After leaving the exhibition, Chen Qiang went straight to Chinatown, Los Angeles, and wanted to find someone who had a study of ancient Chinese porcelain.

Chen Qiang was very lucky, and he really found such an old man.

This man's surname is Guo, a descendant of the Manchu Guoluo family. When the Manchu Qing Dynasty was still alive, Mr. Guo also had a title. Among his ancestors, he had an emperor's concubine, so he was also considered a royal relative. Mr. Guo has seen the world and has a profound attainment in antique calligraphy and painting. In terms of porcelain, many national treasure-level treasures have been seen in real objects.

After the fall of the Qing Dynasty, Mr. Guo was worried that he would settle the accounts after the autumn, so he sold his money and fled to the United States. He settled in Los Angeles for many years and was in a very simple way on weekdays. He lived a worry-free life with the gold, silver and treasures he brought to China.

Chen Qiang invited Mr. Guo to the art exhibition site. Mr. Guo was indeed capable. What dynasty are these antiques from, whether they are genuine or fake, Mr. Guo knew at a glance.

With Mr. Guo here, Chen Qiang was not worried that he would buy fakes, so he let go and bought them on a big scale. As long as it was a Chinese cultural relics, Chen Qiang would buy them as much as possible.

There is a saying that "antiques and gold in prosperous times" means as literally. You can collect antiques in peaceful times, but in chaotic times, it is safest to hold gold.

World War II was obviously a super chaotic world. Although the United States has not been attacked by war, the international environment is there, and gold is definitely the most popular thing globally. Even if some rich people do not hold too much gold, they will retain a large amount of dollars in their hands. As for antiques, they are not that popular.

So during World War II, the price of antiques was very cheap, and it was not an exaggeration to say that it was a bargain. If you look at it from a future perspective, it would be a purchase of antiques for a packaging fee.

Although the price of antiques is already very cheap, the failure to sell at auctions still occurs very frequently. These wealthy people in the United States are not very enthusiastic about buying antiques. After all, the lowest price of the cheapest antiques at auctions is four-digit dollars, which was also a lot of money at that time.

Moreover, in the United States at that time, there were many projects that could be invested in. If you want to make money, investing in industry was much more cost-effective than investing in antiques. Even if you invest in real estate, you would have good returns. Unless you don’t care about money, or those who are real antique enthusiasts, you would not spend so much money to buy antiques.

So Chen Qiang bought more than 200 antiques, but only spent 300,000 US dollars. Chen Qiang felt that he had made a profit, and compared with his tens of millions of dollars, 300,000 US dollars was nothing. Moreover, among the cultural relics Chen Qiang purchased, there were some authentic products of the level of national treasures of the past, and such things could not be measured by money.

Then Chen Qiang found another antique shop, and he commissioned the owner of the antique shop to collect Chinese cultural relics that had fallen into the American folk.

Chen Qiang knows nothing about antiques, and he can't wander around the United States to collect antiques. Things like purchasing cultural relics naturally have to be done by professionals. These antique shop owners have their own channels. As long as Chen Qiang is willing to pay, they will find ways to help Chen Qiang collect antiques.

After completing these things, Chen Qiang returned to New York.

...

"Boss, you are finally back." After seeing Chen Qiang, the secretary trotted over in three steps, holding a stack of documents in his hand.

"Is there anything important?" Chen Qiang asked.

"There is an invitation letter written in Chinese. The person who sent the invitation letter was also a Chinese. He seemed to be from the Chinese Embassy in the United States, saying that he wanted to invite you to the dance." The secretary said.

"Chinese invitation letters are rare. I have received invitation letters from the Embassy in the United States before, but they are all in English. This time it turns out to be Chinese, which is not common!" Chen Qiang took the invitation letter and glanced quickly, and his expression suddenly became serious.

"This big man is coming to New York!" Chen Qiang frowned.

The person who sent Chen Qiang the invitation letter was the famous Mrs. Jiang!

In January, China and the United States signed the China-U.S. New Testament and signed the China-U.S. New Testament with Britain. The anti-content of the treaty is to abolish the extraterritorial rights of the United States and Britain in China, abolish the Xin Chou Treaty, return the UK to Tianjin and lease it in Guangzhou, Britain and the United States abandoned the navigation rights of China's coastal and inland rivers, Britain gave up the authority of China's customs general tax authority, abolished the treaty port court system, etc. In general, Britain and the United States gave up the privileges in China obtained through unequal treaties.

