Chapter 2971: A Stinking Move!

The moment she learned that the Four Directions Treasure Tower had returned to China, Wu Feiyan knew that she had no chance.

For the past three hundred years, she had always adhered to one tenet: she could be an enemy of anyone, but she must never provoke a country.

Except for a few tiny countries, the vast majority of sovereign countries in the world had absolute advantages over the Anti-Qing Society.

Because no matter how small a sovereign country was, it had its own territory and airspace. As long as there was a budget, it would inevitably be able to buy fighter jets from a certain major country in the Eastern or Western camp. If it had territorial waters, it could also buy its own warships.

Both of these were things the Anti-Qing Society could not reach.

The current Anti-Qing Society, although financially strong and with not-bad individual strength, had no advantage at all in the face of heavy weapons and equipment, or even weapons of mass destruction.

Moreover, the Four Directions Treasure Tower was a national treasure, and China would definitely not let it have any risks, so it must be strictly guarded in a secret location. Even if the Anti-Qing Society were to mobilize its entire nest, it would be impossible to have the opportunity to snatch it over.

At this very moment, Wu Feiyan was extremely hateful in her heart!

This trip to New York was truly a huge loss!

The only remaining earl died, and Chen Zimin also died!

She had planted countless scholars all over the world. Those as important as Chen Zimin could be counted on one's fingers. This was something piled up by dozens of people over more than ten years, and now it had turned into ashes. Her last chess piece in the An family was also lost.

Wu Tianlin saw that her emotions were almost unable to be suppressed, so he hurriedly said: "Master, since things have come to this, your subordinate suggests that for the sake of safety, we should still leave the United States and return to the station. What do you think?"

Wu Feiyan said with a cold face: "The Earl of Loyalty and Chen Zimin died in New York. Starting from the Earl of Jian Gong, the enemy has repeatedly dealt heavy blows to us. I must get to the bottom of this matter!"

Then, she said with a vicious expression: "And that Rothschild family who checked my helicopter, I, Wu Feiyan, have never suffered this kind of grievance wherever I go. This time, I must make them pay the price!"

After speaking, Wu Feiyan shouted coldly: "Return to New York!"

When Wu Feiyan returned to New York by helicopter, the head of the Rothschild family, Howard Rothschild, was lying weakly on the bed. His eye bags were dark and large, which showed that he hadn't closed his eyes for another whole night.

Howard's mindset had been hit repeatedly recently, and the continuous blows reached a climax early this morning. He never expected that his subordinate Hank went to chase Zhou Peter, but ended up chasing Chen Zimin to set fire and commit suicide.

After learning that he was actually a member of the Anti-Qing Society, Howard's heart collapsed even more.

Although he had already followed An Qishan's suggestion and let people destroy the evidence at the scene, he was still uneasy in his heart because he had not offended ordinary people this time, but the mysterious Anti-Qing Society with a long history and extreme ruthlessness.

In the United States, there was never a lack of those mysterious organizations with long histories and dark, ruthless natures, but none could be compared with the Anti-Qing Society.

At the moment, he was also unsure whether the other party would investigate him. If they really investigated, he was afraid that this matter would not be settled so easily.

To ensure his own safety, he contacted the person in charge of the Department of Homeland Security and the CIA early this morning after the incident, asking them to dispatch the top agents with the most professional equipment to the Rothschild family's manor to ensure the safety of himself and his family.

However, thinking of the strength of the Anti-Qing Society, he was still terrified in his heart, and even planned to leave the United States and find a safe place to avoid the limelight temporarily.

Just when he was uneasy, his youngest son, David Rothschild, knocked on the bedroom door anxiously and said outside the door: "Father, there is urgent news!"

Howard heard it was urgent news and hurriedly said: "Come in and speak."

David pushed the door open, walked through the outer hall to the bedroom, looked at Howard who was leaning on the head of the bed, and sighed: "Father! Something big happened!"

