Distributing the Treasure

Mo Qiong smiled in agreement, looking at the ecstatic Zhang He.

This guy was really a chuunibyou. After finding treasure, he didn't care about its value, but seemed to care more about fame.

But that was fine. Mo Qiong didn't care about fame; he was even willing to give Zhang He sole credit for the discovery.

When he heard the last sentence, Mo Qiong froze.

"Every time we go out to sea, we just go with the flow for a few days?" Good heavens, was he trying to die?

This time, it was only because Mo Qiong was there that they had so many surprises within their so-called "flow."

But if they really thought every trip would have surprises, just drifting aimlessly at sea and digging down would lead them to treasure, wouldn't that be like waiting for a rabbit by a stump?

The sea was very dangerous. If they kept drifting like this, something would happen sooner or later.

But now, Zhang He wouldn't listen to advice. He excitedly pulled Mo Qiong back to the yacht.

The yacht wasn't far. Everyone else was already tired from playing and was waiting for them there.

Seeing them return, Xiao Kun said, "Where did you guys go so far? Hurry! We're waiting for you all to grill fish together."

Zhang He laughed heartily, "Grill fish? Come down and dig for treasure!"

Everyone was stunned. Xiao Kun exclaimed, "You found pearls again?"

"There are pearls, but they're in a box," Zhang He said with a smile.

"In a box?" Everyone hadn't understood yet.

Zhang He roared, "Treasure, you idiot! Come dig!"

Everyone was shocked and finally realized what was happening. They all jumped into the water, wanting to follow and see.

But Mo Qiong said, "Uh, it's too heavy. Let's just sail the boat over."

Zhang He nodded, "Right, right."

When they sailed the boat over the treasure's location, anchored, and dived down to check, they were all stunned. The boxes Mo Qiong and Zhang He had dug up were all locked, so they couldn't see what was inside.

But the initial box was broken. Reaching in, Mo Qiong pulled out a handful of jewelry.

Xiao Kun could tell at a glance that these were all antique jewelry art pieces with ancient styles. They were definitely ancient artifacts, and their craftsmanship was very different from modern pieces.

What drove him even crazier was that inside the broken box, there was a crown!

"Holy crap!" Xiao Kun frantically took out the crown and surfaced.

Everyone followed him, and they heard him roar.

"Quick! Quick! I'll save this first. You guys hurry and bring the broken box onto the boat!"

He climbed onto the boat, holding the crown, and looked everywhere for a hairdryer.

Seeing him meticulously drying the crown, everyone realized these were all cultural relics. The broken box, having been submerged in seawater, definitely wouldn't do.

Although the boxes were heavy, it was easy for several people to work together. The men carried the boxes onto the boat one by one, while the women continued to clear the silt underwater.

Afterward, the men went to help. After a flurry of activity, they found more and more boxes.

Finally, after more than two hours, both above and below the water, they confirmed there were no more boxes.

Counting carefully, they had brought up a total of twenty-one boxes.

"So tired..."

Everyone climbed onto the boat to rest. Seeing Xiao Kun still tending to the crown, they couldn't help but get angry, "Why are you only taking care of this and not helping?"

Xiao Kun didn't look up. "Even if those jewels are antiques, they're not as important as this. Do you know how valuable an ancient crown like this is?"

One of the women said, "One hundred million? Or two hundred million?"

"What do you know! It's priceless! The crown is priceless!" Xiao Kun said excitedly. "Have you ever heard of a crown being auctioned for an astronomical price?"

The woman thought for a moment and said, "Didn't Princess Diana's crown get auctioned? I remember it was only a few million."

"That wasn't a real crown; it was a modern replica that looked like a crown. It had no political significance to any country, nor did it symbolize any power. If it hadn't belonged to Princess Diana, I could have made a hundred of them for you!" Xiao Kun said.

Zhang He listened and said, "Then how do you know this one has political significance? Do you know which king's crown it is?"

