Chapter 373 Are you planning to kill me?
Xiao Peng took Chen Zetao on board and into the warehouse.
After Chen Zetao took a closer look at the items in the warehouse, he took a deep breath and said, "You've made a fortune! Why do I feel that those items are very similar in style to the ones I saw last time?"
Xiao Peng took out a gold-inlaid scepter, swung it a few times, and threw it to Chen Zetao: "Hey, guess what this is?"
Chen Zetao took the scepter and swung it a few times before saying, "An ancient Ottoman baseball bat?"
"The scepter of Bayezid I." Xiao Peng gave the answer.
"Oh my god!" Chen Zetao's hands trembled after hearing this, and he almost dropped the scepter in his hand. "Did you find the Ottoman royal treasure you mentioned? Where did you find it?"
Xiao Peng shook his finger. "Brother Chen, I don't want to talk to you anymore. You really don't know where I found these treasures? I don't believe no one on the ship told you! Otherwise, you could come here and wait for me."
Chen Zetao laughed awkwardly and said, "Okay, I want to ask how you found it!"
"I observed the celestial phenomena at night and calculated with my fingers that these treasures are waiting for me." Xiao Peng said with a smile: "Brother Chen, if a cat teaches a tiger, will it teach the tiger how to climb trees?"
Chen Zetao said disdainfully, "Tigers can climb trees, alright? Forget it, forget it. I won't ask you about this anymore. How are you going to deal with this?"
Xiao Peng smiled and said, "I want to cooperate with the country."
"Cooperation?" Chen Zetao asked in confusion.
Xiao Peng did not answer him directly. Instead, he opened a box and took out a stone statue. Although it could be seen that it had been soaked in the sea, it was still relatively well preserved because it had been covered in sea sand.
"I don't know which sultan this statue belongs to. You know me, I only like to salvage valuable items, heavy metals and gems that can be sold directly for a high price. This time, I found a lot of cultural relics with even higher value. If it were the old ones, I wouldn't even bother to pick them up. But then I calmed down and thought: Why shouldn't I salvage them? Things that we think are worthless can become valuable in the eyes of the right person. Take this sultan statue, for example. Do you think Turkey would be reluctant to spend money on it? Or do you think their enemies would be reluctant to spend money on it?"
"Are you going to sell it?" Chen Zetao asked in confusion.
Xiao Peng shook his head: "No, I said I want to cooperate with domestic companies."
"How to cooperate?" Chen Zetao asked.
Xiao Peng said: "I want the National Museum!"
"Puff!" Chen Zetao fainted with fright: "What the hell are you talking about? Don't scare me!"
Xiao Peng laughed. "Brother Chen, can you wait until I finish my words? What I mean is that I'm collaborating with the National Museum of China and want an exhibition hall dedicated to me. I'll provide all the exhibits there. I don't want a penny from the exhibition ticket sales. The National Museum of China only needs to be responsible for the safety of my exhibits. I think there are many things that are meaningless to sell. The gold, silver, and gems I've salvaged alone are enough to make me a top tycoon. It's also a way for me to leave something for future generations of the Chinese people. But I want to make it clear: these things are all mine! We're just collaborating, not donating anything. I hope no one like Dou Wenran will show up again. By the way, what happened to Dou Wenran?"
Chen Zetao shrugged and said, "Dou Wenran is suspected of being involved in several cultural relic smuggling cases and is currently under investigation."
Xiao Peng gave a thumbs up to indicate that Chen Zetao and the others were ruthless enough.
Who among those involved in cultural relics hasn't had the experience of dealing with cultural relics smugglers? Was it not enough to bankrupt Dou Wenran, but they also wanted to ruin his reputation?
Oh my god, isn’t this a warning to myself?
Xiao Peng shook his head: "You are too cruel."
Chen Zetao asked, "Who is this because of?"
Xiao Peng smiled but said nothing.
Chen Zetao said, "Brother Xiao, I don't think your proposal will be accepted. After all, there's no precedent for the National Museum opening an exhibition hall to private individuals. You also know what those people in China are like. They're all like Pixiu, only coming in and never leaving."
"It's okay." Xiao Peng said, "You know what Pascal does. He can sell anything for a good price. If anyone in China is interested in this thing, they can come to me and make an offer!"
"You want to sell them?" Chen Zetao exclaimed with wide eyes.
Xiao Peng said as a matter of course, "Of course. To me, there are only two types of things: those that can be sold and those that can't. Believe me, if I really wanted to donate, I wouldn't donate domestically. I can donate to museums abroad, where I can get tax exemptions and gain some fame. Oh... I can also build closer ties with Türkiye and explore the Black Sea."
Chen Zetao was stunned for a moment before he laughed: "Alright, alright, I know what you mean. I'll contact them back home."
Xiao Peng hummed, "A month, I'll give you a month to wait for a reply."
Chen Zetao nodded: "Then what are you going to do with these gold ingots?"
"Of course, I'll sell it!" Xiao Peng said, "I promised everyone on the ship that everyone would get a share of the prize money. With so many people on board and me sailing around the Black Sea for half a year, I can't be too stingy. But this gold isn't as much as I thought, only a little over four tons. Luckily, I'm confident I can sell these artifacts for some money. Otherwise, all this hard work would have been in vain."
Chen Zetao's face was filled with rage. "You think all this hard work is in vain? You're making money like a money-printing machine!"
"How can I call this a money-printing machine?" Xiao Peng shook his head. "Haven't you been paying attention to Turkey? The share price of Ivan's 'Turkish United Mining' has skyrocketed dozens of times in recent times. They've already made over 3 billion euros in one go! If this trend continues, this amount will at least double before those sunken ships are salvaged! If the market crashes, who knows how many people will jump off buildings. Compared to these unscrupulous capitalists, isn't my profit rate too slow?"
"How dare you call someone a black-hearted capitalist?" Chen Zetao said helplessly, "Forget it. I won't argue with you about this or I'll be pissed off. The Bank of France took the gold last time, so it's my turn this time, right? Four tons isn't a lot, but it's better than nothing!"
Xiao Peng shook his head and said, "Brother Chen, you're even targeting four tons of gold? Are you going to say you'll take it back to China and put it in my account there? Come on! This is a company with a large staff! I have to file taxes and stuff. If I just leave it to you, how will I get the money to pay everyone? Won't that just give them away and they'll catch me laundering money? Are you trying to kill me? If this were my own company, it would be easy. I have two partners!"
"Or you can kick your partner out and we can work together?" Chen Zetao suddenly said.
Xiao Peng grinned and picked up the intercom directly: "Chen Cheng, apply for departure procedures!"
Chen Zetao was stunned: "Brother Xiao, what are you doing? Why are you leaving so suddenly?"
Xiao Peng shook his head and said, "Cherish your life and stay away from Chen Zetao. I treat you as a friend, but you want to kill me?"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
