Epiphanies of Rebirth (重生之豁然)

Chapter 30.1

When the smuggling case was finally settled, Zheng Cunzhi made a call to Yan City to inform Elder Fang.

Not only were the recovered cultural relics of great research value, but the quantity was also huge. After being displayed in the museum, they were very popular with the public. As such, Elder Fang had recently been in a state of euphoria, to the point where he was so engrossed in the conservation work that he neglected eating and sleeping.

He'd been serving as a cultural relics expert for the National Museum since his retirement a few years prior, but this was the first time he'd witnessed such a big incident. It was said that the antiques were found in several containers that should have been filled with soybeans. If Qunnan's investigators had gotten there just two hours later, countless priceless treasures belonging to this land would have already been transported across the sea through the established route to F country.

Hearing the good news that the cultural relics were intercepted, the old man who had been concerned about this matter was overjoyed at first, and then became outraged.

{Qi Kai's courage is getting bigger and bigger,} Zheng Cunzhi said. {I've long cautioned Mr. Qi that with Qi Kai's temperament, he should be kept in check or he would definitely cause big trouble someday!}

Elder Fang, holding the telephone receiver with his shoulder and wearing glasses and gloves, was observing the kiln support marks on the bottom of a long-neck vase through a magnifying glass. At Zheng Cunzhi's words, he snorted. "Haven't we all been telling him that? Everyone has been warning old Qi, but he refused to listen. Look at him now, running himself ragged to get his ne'er-do-well grandson out of hot water."

As Elder Fang spoke, he couldn't help but recall the antiques recovered from the smuggling empire that Qi Kai helped build. Allegedly, the route it used had first been developed three years ago, and even now the number of people that had taken part in it since was still unknown. As soon as the earthquake started in Qunnan, many arrests were made in various places. Due to the large number of people involved, the police had to set out in nearly full force.

With such a large network, how many things had gone through their hands over the years? The domestic media rarely mentioned it, but in foreign magazines, Elder Fang often saw news such as 'The Record-Breaking Price of Antiques at Auction in Hong Kong' and so on. For ordinary people, it sounded exciting, but those with more knowledge on the matter were only filled with regret and an unwillingness to accept this state of affairs.

Sighing, the old man put down the magnifying glass and took the receiver in his hand. "Actually, it wasn't easy to make this happen."

{I know you worked really hard to let this case not fall through, Teacher,} Zheng Cunzhi said, well-aware of the ins and outs.

"Before, I was also helpless. We've been trying to do this for more than a year, but old man Qi always said that right now, we should relax restrictions on the major coastal cities so as not to make everyone in the business community panic," Elder Fang grumbled. He recalled the games of Go he played with Elder Qi several times last year, which had ended in discord; he'd thought his opponent was simply too conservative and afraid of miscalculating the situation, but now he knew it was because Qi Kai was involved in such away.

"If it wasn't for the donation of bronzeware a few months ago, which heated things up, we would've had to watch everything fizzle out yet again."

Zheng Cunzhi knew this was the reason Elder Fang made a big deal out of the donation. Fortunately, his move was successful, and Qunnan also got rid of a large tumor growing in its side. He smiled and said, his tone relaxing, {You're right, sir. At first, I was ready for a long-term struggle—I never expected things would turn out this way. By the way, I heard that the boy who donated antiques ranked first in the province in his college entrance examination and has been admitted to Yan University? He's an outstanding young man.}