The next morning, as soon as Feng Ye got up to eat breakfast, Xiao Chunxiu asked, "Ah Ye, did some shady boat follow you out to sea yesterday?"
"Yes, why?" he asked, puzzled.
"I knew it! They really did fish it out there, but they still won't admit it..."
Xiao Chunxiu slapped her thigh and said to herself.
Feng Ye had no choice but to turn his questioning gaze to Ye Qingling, who was standing to the side.
"Yesterday evening, several people offered a lot of things to the Goddess Mazu, and someone even found more than a hundred Yuan Shikai silver dollars and sold them to Lu Junjie."
"What? Really?"
Feng Ye frowned.
Could it be that the person Secretary Xiao hired was unreliable, or that someone got greedy and caused the problem?
Or perhaps someone else couldn't resist the temptation and went into the water to retrieve it?
Quite a few people went out yesterday, and they marked the spots. There's no doubt that some people will be tempted to take advantage of the situation and make a quick buck.
A bad feeling welled up in Feng Ye's heart; this matter might bring him some unnecessary trouble.
As for Lu Junjie, he knew him too. He was from the third group of Lujia Village and was involved in smuggling.
Based on information he heard in his previous life, this person can probably enjoy his carefree life for about two more years, after which he will have to eat three meals a day for free.
As for what he was buying the silver dollars for, Feng Ye had no idea. He only knew that the man had a large demand for silver dollars and would accept any that came his way.
“Of course it’s true. My mother, sister-in-law, and I heard it from someone when we were fishing this morning,” Ye Qingling said.
Du Guilan chimed in, "After the news spread, many people urged those people to go again. It's said that quite a few people went with boats this morning, all thinking of going into the water to try and salvage something."
"Are they stupid? Didn't the people from the Cultural Relics Bureau repeatedly tell everyone yesterday that anything on the seabed is a cultural relic, and anything that is retrieved must be handed over?"
"Isn't there a reward for handing it in? Maybe some people are just thinking about that."
"That's too simplistic. The reward is based on the premise that the cultural relics bureau was unaware beforehand and that the artifacts were handed over voluntarily or involuntarily after being salvaged. But the cultural relics bureau already knew yesterday, which means it was a deliberate violation, and there were even people selling them..."
"Tsk tsk!" Feng Ye continued, "If the Cultural Relics Bureau wants to make an example of someone, they could go to jail."
"Oh! It's that serious?"
Xiao Chunxiu was shocked and ran out the door.
"What's wrong with Mother?"
Watching Xiao Chunxiu's hurried departure, Feng Ye was somewhat puzzled.
Ye Qingling shook her head: "My uncle was one of those who went out too."
"ah!"
Now it was Feng Ye's turn to be surprised.
This is like eating your own relative's melon.
He then asked, "Does the cultural relics bureau know about this?"
“They probably already know,” Ye Qingling said hesitantly. “The old man who stayed on the island went to the Mazu Temple early this morning, supposedly to move those things to the village committee.”
"I'm going to visit Mazu later."
Feng Ye nodded, knowing that the old man she was referring to was Yuan Lao.
As soon as he returned yesterday afternoon, Jiang Dequan asked Secretary Xiao to arrange a boat and hurriedly left.
Yuan Lao, Fang Yi, and the other two stayed behind to move the salvaged cultural relics to the village committee for temporary storage and to be kept under their care.
After quickly finishing the seafood porridge in his bowl, Feng Ye got up and walked out.
Soon, he arrived at the mountaintop platform where the Mazu Temple was located and saw a large crowd gathered at the entrance of the main hall of the Mazu Temple.
Among these people were not only villagers from Dongtou Village, but also people from the other three villages on Baishi Island.
Upon seeing this, Feng Ye knew that although there had been some unexpected events, things were still proceeding as planned.
It took him a lot of effort to squeeze to the front.
Inside the main hall, two old men were staring at each other, their eyes wide open.
One of them was Mr. Yuan.
At this moment, he was so angry that his eyes were wide open, and he was about to burst into flames.
Feng Ye was worried that he might get sick from the stress and suddenly faint.
The other old man was about the same age as Mr. Yuan, but he was in much worse health because he was holding a cane.
The old man held his head high with pride, a hint of smugness and cunning on his face.
Between the two old men stood Fang Yi and two members of the joint defense team, as well as Secretary Xiao, Village Chief Luo, and other members of the council.
Clearly, they were afraid the two old men would fight, or something unexpected might happen.
“I don’t care if it’s the Cultural Relics Bureau or any other bureau, no one is allowed to take away what I’m offering to Mazu.”
"Do you think I'm blind? You're in your seventies or eighties, and you can still dive? You can't fool a ghost like that!"
Whether you believe it or not is your business, but these things are what I offered to Mazu.
"Don't think I don't know, it was clearly your son who dived down to retrieve it after we left."
"I said I fished it out, so I fished it out..."
"You're lying to a ghost..."
At first, Feng Ye didn't understand why an old man was arguing with Yuan Lai, but after listening for a while, he suddenly realized.
It turned out that the old man was afraid something would happen to his son, so he took the blame upon himself.
But another question arises: did the old man act on his own initiative, or was it arranged by Secretary Xiao?
Just as he was about to squeeze through to ask Secretary Xiao, he heard Old Yuan angrily say, "Believe it or not, I'll have the police arrest you?"
"Come and arrest me! My family is so poor we can barely afford to eat. I'll go inside and eat for free for a few days."
The old man waved his cane defiantly, then stretched out his hand in front of Fang Yi, looking like a dead pig that wasn't afraid of boiling water.
Fang Yi was so frightened that he couldn't help but take two steps back.
What a joke! An old man that age, unless he's committed an unforgivable crime, who would dare to arrest him? Whoever does would be in trouble.
Even if he dared to arrest someone regardless of the consequences, no detention center would dare to accept him.
When people reach a certain age, as long as they can let go of their pride, they truly have no taboos.
Feng Ye had seen videos in her past life of old men shamelessly groping young girls in public. After the girls reported it to the police, the police were helpless; they couldn't arrest them, so they could only give them a verbal warning.
"You scoundrel, you old geezer..."
Yuan was so angry that he started cursing.
The old man said smugly, "The eldest brother doesn't criticize the second brother; we're even."
The onlookers also joined in the commotion, some saying they would testify for the old man; others shouting that they didn't welcome Mr. Yuan and that he should take his people and get out of Baishi Island...
Yuan Lao's face grew increasingly grim, greatly angered by the old man's shameless behavior and the jeers of the crowd.
Seeing this, Feng Ye knew that things couldn't continue like this.
If Mr. Yuan were to be so angered that he suffered a serious illness, not only would his plan to expand the Mazu Temple be aborted, but someone might even have to pay the price for it.
He squeezed next to Secretary Xiao and tugged at him: "So, old man, you arranged this?"
"How could that be? I arranged it for his son. Who knows what's wrong with him that he had to do something like this?"
"Then why didn't you stop him and persuade him to go back?"
"We tried to persuade him, but he wouldn't listen. He even threw a tantrum. Look at his clothes."
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