Chapter 385: Faith

The old man was momentarily delighted. He had only been asking as a matter of routine, not expecting him to have this awareness, or not expecting there to be another bronze artifact — but to his surprise, there really was one.

He said with a face full of smiles, "Good, good, good — go fetch it quickly, we'll wait here."

Ye Yaodong went and returned in a flash, holding out the bronze wine cup in his palm to the old man.

"This was dragged up in the fishing net together with the big bronze cauldron at the time. There's only this one — I don't know if there are more on the seabed. This thing looks pretty useless, I can't really use it as a wine cup, so I might as well give it to the kids at home as a toy."

The old man took the bronze wine cup directly, and pulled out a magnifying glass from his pocket to peer at it from every angle. The people beside him also curiously craned their necks over.

"It's really a bronze wine cup?"

"From which era?"

"Dad, can you tell which era it's from?"

Ye Yaodong glanced sideways. This county committee member called the cultural center director 'Dad' — no wonder two or three people from the county committee had come today too, to bolster the scene. Probably afraid they couldn't handle these 'ignorant commoners' and would return empty-handed.

The old man shook his head. "Hard to say. We'll have to take it back and have it appraised before we know."

He looked at Ye Yaodong again. "Comrade Ye Yaodong, do you know this is a cultural relic?"

Ye Yaodong shrugged. "All I know is this is ownerless — goods from the sea. Whoever hauls it up, it's theirs, right?"

"Uh… in principle, what you said isn't wrong, but this is a cultural relic. Cultural relics belong to the state, not to individuals."

"What do you mean? You want to snatch it for free? It's fine for you to take a few looks, but if you want to take it away, that won't do. I was the one who hauled it up…"

What if he gave it up too easily and they simply forgot about his commendation — what about his reward? Donate is donate, but the reward can't be shortchanged. There are still more on the seabed, so he needed to get a firm answer from them first. After all, he was an uncultured fisherman.

The old man exchanged glances with the others, then said with a smile: "Don't worry. Donating it out is also making a contribution to our country. The county will certainly show some appreciation."

"What kind of appreciation?"

"This we'll all have to go back and discuss. And then there's that big bronze cauldron in the temple…"

"Ah… don't ask me about that one. I've already donated it to the Goddess Mazu Temple. I can't make the call — you'd have to ask whether the villagers of our whole village agree."

At this moment, an idea suddenly popped into Ye Yaodong's head. He felt that donating the bronze cauldron to the Goddess Mazu Temple had been absolutely the right move — it might even make the incense at the village's Goddess Mazu Temple flourish all the more.

"Uh… that was also donated by you. The villagers should defer to your wishes too."

"Ah no, no, no — I can't sway the whole village's villagers. Just now at the dock they were still telling me we can't let the cauldron be taken away — that's Goddess Mazu's property. The faith of people by the sea, you should understand." With an idea in mind, Ye Yaodong grew even more composed.

The villagers watching the show at the door, hearing the talk inside the house, also began chiming in noisily.

"That's right, that cauldron belongs to our Goddess Mazu Temple — it can't be taken away."

"Yeah, yeah… can't take it away…"

"Right… can't take it…"

The old man listened to the voices outside, his brow furrowing — he felt it was a bit tricky.

The others also frowned, also feeling it wouldn't be easy. Coastal people worship Goddess Mazu — that was something they all knew. Every one of them was more enthusiastic about worshipping Goddess Mazu than going to a banquet. They turned their gazes back to the village committee members.

The village committee members all stood there chuckling sheepishly, saying nothing.

They were villagers of this village too, of course they had to protect the collective interest.

Ye Yaodong watched them furrowing their brows and exchanging glances there, with no counter-strategy in mind, and said with a smile: "Why don't you head back first today? It's getting late, and the mountain road is hard to travel in the dark. How about waiting until tomorrow?"

"Fine, then we'll come back tomorrow. We'll have to trouble you for a few days — stay home and don't go out to sea…"

Ye Mu cut in disapprovingly: "That won't do! The weather's been good these past few days — one day without going out to sea is a day's loss. We fishermen eat by the weather, eat by the sea. A whole big family with so many mouths depends on our Dongzi alone going out to sea to earn money. It's fine if you ask him to stay home for a day or two, but staying for several days won't do. If it's ten days or half a month, the whole family will be drinking the northwest wind. He can't just sit around doing nothing, sitting at home waiting for you all day."

"We're here on official business…"

"His going out to sea is also official business. Are we supposed to ignore food and drink for the whole family and just cooperate with your work? If you can't achieve your goal and come for ten days, eight days, a month or so — is he supposed to stay home waiting for you for a month too? That won't do."

Ye Mu, a country woman, had a manner of not knowing the heavens above or the earth below. In any case, she figured she hadn't broken any law — how could she only care about others and not her own family?

The county official said helplessly: "Don't worry. He donated the cultural relic and cooperated with the work, and the cauldron was also hauled up in his net. When it's donated up, the county will give corresponding commendation and rewards. Depending on the situation, we'll also give a little subsidy."

"What rewards? What subsidy?"

"That has to be discussed, but you have to cooperate with us in carrying out the work."

Ye Yaodong held back his mother, who wanted to speak again. The assist was already done — making a fuss had been enough.

"I understand. I can cooperate with the work in the short term."

This was something he had hauled up, so he certainly had to cooperate — and besides, he had a few other ideas in mind.