Xiao Kun shook his head, "How would I know which king's crown it is? There are plenty of small countries in Southeast Asia."

"But this craftsmanship is at least several hundred years old, and it's in a typical Chinese artistic style. A few hundred years ago, do you think it was as easy to make crowns as it is now? This crown must have been worn by a king; it's a real crown."

"Real crowns are never put up for auction. Ancient crowns are definitely national treasures. Even if a country was conquered, the conquerors would keep them or other countries would buy them, but they would never be auctioned. Hundreds of years ago, the French royalty wanted to buy the Byzantine Imperial Crown but couldn't afford it and ended up buying a scepter for one hundred thousand gold coins."

"Nowadays, crowns are either in museums or in the hands of royalty. Even if an ancient crown is unearthed from private land, the relevant country will come forward and buy it. It's impossible to auction it for a sky-high price."

"This item is a priceless treasure."

Mo Qiong listened and secretly thought, He knows his stuff.

Xiao Kun didn't know it was the Ryukyu Crown yet, only that it was a priceless treasure.

The "priceless" here meant that it would definitely not be allowed for public auction, unless it was a crown from a completely unknown country, in which case it might be bought by a private individual.

Therefore, it was impossible to sell this item for a high price.

Zhang He asked, "So what do we do with this?"

Xiao Kun thought for a moment and asked, "Where is this? Is it the high seas?"

Zhang He hurriedly opened the navigation, cross-referenced for a long time, and then shook his head, saying, "No, it's within New Guinea's exclusive economic zone... Sigh, there's a small island of theirs nearby. Without that island, this would be the high seas."

"It doesn't matter, where it was dug up from is still up to us to decide," Xiao Kun said righteously.

The others also had calm expressions, not caring whether this place was the high seas or not.

Seeing this, Mo Qiong couldn't help but think to himself: As expected, they're quite the scoundrels. But I like it.

Next, the group took stock of their haul.

A total of twenty-one chests. Among the chest of jewelry that had been broken open:

Twelve pearl necklaces of various sizes, over two hundred pearls. Thirty pieces of jade bracelets, pendants, and ornaments. Over forty assorted thumb rings and rings. Additionally, white jade paperweights, jade Buddhas, jade fish, and other artworks.

Some of these items were inscribed with the characters "Great Lord" (Dàjūn), which were Han characters.

Xiao Kun asked curiously, "Which king's royal family would use Han characters? And call themselves 'Dàjūn'? Korea? No, the Korean crown isn't this style, nor is it this luxurious."

Zhang He said, "Stop showing off your half-baked knowledge. We'll find someone to appraise it when we get back."

Seeing that the other chests were all sealed, they immediately opened them all.

The result was that there was only one chest of jewelry. Of the remaining twenty chests, one contained gold, eighteen contained silver, and one contained only a wooden carving.

"No ritual vessels..." Xiao Kun was a little disappointed. There wasn't even a single piece of porcelain, let alone ritual vessels.

Mo Qiong said, "Don't gold and silver count as cultural relics?"

Xiao Kun replied, "They do, but this gold and silver has all been recast into gold bars, so it has almost no added value. It's basically just valued at the current market price of gold and silver."

"Hmm, this chest of jewelry, if auctioned separately, not including the crown, could fetch around two hundred million."

"As for the remaining gold and silver, we'll weigh it. Altogether, it's only worth twenty million."

The chests were small. A chest of gold weighed less than a hundred catties, and silver was even lighter.

The nineteen chests combined were worth less than a tenth of the jewelry chest.

However, this was already a lot. Xiao Kun was only slightly disappointed before getting excited again.

With over two hundred million worth of items right before their eyes, even if they weren't short on money, they couldn't underestimate this fortune.

"Over two hundred million, how do we split it?" someone asked.

As soon as the topic of money came up, everyone's eyes lit up.

This was something they had all fished out of the sea together. As for whether it was the high seas or not, they didn't care. They had plenty of ways to make these things count as being from the high seas.

