Gu Wan carefully examined the lock, turning it over and looking at it from every angle. It appeared to be a Luban lock, which was indeed no challenge for her.
After studying it for a while, she immediately got to work. She pushed the piece in the middle to the side, then removed another piece from the side and inserted it through the gap left beside the piece she had moved. Then she flipped the piece on top over, and the lock popped open.
Chen Fu was overjoyed when he saw that Gu Wan had opened the lock in less than half a minute.
The Master had been right. The young miss would definitely be able to open it. Only the young miss could open it.
Gu Wan set the lock aside and gently lifted the lid of the box.
The box had two layers. On the upper layer lay a jade bracelet with exceptional translucency.
Gu Wan carefully took out the jadeite bracelet, its deep green color resembling a pool of unfathomably deep water. She narrowed her eyes and held it up to the light, slowly turning it. Her eyes immediately lit up.
This was a genuine Imperial Green jadeite bracelet. The color was rich and even, and the bracelet felt warm, smooth, and delicate to the touch. Judging from its appearance, it was probably from the Qing Dynasty. It was even finer and more lustrous than the jade bracelet she had seen at the auction house last time. Its value would certainly be in the eight-figure range.
Moreover, several decades later, as the output from the mining areas declined sharply, the price of top-grade Imperial Green jadeite would exceed 20,000 yuan per gram.
This bracelet was top-tier in both weight and craftsmanship. Even a conservative estimate would put its value in the hundreds of millions.
She had really struck it rich!
Chen Fu gazed at the bracelet with a gentle expression, as though he had returned to a distant time.
“This is the Gu family’s ancestral jadeite bracelet. When your mother got married, Master gave it to her as part of her dowry. She loved it dearly and never took it off. Later… after she passed away, Master took the bracelet back and kept it as a keepsake. And later still… he placed it in this box and left it for you, Young Miss.”
Gu Wan gently stroked the bracelet, knowing that its value could not be measured by money alone. She instinctively touched her belly.
It carried not only wealth, but also a legacy and protection.
She carefully set down the bracelet and looked at the lower compartment of the box. Inside were more than a dozen property deeds, along with a list.
When Gu Wan saw the names of several treasures on the list—items that could practically be called priceless rarities—her eyes widened.
Many of these things couldn’t even be found in museums. Could they really be genuine?
“Is everything here? What about bank deposits and things like that?”
“Master said that things are very sensitive right now. Having assets in the bank would attract too much attention, and he was afraid it might cause unnecessary trouble for you. So he converted everything into cash and coupons and stored them in the basement.”
Gu Wan pointed at several treasures on the list.
“Are all of these still here?”
Chen Fu quickly nodded.
“Yes, yes. Everything is here. I’ve been waiting for you to come back. Only after I hand everything over to you can I consider myself to have fulfilled the Master’s instructions.”
With that, Chen Fu led Gu Wan toward the basement.
Gu Wan held the list in one hand and casually put the red-lacquered, openwork carved treasure box, the top-grade Imperial Green jadeite bracelet inside it, and all the property deeds into her space.
Things were safest in her space.
In the basement study, Chen Fu reached beneath the large writing desk and pressed something.
A section of the bookshelf slid sideways, leaving a gap large enough for a person to pass through and revealing a hidden door behind it.
When he opened the door, it revealed a spacious secret room filled with all kinds of boxes.
Chen Fu was very proper about such matters. He remained at the doorway and did not enter.
“Young Miss, go inside and take inventory. I’ll stand guard at the door for you.”
Gu Wan nodded and stepped into the secret room while Chen Fu retreated to the study entrance to wait.
Gu Wan casually opened the first box beside the door, and her eyes immediately widened.
Who could imagine the sheer impact of seeing an entire box filled with gold right in front of them?!
It was actually gold—an entire box packed with gold! And not ordinary gold, either, but the old gold from the Republic of China era, commonly known as “Big Yellow Fish” gold bars.
Each gold bar was marked with its serial number, weight, and purity.