After all, China, the United States and Britain have formed an alliance, and Japan's invasion has long made the privileges of the United States and Britain in China in name only. Therefore, the United States and Britain might as well be a favor, give up these no longer "privileges" and express goodwill to Chongqing. Chongqing also regards this matter as a major diplomatic victory.

Then Chongqing continued to work harder, and the first lady, Mrs. Jiang, secretly left Chongqing and flew to the United States in the name of curing the disease.

Mrs. Jiang was relatively low-key when she arrived in New York. Chen Qiang was in New York at that time, but it was only two days later that Mrs. Jiang had arrived in the United States, so Chen Qiang did not see this Mrs. Jiang.

When Mrs. Jiang arrived in Washington, she suddenly became high-profile. News about Mrs. Jiang's visit to the United States also appeared in the newspaper, and the entire page was filled with photos of Mrs. Jiang.

Later, Mrs. Chiang delivered a speech in the US Congress, which achieved great success. At that time, the members of the US Congress and the Chinese People's Congress highly praised Mrs. Chiang. However, ordinary people would definitely not have access to such matters. After all, the speeches of Congress are not open to the public.

Mrs. Jiang lived in the White House for eleven days and then began her trip to visit the United States.

Eleven days were a bit long, and it was so long that Mrs. Jiang showed all her negative images. She brought her habits in China to the United States. Her attitude and arrogant attitude made the White House staff feel very unhappy. Some White House staff complained: "Unless you are a key member of the cabinet, you will be a 'court' in Mrs. Jiang's eyes."

Roosevelt's wife was very angry when she saw Mrs. Jiang being so domineering to the White House staff. She commented on Mrs. Jiang: "Mrs. Jiang can talk about democracy, but she doesn't know how to reflect democracy in life." Diplomat Gu Weijun wrote in her diary that the Chairman's wife frequently met with many Republican politicians in the White House without any hesitation, which made Roosevelt feel uncomfortable. After all, Roosevelt was the president of the Democratic Party. Mrs. Roosevelt even suggested that it would be better to let her live in Hyde Park. In other words, Mrs. Jiang was no longer very popular with Roosevelt and his wife at this time.

There is another scene that is often mentioned. Mrs. Roosevelt and Mrs. Jiang talked about the strike of American miners at a family dinner. When Roosevelt asked Mrs. Jiang what to do if the Chinese government encountered such a thing during the war. Mrs. Jiang scratched her fingers across her neck and made a beheading gesture. "She didn't speak," Mrs. Roosevelt recorded, "a pair of beautiful, small hands gently stroked her throat." This allowed Roosevelt and his wife to see the "dark" side of Mrs. Jiang.

Now Mrs. Jiang has left Washington and has begun to visit major cities across the United States. New York is a must-visit place for Mrs. Jiang. She will stay in New York for a while, and will hold many activities such as tea parties, dances, banquets and other activities. As a celebrity among the Chinese in the United States, Chen Qiang will naturally be invited.

Chen Qiang did not want to have too much interaction with Mrs. Jiang, but the matter has come to this point. The invitation letters have been sent, and it is impossible not to go by himself.

Fortunately, the dance party is tomorrow night, and Chen Qiang has time to take a break and handle some other matters.

Chen Qiang's mind is still about purchasing lost cultural relics. He plans to investigate the antique market in New York City to see how many Chinese cultural relics are located in antique shops in New York.

The antique market in New York is much larger than that in Los Angeles, but at this time, the antique business in New York was not easy to do.

The war in Europe allowed many British or French people to take refuge in the United States, and these Europeans who came to the United States to take refuge also brought a lot of antiques or artworks.

In fact, most of the rich people who can come to the United States to take refuge are rich, and there are even many noble descendants. Even if the poor want to run away, they don’t have the ability.

