“These are from Athens.”
In an abandoned warehouse somewhere in Gaul, Lu Zheng and Lin Wan were sorting through the artefacts they had collected.
Lin Wan placed a pile of what appeared to be quite ancient items together.
“These are from Pharaonic Egypt.”
Lin Wan said, “After all, the collections from these two places are the most numerous.”
Lu Zheng nodded. “No way around it. They are the closest to those locations, after all.”
Lin Wan remarked, “They have truly had terrible luck.”
Lu Zheng shrugged, then rummaged through some items from various Middle Eastern countries. “Which countries should we send these to?”
Lin Wan blinked. “The Huskies?”
Lu Zheng narrowed his eyes. “I still remember the karma from the Liaoning aircraft carrier.”
Lin Wan laughed. “Isn’t that even better?”
“Fair enough. Then these can be split between the Huskies and the Persians.” Lu Zheng said. “As for the other countries, forget it. I’m afraid they might sell them back here.”
“The Emirate is actually alright.” Lin Wan mentioned in passing.
“Then three countries it is!” Lu Zheng divided these items into three portions.
“What about India’s?” Lu Zheng stroked his chin, staring at a pile of gold wares and gems.
“Return them!” Lin Wan said firmly. “India’s fighting strength is still very strong, stronger than all those countries just mentioned combined. We must return them. It will also help us share the firepower.”
“And Japan’s?”
Lu Zheng looked at a small pile to his left. Japan had undergone early modernisation and reform, so there were not many items lost abroad. These were from early smuggling, robbery, or theft.
“Oh, forget them.” Lin Wan said indifferently. “There aren’t many anyway, and they were a vassal state of China. Putting them together won’t stand out.”
Lu Zheng, “…”
“By the way…”
Speaking of Japanese collections, Lu Zheng also reacted and said, “Japan probably has a lot of our artefacts in their collections, right?”
Lin Wan nodded, frowning slightly. “But they are basically all in museums around the country.”
“None in private hands?”
“There should be some, though probably not many. I’ll go back and check the materials again.” Lin Wan said.
Lu Zheng replied, “No rush on this. We can deal with it later. We can’t keep fleecing the same sheep.”
Lin Wan nodded. Only then did the two turn their attention to the largest pile in the middle.
At the very front were unmistakably a rooster head and a dog head.
“Unbelievable. Our original goal was just the remaining few zodiac animal heads, but in the end we ended up with this huge haul.”
Lu Zheng shook his head and sighed. “Actually, the twelve zodiac heads are just famous and symbolically significant. If they returned these things to China, not only would it maintain good relations, but we ordinary people would get to see how many truly fine items there are.”
Lin Wan sneered. “If they had that awareness, the world would have been at peace long ago. It was like this hundreds of years ago, and it’s still the same hundreds of years later. Pirate nature.”
“This is…”
“National inferiority…”
Lu Zheng chuckled. “That’s what they used to say about us back then.”
Lin Wan huffed coldly. “Returning the exact words!”
“Alright, alright. Let’s not talk about these unhappy topics. We’ll discuss something cheerful.” Lu Zheng soothed Lin Wan. “Like the spoils from this trip, for example.”
Lu Zheng picked up a scroll painting and carefully unrolled it slowly. “Like this one. Tut tut. Fan Kuan’s painting, Temple Tour in the Rain. Bloody hell, this should count as a national treasure, right?”
“Be careful.” Lin Wan reminded him while leaning closer to Lu Zheng to admire the wooden-axis scroll. Her eyes unwittingly became a little moist.
Lu Zheng glanced sideways. “Crying?”
Lin Wan’s eyes flickered, and her two willow-like eyebrows instantly stood up. “No!”
Lu Zheng laughed heartily, then carefully rolled up the painting again. “It’s preserved alright. No obvious damage.”
Besides calligraphy and scroll paintings, there were even more gold, silver, and jade wares, stone carvings, porcelain, and so on. All were highly representative collections.
Lin Wan carefully put away a painting by Yan Liben, then smiled and asked Lu Zheng, “Still send them all to the Palace Museum? Not send some back to your hometown?”
Lu Zheng shook his head. “It doesn’t matter. Anyway, the state will allocate these things uniformly. Besides, it makes no difference where they are placed.”
“Fine. Once the items are sorted, shall we start sending them?” Lin Wan asked.
“Good.” Lu Zheng nodded, then sighed. “This Spring Festival we’ve spent has been truly meaningful.”
For this Spring Festival, Lu Zheng and Lin Wan flew home on New Year’s Eve, then went to Shandong Province to visit Lin’s mother. After that, they used the excuse of overtime work, flew back to Haicheng, and continued their operations.
For a full half month, the two shuttled back and forth across European countries. Today was already the eighth day of the first lunar month, and in a few more days, Lin Wan would have to return to work.
…
Thus, Lu Zheng and Lin Wan packed the items into crates, then anonymously mailed them to the largest museums in each country.
When the museums in various countries received these batches of artefacts, how could they possibly keep it hidden from the all-powerful news media?
Then, while the hot search about the artefact thieves had not yet died down, the news circles in various countries exploded again.
[Athens National Museum receives anonymous donation involving numerous ancient Greek artefacts, all precious items lost or stolen many years ago]
[Pharaonic Egypt’s Pyramid Museum receives the largest donation in history. The oldest gold mask dates back more than four thousand years BC]
[The Huskies receive the Sudanese sceptre, to be exhibited soon in the Hagia Sophia]
[Persian museum receives anonymous donation of religious relics]
[India’s largest museum receives donation from the greatest collection thief in history, enriching the cultural heritage of the nation’s various ethnic histories]
[According to reports, China’s Palace Museum has received an anonymous donation from a caring individual. They are basically artefacts stolen many years ago. The specific quantity and contents are currently being inventoried]
After the news broke, the internet erupted into chaos. Apart from netizens from the two aggrieved countries vehemently denouncing it, netizens from numerous other countries clapped and celebrated.
“Thieves! Robbers! Shameless burglars! The countries receiving these items should voluntarily hand over the artefacts!”
“Greece, Pharaonic Egypt, the Huskies, especially Persia and the Emirate, as well as the eastern India and China. Please abide by international order and return those items so they go back to their original owners.”
“Are you talking about yourselves? Don’t you look at who the original owners of these things were? I also think they should be voluntarily returned. So when can we go to the British Museum and the Louvre to take back our artworks and treasures?”
These collections had dubious provenance and had not been laundered through packaging or auction houses, so the museums in each country accepted them without any psychological burden. They announced and exhibited them one after another, completely ignoring the requests from the two countries for assistance in investigation.
The two aggrieved countries were also furious. The thefts of these items were private burglary cases. At most, only police departments could submit requests for assistance. It was impossible for diplomatic departments to speak out.
After all… this kind of matter carrying a bit of historical sin is easy to say but hard to hear…
