Seeing that Director Zhang's reaction was a bit strange, an older expert asked with concern, "Old Zhang, are you alright?"
Director Zhang pinched himself hard to make sure he wasn't dreaming, then quickly said to Zhang Long on the other end of the phone, "Mr. Zhang, I'll be there right away!"
Then he hurriedly left with a few professionals, leaving the experts completely bewildered. They should just focus on taking a closer look at this treasure.
Actually, his first reaction was that the joke wasn't funny at all, but he decided to take it in stride, thinking it might be true.
After all, the person who called him was the one who had just donated three animal heads.
Director Zhang and his entourage drove briskly toward the HL Building.
I even drove quite fast along the way and almost ran a red light. Several times I barely made it through the yellow light.
A passing traffic policeman was about to stop the other party to ask a question, but the other party ignored him and sped away.
"Damn it, how could he tolerate this?"
Then a strange scene unfolded on the road: a car with a Shanghai license plate was chased by a motorcycle with sirens blaring for several traffic lights.
Finally, they were blocked on the road by another police car. Passersby thought they were filming a TV show and peeked around to see where the camera was!
After all, police car chases are extremely rare in real life.
Fortunately, it was just a misunderstanding, and driver Xiao Li had to take the blame for his boss.
"Yes, actually the road has widened!"
It was 30 minutes later when they arrived at Zhang Long's office on the 35th floor of the HL Building.
Seeing the mess on the office floor and the dragon head on the table, Director Zhang and his colleagues could no longer contain themselves. The experts rushed toward the dragon head as if they had oil on their feet.
He summoned Director Zhang and the others to come over so that they could find the provenance of these items and transform them from private collections into legal collections.
After all, these items have no provenance. Even if they are from abroad, you need to have proof of their origin and customs clearance documents. Otherwise, you are illegally possessing them, and the regulations are quite strict.
Seeing the group of people who were engrossed in studying the dragon's head, Zhang Long pulled Director Zhang aside.
“Old Zhang, those items, like this dragon head, were all taken from this Buddha statue. There’s nothing else.”
"You know what I mean!"
Director Zhang frowned when he saw the dragon and phoenix robes and a pair of seals placed to the side. If it were an ordinary person, he would have refused them outright.
"But is Zhang Long an ordinary person?"
"Obviously not!"
Putting aside the sheep head and snake head that he had just donated, and the dragon head that he had just acquired, to be honest, in his eyes, this was not a big deal at all!
It's not even as important as a single horn of the true dragon's head. Now that the true dragon's head has appeared in the world, once it's handed over, things will be completely different.
We Chinese people all call ourselves descendants of the dragon, and the value of the dragon head is incomparable to that of any other zodiac animal.
Since these items were all taken from Buddha statues, and the Buddha statues themselves came from Thailand, there are no customs clearance records for the items. This means the museum has to handle everything through its own channels.
He had only one request: that the museum provide him with legal documentation for these items so that he could possess them openly and legitimately.
Director Zhang was preoccupied with the matter of the dragon head and couldn't care less about anything else. He nodded frantically, agreeing to whatever it might be.
If he can't handle it, then report it up the chain of command and let the decision-maker speak for him.
At this moment, the experts who were studying the dragon head, after confirming that it was genuine, hugged the dragon head and began to wail.
Perhaps it was because he was Chinese, and seeing this historical artifact representing national humiliation return to his motherland, that he couldn't help but cry.
Zhang Long was very understanding. Seeing the group bowing and thanking him, he quickly stepped aside.
He waved his hands repeatedly and said, "Director Zhang, and gentlemen, you are all very talented. I, Zhang, only have this money. I am not worthy of such treatment from you."
"I am also a Chinese citizen. It is my duty to do what I can for my country. Please don't do this."
After Director Zhang and the others left with their belongings, Zhang Long breathed a sigh of relief.
What happened today was so exciting, my heart could hardly take it!
As soon as Director Zhang returned, he reported the matter to his superiors, along with Zhang Long's small request.
So the news quickly reached the highest levels, after all, it was the dragon's head!
This deserved the attention of these top leaders for a moment, and in the end, the leader made the final decision: approved!
Once the second person found out, the matter was no longer a secret, and the news caused an immediate uproar!
All the major news channels were like they were on steroids, vying to report on it. Even CCTV joined in the fun, giving it more than a minute in their evening news broadcast!
They immediately maximized the dragon head's presence. Well, in this minute, they took one second to show the sheep head, one second to show the snake head, and 58 seconds to show the dragon head.
As for the fake dragon head, it didn't even make the news; it was simply glossed over with a brief, understated mention.
The donor was simply listed as Mr. Zhang, which is quite low-key.
Zhang Long and Hu's father both felt that there was no need to expose this matter; it was enough for the higher-ups to know. Exposing too much would not do him any good.
Time flew by, and three days later, Director Zhang brought a beautifully packaged box and several certificates to Zhang Long to deliver the report.
"Mr. Zhang, I have successfully completed the task for you!"
"Don't worry about it."
"This matter has already reached the ears of those above. The leaders are very satisfied with your sense of the bigger picture and have specially approved your application."
"These are certificates of authenticity for several items. This is the first time I've ever seen someone openly and legitimately collect imperial seals and dragon robes of this caliber."
"After examination and analysis by our museum's experts, we have come to the conclusion that the two dragon robes and phoenix robes you brought back belonged to Emperor Xianfeng and Empress Dowager Cixi, and were likely items that Cixi specifically prepared to take with her to be buried with her."
"After all, Empress Dowager Cixi was never an empress. She probably wanted to keep it for after her death, but then the BGLJ invaded the Yuanmingyuan and it was taken away."
"As for why it was placed inside a Buddha statue in Thailand, nobody knows!"
Zhang Long looked at the certificate in his hand, then at the box in Director Zhang's hand, and asked curiously, "What is this?"
"Old Zhang, you're not going to give me a gift, are you?"
"Let me tell you, even if you give me gifts, don't even think about pocketing my spoils!"
Director Zhang shook his head and smiled wryly, "Mr. Zhang, I'm not that bad!"
Alright, Chapter 3 is finished. It was exhausting. If the data isn't good tomorrow, I'm definitely going to go out!
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