After glancing at the situation in the conference room, Bai Yu sent a message to Li Shuang on his phone, saying that he had returned, and then went to Wang Hai's office.
Let Li Shuang and others handle the discussion; he can just talk to Li Shuang about the results in the end, which will save time and be more convenient.
However, Bai Yu didn't rest when he returned to his office. He asked Wang Hai to bring over the porcelain fragments and gold and silver ingots that the ship had brought back, so he could take a good look at them.
Soon Wang Hai brought over a piece of porcelain, just like a broken porcelain bowl from a regular household. The only difference was that the piece Wang Hai brought over looked very old.
Especially the painted decorations on this porcelain piece—I don't know if it's due to the erosion of time, corrosion from seawater, or a combination of both.
The pattern on it has become very faint, and the surface of the fragment is not smooth, with some pits and bumps.
Bai Yu didn't pay much attention to this piece of porcelain; he glanced at it and then didn't care anymore.
His attention was mainly focused on two other dark objects, which, judging from their appearance, were slightly shaped like ingots.
However, this shape is not quite standard; it is quite different from the gold and silver ingots depicted in movies and TV dramas.
In addition, the surfaces of these two gold and silver ingots are also pitted and uneven, and for some unknown reason, they are covered with a layer of black stuff, and there are even some rust spots in some places.
Rust? Iron rust?
The owner of this sunken ship must have been a shrewd businessman, right? How could gold and silver ingots rust?
Upon seeing the small amount of rust on the two gold and silver ingots, the word "unscrupulous merchant" immediately popped into his mind.
After all, although the refining technology in ancient times may not have been as good as it is now, there were still requirements for gold and silver. Whether it was gold or silver, it had to reach a certain purity to meet the regulations.
After all, every dynasty had its own government, its own rules, and its own laws.
Bai Yu could understand the black grime and pitted surface of the two gold and silver ingots in front of him, since these things had been submerged at the bottom of the sea for hundreds of years.
But he couldn't quite understand the rust issue. These were gold and silver, not iron. It was a bit much for them to rust.
The fact that they are rusty means that these two gold and silver ingots are not of high purity and contain other substances.
As for why their company didn't remove the surface rust?
This cannot be removed for the time being, because it is an antique. It's best to avoid doing this before finding out the price difference before and after removal.
These rusty items, especially relics from deep-sea shipwrecks, might attract the interest of some collectors with unusual tastes, who might then offer high prices to buy them all.
Otherwise, it would be quite difficult to sell these two gold and silver ingots, which are not very pure, for a high price.
To be honest, Bai Yu wasn't particularly interested in antiques and didn't know much about them.
Bai Yu originally thought that these gold and silver ingots would be of high purity. Even if they weren't 999 pure gold, as long as they didn't have this rust on them, he thought he might be able to keep a few.
After all, Bai Yu has had a habit of collecting gold since he was a child, and he still has a bunch of small gold bars at home, all of which he exchanged at the bank in the past.
However, the gold ingot is now covered in rust, so its purity is low and the price of selling it as pure gold won't be high. Therefore, Bai Yu has lost interest in it.
So after watching for a while, he put all those things aside and started playing on his phone.
About half an hour later, Li Shuang and Lu Sheng knocked on the door and came in.
"Brother Yu, your training camp is over? How are you feeling? Are you confident about the Olympics? If you can win two gold medals, our company will be rolling in money!"
As soon as Li Shuang pushed open the door, he didn't talk about the shipwreck; instead, he asked about Li Shuang's confidence in the Olympics.
This is normal, since Bai Yu went to training camp right after the New Year and stayed there for more than three months, participating in several invitational tournaments in between. All of this was in preparation for the Olympics.
Furthermore, with the Olympics approaching, news about the Games is now everywhere, on every platform.
Although the host country this time was a bit disappointing, with some bad news coming out, such as the water quality problem of the Seine River.
But regardless, these news reports have still generated a lot of buzz for this Olympics.
The Olympics are also a very important event for Bai Yu.
After all, he became the number one person on the entire internet after winning three Grand Slam events in long-distance running at the last Olympics, which also brought greater benefits to his live streaming company.
In the previous Olympic Games, Bai Yu made history by becoming the first person of Asian descent to achieve a Grand Slam in long-distance running.
If he can win three more championships this time, he will become the first Asian to achieve a double Grand Slam, breaking his own record once again!
If Bai Yu can win both championships, their company will definitely gain a huge wave of popularity, and it will be beyond imagination.
In this situation, if their company does a little more marketing, the buzz will definitely increase even further.
At that time, no matter what products their company sells, it will create a new record, a product that sells out immediately upon release, a miracle in the history of live-streaming e-commerce.
After all, their company has a great reputation for selling products. As long as the products sold by their company are of good quality, it's definitely a bargain.
If quality issues arise, congratulations, you've hit the jackpot! Counterfeit goods usually come with a minimum refund plus three times the purchase price, making it a high-return investment product.