Howard asked nervously: "What big thing happened?!"

David sighed and said: "Four Directions Treasure Tower, returned to China..."

"What?!" Howard only felt a buzz in his brain, as if the whole person had fallen from the clouds. It took him more than ten seconds to come back to his senses. He suddenly sat up from the bed and asked sternly: "What did you say just now? Say it again!"

David saw that his body was weak and seemed overly nervous, so he hurriedly stepped forward to support his back, and then said cautiously: "Father, official news from China, the Four Directions Treasure Tower was donated back to China through secret channels, and the Chinese authorities also announced that this national treasure, which had been drifting overseas for two hundred years, officially returned..."

Howard's brain exploded instantly. He grabbed the quilt and pillow on the bed and threw them far away frantically, roaring hysterically: "What's going on?! What the hell is going on?! I turned New York into an iron bucket. Everyone who left New York had to accept inspection, especially the airport, which was the top priority. Why could the Four Directions Treasure Tower still return to China from under my nose?! What the hell is going on?!"

After speaking, he pointed at David with a trembling hand and cursed: "Waste! You are all complete waste!"

David said nervously: "Father, I also just received the news. It was a report issued by the Chinese authorities. After translation, it was released on the American online media, and we paid attention to it. Moreover, in the report, there was no description or explanation of how the Four Directions Treasure Tower returned to China. I also don't know how the Four Directions Treasure Tower returned, but the fact is, it has indeed returned to China..."

Howard roared uncontrollably: "Go! Protest to the Chinese Embassy in the United States! Tell them that the Four Directions Treasure Tower is the private property of the Rothschild family and demand that they must return it immediately!"

As he spoke, Howard added: "Don't wait for their reply. Call your eldest brother back immediately, let him lead a team to China, call all the best lawyers in the United States, and when you arrive, find them to negotiate. If it really doesn't work, sue them! I don't care what method you use, the Four Directions Treasure Tower must be returned to me!!!"

David said with a very embarrassed expression: "Father... China disclosed the relevant history of the Four Directions Treasure Tower and mentioned the history of the First Opium War, the Second Opium War, and the Eight-Nation Alliance. Now the whole world knows that the Four Directions Treasure Tower was one of the millions of Chinese cultural relics that were snatched back by the Western world. If we go to negotiate with them now and ask them to return the Four Directions Treasure Tower, not only is it unreasonable in jurisprudence, but it is also unreasonable in public opinion..."

"Public opinion?" Howard said hatefully: "What time is it, still care about what public opinion says! Two hundred years ago, the British army opened fire and invaded everywhere to sell opium after Queen Victoria shouted that sentence 'for the interests of Britain'. They were not judged, and you are still chatting with me about public opinion now? If someone snatched the British Museum and returned the things to the original owner country, Britain would also shamelessly ask them to return it!"

As he spoke, Howard asked him angrily: "That diamond on the British King's scepter was cut from the Star of Africa! The Star of Africa is a diamond produced in South Africa! Edward VII asked for it, cut it into hundreds of diamonds of different sizes, and all of them were inlaid on their own jewelry. Why does he have such a big face? Why can't he return the diamond to the people of South Africa? They snatched a full museum plus a full palace and nothing happened. Damn, our ancestors spent a lot of effort to snatch

David bit the bullet and said, "Father, South Africa was a British colony back then. According to the international legal principles of that time, the possessions of a colony belonged to the suzerain state, and even the people of the colony belonged to the suzerain state. Never mind that Edward VII took one Star of Africa; even if he had taken all the diamonds in South Africa back then, no one could say he broke the law. At most, they could only say his history was not very honorable."

As he spoke, David continued, "But our situation is different! Although China was invaded by the West back then, it was never a colony. Their things are theirs. To put it bluntly, our ancestors just snatched them back. If we have the nerve to go and negotiate with them, we have no public opinion foundation, and we have no legal support! By then, not only will we not get the item back, but we will also be hung out to dry and cursed to death by the whole world on social media. Wouldn't that be 'stealing a chicken only to lose the rice'?"

