Chapter 620 - 8: Disposal (Part 2)
The enthusiasm of the bank customer service over the phone was something Chen Zhou had never encountered before, which genuinely made him feel that money is indeed a good thing.
Seeing that there were only a dozen days left before his private space would expire, and fearing the loss of treasures worth billions, Chen Zhou immediately purchased ten large safes upon returning to Balin Town and transported them to the basement.
Since the basement was the first to be renovated and is not very large, the renovation work had already been completed a few days ago, so moving the safes did not affect the renovation progress.
...
After returning to the present, as Chen Zhou became more and more accustomed to his body, he discovered that besides his hearing, skin toughness, sense of smell, and vision being extraordinary, his memory had also greatly improved.
Before participating in the challenge, he could only barely be considered relatively smart. Although he studied hard in school, there was still a significant gap between him and the top students, often feeling that he had to exert all his efforts to keep up with their pace.
As he gradually aged, Chen Zhou’s memory was no longer as formidable as it was in high school, which is why he slowly began to say, "A good memory is not as good as a bad pen."
When self-learning Russian on the island and translating those materials, it was much more strenuous than learning English during high school and college.
On one hand, this was due to the lack of a learning environment on the island, and on the other hand, it was closely related to the decline in bodily functions as one ages.
Upon returning to the modern age, Chen Zhou found that not only was he younger, but his memory had also recovered to a terrifying extent.
With long numbers up to fourteen digits, he could recite them after looking at them twice, and once remembered, they would be deeply engraved in his brain, never to be forgotten.
With this memory, Chen Zhou set ten different passwords for the ten large safes.
Without the aid of a mobile phone to record, unless using brute force, it would be difficult for anyone to open his safes.
However, Chen Zhou still underestimated the quantity of his treasures.
Excluding red wine and artworks, just the pure gold and silver he possessed, and various gold ornaments filled the safes, and there was still so much silver left that it couldn’t be stored inside and had to be stuffed into sacks, then casually piled in the basement.
No one would anticipate bundles of silver bars and arm-thick silver rods being stuffed into sacks like scrap materials and thrown into a corner.
...
After finally removing and properly storing treasures with lower storage condition requirements, Chen Zhou began to worry about where to put his fine wines, famous paintings, crafts, and woven tapestries.
Many famous paintings and crafts have rather stringent storage conditions. They cannot be too humid or too dry, cannot be exposed to the sun, and even the temperature can affect the paint status.
After researching online for several days, Chen Zhou purchased a sunken small villa in another neighborhood.
This small villa was a second-hand property, whose previous owner was a wine enthusiast, and there was a specially built wine cellar inside.
The wine cellar was equipped with an environmental smart detection system, using sensors to monitor temperature, humidity, and light in real-time, with professional storage equipment to keep the wine in optimal conditions, enhancing its flavor.
After buying this villa, Chen Zhou moved his personal collection into the wine cellar. As long as the villa had electricity, his wines wouldn’t depreciate.
Of course, even occasional power outages don’t matter much because wine storage conditions are not that strict, and Chen Zhou doesn’t rely on these fine wines to make money—
Though a small portion of wine can weigh as much as gold, most can’t compare to gold in price.
The unique nature of gold means that until humanity truly steps into the stars, it will always be hard currency, and its status is far from being shaken by any "cheap thrills" people hype up.
After properly storing his treasures and wines, Chen Zhou spent a fortune acquiring a set of museum-grade anti-light LED lights.
These lights come with UV filters to avoid ultraviolet rays dulling the paint.
In addition, there were several large constant temperature and humidity cabinets, which can precisely control the temperature and humidity inside, thereby better preserving ancient paintings, silks, ceramics, and other valuable crafts.
The inland north is relatively dry, but towards the end of summer and early autumn, rainfall is still quite frequent.
Although storage room humidity is usually not too high, to be safe, Chen Zhou bought dehumidifiers and humidifiers to help control humidity.
At the same time, he also bought a set of inert gas sealing devices to inhibit mold and insects in the room, better preserving paintings and silks easily eaten by insects.
...
A little laxity could cause losses worth tens of millions, leaving no room for Chen Zhou to be careless.
Spending money rapidly, the over a million gained from selling gold a second time soon turned to zero.
Investing a large sum naturally brought gratifying results.
Whether it be gold treasures or wines and crafts, they were all stored in relatively suitable conditions, the private space emptied, with all wealth now in real life.
Even though Chen Zhou’s bank account balance had shrunk to four-digit figures, his real estate quietly added several zeros.
At 25, the age where life just began and demands effort and struggle, Chen Zhou achieved economic freedom, living the life he had always dreamed of, buying anything he wants, traveling wherever he likes, eating whatever he desires.
After being extremely busy for a while, Chen Zhou finally had time to think about what he should do for the rest of his life and also to deal with Manager Sun, who had been pestering him, and fit in a couple of chess games with the kid in the neighborhood who was said to be very good.
...
At the end of September, Manager Sun finally had the chance to entertain the young man in plain attire.
Just like their first meeting, Chen Zhou still exhibited a maturity beyond his years, and Manager Sun carefully chose his words, trying to indirectly inquire if Chen Zhou had plans to sell a large quantity of gold again without touching on his privacy.
Funds were indeed limited, and Chen Zhou genuinely needed money, but the gold market had started to rise by then, and the price offered by the Gold Recycling Company wasn’t very high.
Having properly secured his assets, he wasn’t under much pressure to sell gold for the time being.
He planned to register a company qualified to trade precious metals, then find some trustworthy people to help him convert the gold into legal assets, which could then be sold at a more suitable price.
Otherwise, every time he sold gold to the Gold Recycling Company, someone else would profit fifty to sixty thousand. Even if his gold came easy, he couldn’t give it away for free like this.
Chen Zhou grew up poor, once hesitating for a year to buy a razor worth a few hundred yuan while working at the cement factory; having only been wealthy for a short time, he still couldn’t play the role of a "prodigal son."
However, at the moment he was short on cash, and since Manager Sun was genuinely sincere, Chen Zhou, though unwilling to sell gold, could sell his large quantity of silver instead.
With several large silver mines in the country, the silver market was far less robust than the gold market, and silver wasn’t as volatile as gold, so selling silver was a good option for Chen Zhou.
Upon hearing that Chen Zhou wanted to sell some silver, Manager Sun initially appeared uninterested.
After all, the recycling price of silver was less than 8 yuan per gram, nearly a hundred times less than gold, making such trade hardly appealing.
It wasn’t until Chen Zhou mentioned the quantity of silver he had that Manager Sun expressed a willingness to cooperate in shock.
None other because the quantity of silver in Chen Zhou’s possession was astonishing, amounting to 21 tons.
Faced with this staggering figure, even though profit per gram of silver wasn’t much, added up it was indeed a terrifying number.
To know, 21 tons of silver equates to 21 million grams, and if profit was just 0.5 yuan per gram, it would become a multimillion-yuan business.
Manager Sun had been in the precious metal trade for years, not unfamiliar with trade by the ton, but a personal seller with 21 tons of silver was something he had never seen.
At the dinner, Chen Zhou was still in his simple domestic brand sportswear, with no luxury watch, even needing to catch a cab to get around.
However, in Manager Sun’s eyes, this client’s attire clearly served as a disguise, as to what kind of background Chen Zhou had, he dared not guess—
Only a fool wouldn’t seize a money-making opportunity; who has time to mess with a tiger’s backside?