Chapter 334

Chapter 334

He Yun had once funded the establishment of an ocean exploration and salvage company, hiring many professional divers and archaeology experts. Equipped with the world's most advanced salvage and diving equipment, as well as tugboats, they had retrieved many shipwrecks from the ocean floor over the years. Recently, they discovered another ancient shipwreck, mostly filled with exquisite porcelain.

There was likely silk and tea on board, but after centuries submerged, they had long decayed and vanished. Only the porcelain, gold, and silver remained buried in the silt, awaiting discovery by treasure hunters.

He Yun asked Lu Mingzhu if she was interested.

Lu Mingzhu asked immediately, "Is it within our country's territorial waters?"

She knew there were over two thousand shipwrecks at the bottom of the South China Sea. Numerous foreign treasure hunters had secretly explored the area, towing discovered wrecks into international waters before salvaging them and made fortunes doing so.

Meanwhile, mainland China didn’t begin marine archaeology until the 1980s and 1990s. These institutions were created largely because foreigners salvaging shipwrecks led to the loss of countless cultural relics.

When He Yun heard this, he chuckled lightly, "What if it is? What if it isn’t?"

Lu Mingzhu was torn. "If it isn’t, of course I’d be happy to invest heavily in the salvage and legally claim the treasures. But if it’s within our country’s waters... If we salvage them but can’t keep the findings, we’d feel resentful. Yet, if we took what rightfully belongs to the nation, it wouldn’t feel right."

She wasn’t purely selfless or purely selfish—hence her current dilemma.

He Yun frowned. "Are there any national regulations on this? I’ve never heard of any."

Lu Mingzhu paused.

The Cultural Relics Protection Law was enacted in 1982, and it was now 1963. Indeed, there were no regulations stipulating that shipwrecks salvaged within the country’s territorial waters belonged to the state.

At a time when people could barely feed themselves, how many truly cared about such things? Laws regarding marine cultural relics were virtually nonexistent.

"Even so..." That could lead to condemnation, ruining one’s name forever.

He Yun set his teacup down with a smile. "Relax. This newly discovered shipwreck isn’t within our country’s waters. It’s located in the South Seas."

"What a relief," Lu Mingzhu patted her chest.

"Actually, the South China Sea has the most shipwrecks," He Yun remarked. His team had already discovered and salvaged several, recovering millions of exquisite porcelain pieces. Unlike Lu Mingzhu, He Yun wasn’t as concerned with black-and-white morality, so he hadn’t mentioned it to her.

"Overseas trade was booming back then. I recall that during a certain dynasty, on average, a ship sank every two days." Lu Mingzhu couldn’t remember the exact era, but it was before the policy of seclusion. "The mainland wouldn’t waste resources salvaging these wrecks, nor did they have the necessary technology."

This left ample opportunity for foreign treasure hunters.

Lu Mingzhu sighed deeply before asking He Yun, "Godfather, do you think it’s possible for us to collaborate with the authorities? We provide the manpower and resources, they grant us salvage rights, and we split the findings fifty-fifty after recovery."

Handing it all over was unthinkable—she couldn’t bear it.

He Yun laughed. "The problem is, once everything is salvaged, they might find all of it to be precious cultural relics and be unwilling to give you half. Even if they did, they’d likely impose restrictions, depriving you of the freedom to trade."

Lu Mingzhu fell silent.

"Let’s get back to the shipwreck you mentioned," she said, changing the subject. "You have the personnel, equipment, and funds—why ask if I’m interested? Do you want to partner up? Wouldn’t that just be me reaping the rewards?"

He Yun replied, "Funding is tight. You invest, and you’ll get half the haul."

Lu Mingzhu didn’t believe him. "From what I’ve observed, everyone might run short on money—except you. You’re pulling my leg!"

He Yun smiled faintly, "I’ll split the haul with you 50-50. Is that a problem?"

"Of course not, I’ll take whatever I can get." Lu Mingzhu was eager to see what treasures could be salvaged from the seabed. "Godfather, how much do I need to invest? I can give it to you right away."

"Five million bucks can fund the salvage of multiple wrecks," He Yun said.

Lu Mingzhu widened her eyes and took a sharp breath. "Multiple wrecks? Godfather, what kind of professionals have you found? They’ve actually discovered multiple wrecks and still had the patience not to salvage them immediately."

He Yun replied humorously, "Money talks."

"I believe that," Lu Mingzhu agreed. "But this still feels unbelievable to me. Godfather, what made you think of salvaging shipwrecks? It never even crossed my mind."

No wonder he was the wealthiest man in Southeast Asia, while she was just a spoiled layabout.