Howard grew anxious, slapped him across the face, and cursed angrily, "You bastard! Are you saying I should just watch the Sifang Baozhuang return to China?!"

David was slapped and felt incredibly aggrieved, but he dared not show it. He could only say in a muffled voice, "Then... then I will go notify my eldest brother to come back..."

Having said that, David turned to leave.

He felt incredibly stifled inside.

He had only come to pass on the news and offer some objective advice, to prevent the old man from getting so angry that he did something ridiculous.

But who would have thought that not only would the old man not appreciate his kindness, but he would also slap him? What was he doing this for?

It would have been better to just go along with his words. If he wanted the eldest brother to negotiate, then let the eldest brother negotiate.

Seeing him turn to leave, Howard suddenly felt a bit uneasy and hurriedly called him back: "David, wait a moment!"

David turned back and asked respectfully, "Father, do you have any other instructions?"

Howard said, "Contact the public relations officer and the legal team. Have them combine public opinion and legal principles to analyze how to handle this matter most reasonably."

David nodded, immediately took out his phone, and called the two heads of the public relations and legal teams on the Rothschild family's video conferencing software.

These two were both prominent figures in New York's upper class—one a top journalist and the other a top lawyer—who had later been recruited into the Rothschild family's think tank. They were very attentive to every move the family made. They had long known that the Rothschilds were searching for the whereabouts of the Sifang Baozhuang and knew that the family had been very passive in terms of public opinion because of it. Now, they had also received the news that the Sifang Baozhuang had already returned to its home country.

After David initiated the video conference, both of them joined immediately.

In front of Howard, David asked the two, "The two of you should know the news that the Sifang Baozhuang has returned to China. I wonder how you think we should best protect our rights now?"

The public relations head spoke up: "Mr. Rothschild, please forgive my bluntness, but current online public opinion is very unfavorable to us. The previous lynching of Peter Zhou in order to find the Sifang Baozhuang has already had a very serious negative impact. Now that the Sifang Baozhuang has returned to China, if we keep our mouths shut and act as if this has nothing to do with us, I estimate that public opinion will stop paying attention to this matter after a while. But if we stand up to negotiate or protest at this time, it will likely push the family to the forefront of public opinion once again..."

In the other video window, the head of the legal team also spoke: "Mr. Rothschild, I think Jim makes a lot of sense. We were looking for the Sifang Baozhuang before, but we never made its name public. Many image materials were also circulated internally among our own people responsible for the blockade of New York. If we do not make any response, I don't think there will be any major problems."

The lawyer continued: "Furthermore, we don't have much of a legal leg to stand on in this matter. First of all, this antique is one of the countless treasures that the West snatched from China back then. Moreover, the Rothschild family has been quietly hiding it at home for so many years. It has never appeared in any asset appraisal documents or asset statistics. In other words, we have no evidence to prove that this Chinese antique belongs to the Rothschild family;"

"Moreover, this item was stolen from the Rothschild family by Peter Zhou, and you just publicly announced the withdrawal of the lawsuit, claiming that Peter Zhou did not steal anything from the Rothschild family and that it was all a misunderstanding. The legal logic of the previous theft incident is already self-consistent here. But if you suddenly propose negotiations with the Chinese authorities from afar, saying that the item is a treasure stolen from the Rothschild family, then the context and logic of this item will become fragmented and contradictory. No matter where we file a lawsuit, our claims will not be supported by the court..."

Hearing this, Howard completely collapsed!

He never dreamed that his reconciliation with Peter Zhou would turn out to be such a bad move!

Just as the lawyer said, he had already admitted that it was all a misunderstanding. How could he now propose to the Chinese authorities from afar that the Sifang Baozhuang, which had just returned to China, was the private property of the Rothschild family?

If he really did that, wouldn't he be throwing away the entire family's face?!