232: Shipwreck Treasure

It took both of them to move one box out of the dilapidated boat. They took a rope and tied the box securely.

Then, with Bai Xue pulling in front and him supporting from below, they slowly swam towards the surface.

There was no other way; the rope was only 12 meters long, but the water was about thirty meters deep.

Yang Qi supported the box in the water until Bai Xue climbed onto the aft deck and hooked the rope onto the crane's boom. Only then did he breathe a sigh of relief.

He himself also surfaced, panting as he climbed onto the setting sail.

Yang Qi took the rope from Bai Xue's hand and told her to operate the crane, mainly because he was afraid Bai Xue wouldn't be able to hold the weight of the box once it was out of the water.

Bai Xue slowly raised the boom, and with Yang Qi's strenuous pulling, the box gradually emerged from the sea.

With a 'thud,' the box landed heavily on the deck.

Yang Qi felt his hands trembling slightly. It was mainly due to the tiring effort of holding the box suspended in the water.

"Husband, have some Red Bull first." Bai Xue handed him an opened bottle of Red Bull.

"Mmm," Yang Qi took it and finished it in a few gulps, then casually tossed the empty bottle into the trash bag nearby.

He stretched his arms, untied the rope from the box, and said to Bai Xue:

"Xiao Xue, how are you? Are you still up for it?"

"Husband, I'm worried you're tired. Do you want to rest for a while and go down later?"

Bai Xue said with some concern.

"I'm fine. When doing this kind of work, you have to do it in one go. The more you rest, the more tired you get. Let's go!"

Yang Qi pulled Bai Xue and went back into the sea, hoisting the other box onto the deck. This time, he was truly too tired to move.

The two lay side by side on the deck, gazing at the sky. Bai Xue asked:

"Husband, do you think what we pulled up is treasure?"

"I don't know, but it shouldn't be anything ordinary. Look at those boxes; they're not common at all."

Yang Qi said.

"Oh, right. I see that all the edges of these boxes are wrapped in metal, and they haven't corroded even after being soaked in seawater. I'm really looking forward to seeing what kind of treasure is inside!"

Bai Xue carefully examined the boxes.

"It's fine. If you want to see, then let's open them now. If we delay too long, I'm also afraid of complications."

Yang Qi finished speaking and got up, walking towards the wooden boxes.

Seeing that all the edges of these three boxes were wrapped in pieces of greenish-blue metal, Yang Qi knew for sure that these were copper strips that had been corroded and oxidized.

Both sides had a copper plate the size of a cigarette pack. Originally, there were two copper rings on them, but the copper rings on the two heavy boxes had just been pulled off by him.

On the front, there was a greenish-blue copper plate with a rusted copper lock. Yang Qi pulled it, and it came right off.

He didn't know what kind of wood this was; even the copper had rusted away, but it seemed to be mostly fine.

"Xiao Xue, stand behind me."

Yang Qi himself also stood behind the box and said to Bai Xue.

"Oh! Oh! Is this in case there are hidden weapons, husband?"

Yang Qi rubbed his nose, a little embarrassed. Some things, even if you know them, can't be said out loud!

He reached out and used some force to lift the lid, feeling it was a bit tight.

His body involuntarily flinched.

Fortunately, after dozens of seconds, no unusual sounds came, so it should be safe.

The two involuntarily poked their heads in. Inside were rectangular objects wrapped in oiled paper.

When Yang Qi saw this item wrapped in oiled paper, his heart skipped a beat. Could it be that legendary thing, something he had only seen on TV?

Could it really be 'gambling' and its brother?

Yang Qi gritted his teeth and reached for the item, but he couldn't pick it up on the first try.

"Holy crap, is it that heavy?"

"But that's a relief; it can't be that thing."

Yang Qi grabbed a piece in his hand, weighed it, and it was about 20 catties.

He tore open the three layers of oiled paper packaging, revealing the golden-yellow color inside.

"Holy crap, big gold bars!"

The two exchanged glances and quickly counted them: a full fifteen large gold bars. No wonder they were so heavy.

The two joyfully opened another box, which was still full of gold, glittering and very enticing.

However, most of this box contained gold bars, along with some gold ingots and gold sycees.

Bai Xue picked up a gold bar and read the inscription on it: "Central Mint made."

"Husband, there's also a portrait and a pattern like ancient spade money on it."

Yang Qi looked at what Bai Xue held in her hand, then at the gold bar in his own hand, and said:

"It should be a gold bar from the Republic of China era. The inscription on mine says 'Central Mint made, July of the 37th year of the Republic of China.'"

"Let me see yours. This portrait should be Sun Yat-sen. We'll find an expert to look at them when we get back."

"These should be the legendary 'Large Yellow Croaker' and 'small yellow croaker,' right!"

During the Republic of China era, calculations were still based on the old system, which was one catty equal to sixteen taels.

So, a "Large Yellow Croaker" was a solid ten taels, equivalent to 312.5 grams. A "small yellow croaker" was one tael, equivalent to 31.25 grams.

These two types of gold bars were the mainstream currency in circulation at that time.

As for gold bricks, they were generally stored by government banks, or privately melted and stored by warlords, magnates, or wealthy merchants.

Yang Qi picked up another heavy gold sycee, which was clearly from the Qing Dynasty. The inscription on it read "Made in the Guangxu reign," "Fifty taels of pure gold," and "Treasury."

The inscription on the bottom was "Pure Gold."

There were a total of five fifty-tael gold sycees, and seven or eight smaller ones.

Yang Qi then picked up a gold ingot and examined it. The inscriptions on several gold ingots were "Made in the Jiaqing reign," "Pure gold," "Qing," and "Bao" (treasure).

There were a total of thirteen gold ingots.

He usually enjoyed watching appraisal shows on his phone and understood that these old gold bars, gold ingots, and gold sycees with inscriptions,

if genuine, would definitely be very valuable, certainly far exceeding the value of the gold itself.

The last, lighter box was also opened. Inside were several other boxes. The top two boxes contained various sizes of gold bracelets, rings, necklaces, gold hairpins, and a small pouch containing over thirty colorful gemstones.

The boxes below were quite heavy. When opened, they all contained bundles of silver dollars. Yang Qi picked up one bundle, which felt substantial, likely containing fifty coins.

They were all tightly wrapped in layers of oiled paper.

He counted that one box contained thirty bundles, and another contained twenty bundles. Some of them seemed larger than others, but he didn't pay much attention.

Each silver dollar weighed approximately between 26.6 grams and 27 grams.

Yang Qi unwrapped the bundle of silver dollars in his hand and examined them. This bundle mostly consisted of "Yuan Datou" (silver dollars with Yuan Shikai's portrait), which he recognized. His mother had shown him one before, saying it was something his grandmother had given her to keep at the bottom of her chest.

He had watched The Expert at Qiaozuiquan's live streams on Douyin and knew that these "Yuan Datou" were also worth some money, with ordinary versions valued between 1000 and 2000 yuan.

It seemed that the prices for the third, ninth, and tenth years differed, with some versions worth hundreds of thousands. He would sort them out later and find an opportunity to ask The Expert at Qiaozuiquan or Roasted Egg Sea.

Yang Qi liked watching both of them on appraisal shows.