Gu Wan knew that the gold bars marked as weighing ten taels referred to the old traditional Chinese measurement. In actual weight, each one was approximately 313 grams.
Gu Wan roughly counted them. There were about sixty bars in one layer, and judging by their thickness, there appeared to be six or seven layers.
In other words, there were nearly four hundred of these old gold bars!
Wow… she had struck it rich!
At a future price of 700 yuan per gram, this one box would be worth… There was simply too much to calculate.
Of course, these old gold bars weren’t pure enough to reach the 99.99% purity of modern bullion, so they would be discounted somewhat. At the same time, old gold like this also had considerable collectible value, so it couldn’t be calculated solely according to the price of gold.
And that meant the actual value could be even more astonishing!
Gu Wan absolutely loved this stuff.
In turbulent times, you stockpile gold!
With a wave of her hand, she put all the old gold into her space.
Wealth must not be exposed. She absolutely could not let a second person see this stuff. Otherwise, she might not live long enough to enjoy it.
Gu Wan opened the second box.
This one was filled with gold ingots.
There were all kinds of shapes and styles, from different eras and made according to different standards.
So her grandfather had been a coin collector too.
These items couldn’t simply be valued according to their gold content. They should be considered half-antique collectibles.
She could study them slowly when she had time.
For now, into the space they went!
The third box was also gold, but this time it contained an entire box of gold jewelry.
There were all kinds of gold necklaces, gold bracelets, gold rings, and other pieces. Everything was neatly arranged and included an impressive variety of styles.
It was as though she had opened an entire gold jewelry counter at a famous jewelry store, the dazzling display almost blinding her.
Into the space!
The fourth box finally contained something other than gold.
Silver!
There were silver ingots in various shapes and styles, silver coins from different years, various versions of Yuan Shikai silver dollars, and all kinds of silver jewelry—silver necklaces, bracelets, bangles, and more—packed into a huge box.
Although silver couldn’t compare with gold in price, a box this large was still worth quite a lot.
Moreover, silver was easier to turn into cash among ordinary people than gold. Especially silver jewelry in various forms—it was less likely to attract attention.
The old silver ingots and Yuan Shikai silver dollars also had considerable collectible value, with enormous potential for appreciation in the future.
Keep collecting!
The next several large boxes were filled with paintings and calligraphy.
Judging from the scrolls and the materials of the paper, they were probably ancient books and paintings.
Gu Wan glanced at the enormous boxes filling the secret room.
She had stored less than one-tenth of everything so far.
There was simply too much. She didn’t have time to open every box and examine its contents carefully.
She would just take everything first and inspect them properly in her space when she had time.
The next seven or eight boxes were filled entirely with jewelry, jade artifacts, and antiques.
Just by looking at the materials and craftsmanship, it was obvious that none of them were ordinary. Every single piece was exquisite enough to make anyone reluctant to put it down.
There were so many dazzling treasures that Gu Wan felt like Granny Liu entering the Grand View Garden—her eyes couldn’t take everything in, and she didn’t have enough hands to handle it all.
Although she worked in jewelry and antique appraisal herself, she had never seen so many different kinds and varieties of jewelry, jade artifacts, and antiques gathered together at once.
And most importantly—
Every single one of these things belonged to her!
It was something she wouldn’t even have dared dream about!
She simply couldn’t calm down enough to admire and appraise everything slowly.
So she waved her hand.
All of it goes into the space!
The next several boxes contained rare traditional Chinese medicinal herbs, including natural musk, cordyceps, wild lingzhi mushrooms, wild ginseng, bear gallstones, snow lotus flowers, Huoshan dendrobium, natural dragon’s blood resin, and more.
Many of these medicinal materials depended heavily on wild resources. They were difficult to cultivate artificially, and because they required strict growing conditions, were scarce, or were difficult to harvest, they were extremely valuable.
Several decades later, all of these herbs could be artificially cultivated, although their medicinal properties and active compounds would be somewhat inferior.
But in this era, these things were still incredibly precious.
Into the space, into the space, into the space!