Dividing the Treasure

Mo Qiong looked at Zhang He, who was beside himself with joy, and laughed along with him.

This guy really was a Chuunibyou. After finding the treasure, he did not care about its value and seemed to care more about the fame instead.

But that was fine, too. Mo Qiong did not care about fame. He was even willing to give Zhang He all the credit for the discovery.

Mo Qiong froze when he heard Zhang He's last sentence.

He went out to sea for several days at a time, leaving everything to fate? Good grief, did he have a death wish?

This time, it was because Mo Qiong was there that so many surprises had appeared amid their so-called fate.

But if Zhang He really thought there would be surprises every time, and that he could drift around on the sea, digging randomly until he struck treasure, then wasn't he just waiting for rabbits to run into a tree?

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

But Zhang He was too excited to listen to reason. He dragged Mo Qiong back to the yacht.

The yacht was not far away. The others had already tired themselves out playing and were waiting there.

When they saw the two of them return, Xiao Kun said, "Where did you two run off to? Hurry up! We're waiting for you to come back so we can grill fish together."

Zhang He laughed loudly. "Grill what fish? Get down here and dig up treasure!"

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

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

"In a chest?" The others still did not understand.

Zhang He roared, "Treasure, you idiots! Hurry up and come dig!"

Everyone was shocked. They finally realized what he meant and all jumped into the water to take a look.

But Mo Qiong said, "Uh, it's too heavy. Why don't we just drive the boat over?"

Zhang He nodded. "Right, right."

After they drove the boat over the treasure and anchored it there, they dived down to inspect it.

Everyone was dumbfounded. The chests Mo Qiong and Zhang He had dug up were all locked, so they could not see what was inside.

But the first chest was broken. When they reached inside, they pulled out a handful of jewelry.

Xiao Kun could tell at a glance that these were antique-style jewelry and works of art. They were definitely ancient objects, and their craftsmanship was very different from modern work.

What drove him even crazier was that the broken chest contained a crown!

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

The others followed him up, only to hear him howl.

"Hurry! Hurry! I'll save this first! You guys get that broken chest onto the boat!"

He carried the crown straight onto the boat and began searching everywhere for a hair dryer.

Seeing him carefully dry the crown, the others realized that these were all cultural relics. The chest was broken, and leaving it soaking in seawater definitely would not do.

The chests were heavy, but with several people working together, they were manageable. The men moved the chests onto the boat one by one, while the women continued clearing away the silt underwater.

Afterward, the men went down to help as well. They worked for a while, and more and more chests were uncovered.

In the end, after more than two hours of searching above and below the water, they finally confirmed that there were no more chests.

After counting carefully, they had brought up a total of twenty-one chests.

"I'm exhausted..."

Everyone climbed onto the boat to rest. Seeing that Xiao Kun was still tending to the crown, they could not help complaining, "Why are you only taking care of that? Why didn't you help?"

Without looking up, Xiao Kun said, "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 asked, "A hundred million? Or two hundred million?"

"You don't know anything! It's priceless! Crowns are 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, "Wasn't Princess Diana's crown auctioned? I remember it only sold for a few million."

"That wasn't a real crown. It was just a modern work of art shaped like one. It had no political significance to a nation and symbolized no power. If it weren't for the fact that Princess Diana owned it, I could make a hundred of those and give them to you for all I care!" Xiao Kun said.

Zhang He heard this and asked, "Then how do you know this one has political significance? Do you know which country's crown it is?"

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

"But this is at least several hundred years old, and it has a typical Chinese artistic style. Several hundred years ago, do you think people could make crowns as casually as they do now? This crown must have been worn by a king. It's a genuine crown."

"Real crowns have never been put up for auction. Ancient crowns are always kept as national collections. Even if a country was destroyed, the crown would be collected by the conqueror or bought by another country, but it would never be auctioned. Several hundred years ago, the French royal family wanted to buy the Byzantine crown, but they couldn't afford it. In the end, they spent a hundred thousand gold coins on a scepter instead."

"Nowadays, crowns are either in museums or in the hands of royal families. Even if an ancient crown is unearthed from private land, the relevant country will definitely come looking for it and buy it. Selling it for an astronomical price is impossible."

"This is a priceless treasure."

Mo Qiong listened and thought to himself, He really knows his stuff.

Xiao Kun did not yet know that this was the Ryukyu Crown, but he already knew it was priceless.

Here, "priceless" meant that it would never be permitted to be auctioned publicly. Only if no one knew which country's crown it was could it possibly be bought by a private individual.

Therefore, selling it for a high price was impossible.

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

Xiao Kun thought for a moment before asking, "Where are we? Are we in the High Seas?"

Zhang He hurriedly opened the navigation system and spent a long time checking their position before shaking his head. "No, we're inside New Guinea's exclusive economic zone... Damn, there's one of their islands nearby. Without that island, this would be the High Seas."

"It doesn't matter. Isn't where it was dug up up to us to decide?" Xiao Kun said righteously.

The others remained calm as well. They did not care whether this was the High Seas.

Seeing this, Mo Qiong could not help thinking, They really are a bunch of thugs. But I like it.

Next, everyone inventoried their haul.

