After leaving the exhibition, Chen Qiang went straight to Los Angeles' Chinatown, where he wanted to find someone who had studied ancient Chinese porcelain.

Chen Qiang's luck is very good, and he really found such an old gentleman.

This person's surname is Guo, a descendant of the Manchu Guo Luoluo clan, when the Manchu Qing Dynasty was still there, Mr. Guo still had a knighthood, and his ancestors had an emperor's concubine, so he was also a relative of the emperor. This Mr. Guo has seen the world, for antique calligraphy and painting is quite profound, in terms of porcelain, many national treasure-level heirloom treasures, people have seen the real thing.

After the fall of the Manchu Dynasty, Mr. Guo was worried that he would be settled after the autumn, so he sold his wealth and fled to the United States, where he settled in Los Angeles for many years.

Chen Qiang invited this Mr. Guo to the scene of the art exhibition, and Mr. Guo does have the ability, what dynasty these antiques are, whether they are genuine or fake, Mr. Guo can know at a glance.

With Mr. Guo here, Chen Qiang was not worried that he would buy a fake, so he let go of his hands and feet, and bought and bought wantonly, as long as it was a Chinese cultural relic, Chen Qiang would buy it as much as possible.

There is a saying that "gold in the prosperous era of antiques in troubled times", which means that when the times are peaceful and prosperous, you can collect antiques, and in the chaotic era, it is safest to hold gold.

World War II was obviously a super chaotic time, although the United States did not suffer from the invasion of war, but the international environment is there, and on a global scale, gold is definitely the most popular thing. Even if some wealthy people don't hold much gold, they will keep a lot of dollars in their hands, and antiques are not so popular.

So during World War II, the price of antiques was very cheap, and it is not too much to say that it is the price of cabbage, and if you look at it from the perspective of the future, it is simply a packaging fee to buy antiques.

Although the price of antiques is already very cheap, but in the auction, the situation of unsuccessful auctions will still occur very frequently, these wealthy people in the United States are not very enthusiastic about buying antiques, after all, the cheapest antiques at the auction are all four digit dollars, which is also a lot of money at the time.

Moreover, in the United States at that time, there were many projects that could be invested, and if you wanted to make money, it was more cost-effective to invest in industry than to invest in antiques, and even investing in real estate would have good returns. Unless you don't care about money, or those who are true antique lovers, you won't spend so much money on antiques.

So Chen Qiang bought more than 200 antiques, and only spent 300,000 US dollars. Chen Qiang felt that he had earned, and compared with his net worth of tens of millions, 300,000 US dollars was nothing. Moreover, among the cultural relics acquired by Chen Qiang, there are some genuine national treasures that cannot be measured by money at all.

Then Chen Qiang found an antique shop, and he entrusted the owner of the antique store to collect the Chinese artifacts that had fallen into the United States.

Chen Qiang doesn't know anything about antiques, and it is impossible for him to wander around the United States to collect antiques. Things like acquiring cultural relics naturally have to find professionals to do, and 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're finally back." When the secretary saw Chen Qiang, he trotted over in three steps and two steps, still holding a stack of documents in his hand.

"Is there anything important?" Chen Qiang asked.

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

"Chinese invitation letter, this is rare, I have received invitation letters from the embassy in the United States before, but they are all in English, this time it is Chinese, it is not common!" Chen Qiang took the invitation and glanced at it hurriedly, his expression suddenly becoming serious.

"This big guy is coming to New York!" Chen Qiang's brows furrowed.

The person who sent the invitation letter to Chen Qiang was the famous Madame Jiang!

In January, China and the United States signed the "Sino-US New Treaty" and the "Sino-British New Treaty" with Britain, and the anti-contents of the treaty were basically the abolition of the extraterritorial jurisdiction of the United States and Britain in China, the abolition of the "Xinchou Treaty", the return of the lease of Tianjin and Guangzhou by Britain, the renunciation of navigation rights along China's coasts and inland waterways, the renunciation by Britain of the powers of the General Taxation Department of China's Customs, and the abolition of the treaty port court system. In general, Britain and the United States have renounced their privileges in China through unequal treaties.

After all, China, the United States, and Britain have formed an alliance, and Japan's aggression has already made the privileges of the United States and Britain in China exist in name only, so the United States and Britain might as well be a favor, give up these "privileges" that are no longer there, and express goodwill to the Chongqing side. Chongqing also presented the incident as a major diplomatic victory.

Then Chongqing also made persistent efforts, and the first lady, Madame Chiang, secretly left Chongqing and flew to the United States in the name of medical treatment.

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

It was only after Madame Chiang arrived in Washington that she suddenly became high-profile, and the news of Madame Chiang's visit to the United States appeared in the newspapers, and the entire page was a photo of Madame Chiang.

Later, Mrs. Chiang gave a speech to the U.S. Congress, which was a great success, and the members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives held Madame Chiang in high esteem. However, this kind of thing will definitely not be accessible to ordinary people, after all, the speech of the National Assembly is not open to the public.

Madame Chiang stayed at the White House for eleven days before embarking on a trip to the United States.

Eleven days is a bit long, so long that Madame Jiang embodies all her negative images. She brought Chinese habits to the United States, and that kind of man-like style and arrogant attitude made the White House staff feel very unhappy, and some White House staff members complained: "Unless you are a cabinet member, you are all 'coolies' in the eyes of Madame Chiang"

Roosevelt's wife was very angry when she saw Madame Chiang's arrogance to the White House staff, and she commented to Madame Chiang: "Madame Chiang can talk eloquently about democracy, but she does not know how to embody democracy in her life." Diplomat Gu Weijun wrote in his diary that the chairman's wife frequently met with many Republican politicians at the White House and did not shy away from it, which made Roosevelt feel uncomfortable, after all, Roosevelt was the president of the Democratic Party. Mrs. Roosevelt even suggested that it would be better for her to stay in Hyde Park. In other words, Madame Chiang at this time was no longer very popular with the Roosevelts.

