Qin Hanshu first took a shovel to her old house, which is now where Hu Wenwen lives.
Move a cabinet that's leaning against the northeast corner, count south to the third brick joint, and tap it a few times with the handle of a shovel; the floor tile will loosen.
Then, pry the bricks open with a shovel, and a layer of wooden planks will be revealed.
Continue prying the bricks, gradually increasing the size of the wooden planks, until finally the planks can be removed intact.
Beneath the wooden plank was a pit about three feet square.
There were three sandalwood boxes in the pit, one rectangular and two square.
Qin Hanshu carefully carried the box out.
The rectangular box was mostly filled with books, including many rare and ancient copies. There were also three scrolls of calligraphy and paintings, all by renowned figures.
The calligraphy, paintings, and books were all wrapped in several layers of oil paper before being placed in the box. If you smelled them carefully, you could still detect a faint scent of Chinese medicine, which was from an insect repellent.
These paintings, calligraphy, and books were Qin Hanshu's father's most treasured possessions.
The other two boxes contained the belongings of Qin Hanshu's grandmother, which were said to be mostly treasures brought from the Prince's mansion and later brought to the Qin family as part of her dowry.
When Grandma passed away, she divided her dowry into two parts, one for each of her two sons. The portion that Uncle Qin received disappeared without a trace after he died on the battlefield.
Once the box was opened, it was filled with dazzling jewels. The most eye-catching item was a huge pigeon blood red ruby, which felt heavy in the hand. There were also several other colored gemstones such as sapphires, emeralds, and diamonds, but they were smaller in size.
There are four bracelets, the best of which is a glassy, bright green jadeite with excellent translucency.
Another piece of jade jewelry is a 28-bead jade necklace. The texture, clarity, and color are all of the highest quality and are consistent, so it should have come from the same piece of raw stone.
There is a pair of 18-bead bracelets, one made of jade and the other of red agate. These must have been something Grandma Qin often played with during her lifetime.
There were also several small items such as earrings and hairpins.
Finally, there were about twenty or thirty pearls, each the size of a pigeon's egg, filling the gaps in the box completely, radiating a soft, pale golden light.
This box is full of jewelry.
The other square box contained larger antiques: a gilded seated Buddha from the Yongle period, a jade ruyi scepter once used by an emperor of a previous dynasty, and a red coral ornament, all of which were originally from the palace.
Qin Hanshu's father had shown her these things when she was very young, but they disappeared later, and Qin Hanshu had no idea where they went.
It wasn't until many years after her death that Yang Aizhen took the things out of the underground cellar, and only then did she realize that there was such a hidden cellar in her home.
Perhaps she was too young, and her father was afraid she would let it slip to others, so he didn't tell her.
Yang Aizhen used all these things to please Hu Wenwen.
Hu Wenwen used that ruby to set into a necklace, which she wore around her neck at her wedding, stunning her in-laws who had previously looked down on her.
These kinds of things exist in very small quantities in the world; they can't be bought just because you have money.
Besides the treasure, there was also a bankbook in the box.
In the initial public-private partnership, the policy of "four-way profit sharing" was adopted. The so-called "four-way profit sharing" refers to the national income tax, enterprise reserve fund, workers' welfare expenses, and capital dividends.
After Qin's father's textile factory was merged into a state-owned enterprise, he became the factory director, but he was also considered an investor and could receive 20% of the textile factory's profits each year.
Two years later, the policy was changed to a fixed interest rate of 0.5% per annum, meaning that the annual dividend was 5% of the profit, which lasted for ten years until it ended in 1966.
In other words, for 12 years, the Qin family received dividends from the textile factory.
The money in the passbook has never been touched; there have only been deposits, no withdrawals, and the total balance is over 750,000 yuan.
In this era, it was undoubtedly an astronomical sum of money. However, this was the era of ration coupons, so simply having money wouldn't be of much use.
For reasons unknown, Qin's father opened the dividend account in Qin Hanshu's name back then.
Qin Hanshu knew she was rich, which is why she spent money so recklessly yesterday.
Previously, because Qin Hanshu was still young, after her father passed away, the bankbook had always been kept by Yang Aizhen, who had hidden it in the cellar.
The secret of the cellar is currently unknown to the Hu family.
—Perhaps Yang Aizhen was afraid of having her old things in the cellar discovered, or perhaps she still harbored suspicion towards the Hu family.
However, after Qin's father passed away, the factory gave him a pension of three thousand yuan, which was equivalent to three years' salary. Yang Aizhen used this money for the family's daily expenses.
Hu Dayong and Hu Bingbing give most of their wages to Old Mrs. Hu, and Yang Aizhen's money is almost gone, so they will soon have to use the money in her savings account.
Qin Hanshu angrily put the bankbook and three boxes into her spatial storage!
Then, Qin Hanshu went to the kitchen.
Three days ago, Yang Aizhen used her family's food ration book and grain coupons to purchase next month's food rations, as well as oil, salt, soy sauce, vinegar, and honeycomb briquettes.
Qin Hanshu was too lazy to choose carefully, so she simply packed up all the stock in the kitchen, including pots, pans, and other utensils.
Qin Hanshu disliked using pots, pans, and other utensils because she thought they were dirty, but that didn't stop her from making sure the Hu family had nothing to use.
The kitchen suddenly became empty.
The storage room is full of junk; don't want it.
The Qin family used to use rosewood furniture, but later felt it was too ostentatious, so they handed it over and switched to chicken wing wood. However, the craftsmanship is very fine, and it is good furniture.
Hu Wenwen used to bring her classmates home often, openly or subtly showing off everything in her house.
Qin Hanshu packed up all the furniture from the several rooms.
To reiterate, she might not need it, but she doesn't want the Hu family to use it.
Naturally, the contents of those cabinets, cupboards, and boxes were also taken away.
She'll find a chance to throw everything out of there later, so that the things the Hu family used won't pollute her space!
The whole house is empty.
Besides the dilapidated storage room, only the large kang (heated brick bed) on the south side of the room where Yang Aizhen and Hu Dayong slept remained, which couldn't be stored away.
To fully furnish this house, it would cost Hu Dayong at least five years' worth of salary.
Yang Aizhen is broke now. Let's see how they'll continue their affluent lifestyle!
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