Only the crown was a bit troublesome. Unless it was hidden away, it absolutely required a clear provenance.

Because regarding the origin of the crown, archaeological teams would definitely investigate. If it was claimed to be from the high seas, then where on the high seas?

Xiao Kun had already thought of a solution.

"Zhang He, I don't care how you split it, but I want this crown. However, remember, the crown has nothing to do with this batch of jewelry. The crown was dug up by a farmer in New Guinea from his own land. Later, someone from my family's auction house got wind of it and acquired it back to our country, understand?" Xiao Kun said.

In New Guinea, land was privately owned. Whoever owned the land owned all related benefits, and even the state had no right to interfere.

Thus, in Xiao Kun's story, the crown transformed into something found on someone's private land and sold to their auction house.

As for who it was, when it was dug up, or if there was anything else on their land, his family naturally had a team that could arrange everything properly.

Zhang He chuckled, "Alright, alright, no one's fighting you for it. But this thing can't be sold publicly. Are you going to secretly hand it over to the country after you acquire it?"

Xiao Kun glared, "If I'm handing it over to the country, why would I do it secretly? We'll publicly appraise it, publicize it widely, and organize a grand auction. At that time, no matter which country comes to claim it, they'll have to negotiate with us. If it's ours, even better. My family will then buy it internally, setting an unprecedented record price, and then present it to the country."

The item belonged to their family's auction house. No matter how rich others were, once they decided to buy it internally, no amount of money could take it away. Instead, it would drive the price even higher.

It was just that if the price was too high, the taxes would be terrifying. But the country would surely provide subsidies, and coupled with the fame and benefits from this operation, Xiao Kun's family would still gain a lot.

Zhang He clicked his tongue, then looked at everyone else and asked, "Does anyone want this thing?"

Everyone chuckled and shook their heads, "No, no."

Zhang He nodded, "Alright then, let's split the gold and silver equally. As for the jewelry, before it's appraised, everyone can pick what they like, just try to keep the estimated values roughly equal. However, if an item someone picks turns out to be exceptionally valuable after appraisal, that's just their luck."

"We nine people getting these things is all fate. Once you pick now, we can't bring up who earned more or less later."

The others laughed, "Wow, this is exciting! I'm going to pick carefully."

Mo Qiong remained silent on the side, but when he heard Zhang He say 'we nine people,' he knew he was safe.

He had already integrated into this group.

Seeing this, Zhang He said, "You pick too."

"This hasn't been counted yet," Mo Qiong pointed at the wooden carving.

"Same thing, whoever wants it can take it," Zhang He said.

Mo Qiong immediately took the wooden carving in his hand.

However, Xiao Kun looked at it from the side and laughed, "You really know how to pick, picking the cheapest thing."

Mo Qiong replied, "It's still a cultural relic, and an artwork at that. Something from several hundred years ago, it can't be that cheap, right?"

"No, no, no, this thing is worth at most ten thousand yuan. It wouldn't even make it to a medium-sized auction," Xiao Kun said.

Mo Qiong was stunned. "Ten thousand yuan? That cheap? How can something hundreds of years old be so inexpensive?"

"It's not that the older something is, the more expensive it is. Antiques also depend on their intrinsic value. The craftsmanship of this wood carving is too poor; it's just a folk trinket, something like a pirate's amulet. I guess when this royal family fled, pirates looted them, and when the pirates buried their treasure, they buried their own amulets too," Xiao Kun explained.

Mo Qiong grinned, never expecting that the first thing he picked would be the least valuable.

He had initially thought it must be a valuable antique since it was placed in its own box. After all, pirates didn't even respect the Crown, stuffing it together with a pile of treasure.

But now, with Xiao Kun's explanation, Mo Qiong realized that even if the item was precious to the person who buried it, it didn't mean it would still be precious after hundreds of years.

"This thing is probably only important to the Pirate King himself."

P.S.: Sorry.