezed in for a visit, but there were too many mouths to feed. She refused to let her precious granddaughter go broke over hosting the whole clan unless they were willing to hand over a year’s salary.

Li Musen and his wife were obedient. If she said no, that was it—they kept sending money and the occasional telegram. Li Mulin didn’t care either, but his wife, Zhang Chunhua, was jealous and wanted to stay over for a few days. But giving up a year’s salary was more painful than peeling off her own skin. Without money, Grandma Li sent her packing. Zhang Chunhua grumbled that Grandma Li was biased, but every time she complained, Li Mulin shut her down. She didn’t dare argue with Grandma Li directly, especially since their sons, Mingshu and Mingxin, had grown up and now sided with Grandma Li and the cousins from the capital. She was scared of upsetting them—worried that no one would care for her when she got old.

Zhang Chunhua’s fear of Grandma Li dated back to when she got smacked with a soup ladle. Her fear of her sons now stemmed from the dread that they’d abandon her in her old age. She found it strange—she’d raised them herself while the others only visited during school breaks. Yet her boys seemed to care only for Grandma Li and the other cousins, never her. She felt like she’d raised them for nothing.

But Grandma Li didn’t care what her daughter-in-law thought. In her heart, Zhenzhen was the most important. Now that Zhenzhen had graduated, worked at such a prestigious place, and secretly ran a factory with hundreds of workers, Grandma Li felt proud beyond words.

Seeing her granddaughter so accomplished and about to get married—such a joyous event—she finally allowed the whole family to come and celebrate. After all, she couldn’t let Zhenzhen’s wedding be so empty of maternal relatives.

“Your third uncle and the others boarded the train today. Your fourth uncle’s with them. They should be here in five or six days,” Grandma Li said, holding a lunar calendar. “The housekeeper already cleaned up the rooms. Luckily this house is big, or there wouldn’t be enough space for everyone.”

Zhenzhen smiled. “I hired a photographer for the wedding day. We’ll take a family portrait together.”

“Of course!” Grandma Li perked up at that. She looked around and finally pointed to the wall in her bedroom. “Print a big one and hang it there.”

“Sure. I’ll make you an album too.” Zhenzhen leaned on Grandma Li’s shoulder, still hugging her arm.

“What kind of grown child still acts so spoiled?” Grandma Li rubbed her hair. “By the way, you’re getting married in half a month. Can you get any time off?”

Zhenzhen looked helplessly at Grandma Li. “There aren’t many days off for weddings.”

“That won’t do. You should talk to your supervisor. Who doesn’t get married these days?” Grandma Li couldn’t understand why people didn’t get a long leave for marriage anymore. When her sons got married in the past, they all had to prepare for a month or two. How could people be getting married while still going to work?

“Got it, got it.” Zhenzhen stood up and gave Grandma Li a kiss on the cheek. “Granny, I’m going back to bed. I’m off tomorrow, so I’m going to sleep in. Don’t wait for me for breakfast.”

“Then drink your milk before you sleep.” Grandma Li had heard during her walks that drinking milk before bed helps one sleep better. Since then, she’d fetch two jin of milk every day, and each of them would drink half a jin before bed.

Zhenzhen took the milk Wang Sufen handed her, downed a whole bowl in one go, wiped her mouth with a handkerchief, and hurried back to her room.

“This child still acts like she’ll never grow up.” Grandma Li smiled and shook her head.

After returning to her room and washing up, Zhenzhen didn’t go to sleep. Instead, she went straight to a household on Jin Island and lightly knocked on the door. A man with a cigarette dangling from his mouth swaggered out and opened it. Seeing Zhenzhen, he let out a sneer. “Oh wow, you actually came. Are you really sure you want to buy all my junk?”

Zhenzhen shot him a cold look. “Cut the crap. Have you gathered everything?”

“Yeah, come in and take a look.” The man shuffled back inside in his slippers.

If it were any other girl, she’d probably hesitate to follow a shady-looking man into a house this late at night, but for Zhenzhen, this was nothing. If this guy—Feng Er—had any funny ideas, she could make him regret being born.

She followed Feng Er inside, and simultaneously used her awareness to scan the interior. Sure enough, she found over a dozen antiques in one of the rooms. Feng Er pointed to the room with the antiques and grabbed a bottle of Erguotou off the table, taking a swig. “They’re all in there. You better stick to the price we agreed on. Not a cent less.”

