Chapter 330: Rapid Progress
Xu Youyou and her group spent five days having fun on Treasure Island before setting off back to Hucheng.
Sitting on the plane back, Xu Youyou finally had the time and patience to carefully examine the key in her hand.
It was a finely crafted, antique-looking key. On its head were two old-style seal characters, which Xu Youyou couldn’t really understand.
As soon as they got off the plane, Lu Jingyao was already waiting for them.
“Tired?” Lu Jingyao asked softly.
Xu Youyou shook her head. The last five days of travel had been very relaxed, visiting only one or two tourist spots a day. How could she be tired?
Once they got into the car, Xu Youyou handed the key to Lu Jingyao. “Do you recognize these characters?”
Lu Jingyao studied the key carefully for a long time before saying, “Jun Nuo.”
“You’re knowledgeable. Do you know what this key is for?” Xu Youyou asked.
She had tried searching online these past few days but found no relevant information.
She wasn’t expecting Lu Jingyao to have an answer either, but after frowning and thinking for a while, he finally said, “I feel like I’ve heard these characters mentioned before.”
Xu Youyou immediately looked at him with hopeful eyes.
Lu Jingyao said, “Maybe you should ask He Zhilian. The He family has a long history with antiques. She might know something.”
Xu Youyou snapped a photo of the key and sent it to He Zhilian. They hadn’t been in touch since parting ways in Hong Kong.
He Zhilian usually replied quickly, but this time it took five hours before she called Xu Youyou back: “I didn’t recognize this key either, but my grandfather does. He said it represents a storage box.”
“A storage box? Like a bank’s safe deposit box?” Xu Youyou asked.
He Zhilian replied, “Miss Xu, you could think of it that way, but the custodian isn’t a bank—it’s a piaohao.”
“Piaohao?” Xu Youyou was confused.
He Zhilian explained, “They were financial institutions in the Ming and Qing dynasties, mainly handling silver exchanges.”
“Is this Jun Nuo piaohao very famous?” Xu Youyou asked.
“It’s famous and not famous. Its name was only known in certain circles. Unlike other piaohao that dealt with silver, Jun Nuo specialized in gold. According to my grandfather, they were active as early as the early Ming dynasty. What really made them famous was that in the early Qing dynasty, they helped the remnants of the Ming royal family safeguard a batch of treasures.”
Xu Youyou asked, “So according to you, the treasures were successfully handed back to the Ming descendants? How could such a secretive event become known?”
He Zhilian explained, “In the early Qing dynasty, the descendants of the Ming family took the treasures to Treasure Island, but the treasures were seized by one of the powerful local families. This scandal was spread by that family themselves—since it was such a shameful incident, no one thought they’d make it up.”
“Miss Xu, my grandfather also said that every Jun Nuo key represents a fortune worth a fortune.”
Xu Youyou’s heart tightened. She asked, “Does this piaohao still exist today?”
He Zhilian sighed and said, “There were traces of them during the Republic of China era, but they seemed to have completely disappeared before the liberation.”
Holding the key, Xu Youyou felt like someone facing a table full of delicacies but with no appetite.
“No trace at all? What about the treasures they safeguarded?” Xu Youyou asked.
He Zhilian said, “I think they disappeared, but my grandfather believes that such families, when facing major upheavals, would hide themselves just like precious treasures.”
Xu Youyou had heard the phrase “treasures hide themselves” before. It means that when a treasure senses it shouldn’t be revealed, it would conceal its brilliance and become undetectable.
“Does your grandfather know how to contact them? I have the key, and I want the matching storage box,” Xu Youyou said.
Unfortunately, He Zhilian gave a negative answer: “My grandfather only heard of them; he’s never actually seen them, much less know how to contact them. Moreover, to retrieve the storage box, it’s said you need not only the key but also a password.”
Xu Youyou’s first thought was of the slip of paper she found in the secondhand Lamborghini in Hong Kong, covered in characters. She tentatively asked, “Is it possible that the password has evolved with the times, now including Arabic numerals and English letters?”
This time, it wasn’t He Zhilian who answered, but an elderly voice.
Xu Youyou had met Old Mr. He in Hong Kong before. His voice over the phone was calm and kind: “Miss Xu, according to what my father told me, Jun Nuo piaohao people are mysterious and old-fashioned. They’re mysterious because no one knows where they hide their storage boxes. They’re old-fashioned because their passwords always followed strict tonal patterns. I think it’s unlikely they would use Arabic numbers or English letters.”
Hearing this, Xu Youyou could only feel regret. She became even more confused about the string of characters on that Lamborghini slip.
After the call ended, another call came in.
The caller was none other than Xie Ran.
“Boss, since you’re back in Hucheng, I’d like to meet you tomorrow. Are you available?”
Xu Youyou’s mind was still on the key. She absentmindedly asked, “Is it something serious? You can make decisions on company matters. No need to come to me.”
Xie Ran said, “It’s not an emergency. I just want to report on the company’s performance this quarter.”
Xu Youyou was momentarily stunned. Glancing at the calendar, she realized another quarter had already ended.
Xie Ran had earned Xu Youyou’s deep trust. He had originally planned to report monthly, but Xu Youyou found it too troublesome and changed it to once per quarter.
Though it was called a “report,” it was more like reading her good news.
Since its founding, Xu Youyou’s company had hardly encountered any setbacks. Each time Xie Ran reported, it could be summed up in seven words: “The company made big money again!”
Xu Youyou directly asked, “How much did we make this time?”
“This quarter’s profits increased compared to the last quarter. Preliminary calculations show a net profit of about 8 billion.”
Xu Youyou couldn’t help but raise an eyebrow. “How did we earn so much? Which business boomed so fast?”
She felt like Xie Ran wasn’t just managing a company for her—he was practically running a money-printing factory.
And what exactly was the factory producing? Money, of course.