Wars have always been like this. Once the war breaks out, the rich can run away, and the poor can only stay and get shot. For example, during World War II, the Jews were massacred, but none of the dead Jews were Jewish rich people, and those Jewish rich people had long since run away. This is true in modern wars. Whether it is Libya or Syria, these countries were destroyed, and the rich people in these countries had already gone to Europe and lived in villas in France, Germany or Switzerland, and their lives were happy. When the war came, the rich people ran away with money, and they were still rich people. The poor people who could not escape might turn into a corpse. However, more often, the ones who created chaos were those who were dissatisfied with their lives.

Europeans who come to the United States are rich, and rich people naturally have more precious antiques or artworks. However, many people come to the United States and spend a lot of time. Naturally, sellers will have to maintain their lives. They will sell the antiques and artworks they bring. These antiques and artworks flow into the market in large quantities, which will lower the overall price of antiques. Therefore, the price of antiques in New York is more affordable than that in Los Angeles.

Chen Qiang originally thought that there would not be many Chinese cultural relics in the antique market in New York. After all, New York is a city along the Atlantic Ocean, and they are facing Europe. Los Angeles is leaning against the Pacific Ocean, and opposite China is China. Geographically speaking, Los Angeles will have more Chinese cultural relics, and New York should have more European cultural relics or African cultural relics.

But the fact is exactly the opposite of what Chen Qiang imagined. New York not only has Chinese cultural relics, but also many.

The Chinese cultural relics that are wandering in New York were not brought by Americans, but by Europeans. Many Europeans who came to the United States to take refuge in the United States have participated in the invasion of China. They have snatched many precious cultural relics in China. Now the sons or grandsons of these invaders have sold the Chinese cultural relics they snatched to the United States.

However, it is still Chen Qiang's fault if he knows nothing about antiques. If he wants to acquire antiques, he must find someone who knows more about antiques, just like the Mr. Guo in Los Angeles.

If it is in China, it is definitely easier to find an antique expert like Mr. Guo, but this is in the United States, and it is really difficult to find someone who knows Chinese antiques well. So Chen Qiang could only seek help from Mr. Situ, the boss of the Chinese community in New York City. With Mr. Situ's connections and power, he should be able to find an expert who understands Chinese antiques.

...

Chen Qiang took the gift to visit Mr. Situ, and the one who received Chen Qiang was Mr. Situ's housekeeper.

"Mr. Chen, you came here so badly. Our master is not in New York now." The butler said.

"Is Mr. Situ's place far away? When will he come back?" Chen Qiang asked.

"Let me tell the truth. Our master is not in the United States. He went to South America. A few days ago, Chongqing gave our master a task to encourage overseas Chinese in the United States, so the master went to various countries in South America to promote the war of resistance to overseas Chinese, and also raised funds for the war of resistance. It is estimated that the master will not come back in a short period of time." The butler answered.

"That's really a coincidence." Chen Qiang sighed disappointedly.

"Mr. Chen, what's the matter with us master? Why not talk about it first, maybe I can help you." The butler said.

Chen Qiang knew that although this housekeeper was nominally Mr. Situ's housekeeper, he was also a figure in the Chinese gang in New York. There is a saying that it is the seventh rank official in front of the Prime Minister. Mr. Situ's housekeeper also has some status in the Chinese gang in New York and his words are also effective.

So Chen Qiang said, "I want to find an expert in antiques."

Chen Qiang then told the butler about his idea of ​​purchasing antiques.

The housekeeper is quite supportive of Chen Qiang's idea. As a Chinese, he definitely does not want his country's national treasure to be lost overseas, nor does he want his descendants to go to museums abroad to see his country's national treasure.

The housekeeper lowered his head and thought for a while, then said, "Mr. Chen, I really know an antique expert. This man's surname is Wu. Before coming to the United States, he worked as a shopkeeper in a pawn shop in Peking City for ten years. You know, he must be knowledgeable in a pawn shop in Peking. He has seen all kinds of antiques. I think he should meet your requirements."

"Then where should I find him?" Chen Qiang asked again.

"This man learned the craftsmanship of repairing jewelry, so after coming to the United States, he also made a living. His craftsmanship is very good and he was invited by a jewelry store in New York to repair jewelry. Although I don't know where he lives now, I will give you the address of the jewelry store where he works." The butler said, took a piece of paper, wrote down an address, and handed it to Chen Qiang.

—————
Chapter completed!