Zhenzhen shot him a look. “You talk too much. Move all the items to this room. I need to inspect them.”

“Feisty little girl.” Feng Er glanced sideways at her, swept the clutter off the table, and went to move the vases. Seeing how greasy the table was, Zhenzhen pulled a rag from her space and wiped it down, then found a relatively clean sheet on the sofa and spread it over the table.

Feng Er didn’t say anything when he saw this. Instead, he carefully placed each antique on the table, likely knowing that damage would lower the price.

Zhenzhen took a magnifying glass and a flashlight from her bag and began examining each porcelain item carefully. Over an hour later, she finally put them away. By then, Feng Er, half-sprawled on the couch, had dozed off. As she finished, he woke halfway and lazily sat up. “Told you, these are all heirlooms from my old man.”

Zhenzhen gave him a half-smile. “If you know they’re heirlooms, why are you selling them?”

“Of course I’m selling!” Feng Er replied bluntly. “What use are they? Can’t eat or drink them, and they take up space. If someone had wanted to buy them sooner, I’d have sold them already.”

“Fine.” Zhenzhen pulled three hundred yuan from her pocket. Feng Er’s eyes lit up instantly and reached out to grab it. Zhenzhen raised her leg and pressed her toe against his chest. “Go bring the box I left outside through the gate first.”

“Such a pain.” Feng Er grumbled, but remembering how he’d been bested by her the day before, he backed down. Eyeing the money in her hand, he reluctantly went to get the box.

Zhenzhen tossed the money on the sofa. While Feng Er was counting it, she quietly transferred the antiques into her box, shielding his view with her back. The moment each item touched the box, it was whisked into her space. These were clearly treasures from the palace—Zhenzhen wouldn’t allow even a chip.

Once Feng Er finished counting, Zhenzhen closed the lid. Her awareness swept the room one last time. Then she asked, “Other than these, do you have any more old stuff in the house?”

“Nope.” Feng Er scratched his head. “When the old man died, I found all this.”

Zhenzhen’s awareness locked onto two large boxes buried underground. If the items she just bought had been used by emperors, then those below were rare treasures even emperors had prized.

She carefully examined the contents with her awareness and asked, “Feng Er, what exactly did your ancestors do?”

Feng Er looked somewhat proud. “Our family served in the palace.”

Zhenzhen immediately thought of a certain group. “Eunuchs?”

“What the hell?” Feng Er was offended. “Would I be here if they were eunuchs? I’m the only male heir in the family.”

Zhenzhen glanced around the messy house and sneered. “And your line’s about to die off.”

Which wasn’t wrong. Feng Er was almost forty. After his first wife died, he never remarried—no one wanted him. Useless, lazy, unemployed, and drunk all day—who would jump into that pit?

Seeing her mocking gaze, Feng Er boasted, “I’m telling you, my ancestors worked in the Imperial Household Department. Everything the emperor ate or used had to go through them.” He pointed at her box. “These were all smuggled out of the palace by my ancestors. During the campaign, my dad went to great lengths to protect them, even burying them three feet deep. Good thing he did. Dug them up and died right after, otherwise they wouldn’t have landed in my hands.”

Zhenzhen nodded. “What if I want to buy the stuff buried under your house?”

“Under the house?” Feng Er instinctively looked at the ground. “There’s something under the house?”

“Not sure,” Zhenzhen smiled. “Just wondering, what if there is?”

“Not sure, huh?” Feng Er’s eyes rolled. “Then give me a hundred. If we find something, it’s yours. If not, no refunds.”

Zhenzhen didn’t reply. Feng Er got nervous and held out a hand. “Fifty then. That’s as low as I’ll go. What if you find something worth twenty? Three items and you’ve made your money back.”

“What if I find more than three? You lose out.” Zhenzhen looked at him. “How about this—you dig. If you find anything, just sell it to me. You might even make a fortune.”

Feng Er was tempted, but when he thought about the size of the yard, he shook his head. “Forget it. Too much work. What if I don’t find anything? All that effort for nothing. Just fifty. Take it or leave it.”

Zhenzhen tossed him five ten-yuan notes. “Fine. Here’s fifty. I’ll come dig it up myself later.” As Feng Er stared in confusion, she hoisted the large box and cheerfully left.

