Chapter 82

"Doing a traditional business."

Sophia's eyes flickered. She picked up a tissue nearby, wiped her mouth, and looked at the person with a faint smile.

Sophia and the man sat diagonally across from each other. When they started talking, the others nearby gradually fell silent.

"Traditional business? What exactly do you do? In this environment, traditional businesses are not easy to run!"

Another person, who worked in finance, said this.

Sophia calmly replied, "It's okay. I've only been doing it for less than half a year. The income is decent."

This really made everyone curious.

"Family heirlooms passed down. The market for antiques isn't bad now, right? Selling some old things to get by."

The expressions on their faces changed slightly. Although the situation now was tough, anyone with some family wealth wouldn't need to sell their assets.

Haiwen saw this and said directly, "Sophia's family collection is like a small museum."

She then showed the pictures Sophia had sent her that afternoon to everyone.

"Hundreds of antiques? What did Miss Sophia's family used to do?"

Haiwen spoke openly, and everyone grew curious about Sophia's background.

Haiwen didn't really know Sophia's family story either. It seemed a bit mysterious.

But seeing Sophia didn't want to say more, Haiwen changed the subject, "It doesn't matter what they did before. What's important is now."

"Just those antiques alone could support several generations comfortably."

Others laughed and agreed after Haiwen tried to smooth things over.

Haiwen wanted to help Sophia sell some of those antiques, but Sophia gently tapped her hand to stop her.

They weren't close, and antiques aren't something just anyone can verify. If Haiwen promoted the sale, it would only be because of her face, and Haiwen would owe them a favor.

There was no need, especially since Sophia's antiques were not hard to sell.

Seeing Sophia's look, Haiwen stopped talking about it.

After eating, Sophia and Haiwen still had to go see the two cars, so they didn't stay long.

"What cars?"

Mr. Kun asked casually.

Mr. Ze explained.

Suddenly, everyone became interested. "I've seen that car before. How did a girl think of buying an off-road vehicle?"

Mr. Ze teased, "She even bought two!"

"Together?"

Hearing this, everyone grabbed their jackets and stood up.

Haiwen looked back at Sophia.

Sophia nodded, "Alright, let's go."

The cars had already cleared customs, and Haiwen had arranged the paperwork.

"The cars are nearby, in my villa."

They drove in their own cars.

Mr. Ze and Haiwen shared one car, and Sophia drove Haiwen's car following behind.

They arrived at Haiwen's villa.

"I don't live here often, but someone comes regularly to clean. If it's too late tonight, you can stay here."

Haiwen took Sophia's arm as they got out.

Others' cars arrived one after another.

Haiwen led them straight to the garage.

When the garage light turned on and the door opened, the first thing they saw were Sophia's two cars.

The group immediately gasped.

The cars' extreme cool designs and colors caught the attention of the young men who usually liked sports cars.

They all couldn't help but stare brightly.

"Can you start it?"

Several people asked Sophia.

Even if their family was rich, no one would buy a car worth tens of millions so casually.

Haiwen said directly, "She bought it as a gift. Just take a look."

After Haiwen spoke, no one insisted. Still, they all tried out the car's various functions.

By the time they left the garage, it was almost eleven o'clock. Sophia needed to go back early the next day, so they didn't stay out too late.

The next day, Haiwen arranged a driver to send Sophia home, with two cars going together.

Sophia was gone only a day or two, but Ronin had already hired people to clean up the land nearby.

When Ronin saw Sophia return, he reported to her what goods had arrived over the past two days.

Sophia cared mostly about the quantity. After listening to Ronin, she went to check the warehouse herself.

"It's fine, you keep busy!" Sophia told Ronin, then went upstairs.

The first floor was half filled, and the second floor was almost full.

Sophia checked the items, mostly rice, flour, potatoes, sweet potatoes, taro—cheap, filling foods in large amounts.

After seeing the first and second floors, she went up to the third floor.

Because the deliveries before were enough for the first two floors, the third floor was mostly locked and used to store pig troughs.

It also held various large antiques that General Yves had sent.

Sophia opened the lock and pushed the door. Inside, she saw a pile so high that she couldn't even see the pig troughs. The items almost blocked the doorway.

"What is all this for?"

Sophia was a bit helpless. She had only been gone two days.

There were so many antiques. She needed to sell some quickly.

The food deliveries sent by General Yves were not very expensive, only about 10 to 20 million a month.

The real big expenses were for the equipment. Just the devices alone had cost nearly 100 million.

The batch of equipment Ronin ordered recently was only partly paid with a deposit. Once the balance was paid, her cash flow would be gone.

Sophia took out her phone and sent a message in Professor Zhou's group chat.

"On October 21, one week later, you are all invited to come and appreciate the collection."

She posted pictures of her stock and her private museum's items.

After uploading hundreds of pieces, no one replied for a while.

Sophia went back to her work.

The third floor was packed.

Large items stayed there, while small ones needed to be moved to the small villa.

Sophia picked and sorted, thinking, "This place needs cleaning and decorating too."

She planned to make display stands for the exhibits.

After finishing, it was already dark. The fine small items collected filled six large boxes, about 100 to 200 pieces total.

When Sophia came downstairs, Ronin was on the other side receiving goods.

Back at home, she had no energy to do anything else and ordered takeout.

Then she opened WeChat and saw hundreds of messages in the group chat.

Expert Shuxun, Amelia, and old Mr. Zhou were chatting actively. Many people had joined the group.

Scrolling through the messages, Sophia smiled and cried inside.

Before adding new people, Professor Zhou and a few others had already picked some of the items they wanted.

They divided those first before inviting others into the group.