Seeing the three boxes, Billy cautiously asked, "Where did you find this?" ”

Qin Shiou didn't want to hide it from Billy, he noticed it when he was on the Titanic last night, many things on this ship have nameplates with the words '-star-line', as the owner of the Titanic, the White Star Company brought its figure to every corner of the ship.

Even if Qin Shiou didn't say it, when Billy saw the mark of the White Star Company, he could think of the origin of these things.

Because, the Titanic is the only shipwreck with the nature of a treasure in the White Star Company, and this company was later acquired by the American chaebol Junius Pierpont Morgan's IMM International Shipping Company, and the logos of all ships were changed to IMM.

So Qin Shiou said: "This is something from the Titanic, my little beluga whale recently went there and brought me these things." ”

"Titanic?" Billy was pleasantly surprised, "Can your little beluga bring out what's inside?" God, do you know the value of the treasure inside? In 2008, our company once evaluated its value in conjunction with the four major salvage companies, at least 20 billion, US dollars! ”

Qin Shiou said impatiently: "What's the use of that? The baby beluga whale is so big that it can't get in many places. Even if it does, it can't bring it all out, and don't forget, it's just a whale. ”

"Clever whales." Billy said excitedly, "I love it." ”

The argon filling bin is not directly rushed into the argon gas, but first filled with nitrogen gas for adjustment, Qin Shiou operated, and soon the nitrogen was released from the 200 small holes, and it was evenly filled in the warehouse at the first time.

When the nitrogen concentration in the chamber reaches the set value. The system automatically cuts off the nitrogen supply, and at this point the argon gas is released, and Billy is about to open the boxes.

He first carefully opened the small box, which was only the size of a TV box, and when he opened it, there were some beautiful letterheads, trimmed with gold wire and pulped.

After Billy saw it, he began to explain to Qin Shiou: "This letter must have been written by a rich man. Introduced in 1890 by the XIP paper mill, this paper is surrounded by pulp so it is not shredded lightly, and is generally used to record important events. ”

Opening the letter with gloves on, Billy finds the signature, with a flowing line of letters: Nathan-Straus.

See the name. Billy was stunned directly, he turned his head and said, "Nathan Strauss, we're not going to be so lucky, right?" ”

"Is this a letter from Nathan Strauss? For whom? Qin Shiou was also stunned.

Who is Nathan Strauss? Let's talk about his more bullish identity, that is, the founder of the famous American chain store "Macy's".

When the department store opened on 7th Avenue in 1924, it was advertised as "the largest store in the world", but now it is not the largest store. But there are also more than 1,000 chains, and it was ranked 417th in the most recent Fortune Global 500 list.

But what really made Mr. Nathan Strauss famous in the world was the Titanic, when he and his wife were on this ship, when the ship hit the iceberg, Mrs. Strauss was immediately sent to the No. 8 lifeboat, and at the same time, a sailor said to the 67-year-old Mr. Strauss, "We think you can get on board early, and no one will object to an old gentleman like you who has a good reputation as a philanthropist to get on the dinghy......"

Later it was recalled that after receiving the assurances of the sailors. Mr. Strauss replied firmly: "I will never get into a lifeboat before any other man, and as the captain has sworn to say, children and women go first." ”

Seeing that her husband was reluctant to get on the boat. Madame Strauss, who had already boarded the ship, also changed her mind and returned to be with Mr. Strauss, saying, "We have lived together for so many years, and where you go, I will go too!" ”

Such. She gave her place in the boat to a young maid, and her fur coat to her. Say, "I don't need it anymore, may it help you get through this cold night!" ”

And then. An elderly couple hobbled over to the wicker chairs on the deck and sat down, clasping their hands together and passing the last moments peacefully.

This plot is also shown in Cameron's "Titanic" movie, which is one of the most moving plots in the movie, and the "New York Times" once selected this incident as one of the "ten historical real stories that can best show gentlemanly demeanor and manhood".

One can imagine how valuable it would have been if this letter had really been written by Nate Strauss on the Titanic!

Because of the good sealing and the bonus effect of the argon tank, the content on the letter paper is very clear, Billy and Qin Shiou looked at it together, and the more they looked at it, the more surprised they became.

Judging from the contents, this is indeed Strauss's handwritten letter, and it is also a letter from home, which is a letter he wrote to his second son Richard Strauss, who was developing the market in London at the time, and was going to mail it as soon as he set foot in New York. Unfortunately, as the Titanic hit an iceberg, the letter sank to the bottom of the Atlantic Ocean with its owner.

In the letter, Strauss told his second son, 'The United States has a developed economy and full of potential, and although the world's center of gravity is in Europe, it is necessary to pay more attention to the American market, which is the real buyer's market, and so on.

There are a total of eight pages of letterhead, it is amazing, it seems to be predicted that he will die soon, he also told about the understanding of the retail industry in this family letter, divided into the background information of the goods, the appearance of the goods, the composition of the goods, the manufacturing process, the use of goods, service and durability, the protection and use of goods, the history and policy of the price and type of the company, and the competition of the goods ten aspects talked about how to develop the retail industry.

After reading the letter, Billy looked at Qin Shiou and asked, "This is a very important letter to the family, how do we deal with it?" ”

Qin Shiou thought for a while and said, "Let's put it aside for now, continue to look down and see what is in the other two boxes." ”

The LED ultra-bright digital display showed that the temperature, humidity and gas density of the argon chamber were now suitable for the protection of the paper material, so Billy set aside the letter and opened the largest box.

It was a heavy safe, but it was all rotten now, and it was opened with a single tap of the pry bar, revealing a pile of large and small gray-black lumps.

Billy crushed a piece and looked at it and sniffed it, guessing: "This seems to be activated charcoal, a desiccant that was very popular for oil paintings and statues a hundred years ago, and there should be a work of art in it." ”

As he spoke, he cleaned up the activated carbon, which used to be powder, but now it has congealed into lumps. Cleaning up to the middle, a picture scroll carefully wrapped in plastic film appears in the box.

Billy became more careful, opened the plastic film, and a thick linen appeared in it, so he was sure, and said: "This is an oil painting, activated carbon plus plastic film and linen, it must be an oil painting......"

The more he spoke, the more trembling his tone became, could the value of an oil painting collected by the wealthy businessmen in the Titanic be low with such rigorous means? (To be continued)