The full name of the Municipal Bureau of Culture and Education should actually be the Bureau of Culture, Education, Sports, and Health, a comprehensive administrative body overseeing the systems of education, culture, sports, and health. It has more than twenty departments under its jurisdiction, with a total staff of over a hundred people, making it the largest bureau in the city. The personnel it directly or indirectly manages include thousands of teachers, cultural workers, doctors, nurses, and other staff at various levels and in various categories.

　　As a deputy director of such a large organization, Grace Bolton naturally found herself so busy that her feet barely touched the ground.

　　Due to her remarkable performance during the May 15th incident, the name Grace Bolton became highly visible—not only did many people in the Liuyun region and Wangtian Province know of her, but it was said that even the topmost leaders had heard about the matter.

　　The municipal party secretary, Matthew Warren, wanted to shape Grace Bolton into a banner for Panshi City, actively responding to the central government's call and resolutely breaking the influence of the old era, to demonstrate his own firm political stance. Therefore, his support for Grace Bolton's work was very strong. The original director of the Municipal Bureau of Culture and Education, John Turner, having emerged victorious in his struggle with Panshi's deputy party secretary Andrew Ford, now had a good chance of joining the standing committee and replacing Andrew Ford, so he naturally had no interest in lingering in the small pond of the Culture and Education Bureau.

　　As a result, Grace Bolton unexpectedly became the de facto head of the Panshi Municipal Bureau of Culture and Education.

　　Most importantly, Grace Bolton had spent a long time at grassroots schools and was very familiar with the problems at the lower levels. After taking office, she seemed to single-handedly turn the tide, greatly improving the educational atmosphere in Panshi City and earning full recognition from the city leadership. As the one who discovered her, party secretary Matthew Warren naturally had a keen eye for talent, and he was very willing to discuss or report on the state of education in Panshi City at various meetings, incorporating it into his own record of achievements.

　　However, under the jurisdiction of the Bureau of Culture and Education, it wasn't just education—culture, sports, and health all required the attention of Deputy Director Bolton. Nowadays, even Edward Faulkner found it a luxury to see his mother during the day.

　　“What? Why do you need so much money?” Upon hearing that Edward Faulkner had set his sights on that sum of money, Grace Bolton immediately frowned and asked suspiciously.

　　Edward Faulkner was momentarily speechless. He had originally hoped that after proving himself, Henry Faulkner and Grace Bolton—his parents—would listen to everything this genius had to say. Unexpectedly, as time passed, the two of them had completely forgotten his great achievements. He couldn't help but lament that the bad habit of Chinese people forgetting pain once the wound heals was truly harmful.

　　Facing Grace Bolton's doubts, Edward Faulkner had to carefully choose his words and explained to Grace Bolton his purpose in collecting Cultural Revolution items, emphasizing the high returns and substantial profits that could be generated from this endeavor.

　　After listening to Edward Faulkner's explanation, Grace Bolton asked skeptically, “Of course antiques are valuable, I know that without you telling me. But if you say this junk will be worth money in a few years, I just don't believe it!”

　　In fact, not only did Grace Bolton not believe it, but no one else would have believed Edward Faulkner's claim either.

　　There was a reason for this. At that time, Cultural Revolution items were everywhere, discarded by everyone like worn-out shoes. How could they possibly become valuable? Besides, in Grace Bolton's eyes, money didn't seem to be of much use. Everyone in the family had jobs, housing and consumer goods were all allocated by the state according to plan, and a little salary was just for buying groceries or small items. Even if you had money, you wouldn't know how to spend it!

　　“Those who do not plan for the long term will have immediate worries.” Seeing that Grace Bolton didn't believe him, Edward Faulkner lost interest in saying more. Anyway, with the little collection he had, in a few years it should be worth quite a bit. He was confident he could live comfortably as a minor rich man.

　　But in the end, Grace Bolton still gave Edward Faulkner five hundred yuan, because she knew her younger son was rather unusual. Judging from all the signs since his birth, Edward Faulkner had vaguely become the backbone of the family. Although neither parent was willing to admit it, everything Edward Faulkner said and did could not be ignored.

　　In addition, Grace Bolton also solved the storage room issue.

　　Houses suitable for living were naturally in short supply, but there were plenty of houses that could be used for storage. After asking around, Grace Bolton found out that there was a large area of vacant houses near a big garbage pit outside the factory. Because the place was remote, no one was interested, and the owners didn't want to live there, so the houses had remained empty. So Grace Bolton negotiated with the owner, took out the remaining five hundred yuan, added some of her own salary, and bought the houses along with the land.

　　When Edward Faulkner heard that his mother had settled the housing issue, he was overjoyed. But when he went to see it, he was even more delighted.

　　The place was still rather desolate at the time, but Edward Faulkner knew very well that there was a large Spring and Autumn period bronze casting site underground. Now that he was the landlord, he had gotten a huge bargain for nothing.

　　With both funds and a venue secured, Edward Faulkner's enthusiasm for collecting Cultural Revolution items grew even stronger. Within the next two years, everyone knew that the youngest son of Director Faulkner and Director Bolton was a crazy king of junk.

Chapter Sixteen: Selling Junk