Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 82: Chapter 80: A World Inside

“Just a pair of jade bracelets?”

Su Qingqing could hardly believe it; she completely lifted the silk cloth inside the box, then picked up the golden Phoebe nanmu box and turned it upside down.

Finding nothing in the box except for the bracelets, she couldn’t help but frown.

Seeing Su Qingqing’s odd behavior, Huo Sining felt it strange and couldn’t help asking, “What’s wrong?”

Su Qingqing was somewhat baffled and dissatisfied, “How could it just be a pair of broken bracelets?”

Huo Sining was slightly amused, “You have a pair of bracelets and that’s not enough? You still want a box full of gold and silver treasures? Please, this is the good stuff I found, and it’s like a pie falling from the sky! Besides, such good mutton-fat jade bracelets, just by looking at the water head (translucency), texture, and color, you can tell they are not ordinary items. I’ve made a fortune!”

...

Su Qingqing shook her head, “That’s not right, it doesn’t make sense!”

“What doesn’t make sense?” Huo Sining countered.

Although Su Qingqing seemed careless most of the time, having learned from Professor Xie for so long, she still had a solid foundation in antiques.

Seeing what was inside the box, she instinctively felt it strange:

“Would the owner of this box use such a luxurious material as golden Phoebe nanmu just to preserve a pair of mutton-fat jade bracelets? Do you think that makes sense? Mutton-fat jade isn’t made of paper, it won’t oxidize buried underwater. What was his purpose in doing this?”

Huo Sining usually considered things carefully and delicately, but when it came to antiques, she was completely in the dark. Thinking Su Qingqing was overthinking, she said indifferently:

“You said these items are from the Ming and Qing Dynasty, what the owner of this box was thinking, probably only the ghosts know, right?”

Su Qingqing shook her head, staring at the box over and over, at her wit’s end.

“I think we should find time to go back to the pool you talked about and check it out again.”

Su Qingqing felt that to get to the bottom of this matter, they should revisit the pool where Huo Sining discovered the box.

Perhaps something had been overlooked by Huo Sining, or maybe there were other antiques hidden at the bottom of the pool.

Holding the mutton-fat jade, Huo Sining asked curiously, “So, how much can this pair of bracelets be worth?”

Su Qingqing glanced sideways at Huo Sining, “They should be worth a couple million, maybe.”

“That expensive?!” Huo Sining was taken aback, “Then it’s quite normal for the owner of this box to hide the bracelets.”

Su Qingqing said resignedly, “Because it’s an antique from the Ming and Qing Dynasty, about 60% of the couple million is its historical value. If these bracelets were modern craftsmanship, then a similar pair would only be worth about a million. Do you understand what I mean?”

Huo Sining was stunned and pointed to the wooden box on the table, “What about this ebony box?”

“Ebony wood, formed from golden Phoebe nanmu, is very rare, and judging by the size of this box, it seems to have been cut from a single large piece of ebony without any signs of patching. If it went to auction, it could fetch at least seven or eight hundred thousand,” said Su Qingqing.

Huo Sining then finally understood Su Qingqing’s doubt; ebony and mutton-fat jade are both treasures, and although their prices have been inflated over the years, their value has always been on the rise.

Based on the value of the ebony and the mutton-fat jade bracelets from the Ming and Qing Dynasty, the price of this golden Phoebe nanmu box should be comparable to the bracelets, which indeed seems odd.

Although mutton-fat jade is precious, ordinary wood could also preserve it just fine; using a box of equal value made from golden Phoebe nanmu seems like overdoing it.

Huo Sining also felt puzzled, but she shrugged it off with a laugh:

“I think you might be overcomplicating things. Maybe the owner hid the bracelets because they held some important significance. Besides, these are matters from hundreds of years ago, how can we possibly make them clear?”

Huo Sining was indifferent to antiques, and the idea of diving in the sea to retrieve them was purely driven by the desire to sell them and repay debts; she didn’t share Su Qingqing’s fervent spirit of inquiry.

After fiddling with the mutton-fat jade bracelets for a while in her hands, Huo Sining planned to put them back in the box.

She carefully placed the jade bracelets back into the box and closed the wooden case.