That's why Li Shuang asked Bai Yu about her confidence level. If Bai Yu was confident enough, then they could start promoting the product.
In this regard, after several years of experience, Li Shuang only wants to say one thing: He is a professional!
"Oh, so our Vice President Li still has time to care about my competition? I saw you having a great time in those meetings with those people before. How was it? How did the chat go?"
Bai Yu did not answer Li Shuang's question, but instead asked a question that interested her.
He really didn't want to say much about long-distance running; saying more about confidence was meaningless, as ultimately it all came down to ability.
Bai Yu is not a talkative person, but that doesn't mean he can't generate buzz; in fact, he's quite experienced in that area.
He now posts a message every few days from his account about the countdown to the opening of the Olympics.
Moreover, his copywriting was particularly arrogant, with phrases like "I can't wait any longer! The king of the 3,000 meters is coming! The king of the 5,000 meters is coming! The king of the 10,000 meters is coming!"
Bai Yu is a low-key person, but this low-key nature only exists offline. On the internet, and in his areas of expertise, he is bound to be high-profile.
He even attracted a large number of fans through this high-profile approach.
As for things like being low-key and humility being traditional virtues of our people, etc.
To these comments, Bai Yu really wants to say: Go to hell!
Being low-key and humble is something only people without real ability do. Even if someone is arrogant, a truly capable person is still low-key, and you have to accept it whether you like it or not.
If you don't believe me, look at the Han envoys and then look at the Tang envoys. Were they low-key when they went on diplomatic missions to other countries? Does anyone dare to say they were arrogant?
Our family has only recently become weaker, so we have no choice but to put on a humble and gentlemanly image. But don't forget that even gentlemen have the Six Arts of a Gentleman.
Our people have long been tired of our mild-mannered image and have long wanted to become more assertive and show our true strength.
Bai Yu's somewhat arrogant remarks just met many people's expectations.
Moreover, Bai Yu is the best at long-distance running, and anything he says is not because he looks down on any one person, but because he looks down on everyone.
You're not convinced? Then take him down on the field. Otherwise, you'll just have to put up with it.
The strong will always be treated like the strong!
In addition, through communication with Li Shuang, Bai Yu also learned about the thoughts of the company's senior management regarding the shipwreck.
Previously, Bai Yu was either in training camp or traveling all over the world giving lectures, so it wasn't particularly convenient for Li Shuang and the others to contact him.
Therefore, regarding this shipwreck incident, Li Shuang and others discussed it amongst themselves and assessed whether the risks and rewards were proportional, and whether they could do such a thing.
After consulting with some professionals whom Li Shuang had consulted, they concluded that there was no solution and that Bai Yu needed to make a decision.
The main reason is that the cost of salvaging shipwrecks is very high, potentially reaching tens of millions, but the returns are unknown, so they are hesitant to make a decision.
Li Shuang's other suggestion was that it was worth a try, a gamble. As long as the shipwreck they encountered was from the Song Dynasty, and they could salvage a few complete pieces of porcelain, they would most likely not lose money.
Even if they have a large number of gold and silver ingots, they can still make money.
After listening to Li Shuang's advice, Bai Yu fell into deep thought, and no one knew what he was thinking.
For Bai Yu, the cost of tens of millions was nothing. He made quite a bit of money from this training camp and his overseas teaching job.
Even if you add another zero to the cost of tens of millions, he can still come up with the money.
It's just a matter of whether it's worth it or not. Nobody wants to lose money or see their money go down the drain.
"Shuangzi, if we really want to salvage this shipwreck, what's the fastest time it would take to bring it up?"
"Brother Yu, our company has never done anything like this before, so I can't guarantee you the exact timeframe. All I can say is that, from what I know, it could be as short as three months or as long as a year."
"At the earliest, it will take three months, which means it will be until I return from Paris, and this matter is still not over?"
"It won't end. Even if the Olympics are over, it will only be two months. The salvage work is far more difficult than we imagined."
Originally, Li Shuang and the others thought it was just a matter of salvaging a sunken ship; they just needed to find a professional salvage vessel, personnel, and equipment.
Then just go to the designated location to retrieve it, and once you've retrieved it, drag it back. It shouldn't take too long.
However, the reality is quite the opposite. Tugboats are not like towing cars, especially ancient ships on the seabed, which is an extremely complicated task.
After all, what you're after when you tow an ancient ship isn't the ship itself, but the valuable items that might be on board; otherwise, no one would do it.
However, getting these valuable things up here is a difficult task. It requires detailed planning and on-site exploration before a conclusion can be reached.
However, on the other hand, Bai Yu is truly not short of money now, so after a half-minute of silence, he slammed his hand on his desk and said:
"Let's do it! This is doable. Shuangzi, you draft the proposal, and I'll approve it. But I have only one request."
That means the salvage operation isn't urgent. We can start with the preliminary work first, and then begin the salvage operation once I return from Paris.
.............
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