Chapter 36  Armed Guards and Canal Shipwreck

Antique collecting—listening to inherited stories is sometimes more exciting than the actual antiques. Farmers, migrant workers, sister-in-laws—any identity might be fake.

But someone so blatantly saying they dug something up and are now selling it?

Forget Bai Zimo and Chen Rui—even Shao Bingyi and Boss Zheng were shocked.

So bold!

A real man!

“You dug it up? Mind if I ask, are you from the southern school or northern school? Did you find anything else?”

“Heh, I like custard pies!”

“Big bro, you’re quite the comedian.”

“A little humor, yeah. I’ve got something else—my wife says it’s Ru kiln porcelain from the Song Dynasty!”

Everyone got curious.

Damn!

Your wife’s credibility just shot up!

Saying it’s cheap would be an insult to antiques, huh?

The four men couldn’t help but laugh. Only talking about top-tier antiques now.

Everyone knows good stuff is valuable, but you can’t just make things up!

Shao Bingyi reminded, “Chen Rui, Zimo, you both heard it. Be cautious with collecting!”

“Big bro, you upgraded from the usual construction site trio?”

“Yep, now we use a four-piece set!”

Pfft!

“Tsk tsk! Your wife really is something!”

“Yeah, she’s amazing. She used to be the foreman’s wife!”

“Wait—what?”

Stunned!

It went from antique collecting to grave robbing, now to infidelity drama.

What the hell?

“She was the foreman’s wife, but after we found the treasure, she said she’d be mine.”

Wow!

That construction site sure is a mess.

Bai Zimo asked curiously, “If your wife, I mean your foreman’s wife, knows so much about this stuff, why didn’t she come herself?”

“Young folks gotta keep up with the times. It’s all online now! She’s packing—once we sell, we’re out!”

____

This is starting to sound real.

Chen Rui nudged Bai Zimo, whispering, “Should we call the police?”

“Wait! It’s not our job to call the police anyway!”

Shao Bingyi chuckled, “So you’re both planning to leave?”

“She gave me all her cards—she couldn’t be scamming me, right?”

Bai Zimo felt this guy was being used.

He takes the risk. If the antiques sell and money hits the account, he’s left to take the fall.

“You mentioned Ru kiln porcelain… can we see it?”

“It’s broken… already broken when we found it!”

“The Xuande censer is fake. The Ru porcelain shards are probably… wait a second!”

Old Zheng’s eyes widened as he carefully examined a shard!

“Where did you dig this up? The mud on this censer doesn’t look like it came from a grave!”

This dude is just too honest!

“Right by Zhuangyuan Bridge, I was clearing the canal! Found some other porcelain shards too. We didn’t steal them!”

Bai Zimo was stunned.

He had already scavenged the sunken boat beneath Zhuangyuan Bridge clean.

If antiques are still turning up, they must’ve been washed into other muddy areas by the current.

“What! More stuff in the canal? That needs to be turned in!”

Shao Bingyi couldn’t sit still. This news would blow up Huajie Street.

“We’re not turning it in—just a 500 yuan reward and a banner? We’d be losing big time!”

Bai Zimo warned, “You’re being played. This might be a setup.”

“A setup?”

“Most likely you’re being left to take the fall—someone already ran off with the real treasure.”

Chen Rui nodded.

“If you turn it in now, maybe you’ll still get the banner and 500 yuan. But if they catch you later, you’ll be getting silver bracelets.”

“Bracelets are silver?”

“Are you playing dumb or really dumb? What—were you hoping for gold ones? Let’s go, Chen Rui.”

____

In fact, Bai Zimo was spot on. The construction site wasn’t manned by just one worker—if he could dig, so could others. The lucky ones probably already ran off with the good stuff, as long as they weren’t caught red-handed!

But those who didn’t get anything weren’t idle—they called the police.

“Zimo, where have you been?”

“Ran into Xingchi’s dad at the culture center—got delayed a bit.”

“I heard something big happened! People say there’s treasure in the canal again!”

Xia Fenghua was bubbling with excitement.

As Huajie Street’s ultimate gossip queen—Sharp since childhood!

Always first to chase the drama!

“Where’s Chen Rui?”

“Home. His district-chief mom doesn’t let him run wild.”

“Poor Chen Rui—books made him dumb!”

“That’s rich coming from a bad student!”

“Shut up! Let’s go to Zhuangyuan Bridge section!”

By the time Huazi and Bai Zimo got there, they couldn’t see anything.

Well—not nothing.

They saw police vehicles. And a cordoned-off area. The riverbank excavation site was surrounded, with only one entrance and exit.

Two armed police stood guard. Four security officers on site. Surveillance cameras mounted up high.

“Zimo, we can’t get in now. We used to come here to fish!”

“That was fast! Armed guards, security fencing!”

Bai Zimo was startled by the response.

Thank goodness none of them tried to keep those Ru porcelain shards.

“This section was abandoned, right? What’s buried here! This is insane!”

If artifacts were found here…

Then the sunken boat deep in the nearby pool would soon be discovered too. But it had already been seven years since Bai Zimo found the canal treasure.

After such a long time, some things buried down there might have been carried out by hidden currents.

“Zimo! Huazi!”

Ma Siyie lifted her long skirt and ran over.