Strange things always spread very quickly. When Ye Yaodong came back in the evening, he heard that the news had spread throughout the surrounding villages, saying that someone in their Baisha village had fished out a large tripod from the sea and offered it to Mazu.
The curious villagers went to the Mazu Temple to see what the big tripod looked like. They all praised Ye Yaodong for being aware of the situation and not being greedy for money. He made a good donation and believed that the Mazu Temple could use it for something.
"He used to be a bit out of touch, and no family in the village dared to marry their daughter to him. I didn't expect that he would become so out of touch in the past two years."
"Yeah, he used to be a bit unreliable, but now he looks quite reliable, even though he still laughs and acts a bit unruly."
"What's so reliable? It's possible to make money!"
"That's right. It hasn't been long since the small boat was replaced by a big boat. From time to time, they catch big cargoes. I can see that their family is thriving..."
"Yes, and she gave birth to a daughter, adding to the family..."
"He has the power to bring in wealth and fortune, and to have children..."
"I don't know what kind of luck I have..."
"At that time, his mother was looking for a wife for him everywhere, worried that he wouldn't be able to find a wife. If I had known earlier, I would have married my daughter to him. Now he can enjoy a good life and help the family..."
"You're dreaming, aren't you? Your daughter has pockmarks all over her face and is short. How can Ah Dong be so out of place? After all, he has a good-looking face..."
"What's wrong with having pockmarks all over your face? Are they on you? Marry a man to have clothes and food, but what's the point of having a pretty face if you can't make money?"
"Tsk~ It's useless? Then why are you still regretting it?"
A group of women were chatting in the temple when they started arguing. The quarrel was only resolved after the women next to them tried to mediate.
Ye Yaodong only knew that word spread quickly, and didn't know about the episode. He went out to sea to fish as usual. He didn't know when the official would come to his house. He couldn't just sit at home and wait. Why? It wasn't like he was eager to offer it.
We may not even know if someone is coming. What if the news doesn’t reach the county, or the local people in the county don’t take it seriously
It just so happened that it had been raining for so long and it had been sunny these two days, so of course I had to go out to sea.
This matter spread like wildfire in the village for a day or two, but then it faded a bit. When other interesting things happened, it was simply forgotten. Only occasionally someone would bring it up in passing.
Four or five days passed and the village was peaceful. Ye Yaodong thought that the tripod was gone.
Unexpectedly, just as he had put it out of his mind, people from the county cultural center and the county government suddenly came one day, and the village committee accompanied them.
When Ye Yaodong came back from the sea, as soon as he docked at the dock, some nosy villagers excitedly called out to him to go home quickly, saying that an important person from the county was looking for him, and a large group of people were sitting at his doorstep waiting for him to come back.
"Huh? You're all sitting outside my house? Who are you? What are you doing here? How many people are there?"
I thought it wouldn't come, but it actually came.
"About 6,789. You'll know if you go back and take a look. We don't recognize the people wearing Zhongshan suits."
Six, seven, eight, nine? Isn't this range a bit too wide
Ye Yaodong pushed the cart slowly, preparing to push it to the shore to receive the goods. As he walked, he asked, "When did you come? What are you doing here? You didn't tell me in advance, and the sun has already set."
The middle-aged woman at the side said, "He came this morning. It seems he came for the tripod you fished out a few days ago. He also went to the Mazu Temple this morning and stayed in there for a long time. He talked about cultural relics and antiques, how rare they were, and how they belonged to the country. He told our village committee a lot of random things, but no one understood him."
"Yes, I told them how rare the tripod was. It felt like they had bad intentions and wanted to snatch the tripod you donated to the Mazu Temple."
"Yes, it sounds like they want to take the tripod away. But we can't just let them take it away. This is something from our temple. We have donated it to Mazu. It belongs to Mazu. How can we let them take it away?"
"That's right. You have to talk to them when you go back and ask them to find another one somewhere else."
"Yes, let them find another one somewhere else."
A group of women and villagers who did not go out to sea were talking there.
Ye Yaodong didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Are they still here now? The sun has already set."
"It seems he hasn't left. He's still here. Knowing that you were going out to sea, the village committee took him around for a tour today. In the afternoon, he was sitting at your doorstep waiting for you again."
"My ceremony is so grand? A bunch of big shots are sitting in my house waiting for me?"
Thinking about it, he felt a little happy. He didn't expect that he had such treatment, which ordinary people could not enjoy.
"That's right. You have so many important people waiting for you at your door. Isn't that the first time? They call you curator or secretary. You look extraordinary."
"Yes, yes, it looks very stylish. Go back quickly and don't dawdle here."
