The rest of the journey passed without further incident.
The group smoothly returned to the Central Plains mainland coast. They strolled around a city near the shore, bought some small trinkets as souvenirs, enjoyed a characteristic lunch at a local restaurant, and then continued flying home.
They hurried along the way, eager to return.
After arriving back in Tonglin County, everyone rested for a day. Old Man Liu continued running Renxin Hall. Du Yueyao went home for a visit. Shen Ying returned to Taohua Ping to enter secluded cultivation.
As for Lu Zheng…
…
“They are holding an exhibition in the northern capital.”
Lin Wan brushed her hair aside, caught her breath, slid off Lu Zheng, and lay down beside him.
“What exhibition?” Lu Zheng reached out to pull Lin Wan into his arms and asked curiously.
“A special exhibition of the twelve zodiac animal head bronze statues.” Lin Wan curled her lips. “There is also an exhibition of repatriated cultural relics.”
“Good heavens!” Lu Zheng was startled. “They are not pretending anymore?”
“Why pretend! These are cultural relic collections anonymously donated to the museum by a kind-hearted person. Holding an exhibition is also a way of thanking the kind-hearted person for their gift. After all, the value of these items, apart from research, lies in letting the nation’s people view them and increasing their curiosity and enthusiasm for their own history.”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Lu Zheng nodded quickly. “As expected of a civil servant. The reasoning comes in sets!”
Lin Wan could not help pinching Lu Zheng, making him draw in a sharp breath while she asked, “Shall we go and see it at the weekend?”
Lu Zheng asked curiously, “What is there to see? It is not as if we have not seen them before. We classified these things with our own hands.”
“Mm… I want to see them displayed at the exhibition with my own eyes.” Lin Wan bit her lower lip, somewhat embarrassed. “Am I being a bit sentimental?”
Lu Zheng nodded. “Yes, quite sentimental.”
Lin Wan blinked. This answer was a bit different from what she expected. Should you not comfort me?
Seeing the teasing look in Lu Zheng’s eyes, Lin Wan took a deep breath and added a bit more force with her hand.
“Hiss…” Lu Zheng’s eyes widened. “Not sentimental, not sentimental. This is human nature. Just like how the perpetrator always mixes in the crowd to revisit the crime scene. It is perfectly reasonable for us to go and see the exhibition!”
“What kind of awful analogy is that!” Lin Wan said speechlessly. “How did it become the perpetrator and the crime scene? If we use that analogy, we should be going to Europe.”
“Oh, right, I forgot to mention. Apart from us, several other countries have already held exhibitions.” Lin Wan laughed. “The first one was the Husky. They gave no face at all to those two victims.”
“Tsk tsk, this Sultan is really domineering!” Lu Zheng clicked his tongue. This one was also skilled at diplomacy, quite flamboyant.
“Third Brother followed closely.” Lin Wan laughed. “Then came Persia, Greece, and Pharaoh Country. Speaking of which, even if we are not last, we are definitely near the bottom.”
“After all, we are a permanent member. We have to give some face.” Lu Zheng nodded understandingly, then asked amusedly, “What about the other countries? None of them paid any attention to them?”
“None. Moreover, the Greek officials even asked when they would return the items in the British Museum and the Louvre.” Lin Wan laughed. “They really dared to ask.”
Lu Zheng shook his head. “Only the Greek officials would ask that. Other countries are not so naive and cannot afford to lose that face.”
Lin Wan smiled. Indeed, as Lu Zheng said, only the Greek officials raised this issue. Although other countries had national treasures in those two museums, they remained silent.
“By the way, there is a little episode.”
At this point, Lin Wan could not help grinning, her proud mood almost written on her face.
“What episode?”
Seeing Lin Wan unable to hold back her laughter, Lu Zheng grew curious and played along. “My lady, why do you laugh?”
“In the exhibition introduction we released, there are some items from the Sun Country.” Lin Wan laughed. “Then the netizens from the Sun Country exploded, saying that those cultural relic thieves were illiterate and sent the items to the wrong place, and demanding that we return them.”
“We gave them too much face!” Lu Zheng cursed, then asked, “How did we reply?”
Lin Wan burst out laughing. “Of course we did not reply. Well, or rather, we gave an official reply.”
“How?”
“We said these were donated to us by a kind-hearted person. We will properly preserve them and exhibit them at appropriate times, ensuring that people from all over the world can view these collections smoothly and without hindrance.”
Lu Zheng nodded. “That has the right flavour!”
Lin Wan laughed. “However, the Sun Country officials were sensible enough. No one came forward.”
“After all, they have even more items there.” Lu Zheng curled his lips. “No rush. Sooner or later, we will make them spit them out one by one.”
“Then shall we buy plane tickets for Friday?” Lin Wan asked.
“I will buy them now.”
Lu Zheng said that, then logged into the ticketing platform, purchased the tickets, and asked further, “For the follow-up investigation of this case, are you still dragging your feet?”
“Of course!” Lin Wan nodded matter-of-factly.
“No one is curious? No speculations?” Lu Zheng asked curiously.
After all, this was a case that shocked the world. In one go, over a thousand named and valuable collections were taken, followed by a perfect return to their owners. The suspects were elusive. Surely someone was curious?
“Curious, of course people are curious. But there is no direct interest involved. Why investigate? Why do the offending work?”
“Besides, no investigation means no right to speak.” Lin Wan shrugged. “What speculations could there be? Although these collectors are wealthy, they are just wealthy people after all. The security measures in their basements and collection rooms are completely inferior to those of national museums.
“If someone really acted, let alone official agents, even a team of professionals could completely accomplish this operation.
“So, with various countries not cooperating in the investigation, it is not unacceptable that those two victims cannot find clues about the suspects. It only shows their incompetence.”
At this point, Lin Wan glanced at Lu Zheng with a half-smile. “What? Do you think our operation this time was simply inhuman, like immortal methods, so others will definitely think in terms of the extraordinary?”
Lu Zheng: _
“I am not. I did not. Do not talk nonsense.” Lu Zheng said speechlessly. “I feel like you are mocking me, but I have no evidence.”
Lin Wan could not help laughing. She rubbed against Lu Zheng, gave him a kiss, then lightly lifted her head, leaned close to comfort him. “Rest assured. With me covering for you, unless you want to show off in public, I will remind you… Eh? You have recovered already?”
Lu Zheng could not help glaring, then flipped over. “I think it is you who has recovered!”
Recommendation for friend Mo Shou Yu Gui’s “Transcendent Bloodline Integrator”. Game otherworld, tearing apart giant dragons, blasting demon kings. The author has previously produced top-quality works in the Asashi genre. Level extremely high. Interested readers can follow it.
