A Journey Guided by Fate

Mo Qiong's Large Pearl had strong potential for hype. Selling it directly, as he was doing, was the worst way to handle it.

With proper promotion and packaging, the value of a pearl like this could double.

That was why Xiao Kun had initially said he couldn't afford it, but after seeing that Mo Qiong intended to sell it directly, he decided to take it.

A guaranteed profit—why wouldn't he buy it? Although promotion and packaging came with costs, his family handled this kind of thing all the time and had a dedicated team for it.

It might take two or three years to build up momentum, but in the end, he would definitely make a huge profit. He would earn not only money but also prestige, which would help the brand's image.

Mo Qiong had Zhang He to thank for that.

Mo Qiong wanted to turn it into cash as quickly as possible. Without money or influence, Xiao Kun could easily force the price down and buy it according to ordinary jewelry standards. Mo Qiong might have sold it for three million.

Even if Mo Qiong knew that was far too little, he would have had no way to raise the price to six million, let alone push it to seven million after Zhang He had forcefully pressured Xiao Kun one more time.

With just a few words, Zhang He had helped Mo Qiong earn an extra four million.

That was the benefit of having a friend speak up for you.

After negotiating the deal, Mo Qiong would return with seven million waiting for him. He was instantly delighted.

Amid his happiness, Mo Qiong smiled at Zhang He. "Thanks. I'm pretty good in the water. If you need me next time, just call."

Zhang He laughed. "What's there to thank me for? Just buy me a meal. I love making friends out on the open sea. Meeting on this vast ocean is fate."

Xiao Kun rolled his eyes. "So in the end, I'm the only one who loses? Why are you thanking him? He only said a couple of words. I'm the one paying!"

Mo Qiong hurriedly smiled. "Right, right. I should thank the financier too."

Xiao Kun said, "Why do I feel like I'm the sucker here?"

Zhang He scoffed. "You're the sucker? I might not make money buying this for seven million, but you'll definitely profit. Would one of your own brothers die if he earned four million less?"

"Tell me, how much can you make? If this becomes a priceless heirloom, your family's auction house might even rise to the ranks of Asia's best."

Xiao Kun scoffed. "A priceless heirloom? Do you think that's as easy as drinking soup? Without a truly influential figure to build its reputation, its value would probably top out at ten or twenty million."

"With jewelry, there has to be a buyer willing to take it over before it can truly be considered highly valuable. Only cultural relics don't have to worry about buyers. If private individuals won't take them, the state will."

"Relying entirely on added value from hype won't work. To rank among Asia's best, you need genuine cultural appeal to attract major collectors and make them willing to bring out antiques from their own collections for auction. Otherwise, it's all just small-time business."

"Especially with treasures that have cultural backgrounds and embody the finest of ancient art. They barely need any hype at all. There are plenty of people who know their value, and they can easily fetch tens of millions."

"If there were a genuine priceless heirloom, it could sell for over a hundred million. Unfortunately, you might not encounter even one in several years. Last year's spring auction had thirty-eight lots and only brought in a little over two hundred million in total. My family is going under..."

Mo Qiong suddenly froze. "How much?"

"A little over two hundred million. Don't let the number fool you—that was the combined sale price of thirty-eight lots," Xiao Kun said.

"No, I'm asking about a genuine priceless heirloom. It can sell for a hundred million?"

"Of course. They call it a priceless heirloom for a reason. A hundred million is nothing," Xiao Kun said.

"Shouldn't cultural relics be forbidden from being bought and sold? A priceless heirloom should be beyond price, right?" Mo Qiong asked.

Xiao Kun laughed. "A cultural relic is a cultural relic, and an antique is an antique. The items put up for auction are legally owned private collections whose circulation is restricted. Anything that can't be bought or sold must have been dug out of the ground, which makes it a national cultural relic—unless it was excavated overseas."

"If one of our country's cultural relics were discovered abroad, domestic museums would do everything possible to buy it back. If my family's auction house could facilitate the return of such a relic, our reputation would soar and we'd make a fortune."

Then he looked at Mo Qiong. "Why are you asking all this? Your pearl doesn't count. You fished it out of the sea and left. Who would know? Once it reached my hands, its origin instantly became a discovery in the High Seas."

"Haha." Mo Qiong laughed, deep in thought.

After spending time aboard someone else's ship, Mo Qiong felt that he had learned quite a lot.

After getting to know them better, he discovered that although Zhang He and Xiao Kun's families were not ultra-wealthy, they both had extensive connections.

There was no need to say much about Xiao Kun. His family ran an auction house and was also involved in many other intermediary industries, so naturally, their connections were extensive.

