Chapter 1 My Life as a Corpse Fisherman

Yu Xiaobo saw my vigilance and quickly said to me with a smile, "Little Chen, don't be afraid. This isn't the first time we've used a fishing boat as a cover to go out to sea to salvage treasures. We've been out several times before, and there haven't been any problems."

"Really?" Uncle Mei also asked, squinting.

"Of course, it's true. Why would I lie to you?" Yu Xiaobo said with a smile. "Don't worry, the relevant departments here don't crack down too hard on our kind of business. Unlike in China, where any activity even slightly related to cultural relics is severely punished, there's not much risk in doing underwater salvage business here. If you really want to worry, you should worry about whether you can come back up safely."

After hearing Yu Xiaobo's words, I felt more at ease, because that was what Sixth Uncle had said before. Instead of worrying about getting caught for salvaging treasures, it was better to worry about whether you could come back up from the sea.

At this time, Yu Xiaobo said again, "I heard from Mr. Song that both of you are top-notch swimmers. That being said, you two definitely won't have any problems going underwater, right?"

Uncle Mei waved his hand and said modestly, "It's not that good. My son and I usually salvage corpses from the river. To be honest, this is the first time we've dealt with the sea. In the face of the sea, we wouldn't dare say we're good swimmers."

Yu Xiaobo nodded and said seriously, "Right, right, right, we can't be too careless. A little caution ensures safe sailing for ten thousand years."

Soon we took a ferry to the fishing boat. Two strong men with dark skin and muscular arms immediately came to help pull us up.

These two should be Thai. I heard Yu Xiaobo speaking to them in Thai, and they didn't interact with us or even look at us.

After getting on the boat, Yu Xiaobo first took us to the cabin.

I asked him, "Brother Bo, how many divers are there on this trip?"

Yu Xiaobo thought for a while and said, "About twenty, I guess. I didn't ask in detail. It's always about twenty, sometimes a little more, sometimes a little less."

I had heard Sixth Uncle say before that out of ten divers, only six would come back alive. According to this ratio, eight of these twenty people might be left at the bottom of the sea.

I asked again, "By the way, Brother Bo, besides us, are there any other people from our country among these people?"

Yu Xiaobo immediately said, "I really don't know the exact number of Chinese people, since I didn't recruit them. I'm just a diver. But I just ran into one, and he's a big shot."

"A big shot?" I immediately became interested and asked curiously, "What kind of big shot?"

Yu Xiaobo lowered his voice and said mysteriously, "This brother is from a professional background. He used to specialize in underwater salvage in China. Have you heard of the Song Dynasty treasure ship that was discovered in Guangdong a few years ago?"

Uncle Mei and I both shook our heads and said in unison that we didn't know.

Yu Xiaobo whispered, "Around the eighties or nineties, a shipwreck was discovered in the waters off Guangdong. There were countless treasures on this shipwreck. Countless antiques were salvaged by nearby fishermen. Later, it was discovered by the state and named 'Nanhai One' (South China Sea One)."

I hadn't heard of this ship at the time, and I didn't know if what Yu Xiaobo was saying was true. Later, after returning to China, I specifically asked Jiang Yongguang, and I gradually learned about this famous Song Dynasty shipwreck.

Nanhai One is a top-notch treasure ship, not only in China but also in the world!

At that time, this ship was a treasure ship used by the Song Dynasty to conduct trade with Southeast Asian countries for transportation, but it probably encountered bad weather during its voyage and eventually sank at sea.

This ship was more than forty meters long, four meters high, and had a displacement of eight hundred tons. It was undoubtedly a giant ship in the world at that time!

Since 2000, the archaeological community has been working on salvaging this shipwreck. It was not until 2007 that the shipwreck was completely salvaged and a museum was built.

According to the appraisal by surveyors, there were more than 180,000 historical relics on this ship, and a small porcelain bowl that had been salvaged earlier had been auctioned for hundreds of thousands of US dollars overseas!

Therefore, the value of the cultural relics on this ship can be said to be immeasurable. This one ship is more valuable than the cultural relics unearthed from dozens of ancient tombs combined!

But I digress.

Because I hadn't heard of this ship at the time, I didn't realize what kind of big shot the diver who specialized in salvaging this ship was. I just heard Yu Xiaobo say that this brother was experienced and that we should follow him down there, and maybe we could come back safely.

Uncle Mei couldn't help but inquire, how did a diver who specializes in salvaging shipwrecks in China end up abroad?

Yu Xiaobo said with a smile, "As the saying goes, a horse won't grow fat without night grass, and a man won't get rich without windfall. The meager salary that the domestic archaeological team gives isn't even enough to fill the gaps between your teeth. One trip here is at least 50,000 yuan in income."

Speaking of this, Yu Xiaobo asked us again, "Have you heard about the two ways of getting paid here?"

Uncle Mei and I nodded repeatedly, saying that we had heard about it.

Either take a fixed salary of 50,000 yuan, or pick one item from the salvaged treasures to take away.

Yu Xiaobo nodded and asked, "Which one are you planning to choose? 50,000 yuan? Or a treasure?"

I immediately said, "Of course, I'll choose a treasure. I heard from Sixth Uncle that this ship is six or seven hundred years old, a treasure ship from the Ayutthaya Dynasty, so any treasure on this ship is worth more than 50,000 yuan, right?"

Yu Xiaobo smiled and said, "That's right, you're right. Any treasure on this ship is worth more than 50,000 yuan. Most divers will choose to take away one treasure, and almost no one chooses 50,000 yuan."

"Right, no one is a fool," Uncle Mei nodded and said.

Yu Xiaobo continued, "In fact, the owner deliberately made the rules this way. This way, he can make the divers work harder, because the divers choose one item to take away from the treasures they salvage themselves. So the more treasures they salvage, and the better the treasures they salvage, the greater their chances of making money. This way, everyone will definitely work harder."

After Yu Xiaobo's explanation, I suddenly understood and couldn't help but sigh in my heart that the person who made these rules was really astute and understood people's hearts.

Uncle Mei couldn't help but sigh, "The person who can organize this business must be a character. What he thinks is really reasonable."

At this time, Yu Xiaobo gave a strange smile and said, "But although most people will choose to take away a treasure, there are still some people who want a fixed salary."

"Why? Isn't that stupid?" I couldn't help but ask.

Yu Xiaobo shook his head and said, "Hehe, Little Chen, to be honest, how many fools are there among the people who come to this ship? Do you think those who take a fixed salary are really stupid?"