Reborn As Super Heiress

Chapter 1624: Chapter 1608: Paintings in the Cylinder

Huo Sining didn’t really want to explain too clearly, after all, Su Qingqing and Bai Yishan didn’t know about her abilities, so she half-truthfully said:

”Just now, when I was diving, I saw a box about to be corroded by seawater on a reef below, and it contained these things.”

As she spoke, Huo Sining pointed to the rings, necklaces, and gold coins by her side.

Su Qingqing and Bai Yishan both knew that Huo Sining was quite good at swimming. Previously, during the trip at the Modu Reservoir, they had witnessed Huo Sining’s diving skills firsthand, so they had no doubts about what she said.

However, upon hearing that treasures could be retrieved from underwater, Su Qingqing became somewhat excited:

”There are actually such good things down there? Ahhh, such a pity, I should have gone down too. No, give me my diving suit quickly, I want to go down and take a look, maybe I’ll bring up a box myself!”

Hearing the nitwit’s words, Huo Sining couldn’t help but feel amused and quickly reached out to stop Su Qingqing from grabbing the diving suit:

”Please, big sister, you can’t even swim, let alone dive, okay? If you really go down, it’s not to retrieve treasures from a box, it’s us retrieving you!”

Huo Sining’s words made everyone on the deck burst into laughter, and Su Qingqing’s face turned bright red, glaring at Huo Sining with embarrassment.

The rings and necklaces had become somewhat dull after being soaked in seawater, but once they return, using a professional cleaning solution will restore their golden luster. Huo Sining wasn’t worried about this.

However, those four gold coins were something Huo Sining couldn’t quite figure out, so after some thought, she decided to take pictures of the coins and planned to check their background later.

The gold handgun looked pretty nice. After Gu Xu carefully disassembled and inspected the gun’s structure, he confirmed the handgun was intact, definitely functional, and not just a decorative piece.

”The cost of this gun wouldn’t be low even today. Pure gold, inlaid with gems and silver foil, the material cost alone is considerable. Plus, this handgun should be an 18th-century model; collectors who appreciate nostalgia would like this sort of thing. So I estimate, the price of this gun is not cheap, at least it can cover our capital for this trip.”

Gu Xu said with a playful smile to Huo Sining, his eyes full of jest.

Huo Sining’s face flushed red in an instant. She indeed felt a bit distressed about the expenses of this trip. If there were truly no gains, she would be very frustrated, wasting so much effort and time, and ending up with nothing, while having spent a significant amount of money—anyone would feel annoyed.

But with Gu Xu’s words, she felt a bit relieved. No matter what, this handgun had at least helped her recover the capital.

Huo Sining carefully collected the handgun and bullets, but she didn’t have a suitable box to store the gun at the moment, so she had to put the gun back into the cylinder. As she did so, she suddenly remembered that there seemed to be a dozen or so rolled-up xuan paper hidden inside the cylinder.

Without thinking, Huo Sining pulled the xuan paper out. It was a large bundle rolled into a hollow shape and placed inside the cylinder. Once she pulled it out, she realized these rolls of xuan paper were not blank but had things drawn on them.

Qibao, the little guy, had quick eyes and hands, and immediately reached out to unfurl the xuan paper. After looking through a few sheets, the little guy loudly announced, ”These are all pencil drawings! But I can’t understand what they depict.”

Pencil drawings? Huo Sining was taken aback, looking down at the drawings spread out by Qibao, and then she realized these so-called pencil drawings were actually sketches.

There were five or six drawings, all sketches. As Huo Sining glanced over them, they looked like portraits and at the same time seemed to be some type of animal, but it was impossible to tell what exactly they were.

As for the other paintings unfurled by Zhong Xiaoyao, those were oil paintings, vibrantly colored and very striking. Yet, like the sketches, they depicted bizarre and abstract things, with twisted faces that were impossible to identify.

Seeing these paintings, Huo Sining was a bit confused.

She thought to herself that maybe these were the products the captain of the sunken ship tinkered with when he had nothing better to do? No wonder he hid them away; the results were really... unimpressive.

While Huo Sining was quietly mocking in her heart, Bai Yishan had already come over at some point. Upon seeing the xuan paper scrolls unfolded by Qibao and Zhong Xiaoyao, her expression completely changed, and her voice was trembling and shaky:

”Qibao, let me see the paintings!”

Qibao, not quite understanding, obediently handed over the scroll upon hearing Bai Yishan’s request.

Bai Yishan carefully examined the sketches in Qibao’s hand and tilted her head to look at the oil paintings in Zhong Xiaoyao’s hands. She was so excited that she trembled, lifted her head, and murmured to Huo Sining:

”I was 14 years old and could draw as well as Rafael, afterwards I used a lifetime to learn to paint like a child.”

”What?” Huo Sining instinctively asked, looking at Bai Yishan with confusion.

Everyone on the deck heard Bai Yishan’s words, but none understood what she meant to convey.

Bai Yishan took a deep breath, trying to suppress an overwhelming urge to shout in excitement, her eyes burned as she gazed at the paintings in her hand, saying:

”That sentence was said by a famous person. He said, I was fourteen and could draw as well as Raphael, but I spent my entire life learning to paint like a child.”

Huo Sining and the others looked at each other: ”Which famous person said that?”

Bai Yishan looked up at Huo Sining for a long moment before softly uttering a name, ”Pablo Picasso.”

As soon as the name was mentioned, Huo Sining’s face changed dramatically. She recalled Bai Yishan’s reaction after seeing the paintings, seeming to realize something. She quickly looked down at the oil paintings in Zhong Xiaoyao’s hands.

The paintings were indistinguishable as realism or abstract, the figures distorted and deformed, but the exaggerated strokes were definitely not something an amateur could produce.

What shocked Huo Sining even more was the unassuming signature found in the corners of each painting, the very name Bai Yishan had just spoken aloud.

Pablo Picasso!