The old man was very pleased with his attitude. "Thank you, Comrade Ye Yaodong, for your cooperation and understanding. In the next couple of days, we may still need you to take our people to the stretch of sea where the bronze artifact was hauled up."

"No problem."

The others were also very satisfied with his cooperation. Although his mother was a bit difficult to deal with, Comrade Ye Yaodong's attitude was still acceptable.

"Then this bronze wine cup — we'd like to take it back and have professionals appraise it…"

Ye Yaodong nodded. "That's fine."

It was all going to be donated anyway.

Now everyone was even more satisfied — no longer holding on and refusing to let go, he had the awareness.

Those leaders from the county had finally not returned empty-handed today. After a few more polite words with smiles, they left surrounded by everyone.

Once the people were gone, the villagers instantly exploded into an uproar.

"I said it — they definitely wanted to take the big cauldron away. See? Just as I thought, that was their plan."

"Can't let them cart it off… this belongs to our village…"

"Exactly… can't let them get away with it. How can Goddess Mazu's things be casually taken away by people?"

"Why is Ah Dong cooperating with their work? They want to cart off the cauldron you donated to the Goddess Mazu Temple."

"Exactly. We shouldn't have let them into the village in the first place."

Ye Yaodong saw that the villagers were all somewhat displeased, and hurriedly explained: "We grew up under the Five-Star Red Flag. When the government needs us, don't we have to cooperate? Besides, even if they want to cart off the big cauldron, they need the folks' approval. If the folks don't agree, who can cart it off?"

"That's true. If it's proper work, we do have to cooperate."

"But they want to cart it off."

"Then we don't agree — who dares cart it off? The government can't be unreasonable either."

"That tripod was actually so extraordinary that even officials were drawn over, and that wine cup of yours just now—how did they just take it away?"

"If I didn't take it away, keeping it would be useless to me anyway. Since there's only one, if they want to study it, let them study it. Besides, didn't they say they'd give me commendation and rewards? The state won't treat me poorly."

"That's true..."

"Alright, folks, disperse now. Go back to your homes, find your own moms. As for tomorrow's matters, we'll see tomorrow." After explaining, Ye Yaodong also sent them away; he was exhausted, both tired and hungry.

"Why find moms? That's weird. Don't we all call her 'Mother'? Though it's true we should go home for dinner..."

"Running back and forth, yet we didn't see any results..."

"When people come tomorrow, let's come back and take a look. We need to help keep an eye on things..."

"Right, keep an eye on things tomorrow. If people enter the village, notify everyone immediately..."

After driving everyone away, Ye Yaodong slumped onto the chair by the doorway.

Ye's mother stepped forward and asked, "Dongzi, what exactly are they giving for the commendation and rewards? And what about subsidies? Don't tell me it's just a fountain pen, a thermos, and an enamel mug?"

"I don't know. I've never received a glorious award before. We'll know when the time comes. Can we really be lacking in such small things? Reputation and honor are what matter."

"Getting more rewards would still be good. After all, it's something obtained for free; naturally, the more the better. You speak as if you're not short of money or have a huge fortune... Who knows, you might have to stay home for a few days. How much loss would that be? You'll have to talk to them then and ask for a bit more..."

Rural women can't change their habit of loving to grab small gains; his mother was no different. Ye Yaodong helplessly agreed, "Yes, yes, yes. Let's see how the county handles it. Why don't you go to the pier to see if Father has finished selling his goods? Since I returned, he's the only one out there. I don't want to move right now."

"I'll go take a look."

After sending his old mother away too, he finally had some peace and could rest properly for a while.

After those leaders left, Lin Lin Xiuqing quickly gathered the drying clothes from the doorway into the house, then simply stir-fried some rice and heated up the noon dishes before coming out to call him to eat.

With a crowd of people staying at their home earlier, she couldn't do anything, dared not do anything. Now that it's late, she can only make do with eating a little.

"I'll rest a bit. You and the children eat first!"

Lin Lin Xiuqing stepped forward and thoughtfully kneaded his shoulders. "You must be exhausted? Cooperating with their work is a good chance to rest for two days and recover."

"Mmm~ comfortable~ I was thinking the same thing. Besides, that bronze vessel was what I fished up. I have to cooperate with the work anyway, letting them dredge what needs dredging and move what needs moving."

"Are they really going to take that tripod away?"

"We'll see about that. It also requires negotiation; it depends on whether the folks agree. Anyway, for us, leaving it at the Goddess Mazu Temple is better. If the government takes it away and forces a donation, it has nothing to do with us. However, forced removal is unlikely; they must respect the folks' wishes."

She frowned. "I should have known to store it at the Goddess Mazu Temple first, not donate it yet. Once those people arrived, they would have just taken it away directly, saving all this trouble of coming door-to-door again and again."

"If you don't donate it to Goddess Mazu but just store it in the temple, it probably won't last a few days. There are plenty of people who want money but don't care about their lives. Even selling it as scrap could fetch a few dozen. Donating it to Goddess Mazu is different; this is faith. Anyone messing with something belonging to Goddess Mazu would have to think twice."

"That's true."

"Alright, anyway, it has nothing to do with you. Don't worry unnecessarily; just watch how the situation develops."

"Sigh... It's just because they came to our home, so I have to care a bit more. Besides, I don't know how many days it will delay you."

"Mmm, it won't delay for long. Come inside and eat first. Where are the two little rascals?"

"They're next door. I'll go call them."