Chapter 577
She suddenly opened her eyes and was a bit dazed when she saw Su Xiaoxiao and the others. It took a few seconds before she happily tried to sit up from the rocking chair.
“Oh dear, take it easy!” Aunt Guo hurriedly stopped her.
Jiang Xinyue smiled and held her hand, then looked at the three of them.
“You all came back without even telling me beforehand. I could have gone to pick you up.”
“Your belly is already this big; don’t move around too much. We went to eat first after coming back, and we brought you some chicken soup. Drink it while it’s hot.” Aunt Guo pulled over the chair next to her and sat beside Jiang Xinyue, pouring out a bowl of chicken soup from the thermos.
Jiang Xinyue took it and sipped it slowly, watching her younger brother and sister-in-law.
She had already received a phone call and knew that the proposal had gone smoothly. But still, she couldn’t rest easy until she saw the couple with her own eyes.
“Since you’re married now, Yexun, you have to be more responsible in your actions. After all, you’re the husband now. You can’t let Xiaoxiao live in fear, understand?” Jiang Xinyue said, feeling a little uneasy.
Her younger brother was fine in many ways, but he was a bit too ruthless when it came to doing things. Back when they were in the village, their whole family was together, but now they had fallen out with the old Jiang family. If something happened to him and he wasn’t around, that would leave their mother and his wife in danger.
“Don’t worry, sister, I know how to handle this,” Jiang Yexun nodded in response.
As for his plans to make their parents divorce, he didn’t bring it up. Such matters could wait until after his sister had given birth. He didn’t want her worrying now, nor did he want the old Jiang family coming over to stir things up.
Jiang Xinyue looked at her brother, unsure if he had truly understood her concerns. She thought she would have to wait until Xiaoxiao wasn’t around to remind him more seriously.
“By the way, Xiaoxiao, it’s been snowing for the past few months, so not many people have been going out. The people who usually sell stuff at the scrap station haven’t come, and no one has come to clean it up either. Only this month, with the snow melting, there have been more people selling things. Since you’re back now, you should go take a look. I don’t know when someone will come to clean it.” Jiang Xinyue quickly brought up the matter to Su Xiaoxiao.
She understood why Xiaoxiao had bought that job, so she didn’t feel bad about not receiving anything from her. But Xiaoxiao just smiled, “It’s fine. These things are all about fate. As long as we get even one good item, it’s a huge profit.”
Those foreigners loved China’s old antiques. As long as they got something in good condition, they could sell it at an auction house in Harbor City and make a lot of money.
“Should I take you to check it out now?” Jiang Xinyue’s eyes sparkled as she looked at Su Xiaoxiao.
She had received some old objects, but she didn’t know much about them. She couldn’t tell their authenticity or quality. So, she had been eagerly waiting for Xiaoxiao to come back and help her identify them.
“Sure, let’s go take a look.” Su Xiaoxiao grinned, looking like a little fox who had just succeeded in stealing a fish.
Aunt Guo helped Jiang Xinyue, and Jiang Yexun helped Su Xiaoxiao. The four of them walked together toward the scrap station.
Jiang Xinyue noticed that Jiang Yexun’s movements were a bit strange, but there was no time to think much about it. Soon, the four of them arrived at the place where Jiang Xinyue had stored the items.
She rummaged through a pile of messy junk and found a gray long-handled object wrapped in ragged cloth.
“I don’t know what to do with this, but it seems to be made of some strange material. I’ve never seen anything like it before,” she said as she handed the object to Su Xiaoxiao.
Jiang Yexun frowned at how dirty it was and thought about using a handkerchief to touch it. But Su Xiaoxiao didn’t mind at all and took it right away.
She applied a little pressure with her fingertip, and the wooden handle slowly pushed out layers of grayish carved pieces. Then, before everyone’s astonished eyes, a round fan appeared in front of them.
“This is an ivory openwork floral-patterned round fan. It’s so dark because it’s old, but if you clean it carefully, it will return to its natural ivory color,” Su Xiaoxiao said as she held the fan up.
The fan was intricately carved with traditional Chinese floral patterns and scenes of landscapes, including a five-tier pagoda.
Using openwork and hollowed-out techniques, the fan featured multiple layers of patterns.
“You can sell this directly to your friends. It would be easy to sell for thirty to fifty thousand,” Su Xiaoxiao casually handed the fan to Jiang Yexun.
This wasn’t a national treasure, not even something from the palace—it was likely just a rich family’s collection. Although it was exquisite, it wasn’t valuable enough to be preserved long-term.
“Take a look at this,” Jiang Xinyue said, pulling out a small wooden box from under a pile of items.
Su Xiaoxiao eagerly reached out to grab the box as soon as she saw it. Naturally, she opened it in front of everyone.
Inside, there were delicate carvings and even some poetry written with a brush.
“I think this should be an antique. You can see the brush-written characters on it. It’s a shame that it was supposed to be stored in a collection, but it seems the item was taken out, leaving only the empty box,” Jiang Xinyue said with regret.
Before she could finish speaking, Su Xiaoxiao’s finger pressed on the bottom of the box, and with a slight twist, she opened a new compartment inside.
To everyone’s surprise, a long string of glass-graded imperial green jade beads appeared, each about 20mm in diameter.
Given the length, it was clear that there were 108 beads.
“This… there’s actually a treasure hidden inside?” Jiang Xinyue and Aunt Guo exclaimed.
“Xiaoxiao, how did you know?” They both looked at her curiously.
Su Xiaoxiao smiled, “This is a Zitan multi-treasure box. It uses a window-opening decorative technique, dividing the space inside into several sections. Every side and corner hides a mechanism, with flower designs to display different treasures. It can even rotate like a windmill.”
“Zitan? That’s probably more valuable than the fan we just saw, right?” Jiang Xinyue asked, full of curiosity.
When this item came in, it was big and heavy. Although it was recorded as a wooden box, it cost over two dollars.
“This is priceless! It’s a collection box from Emperor Qianlong. There’s only one in the world. Every character you see written on the sides is his calligraphy. I’ve heard people mention it before—there were more than thirty top-tier treasures inside. But we only found one treasure, and the box itself showed up here,” Su Xiaoxiao said, holding the box with an expression as if she couldn’t bear to let it go.
In reality, Su Xiaoxiao wasn’t particularly interested in these ancient antiques that couldn’t be monetized. If this were a national treasure, she could easily sell it at Harbor City’s auction house for tens of millions, maybe even over a hundred million.
But as a Chinese, she could sell small items, but she would never sell a national treasure.
She couldn’t even break this box if she tried. In a decade or two, it would have to be handed over to the government.
Thinking about it, Su Xiaoxiao couldn’t help but feel a pang of regret.