Chapter 779 - 325: Harvest and Return Journey (Part 4)

When he sold them to Winslow in one big bundle, the price wasn’t nearly that exaggerated—each sword went for 300,000 dollars.

Even so, all the works together still brought Li Younan an outrageous 5 million dollars in income.

Right now, the person feeling the most pleased with himself was, of course, Winslow.

It wasn’t that he was happy about saving money; he was proud of his own eye. When a fellow collector bid 800,000 dollars to compete with him for the Yuanhong Sword, he knew he’d really scored big this time.

The joy of owning a collectible isn’t just about quietly admiring it alone in the dead of night—it’s also about that sense of joy when others know you own something so exquisite.

So, Winslow planned to turn the videos of the dozen-plus ancient Chinese famous swords forged by Li Younan into a compilation, and then film separate performance-test videos for each sword, after which he would pay to promote all these videos.

Not for anything else, just so that everyone would know he owned a dozen such perfect swords.

And for every sword, its original owner and the story contained within it would be promoted together.

When Li Younan was forging them, he left precious, no-dead-angle high-speed camera footage for every sword.

It had to be said, when Winslow first built this studio, he never managed to find any truly good swordsmith who could make full use of it. The annual maintenance costs alone ran into tens of thousands of dollars, yet Li Younan only came once—and in just ten days he helped Winslow recoup all his investment.

Being able to know a friend like Li Younan was, for him, an even greater stroke of luck.

On top of that, the stories behind these dozen-plus Chinese famous swords deeply fascinated him.

During this period he’d completely fallen in love with China’s history and culture.

For someone of his class and level of wealth, finding a hobby he is genuinely, deeply obsessed with is already something very difficult.

So this really was a harvest on all fronts.

He placed the Yuanhong Sword back into the display case, then instructed the butler beside him, "Remember, these swords have to be given the most attentive maintenance every week."

"Yes, sir!"

...

After winning the Sword Forging Competition show, Li Younan duly completed the "check-in" mission for New York.

The skill he obtained this time was a musical performance skill.

[Harmonica Playing lv.2: Your breath and reed vibration, your polyphonic textures, can simulate the layers of a symphony orchestra, improvise melodies, tame noisy streets, and bring a sense of resonance to silent listeners.]

This was the second musical performance skill that Li Younan had received, and at the same time it also upgraded his piano-playing skill to level two.

This skill got Li Younan very excited.

After all, playing instruments really is a super cool thing. His previous piano skill suffered from the fact that it was impossible to lug a piano around everywhere, but a harmonica is different—you can just slip it into your pocket.

This way, he really could play music for others anytime, anywhere, purely for the sake of playing, not for showing off.

Aside from that, this trip to the United States had been a full-on harvest.

The hunting competition, the Sword Forging Competition, plus the profits from Winslow buying his swords—all told, it added up to more than 5 million dollars.

With this money, at least for the next three to five years, the yacht expenses would be covered, and he could set off on a round-the-world voyage with zero pressure.

This was his plan: first do a global cruise once to get a feel for it; when he gets tired of it later, he can rent the yacht out. Not only can the yacht "support" itself, he can even earn a tidy extra income.

Beyond the cash income, this trip to the United States also won him over a million followers on his international accounts. A small portion of those followers came during the hunting competition, but most of them surged in after the Sword Forging Competition.

Although his visa still had a long time before it expired, Li Younan wasn’t planning to stay any longer. Honestly, after being away this long, he was really starting to feel a bit homesick.

At the airport, looking at the somewhat outdated infrastructure compared to the large airports back home, he couldn’t help but find it funny—he’d clearly come here to travel, yet somehow he’d ended up making this much money...

It really was amusing.

Once he got back, after resting for a while, he could officially set his round-the-world journey in motion.