Night had fallen completely, and the neighbors were fast asleep. Zhenzhen tucked the box into her space, then lightly tapped the ground with her toe. About ten minutes later, two boxes burst out of the earth beneath her. Zhenzhen swiftly stored them away, and the ground returned to its original state.

Back in her space, she eagerly opened the boxes and began unloading the treasures, carefully arranging each famous artifact from later generations onto the shelves. Once the shelves were full, she trembled as she pulled out a tightly wrapped cloth bundle from the corner of the box and placed it on the table.

Layer by layer, she unwrapped the cotton to reveal a Ming Chenghua doucai chicken cup—a legendary piece in the collector’s world. One tiny cup had once fetched 280 million Hong Kong dollars. It was the holy grail of Chinese porcelain collectors.

She set the chicken cup next to a Xuande incense burner and admired it with delight. “The old Zhu family sure had a lot of good stuff.”

Surrounded by porcelain, antique furniture, jade, lacquerware, and metalwork, Zhenzhen felt a deep sense of accomplishment. During the campaign, she’d rescued countless artifacts. From that time, she had a dream—to build a private museum and offer free admission for her fellow countrymen.

Though she hadn’t had the means to make it happen in her past life, she knew well that it would take a fortune to maintain a museum. She needed a powerful foundation to make it a reality.

Right now, the people of Huaguo have only just resolved the issue of having enough to eat. They’re more concerned with food, clothing, housing, and transportation, and aren’t particularly interested in these old ancestral artifacts. Over the past few years, whenever Zhenzhen had free time, she would search for antiques in the Imperial Capital, Jin Island, and Ji Province. To save time while treasure hunting, she would first use her consciousness to scan a place before arriving, getting a clear idea of where treasures might be and who might want to sell, then head straight to her target. If someone was willing to sell, she would buy everything. If they had family members who knew the value and were unwilling to part with it, Zhenzhen wouldn’t force them—her aim had always been to preserve as much as possible. Who the items ended up with didn’t matter, so long as they weren’t destroyed. For families who wanted to keep items as heirlooms, Zhenzhen would even teach them some basic antique preservation knowledge so they wouldn’t ruin valuable things through ignorance.

After carefully putting away the items, Zhenzhen returned straight to her bedroom. She had an important place to visit the next day. The previous Sunday, while wearing a mask in Jin Island, she had overheard a man named Old Ming chatting with his good-for-nothing buddies, saying that he had a family heirloom he wanted to sell and was looking for someone suitable to make an introduction.

Zhenzhen couldn’t resist stepping forward to ask, “What kind of treasure? If it’s something good, I can buy it.”

At first, Old Ming didn’t want to bother with her, thinking she was just some young girl. Zhenzhen had to pull out a stack of large-denomination bills from her bag and wave them at him. Only then did Old Ming give her a proper look. But for some unknown reason, he didn’t take her to see the item right away—instead, he set an appointment for the following Sunday.

Zhenzhen didn’t get back from Jin Island until midnight. After having breakfast the next morning, she hurried out again, drawing some grumbling from Grandma Li.

When she arrived at the agreed location, Zhenzhen discovered that she wasn’t the only one—two unfamiliar people were also there. She couldn’t tell whether they were buyers too or people Old Ming had brought to act as shills.

After winding through several turns with Old Ming, the group finally arrived at a rundown house—it looked even worse than the Feng family’s place. Old Ming left them in the outer room while he went into the back room and rummaged around for a while. Eventually, he emerged holding a bright yellow box.

The moment Zhenzhen scanned it with her consciousness, she froze. Old Ming slowly opened the lid, revealing a warm, pristine white jade seal—Emperor Yongzheng’s Imperial White Jade Nine-Dragon Seal, one of only five jade-carved seals owned by the emperor.

Old Ming clearly knew more about antiques than Feng Er. He had even prepared a piece of velvet cloth to cushion the table before carefully setting down the jade seal.

Zhenzhen looked at Old Ming and couldn’t help but ask, “Was your ancestor from the Imperial Household Department?”

“The bastards in the Household Department…” Old Ming snorted. “My ancestor was a eunuch!”

Zhenzhen was shocked. “Eunuchs have descendants?”

Old Ming seemed rather proud. “You didn’t know? Famous eunuchs could adopt godsons.”

Zhenzhen honestly couldn’t understand where his pride was coming from. But after glancing at the jade seal on the table, it suddenly made sense. “A grand eunuch, then. Bold fellow.”