"Okay, I'll push the cart over first. If you guys are free, please give my dad a hand. Otherwise, when I leave, he won't have anyone to help. Don't let anyone steal the goods."
"No problem. There are so many people here. Everyone will watch over you. Go quickly."
Ye Yaodong handed the goods to his father to sell, asked the villagers for help, and then hurried back. He came back relatively early today. The sun had just set not long after he docked, so the sky was still bright, but it gets dark late in the summer.
He was trotting along with his hat in hand, and beside him were a few curious villagers who were planning to go over to watch the fun.
When I was almost at the door of my house, I saw a group of people standing up in the distance. I didn't know what they were talking about, but they mumbled a few words and walked out while talking. A Qing was standing beside them with a smile on her face.
"Ah! Adong is back!"
"came back?"
"Finally home?"
"You came back so late, and you were about to leave."
Secretary Chen smiled and said, "It's still early to come back today. In the past few days, the fishermen in our village didn't come to the shore until dark. It's not easy to work day and night. I've talked to several leaders about this before, and they all said to wait and see."
He continued to speak well of Ye Yaodong, "Ah Dong didn't know that there would be guests arriving today, and no one informed him in advance to let him wait at home, otherwise the leaders wouldn't have been kept waiting for so long..."
An old man with gray hair said with a smile: "Hahaha~ I'm glad you're back. At least I didn't come back empty-handed. Let's go, let's go... It's a good thing you're back, so let's go in and sit for a while..."
"We've been waiting for a whole day, and we can't just leave like that. Let's go in and sit for a while, and tell him what we need to say. We'll come back tomorrow to talk in detail."
"Then go in, it won't be a wasted trip, everyone is back..."
"Yes, it won't take long."
"Let's go inside and talk... Let's go inside and talk... It won't get dark that fast..."
When the leaders in Zhongshan suits saw Ye Yaodong, they started talking one after another and walked back without giving Ye Yaodong a chance to speak or ask questions. It was Secretary Chen who waved to him and asked him to catch up.
In fact, none of them took him, a fisherman, seriously. Fortunately, he didn't just come to them helplessly.
The curious villagers and neighbors also followed. Some well-informed people heard the news that Ye Yaodong had returned and also ran over here.
Before long, a group of people gathered at their door, all craning their necks to look into the house.
Ye Yaodong was also looking at the so-called big shots in the room mentioned by the villagers. It turned out that two of them looked really familiar. They had appeared in the previous evaluation of the ten thousand yuan households.
Being young is good, and having a strong memory is also good.
After he entered the room, he stood beside Secretary Chen without saying a word, intending to wait for these people to speak.
The gray-haired old man looked at him and smiled, "I am Li Deyao, the director of the County Cultural Center. You are Comrade Ye Yaodong, right?"
"I am."
"It's like this. A few days ago, I heard that you fished out a large bronze tripod. Your village chief went to the county meeting and confirmed this, so today we came together to take a look."
"It wasn't just the past two days, it was five or six days ago."
A few days ago, he heard that some people went into the water to the place where he fished out the bronze artifacts, intending to see if there were any more artifacts underneath. If there were, they could pick up a few and sell them to junk collectors for some money. However, all of them returned empty-handed. The pressure of one bronze artifact every ten meters is no joke.
Ordinary people can generally dive less than 10 meters without the help of any tools. Those with slightly weaker physique can only dive about 5 meters. Professionals can probably dive to about 30 meters. Of course, there are even more advanced people.
"Yes, we knew about it five or six days ago, but we only heard about it and confirmed it two or three days ago, so we came to your house today. Unfortunately, we didn't inform you in advance, so we waited in vain for a whole day and almost returned empty-handed. Fortunately, you came back in time."
The old man spoke politely and smiled. Ye Yaodong felt comfortable listening to him and smiled as well. "Yes, I didn't know in advance. If I had known, I would have waited at home and saved the leaders from waiting for a whole day."
"It's okay. We came unexpectedly. It's a little late today, so I'll just get straight to the point. When you fished it up, was there only that big cauldron? Were there other things dragged up with it?"
The Cultural Relics Protection Law was implemented in 1982. With the bronze tripod in front of him, he thought that even if he could keep the wine cup, it would be a hot potato and he dared not sell it. Moreover, the longer it was kept, the more valuable it would be, so it would be more costly. It would be better to give it away directly and sell it for a good price.
Regardless of whether they can get the villagers' consent to take the big tripod away from the Mazu Temple, he at least contributed the wine glass and should be able to get some honor.
I have just won a lot of support from the villagers, and I cannot afford to lose any more honor.
Ye Yaodong nodded and admitted, "Yes, there was a bronze wine cup that was dragged up with the big tripod. Wait a moment, I'll go into the house and get it for you."