Chapter 341 - 193: I Like This Meeting Gift

Chapter 341: Chapter 193: I Like This Meeting Gift

Arthur nodded, gesturing for Su Chen to proceed.

Su Chen took the two exquisite gift boxes and examined them. They were rectangular, only about two or three centimeters high—hardly large enough to hold anything substantial.

After a moment of thought, Su Chen still couldn’t guess what was inside. With a flick of his finger, he unfastened the clasp on one of the boxes.

The moment he opened the box, Su Chen saw a slightly tattered, silk-like material lying inside, covered in numerous characters.

Su Chen could immediately tell the script had a distinct Eastern style, but he couldn’t quite place the era. He wasn’t an expert in this field, after all.

Just as Su Chen was wondering, a soft gasp came from beside him. "The Chu Silk Manuscripts?!"

The speaker was none other than Su Chen’s butler, Jiang Hui.

Su Chen turned to Jiang Hui and pointed at the two boxes. "Old Jiang, you know what this is?"

Jiang Hui shot a subtle glance at Arthur before nodding at Su Chen.

This was no bluff on Jiang Hui’s part. A top-tier butler serving an elite family must not only master the art of service but also be well-versed in areas like antiques, literature, and musical instruments.

"The story behind these is a bit complicated. I can explain it in detail to you later, sir," Jiang Hui said with a small nod.

Su Chen didn’t mind either way. He was just about to ask Jiang Hui to put the boxes away when Arthur, who was sitting across from him, spoke up.

"Mr. Su, I’m quite curious about this myself. Would it be too much trouble to ask your butler to share the story with us?"

The two boxes had been a last-minute idea. He felt he had to give Su Chen a gift for their first meeting, so he’d instructed his secretary, Fleur, to find some artifacts from Huaxia to serve as one.

For the Morgan family, this was a simple task. Within just two hours, they had found several items—either bronzeware or various types of porcelain—but they were all quite large and not easily portable.

Only the Chu Silk Manuscripts were portable enough. Arthur immediately decided they would be the gift.

He had also caught the implication in Jiang Hui’s words; it seemed there was an interesting story attached to these Chu Silk Manuscripts.

"Er..." Jiang Hui could only cast a pleading glance at Su Chen. He really didn’t want to talk about the Chu Silk Manuscripts, afraid the story would disrupt the otherwise harmonious atmosphere.

Su Chen didn’t notice the change in Jiang Hui’s expression. Instead, he smiled and said, "Go ahead and tell us, Old Jiang. I’m curious too."

Since his own boss had spoken, Jiang Hui could only nod in resignation.

"Silk manuscripts are one of the most important sources of ancient scholarship in Huaxia. These two are from the Chu Kingdom, dating back to the Spring and Autumn and Warring States periods. There were originally three volumes in total, recording ancient myths, numerology, and a great deal of other content."

"They were unearthed in Changsha in 1942. After a series of twists and turns, they ended up in the hands of a local wealthy merchant named Cai Jixiang. By a stroke of chance, he met an American. At the time, this American, under the pretext of taking photographs, took two of the volumes to America without Cai Jixiang’s permission."

"To this day, these two national treasures have been lost abroad for over seventy years!" Jiang Hui’s voice grew louder as he spoke, his tone filled with resentment by the end.

It was unclear whether his anger was directed at the incompetence of his ancestors or the shamelessness of the American who took the manuscripts.

The atmosphere suddenly became quiet.

Su Chen hadn’t expected such a dramatic and convoluted history. ’But now that they’re in my hands,’ he thought, ’it means they can finally be returned to the country safely.’

Without drawing attention to it, Su Chen closed the two boxes with his left hand and shot a look at Jiang Hui, signaling him to put them away quickly.

Jiang Hui snapped out of his resentment. Seeing Su Chen’s signal, he wasted no time in gathering the two boxes and carrying them into the house.

"Mr. Arthur, I like this gift very much. You’ve been most thoughtful!" Su Chen didn’t bring up what Americans had done decades ago; instead, he expressed his gratitude.

After all, Su Chen knew that Arthur had nothing to do with how the Chu Silk Manuscripts were lost. In fact, thanks to him, these two treasures could now be brought back home. This was a good thing.

"Hahaha! I’m glad you like it, Mr. Su!" Arthur also hadn’t expected the gift to come with such a story. Seeing that Su Chen wasn’t dwelling on it, he tactfully dropped the subject as well.

After some more small talk, Arthur decided it was time to move on to the main purpose of his visit.

Just as he was about to speak, Jiang Hui came jogging from the house to Su Chen’s side. He bowed respectfully and said, "Sir, the people from BlackRock are here."

Hearing this, Su Chen couldn’t help but think, ’What perfect timing.’ He knew Arthur was about to discuss acquiring Longteng Technology, and now BlackRock had shown up as well.

’Now things are getting interesting,’ Su Chen thought. ’I wonder what kind of sparks will fly between BlackRock and Morgan.’

Su Chen glanced at Arthur and saw that he was perfectly calm, holding his teacup and sipping his tea quietly.

"Old Jiang, go bring the people from BlackRock in. While you’re at it, call Mark, the head of Longteng Technology, and have him come over."

Without a moment’s delay, Jiang Hui turned and headed outside.