"While in Britain, I overheard someone talking about a regret, and that’s when I decided to establish a professional salvage company," He Yun said. Of course, he wouldn’t tell Lu Mingzhu that the idea had only occurred to him after she started collecting antique paintings and calligraphy works. Before that, he had been more focused on business, enjoying the thrill of making money rather than striking it rich through such means.

"What regret?" Lu Mingzhu asked curiously.

She had a feeling this wasn’t just a minor regret but represented a vast fortune.

Sure enough, she heard He Yun say, "It was an old British man, a former soldier who was part of the plundering of the capital. He mentioned that a ship transporting treasures from the Old Summer Palace had sunk after hitting a reef while at sea, never making it back to their country. The ship was loaded with countless gold and silver treasures. Wouldn’t you call that a major loss for them?"

The regret was that the treasures had been lost to the sea, not that the soldiers aboard had perished.

Lu Mingzhu clasped her hands to her cheeks. "Godfather, where did this ship sink? Do we have a chance to salvage it?"

"It’s already been salvaged," He Yun avoided the first question and answered the second. "The paintings and calligraphy had long decayed, leaving only porcelain, gold, silver, and jade artifacts."

"How many were there?" Lu Mingzhu pressed.

He Yun thought for a moment. "More than you could imagine."

Lu Mingzhu beamed. "Knowing our treasures didn’t end up with foreigners? That alone makes my day."

Then she turned to He Yun. "Godfather, I think five million dollars isn’t enough. Let me bump it up to ten mil! Let’s salvage as many shipwrecks as possible! Bring those mysterious and beautiful antiques back into the world, rather than leaving them buried and forgotten at the bottom of the sea."

"Good," He Yun agreed. "Salvaging wrecks pays off better than buying antiques."

Lu Mingzhu instantly recalled the nearly 30,000 antiques she had bought for ten million dollars. "No kidding! At the time, I thought bringing back so many cultural relics was worth the ten million. But now, hearing about your findings, I feel it would’ve been better to spend that money on salvaging shipwrecks. One wreck’s gotta hold tens of thousands of porcelain pieces, easy."

Since it was overseas trade, the ships had to be large and packed to the brim to make the voyages worthwhile.

He Yun chuckled. "We pulled a ship with a million porcelain pieces—just the porcelain!"

"A million pieces!" Lu Mingzhu nearly choked. Eagerly, she asked, "Godfather, what era? Tang? Song? Or Ming and Qing?"

Older means pricier.

"Unfortunately, it wasn’t from the Tang, Song, or even Ming dynasties, but from the mid-Qing Dynasty," He Yun said. Noticing that Lu Mingzhu didn’t seem disappointed, he raised an eyebrow and added, "From the Kangxi era, including both imperial and civilian kiln pieces. A fifth were top-tier; the rest were meh."

"That’s already amazing," Lu Mingzhu said admiringly. "How much did the salvage cost in total?"

He Yun didn’t hide it from her. "Less than a million dollars."

"Talk about a bargain!" Lu Mingzhu’s eyes sparkled. "Godfather, if you stumble on another jackpot, you must think of me! No matter how busy I am, I’ll come sprinting at the news."

He Yun laughed heartily. "Relax, you’ll get your cut."

Lu Mingzhu was on cloud nine today.

Having signed the publishing agreement in Malaysia and secured the opportunity to join the shipwreck salvage team, everything was thanks to He Yun.

"Father," she said.

"Hmm? What do you want to say?" He Yun asked her with a smile.

"Thank you," Lu Mingzhu replied.

He Yun chuckled, "Sweetheart, if parents truly love their children, they plan for their long-term future. You're not skilled in business. Though you now hold shares and rely on dividend income, no one can guarantee that the company won’t face issues in the future. There are too many ways to cook the books. You don’t understand how deceitful people can be. It’s better to focus on your passion—collecting antiques. Enjoy them as they grow in value. As long as you hold onto these treasures firmly, your golden years will be secure."

After all, there have been cases of spouses or even fathers and sons turning on each other.

Xie Junyao has been good to you so far, but his life is only halfway through. Who can guarantee he won’t have a change of heart in the future?

And men often change after middle age, and once they do, it’s no turning back.

Though his abilities may not match Xie Junhao’s, he only seems ordinary in comparison to veterans like me, your father, and Xie Junhao. In truth, he’s sharp and capable—not entirely reliant on Xie Junhao.

As a husband, it would be all too easy for him to pull a fast one.

Lu Mingzhu’s eyes reddened slightly. "Father, meeting you is undoubtedly the greatest fortune of my life."

He Yun’s gaze softened further. "How do I compare to your dad?"

