Chapter 594 I’m Afraid You’ll Take Out the Drawer
Friedrich was like a deflated balloon. "Xiao, I really regret doing something stupid, but it's too late to say this now. I want to know: how can we cooperate?"
Xiao Peng asked in return: "Wolfgang, let's put ourselves in their shoes. If you were me, would you still choose to cooperate?"
"Yes!" Friedrich said directly, "Of course. We both have something the other wants, don't we?"
Xiao Peng said, "No, no, no, I have what you want, but what you have is not something I must have."
"Those are your country's cultural relics! So many intact artifacts!" Friedrich shouted, "If the Chinese knew you had the chance to bring them back but missed it, you would be crushed by public opinion!"
Xiao Peng laughed heartily and said, "Wolfgang, you used to care about public opinion when you were in politics, but do you still care about it now? Besides, how can a country's honor and disgrace rest on just one person? This isn't my pride, but our country's shame."
After hearing this, Friedrich said, "Xiao, I am really sincere now. Can you tell me how we can continue to cooperate?"
Xiao Peng thought for a moment and said, "I'm a person who doesn't do things underhandedly. There's a saying that goes, 'Drinking water, remember its source.' After all, without you, I wouldn't have set my sights on this. So, I really thought I'd found a great partner, but what you did really disappointed me. Actually, I still really hope to work with you. After all, who doesn't want to go down in history? I admit that if I brought back those artifacts in your possession, I could indeed become famous, but for me, fame is more important than profit. Weighing the pros and cons, I choose the latter."
He was sincere, and Friedrich believed him. Xiao Peng's decision to quit livestreaming and stay out of the public eye at the height of his fame was truly a matter of "fame over profit." This was indeed Xiao Peng's style.
After hearing what Xiao Peng said, Friedrich ignored Xiao Peng's words and said hurriedly, "I won't make the same mistake twice. How can we restore our cooperative relationship?"
Xiao Peng sighed and said, "I believe in your sincerity, and I want to see what you will do in the future. But the problem now is not that I don't want to resume our cooperation, but that I can't."
"Why?" Friedrich asked in confusion.
Xiao Peng opened the drawer again, took out another folder and placed it in front of Friedrich.
Friedrich's heart skipped a beat. Why was he so scared when he saw the folder?
"Don't be nervous." Xiao Peng seemed to know what Friedrich was thinking: "This should be what you want to see."
Friedrich opened the folder and found a thick stack of photos inside, all of which were taken of the seabed.
"What is this?" he asked puzzledly.
Xiao Peng explained, "I found the ship you mentioned, but it's completely disintegrated. The cargo is scattered over an area roughly the size of two football fields, and the bottom is covered in sea sand. Searching such a large area on the seabed is no easy task."
"So you need a dredger," said Friedrich.
"In fact, I have another way, it doesn't matter whether there is a boat or not." Xiao Peng said lightly.
Friedrich looked at Xiao Peng.
Xiao Peng's words seemed a bit far-fetched. How could anyone salvage the sand in such sea conditions without a dredging vessel? But Friedrich looked at Xiao Peng and believed that he really had a solution.
Xiao Peng laughed and said, "So, if you want the Dutch IHC Group not to rent me a sand dredging vessel, that's a joke to me."
Friedrich quickly waved his hand and said, "Let's not talk about this. I'm an amateur when it comes to deep-sea salvage, and I'm a bit presumptuous. You might laugh at me. But since you've already discovered this ship, why do you say we can't restore our partnership? I already prepared all those Chinese cultural relics long ago!"
Xiao Peng opened the drawer again.
Friedrich was about to curse. "What else is in your drawer? Can't you just take it out all at once? Are you torturing me like this for fun? What documents are you doing this time?"
This time, Xiao Peng didn't pull the documents from the drawer. Instead, he grabbed a handful of coins and scatter them on the table. He then explained, "Your ancestors really didn't mind anything. There weren't just gold coins on board, but also gold and silver coins from the French Third Republic. Look, this is a five-franc 'Corn Goddess' silver coin from 1870, weighing 25 grams. It has an olive branch on the back and the inscription 'Liberty, Equality, Fraternity'... Oh, and this is a two-franc silver coin from 1871, weighing 10 grams. Because it lacks those inscriptions, it's called the 'blank version' silver coin. This is the 'Corn Goddess' gold coin; and these are all 'Angel Gold Coins'..."
"What's the problem?" Friedrich asked.
Xiao Peng played with a 20-franc 'Corn Goddess Gold Coin' in his hand and said, "Problem? Big problem! Look at the sheen of these gold and silver coins! There are impurities in them! I tried it, like this 20-franc 'Corn Goddess' gold coin, which weighs 6.45 grams, but I only extracted 4.4 grams of gold by melting it in a crucible, which means I can only extract about two-thirds of the total weight of gold. Silver coins are of better quality, and I can probably extract about 80% of the silver."
"Two-thirds of 700 tons is about 450 tons, which is not a small amount!" said Friedrich.
"Your math is pretty good." Xiao Peng shook his head. "The 700 tons your ancestors mentioned also included silver coins. Considering such a large salvage area, there must be some omissions. Let me put it this way, if the gold coins we salvage this time exceed 100 tons, I'll thank God. Although this number will scare many people to death, it's still a huge difference from 700 tons. If you think I'm playing tricks, it will be more trouble than good. So I really can't cooperate with you."
"One hundred tons?" Friedrich frowned.
Xiao Peng hummed, "At most, this amount can yield over 60 tons of gold. If you sell them as gold coins, the price might be higher, but the sudden appearance of such a large quantity of gold coins will definitely affect the price. And then you might as well slowly sell those Yuanmingyuan artifacts. That's why I said we can't continue our cooperation."
After he finished speaking, he lowered his head and drank his tea without saying anything, allowing Friedrich to think about it.
Friedrich remained silent. Sixty-odd tons worth over three billion euros was a world of difference compared to 450 tons worth over twenty billion euros. But now he was wondering if Xiao Peng was trying to trick him.
At this time, Xiao Peng said: "You must be wondering if I am trying to trick you, and I can't prove whether what I said is true or not, so I can no longer cooperate with you."
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