The ebony wood was smooth and warm, with a fresh aroma. Huo Sining couldn’t help but lift the box to her nose to smell its scent.

Unexpectedly, as she touched the back of the box, her hand slipped, and the box nearly fell out of her palm.

Huo Sining’s heart skipped a beat, fearing that the bracelets inside the box might fall out and shatter on the ground. She hastily turned to the side and used her right hand to support it.

In the midst of this drop and catch, she didn’t know what she had touched, but she heard a “click” sound, a soft and faint noise that made Huo Sining’s figure stiffen.

Her face suddenly changed, and she instinctively looked up at Su Qingqing.

Su Qingqing also heard that crisp sound, but she thought it was the sound of the jade bracelets jostling inside the box as Huo Sining fumbled to hold the ebony box steady, so she didn’t take it seriously.

Su Qingqing didn’t notice the odd expression on Huo Sining’s face, but Huo Sining herself felt guilty and bowed her head, not daring to look at Su Qingqing again.

After hearing the crisp sound, she realized there was something unusual about the box. Unable to resist her doubts and curiosity, she stealthily reached her hand to the bottom of the box.

Indeed, at the bottom of the box, her fingers found a small wooden plank that was protruding.

Huo Sining was sure that this protruding wooden piece had not been there before she and Su Qingqing unlocked the box and took out the jade bracelets.

Huo Sining had a hunch; she knew that Su Qingqing’s guess was not wrong. This box was indeed not as simple as it appeared on the surface! There was a problem with that protruding wooden plank!

What exactly was that wooden plank all about?

Huo Sining kept asking herself in her mind, nearly unable to contain herself. She was desperate to figure it out at once.

Yet for some reason, a voice in her subconscious warned her, advising her to suppress her emotions. She must not give anything away, let alone reveal the mystery in front of Su Qingqing.

After taking a deep breath, Huo Sining tried hard to control the surge of excitement within her and calmly locked the box back in her room. She even joked with Su Qingqing:

“This pair of bracelets, along with the box, is worth three to four million. I think I need to install a safe in my room to be secure.”

Su Qingqing looked at Huo Sining with disdain: “Installing a safe at home is like telling a thief that your valuable items are all stored here waiting for him to steal. It’s safer to store it directly in the bank.”

The Xianyu Shop was after all a place of business, with guests coming in and out every day; if someone really sneaked upstairs, it would be impossible to guard against.

However, Huo Sining inwardly disagreed with Su Qingqing’s suggestion. If one believes that keeping things in the bank is worry-free, then they are mistaken. In her previous life, she had seen many news stories about money mysteriously disappearing from bank accounts, proving that keeping valuables in the bank is not a foolproof strategy either.

Huo Sining was going out to the wild seafood market to stock up that night, so Su Qingqing did not stay over at the Xianyu Shop.

Huo Sining was preoccupied with the secret in the ebony box all afternoon, restless. After dinner, she couldn’t wait to retreat into her room and lock the door behind her.

She quickly pulled the ebony box out of the wardrobe, and Huo Sining felt around the spot where her hand had encountered something unusual during the day.

To Huo Sining’s surprise, the protruding wooden plank her hand had felt at the bottom of the box during the day was now gone.

The bottom of the box was intact and smooth, with not a trace of a protrusion.

Huo Sining, not quite convinced, refused to believe that what she felt during the day was an illusion. She took everything out of the box— the bracelets and the silk—then turned the empty ebony box over.

She then knocked gently on the bottom of the box with her knuckles. The box was originally hollowed out from a single piece of ebony, so the knuckles made a clear yet muffled sound when tapped on it.

When she tapped on the right corner of the box, however, it emitted a hollow thumping sound.

This was the spot!

Huo Sining’s spirits immediately lifted.

She couldn’t help but take a deep breath to calm her somewhat tense heart, and then she gently pressed on that corner.

Soon she heard a “click,” sounding like a spring being pressed and then gently retracting.

Huo Sining applied more pressure, and at that moment, the piece of wood on the corner was indeed pressed down by her.

“Click—”

No sooner said than done, as the corner piece of wood sunk into the box, a series of gears turning echoed from within.

Immediately after, the ebony box made a crisp sound, and starting from the central section, several wooden planks collapsed inward at the same time.