I am a person who is quite passionate about antiques, so I pay close attention to the antique auctions held by major auction houses.

The Jinbai International that Mr. Wei mentioned is a British-owned company, and a comprehensive auction company mainly dealing in Chinese cultural relics and artworks.

There is a long-standing rumor in the antique and collectibles circle that the behind-the-scenes shareholder of Jinbai International is David Auction Ltd. of the United Kingdom, also known as Dagong International Auction House.

However, according to Mr. Wei, the two are actually unrelated. Kimberly-Clark International is essentially a British-owned state-owned enterprise that disguises itself as a private enterprise and makes a fortune in China by any means necessary.

Many people might think this is an exaggeration, but reality is much harsher.

Looking at the world, most Western countries do not have a very long history.

Over the past century, a large number of Chinese cultural relics have been lost overseas through illegal means such as war and illicit trade, and are now housed in public and private museums or in the hands of private collectors.

According to statistics from the China Cultural Relics Society, since the Opium War of 1840, more than ten million Chinese cultural relics have been lost to countries and regions in Europe, America, Japan, and Southeast Asia, including more than one million national first- and second-class cultural relics.

There are 1.67 million Chinese artifacts in 218 museums in 47 countries, and the number of Chinese artifacts in private collections is more than 10 times that of museum collections.

The museums in New York, the British Museum, the Guimet Museum in France, the National Museum of Japan, and the Hermitage Museum in Russia display more than 70,000 Chinese cultural relics!

Some of these cultural relics have even disappeared from the country!

Among today's top ten auction houses in the world, several deal in Chinese antiques and initially only auctioned their own large collections.

Those national treasures at the auction were all obtained through cunning and forceful means.

In the early stages of reform and opening up, these Western countries were no longer able to plunder the increasingly powerful China. So they resorted to all sorts of despicable means. Taking advantage of my country's focus on economic development and the lack of public awareness of cultural relic protection, they set up shell companies and, under the guise of promoting Chinese cultural research and teaching, and geographical exploration, came to China to collect private treasures at extremely low prices.

This method has been used from the Qing Dynasty to the Republic of China, and now to the new China.

The vast and ancient land of China, with its rivers flowing for eternity.

Cultural relics are not merely objects; they bear witness to the glorious history of this great nation.

Those national treasures lost overseas have witnessed the heroes who once dominated the world, experienced the grandeur of war, and testified to the rise and fall of dynasties.

Similarly, every artifact displayed on foreign territory represents a period of humiliation and shame before the nation became powerful.

Everyone in this room is from the industry, so we are all familiar with the aforementioned history.

After listening to Mr. Wei's story, everyone was filled with righteous indignation.

“You little guys know how to be angry, which means that the backbone of our four gates is not broken and the blood of the Chinese people is still there.”

Seeing our appearance, Grandpa Wei nodded in satisfaction and continued his story: "Back then, when Song Chengwen learned that Jinbai International was going to be established, he sold his family property, donated all the cultural relics in his private collection to China, and returned to China with a large amount of cash. He then found the descendants of the four families."

The four gates dispersed back then to prevent national treasures from falling into the hands of the Japanese invaders. This reunion is also to prevent more national treasures from being scattered abroad and stolen by the British!

People in those days didn't have an awareness of cultural relic protection, but the people of Simen had a long-term vision. We all knew that if Jinbai International really took away the treasures left by our ancestors, we would have to pay a price of millions or even hundreds of millions of times to get them back in the future!

So, the four leaders of our generation hit it off and decided to join forces to protect the cultural relics and absolutely not let those foreign devils' conspiracy succeed!

It was a struggle filled with open and covert attacks, conspiracies and intrigues! At the call of the four gates, many colleagues in the industry stepped forward and formed the Chinese Folk Cultural Relics Protection Association to jointly fight against the Jinbai Group!

Although we were full of fighting spirit, we were just too poor in those days. After the funds brought back by the Song family were exhausted, we had no strength left to fight back!

Back then, the average wage in China was only around forty yuan, while Jinbai International would ask for thousands or even tens of thousands of yuan for anything they liked. We simply couldn't compete!

Lured by money, antique dealers from all over the country swarmed like flies to blood, eagerly cooperating with foreign groups like Jinbai International. They even formed a Sino-Foreign Art Friendship Exchange Association specifically to suppress us!

Qu Ruilin slammed his hand on the table: "This is outrageous! No matter what, there will never be a shortage of spineless traitors in our country!"

After hearing these words, I was also quite angry. Those traitors do things that betray the interests of the country and the people, get rich and powerful by selling out the country, and then they want to transform themselves into high society and flaunt their power. It is truly disgusting.

"If you have time to flip through the Records of History, you'll find that what China has no shortage of are traitors who forget their ancestors for their own selfish interests and lick the boots of foreigners."

Song Laosan wasn't as angry as we were. He turned his gaze to Old Master Wei: "Old Master Wei, when the Four Gates were fighting against the Jinbai Group, I was probably just born or didn't even remember anything, so I don't know much about this history. According to you, the Four Gates were at a disadvantage in terms of financial resources, so how did they turn the tables?"

"We didn't turn the tide; in fact, we lost utterly."

Grandpa Wei sighed: "Back then, it was the early stage of reform. The country was transitioning from a planned economy to a market economy. People had realized the importance of money. It was a golden age where success or failure was determined by money. Everyone was trying their best to fill their own pockets. No one cared about so-called culture and heritage. Even in our cultural relics protection association, some people were bribed."

Old Master Wei's words gave me a bad feeling.

If my father is truly a sinner of the Four Gates, does that also mean that he, too, succumbed to the temptation of money and joined the so-called Sino-Foreign Exchange Association?

Grandpa Wei didn't notice the fluctuating emotions on my face. When he mentioned that past event, he couldn't help but feel sad: "At that time, we were powerless to stop the large-scale outflow of cultural relics from the private sector. Moreover, the people from the Sino-Foreign Association also regarded us as a thorn in their side. They bribed gangsters to retaliate against us. Even some people in public institutions became their protectors and labeled us as an illegal organization."

Seeing that Grandpa Wei hadn't mentioned my father's matter at all, I couldn't help but ask, "Grandpa Wei, what does this have to do with our Duan family?"

"This has nothing to do with the Duan family. Your grandfather and aunt are both excellent. The truly disappointing person is Duan Jinyan!"

Grandpa Wei put down his pipe: "Back then, the foreign forces that plundered cultural relics in China were not just Jinbai International, but more than a dozen companies vying for the market. Their ferocity, like tigers entering a flock of sheep, far exceeded your imagination! Because there were too many wolves and not enough meat, these companies were no longer satisfied with just buying cultural relics scattered among the people. Instead, they set their sights on the treasures buried underground in Kyushu, quickly setting off a tomb raiding craze in China."