Zhang He's family, meanwhile, was involved in investment. They managed more than a dozen foundations and held large shares in publicly listed companies in various real and service industries. Their connections could only be even broader.

These days, wealthy second-generation heirs had less and less pressure to inherit and take over the family business.

Even when the older generation eventually retired, they would not hand the industries over to their children. Instead, they would entrust them to professional management teams.

As long as they did not recklessly interfere with company affairs, they could smoothly take over in the future. This allowed them to leisurely travel and have fun, without becoming too deeply embroiled in business.

The Ryukyu Crown was truly a priceless treasure, and the treasures found alongside it were undoubtedly precious cultural relics as well.

It would be difficult to sell them after obtaining them domestically, but Mo Qiong had discovered that they were overseas, so he resolved to find them.

Yet even abroad, if they were not found on land belonging to him, they would still belong to that foreign country.

Selling them would be extremely troublesome for Mo Qiong.

However, after what had happened with the Large Pearl, Mo Qiong privately wondered whether he could make use of Zhang He and Xiao Kun's connections.

Mo Qiong knew perfectly well that he had no connections at all. If he wanted to claim the entire treasure, he had no idea how troublesome it would be.

There were plenty of treasures in the world. With his abilities, what he lacked even more was a network of contacts.

If he could use this Pirate King's treasure to firmly establish connections with Zhang He, Xiao Kun, and the others, the benefits would be multifaceted. It would also be easier to sell any good things he found in the future.

The benefits and risks could all be shared. Once they gained a stake, they would naturally handle everything related to the treasure better and more proactively than he could...

He did not seek fame or influence. As long as he could share in the profits, that was enough.

In the long run, even drinking only a little soup from this treasure would still be a huge gain for him.

After harvesting so many pearls, they did not stay any longer. They immediately prepared to leave and enter the High Seas.

Along the way, they encountered ships from the Philippines, but those were yachts. As long as they did not enter territorial waters, they would not be inspected.

After entering the High Seas, everyone was in high spirits, so they found another place to stop and lay together on the deck to sunbathe.

Gazing at the endless sea and sky and breathing in the scent carried by the sea breeze, everyone felt relaxed and content.

"Little Mo, want a drink?" Zhang He approached with a bottle of red wine, wearing only a pair of shorts.

Mo Qiong smiled and accepted a glass.

Nearby, several women were sizzling fish on the grill. It was the Spanish mackerel he had hauled aboard when he was searching for pearls.

After taking a couple of sips of wine, Mo Qiong said, "Tsk, tsk... Drifting freely across the sea, drinking a little wine in the sea breeze, grilling fish, digging up pearls—what a comfortable life."

"Hahaha! We're used to it. We didn't expect to find pearls, though. You really are lucky," Zhang He said.

Mo Qiong smiled. "It wasn't because I was lucky. Last night's storm blew the boat straight over there. We were just looking for somewhere shallow to dive. I hadn't swum very far when I found a whole patch of pearl oysters. One of them was particularly large. I cracked it open, and—tsk, tsk—seven million!"

"That's true. The sea is full of surprises!" Zhang He laughed.

"Stop it. You're far too much of a European Emperor. I swam around for ages, so why didn't I see anything? You got seven million, while we only fished up a little pocket money," Xiao Kun said.

"Let fate decide, let fate decide. That pearl and I were destined to meet. When the time came, I naturally found it. The same goes for the sea monster you're looking for, Zhang He. Lippi only saw it because he happened to discover it, didn't he?" Mo Qiong said.

Zhang He asked, "What if the sea monster and I aren't destined to meet?"

"Uh... Don't force it. I don't know whether you and the sea monster have any fate between you, but I do feel that you and I are very fated to meet," Mo Qiong said with a laugh.

"Exactly. You were drifting across the vast sea, originally asleep and about to miss our distress signal, yet somehow we ended up ramming your boat. How much fate does that take?" Everyone laughed.

Mo Qiong took the opportunity to say, "How about this? We turn off the navigation and drive wherever we want. At night, we shut off the engine and drift wherever the current takes us. We can fish and dive every day, and spend a few days having fun according to fate. What do you think?"

"That's a great idea! We've never played around like that before." Someone immediately voiced their support.

Zhang He also found it interesting. They could deliberately lose themselves at sea and spend a few days letting fate decide everything.

Ramming into Mo Qiong was fate. Finding the pearls was fate. This aimless wandering, never knowing what would happen the next moment on the open sea—the surprises and thrills were exactly what people who loved going out to sea enjoyed most.

"Good! That's what we'll do. From now on, wherever we go, we'll let fate decide!"

"Let Heaven decide where we go to have fun!"