Chapter 18: Stockpiling Oil Paintings, Currency, and Stamps

In the space, in the bamboo forest courtyard. A strange, dilapidated wooden cart appeared in the middle of the yard. The black cloth covering it was lifted, revealing all sorts of things inside. Iron Orchid picked up a picture frame at random. Then, her pupils dilated. My God! Was she seeing things?! It was actually a masterpiece by Leonardo da Vinci, one of the world’s ten greatest painters – “Mona Lisa”!

(A little bit of a joke, please be gentle.)

Iron Orchid had been studying Chinese antiques, calligraphy, and paintings, and she wasn’t familiar with foreign oil paintings. But the canvas of this painting was soft and elastic, with a textured feel, delicate brushstrokes, and bright colors, it didn’t look fake. This collector was clearly a connoisseur.

He even collected “Peace Tablet” by Wang Xizhi, the “Sage of Calligraphy”, which was sold for 308 million yuan at an auction. Besides these two, there were several other ancient calligraphy and paintings, all genuine! So, was there a possibility that this “Mona Lisa” was also real?

It is said that this painting was stolen from Italy by a thief in 1920, and later returned to France, where it was considered a national treasure.

Iron Orchid boldly guessed. Perhaps the painting didn’t return to France, but instead crossed the ocean to China and was collected by this collector!

If that was the case, then she was really rich! This masterpiece was priceless! It was valued at 3.5 billion US dollars in 1925, and in later generations, it would be worth at least hundreds of billions of US dollars. Hundreds of billions of US dollars, converted to RMB, would be trillions!

“Bang! Bang! Bang!”

Iron Orchid’s mind was filled with smoke and fire, making her dizzy. No, she couldn’t breathe, she needed to be rescued!

Iron Orchid quickly called for a big, red apple, and took a bite.

The sweet apple juice bloomed in her mouth. Iron Orchid felt like she was alive again. There was nothing that an apple couldn’t solve, hehe (˶╹ꇴ╹˶)～

Besides the calligraphy and paintings, there were also some porcelain and antiques on the cart, all very valuable. Even if the oil painting wasn’t real, the value of the other items would be at least ten billion yuan.

Overnight, she, Iron Orchid, became a billionaire!

At such a happy moment, she had to have a delicious meal. She had roast duck for lunch, so she would have braised pork with potatoes for dinner!

Iron Orchid immediately started making dinner in the space. The pork and potatoes were cut into the size of tofu cubes, that way they would be more enjoyable to eat.

Heat oil in a pot, add white sugar over low heat and stir-fry until it caramelizes, then add the pork and stir-fry. When the pork is browned, add the scallions, ginger, and garlic and stir-fry together, stir-fry until fragrant, then add soy sauce, yellow wine, dark soy sauce, and water and simmer slowly.

Simmer for 20 minutes, then add the soaked potatoes and chili peppers and cook together, simmer for another 30 minutes.

During this time, Iron Orchid didn’t idle, she took a few sweet potatoes and put them in the pit where she roasted the duck at noon. The fire was burning very fiercely, and by the time the dishes were ready, the sweet potatoes were also roasted.

A pot of delicious braised pork with potatoes and a plate of fragrant roasted sweet potatoes were ready.

Let’s eat!

The golden braised pork was very flavorful, fatty but not greasy. One bite, and it was full of meaty aroma. Then take a bite of potato, it melts in your mouth, it’s spicy and delicious. When your mouth is burning from the spice, take a bite of roasted sweet potato, it’s soft, sweet, and warms your heart and stomach.

This meal filled Iron Orchid with satisfaction.

This kind of happy life was really promising!

When Iron Orchid came out of the space, it was almost dark outside.

She quickly walked to the bus stop nearby, and as she was about to get on the bus, she saw a familiar figure not far away.

It was Niu Da-pang. The person she had met by chance while looking for the black market near the hospital last time.

This guy was alright. Since she had bumped into him, she should go over and say hello.

As Iron Orchid walked over, she saw him heading towards a small alley, looking around cautiously.

She was curious and followed him quietly.

Not long after turning into the alley, Niu Da-pang met another man.

“Big brother, these are all the collectibles from my neighbor’s grandma’s house, they’re all good stuff, take a look.”

Niu Da-pang said, taking off the backpack he was carrying, lifting the cloth on top, and taking out a photo album.

The man looked at it and shook his head: “These are all old banknotes and stamps, including some misprints, they’re not worth much. Since you’re my friend’s introduction, I’ll give you five yuan at most, no more.”

Niu Da-pang looked embarrassed: “Big brother, please give me a little more, my neighbor has a sick grandson, and she needs money urgently for treatment. Otherwise, she wouldn’t ask me to sell the things her late husband hid for so many years, please give me a little more, she’s an old woman with a grandson, it’s not easy for her.”

The man waved his hand: “No, five yuan is the final price, you can sell it or not, I still have other places to go to collect.”

Niu Da-pang put the photo album back into his backpack: “Forget it, I won’t sell it.”

Iron Orchid stared at the direction Niu Da-pang left, then turned and left.

10 minutes later.

Iron Orchid “accidentally” bumped into him at another exit.

“Brother Niu Da-pang!”

“Oh, it’s the big sister, what a coincidence!”

Niu Da-pang looked at her with surprise, and then said:

“It’s getting dark, why are you still wandering around outside, is something wrong at home, do you need my help?”

Iron Orchid: …

She was racking her brains trying to figure out how to start the conversation.

This guy just blurted it out.

He was really loyal.

“Well, something happened at home, you might not be able to help.”

Iron Orchid pretended to be sighing and looking distressed.

Niu Da-pang straightened his back: “Big sister, just tell me, I’ll help if I can, everyone knows I, Niu Da-pang, am the most helpful!”

Iron Orchid: “It’s like this, my grandpa passed away, he loved collecting banknotes and stamps, and we lost them when we moved before. I want to fulfill his wish, but I can’t find a way to buy them anywhere, I’m so upset that I just came out for a walk.”

Niu Da-pang’s eyes lit up:

“Big sister, I happen to have what you want, but it’s something someone asked me to sell, if you give me a good price, I’ll sell it to you!”

Iron Orchid was overjoyed, but she said:

“The money I used to buy the beef bones last time was my family’s money, I don’t have much on me, but I have a few dozen yuan.”

Niu Da-pang: “Enough, enough! Take a look and see if you want it!”

With that, Niu Da-pang handed over the photo album from his backpack.

It was an old-fashioned photo album with a gray cover, and the friction marks on it showed that the original owner loved to flip through it.

Iron Orchid flipped to the first page.

She found that it was inlaid with Renminbi, the kind with a face value of 50,000 yuan. (As shown in the picture)

This was issued by the People’s Bank of China in 1948, and it is said that a set is worth millions of yuan.

There was a whole set here!

Iron Orchid suppressed her excitement and continued to look.

The next page was – Da Hei Shi!

The “King of Banknotes” in the second set of Renminbi, with a collection value fluctuating between 50,000 and 150,000 yuan.

There were 100 of them, all in good condition, with a total value of at least over 10 million yuan.

In addition to these two banknotes, there were other banknotes, all of which had stopped being collected and circulated, with very few in existence, and high collection value.

It seems that this old man was a very discerning collector…