Chapter: 5991

"This batch of top-tier cultural relics, even if sold at a bundled discount rate, would have reached a low offer of over $200 million twenty-some years ago;"

"Our family's business scale was indeed relatively large, but the antique industry is actually a very capital-intensive project. If we calculate our family assets, there may be tens of billions or even hundreds of billions of dollars. However, a significant portion of these assets are stored in various shops around the world, and it's really difficult to take out $200 million;"

"What's more, this antique industry requires you to be patient and not rush to sell your assets. The more assets you have, the more you need to calm down;"

"Because of the nature of the antique industry, which is similar to the stock market, the biggest fear is that it will suddenly collapse if there are too many sales at once. I can buy ten Qianlong-style ceramics from around the world with one mouthful, but buying more will drive up the price of Qianlong-style ceramics on the market. However, I absolutely cannot sell ten Qianlong-style ceramics all at once, or other collectors may become panicked and start selling their own Qianlong-style ceramics, causing the price to crash;"

"So, even if we wanted to sell our assets and turn them into cash, it wasn't realistic at the time; otherwise, the profit from this single deal might have been lost due to our own reckless behavior, plus the loan repayment period was relatively long, so I almost couldn't take on this deal;"

"I knew that you're interested in antiques as well, so I wanted to partner with your father, one way or another to solve my cash flow problem and also make a profit; because I estimated that those antiques could be brought back to Hong Kong and sold to collectors on the mainland within two years, which would be absolutely no problem;"

"That's why I proposed that we each put up half of the capital, with the profits split evenly; however, your father's intention was that he would put up this one million dollars, but he hoped that I could separate those antiques and let him take care of his own portion, which he wanted to donate back to China through the Chinese Embassy in the US;"

"I genuinely respected his decision at the time, so after we jointly acquired those antiques, I secretly shipped them all to New York and then asked him to come over and personally select what he liked;"

"My thinking was that regardless of what your father chose or its value, as long as he took it away and handed it over to the embassy, even if our family ended up losing money on this deal, I would accept it;"

"When we got to this point, Zhou Liyan sighed: 'At the time, most of those antiques were ceramics, so I started going through each piece with your father, examining them one by one and checking against the list;'

"When your father took out a Qing-style ceramic tea set from the packaging box, that tea set simply fell to the ground and broke into pieces, just like what happened to your father-in-law; then we both saw that after it broke open, there was a small ancient book inside;"

"At the time, we thought that book contained some unknown major historical information, so the two of us sat down on the floor, and I watched as your father opened that book...';"

"Then, without warning, that book just vanished into thin air, leaving no trace..."

"Dichen heard this and couldn't help but sigh: 'It seems like the hidden logic and triggering mechanism in 'Nine Heavenly Classics' and 'Nine Secrets Heaven Classics' are the same.'"

"That's right," Zhou Liyan nodded, saying: "At the time, I just felt a bit strange, but your father told me that the content of the book had already been completely absorbed into his brain, so I naturally didn't believe him, thinking he was just joking;"

"But he actually used the pen and paper from the store to write out the contents of the book, sentence by sentence, without stopping once..."

"I noticed something was off, so I quickly notified your mother to come to the store. As a result, we two accompanied your father, and he didn't stop writing... We spent two days and two nights organizing and collating his written pages, only to finally get all of 'Nine Heavenly Classics' organized."

Dichen asked hastily: "Uncle Zhou, have you also read 'Nine Heavenly Classics'? What's recorded inside?"

Zhou Liyan replied: "'Nine Heavenly Classics' records everything, but its true core is actually a map that needs to be deciphered from the text. At the time, your parents were very interested in research and decryption, so I entrusted your father with some superficial understanding, but since I was born and raised in America and have a poor foundation in Chinese, I found the content indeed obscure and difficult to understand, and quickly lost interest in researching it..."

"Later, your parents left America and returned to China. According to rumor, they spent great effort searching for places mentioned in 'Nine Heavenly Classics', finally overcoming countless hardships and achieving their wishes. 'Nine Heavenly Heaven Classics' is what your father brought back from that place."

Dichen asked hastily: "Is that the location called Longsheng's Secret?"

"I don't know...," Zhou Liyan replied: "Your father didn't tell me much, only saying that these things are best not known by me. I believe he didn't want to reveal too much because he was considering me, so I didn't ask further."

Dichen asked him: "Uncle Zhou, do you still have the contents of 'Nine Heavenly Classics'?"

Zhou Liyan hesitated for a moment and spoke seriously: "Young master, your father once gave me a set of photocopied pages from his handwritten edition of 'Nine Heavenly Classics', although I didn't study it carefully. That set of photocopies has been preserved."

Dichen exclaimed excitedly: "That's great! I was thinking of studying 'Nine Heavenly Classics' thoroughly, but I didn't know where to find the content. If you have photocopies, maybe I can find some clues from inside." JrNovels.com