Courtyard House: Drunk and tipsy, the whole courtyard exposed at the start.

Although Zhang Dabiao was a time traveler, he understood the importance of protecting national treasures.

Selling cultural relics to Hong Kong businessmen on a large scale could be a serious crime if investigated.

Director Zhao sighed, picked up his teacup, took a sip, and looked utterly helpless.

"If we have foreign exchange and food, these are not impossible."

"Da Biao, this is exactly the kind of thing our country needs right now."

"Money is needed everywhere, and equipment and food are needed everywhere."

"Exporting cultural relics to earn foreign exchange is in line with current policies."

"Of course, especially precious national treasures cannot be sold; they are all subject to expert review."

Zhang Dabiao quickly thought it through.

This is definitely feasible!

He currently has over a million RMB sitting in a domestic bank account, completely unusable for buying or investing. For example, if Zhang Dabiao wanted to take a few hundred thousand RMB to buy a house, gold bars, or start a factory—without even discussing it, the bank manager would call the police, saying that once it's deposited, it's completely untouchable except for earning interest.

He still has millions of Hong Kong dollars and tens of thousands of US dollars in Hong Kong, but he neither has the time nor dares to go too far with his investments there. If he goes too far, the local chambers of commerce and associations will cause him trouble, so there's no need for that.

This money, if left untouched, will not generate value and will depreciate over time.

Using it to exchange for antiques and cultural relics is an incredibly profitable business.

"Director Zhao, I can inquire about things in Hong Kong."

"Anyway, I don't have much use for the money now, so it's my duty, Zhang Dabiao, to support the country's development."

"But I have one request."

Zhang Dabiao held up one finger.

"It must be kept absolutely secret."

Director Zhao was overjoyed when he heard that Zhang Dabiao was willing to take over and that foreign exchange would be coming in.

"Confidentiality is not a problem. This is an internal transaction within the foreign trade department, so it's absolutely safe."

Zhang Dabiao immediately formulated two acquisition plans.

The first plan.

Zhang Dabiao, posing as an ordinary person, purchased ordinary cultural relics from the outer counter.

At the same time, he used his position as a cadre (section chief level) in the internal counter department to purchase mid- to high-end cultural relics.

The pretext and reason are very high-sounding: "To prevent national treasures from being lost overseas, individuals will fund their protection."

They directly invested 100 million RMB!

They didn't even look at the actual goods; the department helped them process the order and they just took the goods.

This is essentially helping antique shops clear their inventory and proactively helping the country recover funds.

Everyone gets along well, and no one can find fault with it. Moreover, it can all be attributed to Director Zhao, which is a political achievement!

The second plan, of course, is based on the premise that Director Zhao is unaware of the details.

Let Ah Xiang from Hong Kong act as an agent for "Roy Cheung".

They operated as "patriotic Hong Kong businessmen" and engaged in large-scale export operations.

Under the guise of "supporting national construction," they purchased in bulk low-grade cultural relics that met export regulations.

It is perfectly reasonable and legal.

Roy Cheung also contributed HK$100 million, plus US$5 to make it a round number.

They also don't look at the actual items and let the antique shops handle it.

Moreover, after the purchase, Zhang Dabiao from the mainland helped keep it safe and it was not transported back to Hong Kong. It was like giving away money for nothing, and the cultural relics were still in China!

These two plans made Director Zhao extremely happy.

One million RMB plus one million HKD in foreign exchange, plus fifty thousand USD in foreign exchange!

This is an enormous political achievement!

It not only helped the antique shop clear out its mountain of unsold inventory.

They also legally and legitimately completed the foreign exchange earnings targets assigned by their superiors.

With the foreign exchange received, a large portion of the shortfall in the ministry's budget for purchasing machinery and grain could be covered.

Director Zhao gripped Zhang Dabiao's hand tightly and shook it up and down.

"Da Biao! You've done our department a huge favor!"

"Leave this to me. I'll arrange for someone to handle the handover procedures for you tomorrow!"

But how to store the goods is also a problem. The teahouses in Lishuiqiao Village really can't hold them all, and this time the quantity is too large.

Director Zhao waved his hand and took Da Biao to see Director Wang again. Together they found Da Biao an idle warehouse in Dongcheng District, a full 1000 square meters, where they only needed to pay rent to the street office.

It's safer to lease the warehouse under the name of a research and development studio under the Ministry of Foreign Trade, with the Ministry also putting up a sign indicating it's a ministry warehouse.

