Chapter 58: White Qi Lin

  Guo Yu stood on the boat and looked at the cliff for a while. Although he couldn't directly observe the situation of the underwater cave, he believed Lin Hai Chao's report. If it was as they said, this place had such a scale, it would be an excellent location for a hidden supply point. In Guo Yu's view, this place was much more important than the central island.

  Nakajima thought that the place was only suitable as a temporary training base, and his navy could train there, but it was not qualified as a war base. The main naval base still needs to be found again, preferably on the coast of Kalimantan Island, looking for a suitable place.

  But this cave, however, piqued Guo Yu's interest, and he decided to invest a great deal of effort into it, turning it into his own submarine base, a true hidden base, allowing his submarines to become sea floor phantoms, appearing and disappearing without a trace.

  After sharing his ideas with Lin Haichao and others, the Navy Department also highly agreed with Guo Yu's views. The construction of Zhongdao would only serve as a training base, while a large island submarine base would be built in secret, which would be completed as one of the Navy's top-secret missions.

  In 1915, the construction was basically stable. Guo Yu was preparing to return to modern times and thought of the empty land outside the residence where sandalwood materials were piled up like mountains. He wondered if he could develop a new source of income. Kalimantan Island would later become one of the main producers of sandalwood. Guo Yu planned to bring these materials to someone to see their value.

  Some of these big trees have a diameter of up to one meter, the trunk is dark in color and has a high oil content. Because they were cut down recently, they haven't dried out completely yet. Guo Yu doesn't know whether it's the oil content or moisture, so he can only go back and ask someone for help to take a look and see if they can fetch a good price.

  First, the wood was stored in the space. Guo Yu then went to the warehouse and took away a batch of genuine agarwood that Wu Qilang had purchased. These agarwoods were all parts of agarwood that had been weathered and rotted, which is real natural agarwood. Guo Yu knew that this thing was very valuable.

  This batch of agarwood is about 200 kilograms, at the current market price, these things are worth around HK$1 billion, it's really what people say, an inch of fragrance is worth an inch of gold.

  Back in modern times, Guo Yu called Zhang Chong and asked if he knew anyone familiar with agarwood. Zhang Chong said: "How did you think of messing with agarwood again? We're not familiar with this stuff at all. I think you need to go back to the mainland for a spin. Let me introduce someone to you, also an antique dealer, who's quite well-known in Beijing and is familiar with cultural relics and bamboo and wood products. He's also in the business of expensive timber, so looking for him should be okay."

  "Who is this person?" Guo Yu asked, "What's his name?"

  "Bai Qilin is a person, his ancestors lived in the capital city. It's said that his ancestors were officials of the imperial workshop. His craftsmanship can be considered as inherited from his ancestors. He has a storefront at Liuli Factory, specializing in selling cultural relics and wooden artifacts. I think he also has a company, which is a timber trading company, but I don't know what it's called. I've only had dealings with him at the cultural relic store, so we can be considered acquaintances. I'll give you his contact information, you can get in touch with him yourself." Zhang Chong finished speaking and hung up the phone, soon after sending over a phone number, which should be Bai Qilin's phone number.

  Guo Yu quickly dialed the phone number, and after a few rings, the other party picked up. The voice on the other end sounded like a man in his thirties or forties, speaking with a Beijing accent. "Hello, who is this?"

  "Hello Mr Bai, I'm a friend of Zhang Chong's. My name is Guo Yu. There are some things that trouble me." Guo Yu said hastily.

  "Zhang Chong, oh, I remember now, isn't he the manager of Four Seasons Auction House? It's been a long time since we last met. How has he been lately? Since you're his friend, then you're not an outsider either. We're all friends here, so go ahead and say what's on your mind." Bai Qilin spoke quickly, typical of Beijing people's way of speaking, warmly greeting everyone regardless of whether they were familiar or not.

  "I have a batch of wood materials, agarwood, and I want to find an expert to appraise its quality and value. Zhang Chong thought of you, is it convenient for you?" said Guo Yu.

  "It's convenient, what's inconvenient about it? Come on over, I'm at Liuli Factory right now, 37 Dong Street. You come over and we'll talk." Bai Qilin agreed readily.

  It's just that Guo Yu was left speechless. "Mr. Bai, I'm sorry, but I'm currently in Hong Kong and won't be able to make it for another two days. Let me communicate with you ahead of time."

  "Hey, don't worry about it, come visit me in a few days and I'll treat you to dinner. We're all from Hong Kong and Macau anyway." After saying this, Bai Qilin couldn't help but laugh at himself.

  It's clear that Bai Qilin is a straightforward person, with a strong northern temperament. The two of them agreed on a time and would meet in Beijing two days later.

  Guo Yu returned home and his son said: "School has already started, but Dad didn't even send me to school."

  "You're already in the second grade, you're a big kid now. Men are relatively independent, son I'm looking at you, besides isn't there still a housekeeper to take care of things? He's not picking you up and dropping you off every day." Gu Yu said with a pout on his face.

  "Actually, I don't care, it's just that Huang Laoshi is thinking of you, every day when school starts she asks me if your dad has come back, and I'm so annoyed that I want to hide." The son said with a mischievous grin.

  Guo Yu knew he had been teased by his son, so he directly picked up his son and spanked him twice on the buttocks. "You little rascal, dare to tease your old man? Are you looking for a beating?" The father-son duo laughed and played for a while before the son ran off to play in the courtyard. Recently, his son had outdoor classes where they learned to plant crops. It seems that Hong Kong people really lack land. Usually, there's not much empty space to be seen, it's all steel and concrete, so one can only daydream during school hours. It's truly pitiful.

  Thinking of myself in 1915, those vast lands, endless fields of wheat and corn, I felt proud.

  At home with parents and son for dinner, then contacted Huang Wenjing, unexpectedly, Sister Wenjing actually went out to play with friends, this is also a rare occurrence. Huang Wenjing's temperament does not like to go wild outside, unlike young people nowadays who love noise.

  Guo Yu felt uneasy, so he immediately put on his clothes, picked up the car key and prepared to go out. His father was practicing Tai Chi in the yard, Guo Yu said a word to him and then drove away in his Bentley.

  It's already past eight o'clock in the evening, right at the peak hour of Hong Kong traffic. The car's speed is moderate and can't go any faster. After driving for almost an hour, they finally arrived at the University of Hong Kong. The car stopped beside a European-style building, and Guo Yu got out of the car, looked up at the five-story high-rise building, and saw that the lights on the third floor were still on.

  Guo Yusu got on the bus and walked to the third floor, where he could already hear the sound of piano music and people talking. "Female voice: People who do art are just different, they see things more accurately than ordinary people! Male voice: Ah, it's an exaggeration! Female voice: Actually, I...I've always been a very self-abased person, afraid to interact with others. Male voice: What's the need for that? Everyone has their own shining points, some are just more obvious, like beautiful faces, slender figures, while others' advantages lie hidden beneath their appearance, such as kind personalities, calm temperaments, elegant demeanor...I think the latter is more lasting and precious."