Siheyuan: I am a big capitalist after the founding of the People's Republic of China

Li Zihang sat cross-legged on the Luohan bed, looking at the ivory carvings on the small tea table. He liked them more and more.

Li Zihang: "Grandpa, where did all those treasures in our underground palace come from?"

The old man took a sip of tea and said, "Just now, we went to the second floor. The entrance to the rockery in the back garden is on the first floor."

"Of the things on the first floor, one third are the accumulation of three generations of our ancestors, one third are some shady things collected from antique shops and grave robbers, and the remaining one third belong to the original owner."

"The second floor is all the accumulation of several generations of the main family. As for how the main family got those treasures, it's a long story."

Li Zihang: "Grandpa, don't worry. Please take your time."

The old man: "Then I will be a storyteller for once."

"Among the treasures of the master family, some of them were bought by me through transactions I personally negotiated. I recognized some of them when I recorded them in the books over the past few years."

"Among them, there is a batch that I bought from Sun Mazi in a trade."

Li Zihang heard Sun Mazi ask in confusion: "Who is Sun Mazi?"

Old man: "Sun Mazi is the one who stole the Dongling Tomb"

Li Zihang: "Grandpa, you have done business with Sun Mazi, you are not a burial object in the Eastern Tomb, right?"

When the old man heard that his grandson also knew about the theft of the Eastern Qing Tombs, he nodded in praise. "I was 33 years old that year. Not long after the Eastern Qing Tombs incident, Sun Mazi came to our house. At that time, the master of the main family, the young master, my father, and I. After bargaining with Sun Mazi, the four of us took two-fifths of the treasures. The number of treasures was too much. With the financial resources of the main family and our family at that time, we could only take those without affecting business."

"We even used twelve carriages to bring the treasures back fully loaded. After the treasures were brought back, we mobilized the antique shop's expert appraiser and some trusted people. It took six people a full month and a half to count the number of treasures and register them."

"Our family took 30% of the treasures, and the owner took 70%. Even so, my father was so worried that he didn't know where to hide these treasures, let alone the owner."

"At that time, my father hid some here and there. Even so, there was still a lot that had no place to hide. Later, he was really out of options. My father bought a house with a courtyard and built a secret room for a dry well in the name of digging a well. Even so, there was still a small part that had no place to hide."

"In the end, there was really no other way, so they built a Li's ancestral hall outside the city, and built a large secret room underneath the hall. They settled the family members who were brought over from their ancestral home there to guard the place. They also bought land for them and built houses for them. That's the village where your seventh uncle used to live."

"The house we live in now was also bought by the master under that circumstance. You also know about the construction of the underground palace later."

Li Zihang said with some concern: "Grandpa, do many people know about the treasure under the ancestral hall? Is it safe?"

The old man smiled at his grandson's worried expression and said, "The land of the ancestral hall belongs to our family, and the ancestral hall was also built by our family. Both the ground and the house are in my name. I explained it clearly to the clan members when I built it. They all agreed and signed their names. They only have the right to use it, not the right to own it."

"Two years ago, I even re-registered the ancestral hall and the house with the government. Besides, all the people in the village were our clansmen who depended on our family for food at that time, so there is no need to worry."

"Except for the elders and a few people in the village who know the inside story, no one else knows. The few people who know are all your great-grandfather and my confidants. There is no way anything could go wrong."

"The current chief is me, your grandfather. Your seventh uncle is the designated chief of the village for the next generation. When you are able to manage things, your seventh uncle will let you take over the position of chief."

"Of course, being a clan leader is not that easy. You have to lead the clan members, ensure they have enough food and water, and make them rich. If there is something going on in the clan, you have to take the lead. I will explain this to you slowly later."

"Remember what I told you before? We will slowly dispose of some industries. One of them is to stop trading with the tomb robbers in the north and south. We will no longer purchase unearthed cultural relics."

"Times are different now. It's no longer the chaotic, war-torn era. If you continue to mess with the tomb robbers, something bad will happen sooner or later."

"In the underground palace, there are quite a large number of cultural relics that were purchased from those tomb robbers."

