The Two Heroes of the Ye Family

Chapter 242 Seven National Treasures

Catherine agreed to Ye Xiaoyang's request without thinking and sent him 7500 pounds that night.

The exchange rate of British pound to US dollar is 1:4.

In just two days, Ye Xiaoyang helped 30 Westerners obtain special passes for the Special High Police.

The Good Luck Trading Company was responsible for escorting these 30 Westerners to Wucheng, charging each person $5000.

Ye Xiaoyang also specially developed a business, which was to purchase antiques and famous paintings from foreigners.

This was mainly to make it easier for foreigners to raise funds. If they did not have enough money, they could sell the antiques and famous paintings they had.

In just three days, Ye Xiaoyang purchased 35 famous paintings and 60 antiques from Westerners.

The total cost was $15.

The two experts who authenticated these famous paintings and antiques were found by Ye Minghao through the help of the Communist Party organization on behalf of Teacher Chen.

They took action because they couldn't save face for their friend, but they didn't expect that they would discover a national treasure during this appraisal.

The two appraisal experts were very excited at the time, as these antiques were all historical relics of China.

Among them, an old expert named Liu said that there are four antiques in this batch that are national treasures of China.

Two antiques from the Han Dynasty, one antique from the Qin Dynasty, and one antique from the Tang Dynasty.

The two appraisal experts said that each of the four antiques was priceless, and fortunately these Westerners did not know the value of them.

If these Westerners knew the value of these national treasures and took them out of China, it would be a loss for the entire China.

In their hearts, they were grateful for this trip out to identify the antiques, and even more grateful to the buyers who spent money to purchase the antiques.

The buyer just didn't want the antiques and famous paintings to flow out of China. It was an unintentional act that led to a great success, which is a great kindness.

According to the valuation of expert Liu, each of these four national treasures is worth ten thousand taels of gold.

The two experts estimated that the total value of the famous paintings and antiques acquired this time was between 6 and 10 gold.

Ye Xiaoyang made a rough estimate that the profit this time was about 1.5 tons of gold, which converted into US dollars would be 225 million.

A return of more than ten times is not bad.

The most important thing is that these national treasures, antiques and famous paintings were not taken away by Westerners.

As the saying goes, antiques are valuable in prosperous times, and gold is valuable in troubled times.

After a few decades, these famous paintings, antiques and national treasures will definitely be worth $1 million.

This is a conservative estimate and could be worth more.

The two appraisal experts did not know the buyer's true identity from beginning to end, nor did they ask Ye Xiaoyang for information.

The real buyers are the young people who serve them.

Before coming, they only knew that the real buyer behind the scenes was a patriotic businessman from China.

He became acquainted with Professor Zhang, a former historian at Jinling Central University, and the two had a special relationship.

In the evening, Ye Xiaoyang hosted a banquet for the two appraisal experts at the Peace Hotel. It is said that the two usually do not help others with appraisals.

"Mr. Liu, Mr. Wu, thank you very much."

The identification expert surnamed Wu waved his hand.

"Xiao Ye, tell the buyer that if he wants to buy more antiques and paintings from Westerners, we'd be happy to help him identify them."

"Thank you, Mr. Wu. I will take note of your words and will tell our boss when I return.

Before I came, the boss specifically told me that Westerners should still have antiques and ancient paintings.

This time, the Japanese blockade of the International Settlement has given our boss an opportunity to acquire treasures from Westerners."

Expert Liu said:

"Your boss has a good eye. Opportunities like this really don't come around often. Over the years, Westerners and Japanese have taken away countless antiques and cultural relics from China. Sigh!"

Ye Xiaoyang did not respond. He was just a henchman under the boss and his status did not match his.

After dinner, Ye Xiaoyang took out two envelopes from his bag and handed them to the two experts.

Each envelope contained $3000.

The two appraisal experts wanted to decline.

"Xiao Ye, you're welcome. We are already very happy to be able to keep these national treasures in China."

"Mr. Liu, Mr. Wu, this is a small gift from our boss, not a commission for hiring you two.

If you two refuse to accept it, my boss will definitely think that I am incompetent.

If there are any important matters in the future, I’m afraid the boss won’t let me handle them. Then for me…”

Ye Xiaoyang's attitude was very sincere, and in the end the two appraisal experts accepted the envelope.

At night, Ye Xiaoyang placed the antiques and famous paintings he had purchased in the basement that had long been emptied.

When the time is right, he will move these antiques and famous paintings to Xiangjiang Island.

Xiangjiang Island will be the headquarters of the Taoist sect in the future and will also be the base camp of the Ye family in Gusu City.