The rent was only 600 yuan a year, so Zhang Dabiao paid 10 years' rent without hesitation. Then he called Master Lei to come and repair the place, making sure the waterproofing and security were done properly. He also built himself a small wooden hut in the warehouse as usual.

In this way, the street got the rent, Master Lei got the project, Zhang Dabiao got the right to use the warehouse for 10 years, and the Ministry of Foreign Trade made a fortune. Everyone was satisfied!

Zhang Dabiao also went to Qinjiatun to find a Qin family member (a scapegoat) to be in charge of signing for and managing the warehouse. Master Jin would also have to come over every day to help Dabiao with the inspection later on. This was a huge project.

Zhang Dabiao himself had no involvement in the entire process; he neither handled the materials nor personally selected any items.

Even if the policy changes and something goes wrong in the future, the Qin family can just take him to Hong Kong and that'll be the end of it. He can keep Qin Mancang company.

As for Zhang Yaoyang's side, we can have Ah Xiang act as his agent via telegram, or Ah Xiang can come to Beijing to make an appearance.

If you follow the proper procedures for foreign trade, everything will be very easy to handle.

In the following days, antique shops in Beijing experienced the most frenzied shopping spree in history.

Truckloads of wooden crates were pulled out of the warehouse.

The place was filled with porcelain, calligraphy and paintings, jade, and wood carvings—and then truckloads of them were sent directly to the warehouse.

After all this trouble, Zhang Dabiao acquired a massive collection of cultural relics worth 100 million RMB, 100 million HKD, and 5 USD.

Including those from before, the total is 95,731 pieces of antiques and calligraphy! That's an average of 26 yuan per piece! That's almost half a month's wages for a worker!

Of course, 99% of them are low-end, ordinary goods, but even if only 1% are mid-to-high-end goods, Zhang Dabiao will have made a huge profit from this bargain!

Because Zhang Dabiao and Zhang Yaoyang didn't inspect the goods, regardless of quality or appearance—they completely trusted the Ministry of Foreign Trade. They were there to get money and clear out inventory. Given this attitude, the higher-ups held a meeting and decided to give Zhang Dabiao and Zhang Yaoyang a 7% discount! That's why they were able to buy so much and were awarded a reward.

Zhang Dabiao had nothing more to offer, as he already had the待遇 of a section chief and was just waiting to graduate and start working in the ministry. Moreover, it was not good to publicize the matter, so he was given a position as manager or consultant in an arts and crafts import and export company, an antique shop, or a Friendship Store. He only needed to give a heads-up whenever he wanted to join, and he would be a cadre from the start. Moreover, housing was reserved for him (the designated person).

Da Biao's contributions over the years have earned him this much!

Meanwhile, Cheung Yiu-yeung was labeled a "patriotic Hong Kong businessman" by the ministry and became a distinguished guest. He was invited to attend the Canton Fair and obtained the valuable qualification to participate. At the same time, as a contributing businessman, he will enjoy simplified approval procedures and greater convenience in supplying goods when doing business with the mainland in the future.

Of course, Roy Cheung wouldn't dare show his face now, and besides, the Canton Fair is for buying things, so what would Roy Cheung buy?

Buy a bed?

If there were any old-fashioned huanghuali wood stepbeds, I might buy one to keep as a collectible.

The sheer number of these artifacts is enough to open a medium-sized museum.

For Zhang Dabiao, as long as there are a few good items inside, he can make a profit. Not to mention anything else, the painting by Tang Bohu that Tian Gang apologized for inside had already made Zhang Dabiao a fortune.

Zhang Dabiao's funds have been almost completely depleted.

I currently only have about 5 RMB, 60 HKD, and 1 USD left for daily operations.

The bulk of it has been converted into cultural relics, antiques, and calligraphy and paintings, which are impossible to auction off now, so we'll just keep it for now.

After the funds conversion is completed.

Zhang Dabiao made another trip to Hong Kong.

Through Ah Xiang and Elder Chen, he bought all the old houses and open spaces around the village house.

The area of ​​the village houses and the land was expanded to 1000 square meters, which sounds terrifying, but it's only 4 village houses, plus the yard and the land in the middle, that's all there is.

High walls were built around it, and barbed wire was strung up.

Because he wanted to dig a bigger, deeper, and more solid basement.

It was used to store these priceless treasures that were about to be transported.

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Time flies when you finish all these infrastructure projects.

Before we knew it, it was time for the start of the new school term.