Li Zihang: "So no one cared at that time?"

The old man said disdainfully: "Manage? Who dares to manage? Who can manage? Officials steal, civilians steal. Warlords steal. Anyone who sees an abandoned grave can pick up a hoe and dig a few times."

"The emperor was gone. The country was in turmoil. Those who had a say, people with guns, all fought for territory."

"Except for some scholars and some remnants of the Qing dynasty, after a bit of commotion, there was no more movement."

"The rest of the treasures were stolen and sold to our family by some maids and eunuchs in the palace after the young emperor stepped down. Some of them were bought by our family from those impoverished children of the Eight Banners who sold their ancestral property."

Li Zihang listened to the old man's words and wondered how many treasures he had at home, so he asked, "So how many antiques, rare treasures, and calligraphy and paintings do we have at home?"

The old man said thoughtfully: "I don't know exactly how much."

Li Zihang: "Approximately how much, Grandpa, don't you know?"

The old man said, "Let me think about it. There are tens of thousands of items in our family's records. Add to that, there must be at least 100,000 items in the underground palace. Anyway, it's too many."

"That's as much as I can record in my lifetime. The rest is up to you."

Li Zihang: "It's OK to preserve porcelain, jade, pearls, agate, bronze, ivory, coral and gemstones, but what about calligraphy and paintings? They will be eaten by insects over time. They will be damp. What if a flood happens and they are destroyed? Or if a fire happens and they are burned, what should we do?"

When the old man heard this, he covered his forehead and said, "My dear grandson, you think too much. I admire you."

"You can think of it, so why can't I think of it? Calligraphy, paintings, books and the like are all in our underground palace. Those wooden boxes are all made of top-quality camphor wood. The air in the north is dry and less humid, which is more conducive to the preservation of paper."

"When you were in the underground palace, didn't you find it wasn't stuffy at all? That's because the ventilation holes were built in the walls around the back garden and in the ancient well in the back garden."

"The underground palace is made of reinforced concrete, and it is also equipped with wooden boxes to prevent ants and insects. Air, humidity, drainage. All conditions are well prepared. Do you think the master didn't consider these when he built the underground palace? What a fool."

The old man was thirsty and asked him to refill his cup of tea. After taking a sip of tea, he felt his throat was better and said, "Okay. That's all I'll tell you today. Bring the red coral up this afternoon and make a glass cover for you. This way I'll feel more at ease."

"The New Year is coming soon. Tomorrow, our whole family will go to the countryside to visit our clansmen. The day after tomorrow, you and I will inspect our family's properties. The day after tomorrow, we will go to our home and visit our old friends to see how they are doing and what they need. Before the 28th day of the twelfth lunar month, we will visit all our business partners, relatives and friends. We can rest after the New Year."

"Follow grandpa carefully these days and learn from him."

Li Zihang felt his scalp tingling when he heard the old man's words. He reluctantly said he understood.

The old man looked at his grandson's somewhat resistant expression and said seriously: "Grandson, this favor relationship means that you should keep the relationship after you have it. Otherwise, if you have something to do, you will go to others. Once the favor is used up, you can't even enter their door."

"Then again, this is not about personal connections. If you keep interacting with each other, these personal connections will naturally appear. Don't be annoyed. Many things can be solved with just a word from others. But if you don't have connections or personal connections, no one will care about you. You may run around, but you may not be able to get things done."

"My grandson, remember that the most important element of social etiquette is to keep in touch. If you have feelings for someone, bring gifts, visit them during festivals, and have a drink whenever you want. This will deepen your friendship. If you don't have feelings for someone, you will be strangers once, but familiar with them twice. After three or four times, you will become drinking buddies, and after five or six times, you will become friends. After seven or eight times, you will become close friends. If you help someone when they need help, you will become a close friend. When you have a problem, they will do it for you as soon as you ask."

While the old man was earnestly teaching his grandson the truth, Aunt Seven asked the two of them to go out for lunch.

At this moment, Li Zihang II felt relieved. He said hastily, "Grandpa, please teach me the truth after dinner."