"That’s not a fair comparison—there’s no need to compare," Lu Mingzhu replied cleverly.

Both were golden tickets; she couldn’t afford to offend either.

Even if her father wasn’t present, he might have spies everywhere. If he found out she praised He Yun at his expense, what if he got angry and stopped giving her benefits?

Her run of good luck had only lasted a decade so far!

"Heard that?" He Yun tossed over his shoulder to the direction of the reception room.

The door was open. To Lu Mingzhu’s surprise, her father emerged, his expression amiable and his steps brisk—hardly needing the cane in his hand.

He praised Lu Mingzhu, "You did well today."

"Dad, shouldn’t you be attending to your esteemed mother? Why are you running loose? Be careful or Wang Baozhu might come after you again," Lu Mingzhu advised sincerely, hoping to spare him another scandalous headline.

Speaking of which, Wang Baozhu made a suicide attempt after stripping—splashed across the front page of *Hong Kong Daily*.

Today’s news.

Lu Mingzhu knew she had resorted to life-threatening tactics, but she only learned the details from the newspaper.

Since changing ownership, *Hong Kong Daily* had turned into a rag, relying entirely on sensational gossip to grab attention, losing the prestige and seriousness of its former glory days when it sold 200,000 copies daily.

Still, since Hong Kong citizens loved snooping into the private lives of the wealthy, its sales remained surprisingly strong.

To be honest, the old man was truly framed this time.

He was minding his own business at home when drama blew up out of nowhere.

The mention of Wang Baozhu made Lu Mingzhu’s father see red.

"That Wang Xingcai—his brain must be full of mush, letting himself be manipulated by some no-name chit." The thought of Wang Baozhu’s actions made him lose his appetite for days.

Lu Mingzhu quickly steered him to a chair. "Dad, don’t blow a gasket, don’t blow a gasket."

He Yun didn't smirk or mock Lu Mingzhu's father, merely saying, "Does Wang Xingcai know his daughter’s hooked on drugs?"

Lu Mingzhu and her father froze, exclaiming in unison, "Drugs?"

He Yun nodded and said to Lu Mingzhu's father, "After what happened to you, I found it rather suspicious. What kind of girl would pull this kind of stunt? So I had someone investigate and unexpectedly discovered that Wang Baozhu had contact with drug users at a nightclub. Knowing she was wealthy, they deliberately approached her and sold her a considerable amount. She’s deep into it now."

As Wang Xingcai's daughter, she could’ve had it all if she had behaved properly. But she threw it all away. It's unclear whether she ever considered her own future.

Lu Mingzhu's father frowned slightly. "Does Wang Xingcai know?"

"No way he knows. I only got the news yesterday." He Yun poured a cup of tea for Lu Mingzhu's father. "Wang Baozhu was running her mouth at the club, saying she would definitely become the mistress of the Lu household and make Mingzhu kneel and call her ‘Mom.’"

Upon hearing this, He Yun was furious.

Lu Mingzhu's father was even angrier. "She’s out of her mind."

Lu Mingzhu had thought Wang Baozhu was messed up from her screwed-up family, leading to her extreme behavior. She never imagined Wang Baozhu was also involved with drugs—no wonder she could pull that stripping stunt.

"I should inform my godfather," she said.

But Lu Mingzhu's father replied, "Don’t push him. He’s in the hospital after a heart attack."

Lu Mingzhu gasped. "Why wasn’t I told?"

Had she known, she would have visited Wang Xingcai personally.

"Wang Xingcai tried to hush it up, but how could he? Right now, he’s refusing all visitors." Lu Mingzhu's father took a sip of tea. "He can’t even look me in the eye. If you go making a big deal, he’ll feel even worse."

"But we can’t just not go!" Lu Mingzhu felt conflicted.

Lu Mingzhu's father made the decision: "Just send over some tonics. Don’t worry about it—leave this matter to me."

He wanted Wang Xingcai to know how furious he was.

If the trouble with Wang Baozhu wasn’t resolved, they’re done as friends.

Lu Mingzhu immediately complied.

As much as she’d love to see her dad squirm, when it came down to it, father and daughter stood united. Moreover, Wang Baozhu’s behavior made her sick.

Wang Baozhu wanted revenge on her.

However, Lu Mingzhu didn’t regret helping Wang Bohui secure money from Wang Xingcai.

She knew where her loyalties lay.

"Godfather should send her back to the mainland and ban her from leaving the country." The country was famously clean for thirty years, a global benchmark, though sadly, the problem resurfaced after the reforms, which was lamentable.

Lu Mingzhu's father said coolly, "Wang Xingcai did consider that, but Wang Baozhu attempted suicide."

So that was that.