There is also a scene that is often mentioned when Mrs. Roosevelt and Mrs. Chiang talk about the strike of American miners at a family dinner, when Roosevelt asks Mrs. Chiang what to do if the Chinese government encounters such a thing during the war. Madame Chiang made a head-killing gesture with her fingers across her neck. "She did not speak," Mrs. Roosevelt recorded, "and a pair of beautiful, small hands ran lightly across her throat." This gave Roosevelt and his wife a glimpse of the "dark" side of Madame Chiang.

Now that Madame Chiang has left Washington, D.C., she has begun to visit major cities in the United States, and New York herself is a must-visit place for Madame Chiang, and she will also stay in New York for a while, during which she will hold many activities such as tea parties, dance parties, and wine banquets. As a celebrity among Chinese in the United States, Chen Qiang will naturally be invited.

Chen Qiang didn't want to have too much intersection with this Mrs. Jiang, but the matter had already come to this point, and everyone had sent invitations, so he couldn't go if he didn't go.

Fortunately, the dance is tomorrow night, and Chen Qiang still has time to rest and deal with some other affairs.

Chen Qiang's mind is still on acquiring lost cultural relics, and he plans to investigate the antique market in New York City to see how many Chinese cultural relics are in New York antique shops.

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

The war in Europe caused many British or French people to take refuge in the United States, and these Europeans who took refuge in the United States also brought a lot of antiques or works of art.

In fact, the people who can come to the United States for refuge are basically rich people, and there are even many descendants of nobles, and even if the poor want to run, they don't have the ability.

War has always been like this, once the war breaks out, the rich can run, and the poor can only stay and be shot. For example, during World War II, the ** massacre of Jews was carried out, but none of the Jews who died were rich Jews, and those rich Jews had long since run away. The same is true of modern warfare, whether it is Libya or Syria, these countries have been destroyed, and the rich people of these countries have long since fled to Europe to live in villas in France, Germany or Switzerland. When war comes, the rich take the money and run away, they are still rich, and the poor who can't run away may become a corpse. More often than not, however, it is the poor who are dissatisfied with their lives.

Europeans who come to the United States are rich people, and the rich people naturally have more precious antiques or works of art in their hands. However, many people come to the United States to sit on the empty side, and after a long time, they naturally have to sell the antiques and artworks they brought, and these antiques and artworks flow into the market in large quantities, which also lowers the overall price of antiques. Therefore, the price of antiques in New York is even more affordable than 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 on the Atlantic coast, and they are European. Los Angeles is next to the Pacific Ocean, and China is on the other side. Geographically speaking, Los Angeles will have more Chinese cultural relics, and New York should have more European cultural relics or African cultural relics.

Contrary to what Chen Qiang imagined, New York not only has Chinese cultural relics, but also many more.

Many Europeans who have taken refuge in the United States have participated in the invasion of China by their parents or grandparents, and they have robbed many precious cultural relics in China, and now the sons or grandsons of these invaders have sold the Chinese cultural relics they had looted to the United States.

However, he doesn't know anything about antiques, which is still Chen Qiang's flaw, and if he wants to buy antiques, he must find someone who knows more about antiques, 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 extremely difficult to find someone who knows Chinese antiques well. So Chen Qiang could only turn to Mr. Situ, the big boss of the Chinese community in New York City, and 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 it was Mr. Situ's housekeeper who received Chen Qiang.

"Mr. Chen, it's really unfortunate that you're here, our lord is not in New York now." The butler spoke.

"Is Mr. Szeto far away? When will he be back? Chen Qiang asked.

"I'll tell you the truth, our lord is not in the United States, he went to South America. A few days ago, Chongqing gave our lord a task to preach to the overseas Chinese in the Americas, so he went to South American countries to promote the Anti-Japanese War to overseas Chinese, and at the same time to raise funds for the Anti-Japanese War. It is estimated that the master will not come back in a short time. The butler replied.

"That's a real misfortune." Chen Qiang let out a long sigh of disappointment.

"Mr. Chen, do you have anything to do with our master? Let's hear it first, maybe I can help. The butler spoke.

Chen Qiang knew that although this housekeeper was nominally Mr. Situ's housekeeper, he was also a figure in the New York Chinese gang, and there was a saying that the prime minister's door was a seven-rank official, and Mr. Situ's housekeeper also had some status in the New York Chinese gang, and his words were also effective.

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

Chen Qiang then told the housekeeper about his idea of buying antiques.

The housekeeper is quite supportive of Chen Qiang's idea, as a Chinese, he definitely does not want his country's national treasures to be lost overseas, let alone his children and grandchildren to go to foreign museums to see their country's national treasures.

The butler lowered his head and thought for a moment, then said, "Mr. Chen, I really know an antique expert. This person's surname is Wu, before coming to the United States, he was a shopkeeper in a pawn shop in Beiping City for ten years, you know, he must have seen a lot of knowledge in the pawn shop in Beiping, and he has seen all kinds of antiques, I think he should meet your requirements. ”

"And where should I go to find him?" Chen Qiang asked again.

This man learned the art of repairing jewelry, so when he came to the United States, he also made a living from it, and he was very good at his craft, and he was asked by a jewelry store in New York to repair jewelry. I don't know where he lives now, but I will give you the address of the jewelry store where he works. The housekeeper said, took a piece of paper, wrote down an address, and handed it to Chen Qiang.

——————

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