Make a Scene of It!
Late morning.
Inside the Asian Gallery of the National Museum.
To avoid drawing attention and to keep the nearby surveillance equipment from recording him for too long, Dong Xuebin gave the Tianlong Mountain Grottoes Sandstone Bodhisattva Statue a casual glance, then calmly looked away. With his hands behind his back, he shifted his gaze to other artifacts and slowly walked off, silently memorizing the general layout as he headed outside and familiarizing himself once more with the fastest, shortest route out of the museum.
That was more or less enough!
Just as Dong Xuebin was about to grab lunch and think over the details of his plan, an argument suddenly broke out nearby. He could not understand the rapid Japanese chatter, so he turned his head and saw a middle-aged man holding up his phone as if preparing to take a picture. The camera was aimed directly at the Bodhisattva Statue. A Japanese museum staff member immediately shouted and stepped forward to stop him. The two began arguing, and the middle-aged man pointed at the statue while saying something.
Huh? What was going on?
Dong Xuebin was taken aback and watched from a distance.
Li Li shouted, "Where is your museum director? Have him come out! This is a cultural relic of our Republic! It is a Second-Class Cultural Relic that was illegally taken out of the country! What right do you have to display it?"
The Japanese staff member said coldly, "You sure are sticking your nose into a lot. You even dare come here and cause trouble?"
Li Li reached into his jacket, flashed his identification, and said, "I am a Xinhua News Agency correspondent stationed in Japan! I want to see your director!"
Although Dong Xuebin could not understand what they were