There were twenty-one chests in total. Inside the chest of jewelry that had been broken open were twelve strings of pearls, numbering more than two hundred pearls in all; thirty pieces of jade jewelry, including bracelets, pendants, and ornaments; more than forty thumb rings and other rings; as well as various works of art, including a white jade paperweight, a jade Buddha, and a jade fish.

Several of the pieces were even inscribed with the words "Great Jun" in Chinese characters.

Xiao Kun asked in puzzlement, "Which royal family would use Chinese characters? And call someone Great Jun? Korea? No, that's not right. Korean crowns don't have this style, nor are they this luxurious."

"Don't act like an expert when you only know half the story," Zhang He said. "We'll find someone to authenticate them when we get back."

As soon as everyone discovered that the other chests were sealed, they opened them all.

There was jewelry in only that one chest. Of the remaining twenty chests, one held gold, eighteen held silver, and one contained nothing but a wooden carving.

"There are no ceremonial objects..." Xiao Kun was somewhat disappointed. There was not even any porcelain, let alone ceremonial objects.

"Does gold and silver not count as cultural relics?" Mo Qiong asked.

"They count, but this gold and silver was recast into gold bricks, so almost all of its added value is gone. Basically, it's only worth the current market price of the gold and silver."

"Well, if we auctioned the jewelry separately, excluding the crown, it could probably fetch around two hundred million."

"As for the remaining gold and silver, once we weigh it, the total value should be around twenty million."

The chests were small. One chest of gold held less than a hundred pounds, and the silver was even lighter.

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

Still, that was already a great deal. Xiao Kun was only slightly disappointed before becoming excited again.

More than two hundred million worth of goods was sitting right in front of them. Even if they were not short of money, they could not possibly take such wealth lightly.

"More than two hundred million... How do we divide it?" someone asked.

As soon as splitting the money came up, everyone grew excited.

They had all hauled it up from the sea together. As for whether this was the High Seas, that was not their concern. They had plenty of ways to turn these things into goods recovered from the High Seas.

Only the crown was troublesome. Unless they hid it away, it absolutely needed a clear origin.

After all, archaeologists would definitely investigate the crown's origins. If they claimed it came from the High Seas, then where in the High Seas had it been found?

Xiao Kun had already thought of a solution.

"Zhang He, I don't care how you divide everything else. I want this crown. But remember this: 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 heard about it and bought it back to our country. Got it?" Xiao Kun said.

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

Thus, in Xiao Kun's version of events, the crown instantly became an item found on someone's private land and sold to their auction house.

As for who had dug it up, when they had done so, and whether there were other objects buried on their land, his family naturally had a team that could arrange everything properly.

Zhang He laughed. "Fine, fine, no one's going to fight you for it. But you can't sell this thing publicly. Are you going to secretly hand it over to the state after buying it?"

Xiao Kun glared. "Why secretly hand it over to the state? We'll publicly authenticate it, promote it widely, and organize a massive auction. Then, no matter which country comes to claim it, they'll have to negotiate with us. If it turns out to be from our own country, even better. My family can buy it internally, push the price to an unprecedented astronomical figure, and then donate it to the state."

Since the item belonged to his family's auction house, no matter how much money others had, once they decided to buy it internally, no amount they offered could take it away. Instead, they would only drive the price even higher.

The taxes would be frightening if the price went too high, but the state would certainly offer subsidies. Combined with the fame and benefits gained from managing the matter, Xiao Kun's family still stood to gain a great deal.

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

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

Zhang He nodded. "Then let's do this. We'll divide the gold and silver equally. As for the jewelry, while it hasn't been authenticated, everyone can pick what they like. Just estimate the values and keep them roughly equal. But if something in your possession turns out to be especially valuable after authentication, that's fate."

"The nine of us obtained these things through fate. Once everyone has chosen this time, whether someone earns more or less, no one can bring it up again."

Everyone laughed. "Wow, this is exciting. I'm going to choose carefully."

Mo Qiong said nothing beside them, but when he heard Zhang He say "the nine of us," he knew everything was settled.

He had already become part of the group.

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

"The wooden carving hasn't been counted yet," Mo Qiong said, pointing at it.

"Same rules. Whoever wants it can take it," Zhang He said.

Mo Qiong immediately picked up the wooden carving.

Xiao Kun watched from the side and laughed. "You really know how to choose. You picked the cheapest one."

"It's still a cultural relic, and it's still a work of art. It's several hundred years old, so it can't be worth that little, right?" Mo Qiong asked.

"No, no. It's worth at most ten thousand or so. It wouldn't even make it into an auction of moderate size," Xiao Kun said.

Mo Qiong was stunned. "Ten thousand? That cheap? How could something several hundred years old be worth so little?"

"It isn't true that the older something is, the more expensive it is. Antiques also depend on their original value. The craftsmanship of this wooden carving is too poor. It's just a folk trinket, something like a pirate's talisman. My guess is that when this royal family fled, pirates looted them. When the pirates buried their treasure, they buried their own talisman with it," Xiao Kun said.

Mo Qiong grimaced. He had not expected to pick the least valuable thing with a single choice.

He had originally thought that since this object was kept alone in a chest, it must be some valuable antique. After all, the pirates had even treated the crown with no respect, stuffing it in together with a pile of treasure.

But after Xiao Kun's explanation, Mo Qiong realized that even if the object had been precious to the person who buried it, that did not mean it would still be precious several hundred years later.

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

P.S.: Sorry.