After returning home, Ye Xiaoyang recalled what he had done during this period, and his heart was filled with emotion.

Ye Xiaoyang accepted $30 from the Westerners and only took $9 for himself, which he thought was a good deal.

This time I gained at least a dozen friendships, including from the British Empire, the United States, and other countries.

Tomorrow morning, the first group of Westerners who have paid and obtained documents will leave Shanghai on a merchant ship of the Good Luck Trading Company.

The rest of the journey will be arranged by my second brother's people, and they will definitely be able to send this group of Westerners to Wucheng safely.

Now, the merchant ships of Hujiang Good Luck Trading Company can go directly to Wucheng, but it takes some time to pass through two checkpoints.

After seeing off the first group, Ye Xiaoyang and Aoi Noriko met again in a private room in a coffee shop.

"Miyamoto-kun, you're awesome!"

Ye Xiaoyang understood what Noriko Aoi meant.

"Ms. Aoi, thank you for your praise. This is the result of our joint efforts, not just my own."

Like Ye Xiaoyang, Noriko Aoi took 30% from this cooperation, and the other 40% was given to the head of the Special High Section.

Noriko Aoi doesn't care at all how the position of Special High Police Chief is divided within the Special High Police, because it doesn't belong to her.

In just a few days, $9 was obtained. This is more interesting and valuable than catching the spies lurking in Hujiang.

The interests of the empire are not as important as one's own interests. Only a fool would believe in holy war.

Of course she herself had once been that kind of fool.

"Miyamoto-kun, you tell me what to do next. I will follow your instructions."

"We openly and honestly went door to door to these Westerners' homes to search for hidden spies.

You can arrange for someone with good kung fu skills to sneak into the foreigner's house, and then your people will chase after him.

You must shoot, but don't hurt these Westerners."

"Miyamoto-kun, you're trying to intimidate them."

"That's what I mean. Next, you arrange for someone to deliver some rice to the International Settlement.

Not too much, just one ration per person per day."

"Well, this is what I am going to discuss with you today. It is not good for Westerners to starve to death in the concession."

"We'll also provide some salt and sugar. The purchase amount will be determined by the number of people registered in each household."

"Okay, I'll arrange for people to do these basic tasks, such as rice, salt, and sugar..."

"The Special Higher Police shouldn't be responsible for this. I'm familiar with Watanabe Ichiro of Good Luck Trading Company.

I will go to him to buy these necessities of life."

"Registration and supervision will be done by personnel sent by the Special High Section."

After Ye Xiaoyang and Aoi Noriko discussed what they should do, they started drinking coffee and chatting.

Noriko Aoi looked at Ye Xiaoyang.

"Miyamoto-kun, besides the business in the International Settlement, are there any other businesses we can cooperate with you on?"

"Of course, I asked you out this time to discuss another profitable business."

"Oh."

Noriko Aoi looked at Ye Xiaoyang like a curious baby, as if he was a fortune-bringing boy.

"Ms. Aoi, there should be a lot of Jews who escaped from the German Empire in Hongkou District, right?"

"Miyamoto-kun has quite a wide range of sources of information!"

"Don't laugh at me, Miss Aoi. I'm a businessman, and I'm mainly interested in who has money."

"Miyamoto-kun, do you think the Jews living in Hongkou District are wealthy? But I don't see them as wealthy people."

"Ms. Aoi, everyone has their own expertise, and you excel at discovering and capturing spies and secret agents.

I am a businessman through and through, so I naturally pay attention to the characteristics or traits of wealthy people."

"Qualities of a rich person?"

Noriko Aoi was attracted by Ye Xiaoyang's words. She didn't expect that Taro Miyamoto had such ability.

The world is so big that there are really all kinds of strange things.

"Of course, I won't study what kind of characteristics poor people have, that's meaningless.

If you study rich people for a long time, you will find that they have some qualities or characteristics that others do not have. "

Then Ye Xiaoyang chatted with Aoi Noriko for a while, which made Aoi Noriko stunned.

Noriko Aoi feels like a money-grubber. She is interested in anything that involves making money.

As for who to get it from, or how to get it, she didn't care at all, and she certainly didn't care if it was Jewish money.

After returning, she would discuss it with her senior brother, as she knew that her senior brother Deyuan Wujun loved making money just like her.

I feel that my senior brother is not very interested in capturing anti-Japanese war elements now. He lets his subordinates handle it anyway.

Isn't there still the No. 76 Special Agent Headquarters in Hujiang? The Empire supports them so that they can work.

Isn't the purpose of the secret service headquarters to capture intelligence personnel of the Communist Party organization?

……