Searching for Treasures in the Clouds

Chapter 280 Miao Embroidery

Three days later,

Something bad happened to Yang Rui. He was completely defeated by several phone calls from Xi Yizai and Yun Jixing. Being banned has become an inevitable event. In addition, he has to leave Shuicheng, otherwise if he stays in Shuicheng, people will keep looking for trouble with him.

Jiang Zaizhou was in a good mood because of this matter, and he was full of energy. So today, he decided to go to Guigui Province to relax and find the Miao embroidery inheritor he had met before to discuss cooperation plans with him.

After arriving at the destination, he first went to the booked homestay to change into the traditional Miao costume he brought with him, and then he couldn't wait to sneak out to the street to go shopping.

"Why are there so many people? Isn't this the off-season?" Jiang Zaizhou said to himself as he looked at the busy streets. "With so many people, the photos I took won't look good."

The nearby wooden buildings are pushing and squeezing each other to climb up the mountainside, and the gaps in the folds of the tile eaves are filled with traces of time. The surrounding mountains in the distance appear even more beautiful against the backdrop of spring. The green river meanders away, and the surface of the water is piled up with soft folds like crepe, with a few small boats drifting on it. When the boats come over, the folds are pushed open to the surroundings.

The scenery was great, but there were a lot of people. Many backpackers were walking slowly on the road, looking around as they walked, and there were also men and women in ethnic costumes who stopped and walked, constantly changing their body postures to take pictures.

"Master, there is an empty seat there, let's go there to take pictures." The accompanying bodyguard raised his hand and pointed to the left. The place he pointed to was the entrance of a restaurant, which looked pretty good.

Jiang Zaizhou was about to go over, but unexpectedly a man got there first, so he had to stop.

"Xiao Feng, let's find a place with few people to shoot, away from the commercial area."

Jiang Zaizhou had visited Guigui Province before, so he was quite familiar with the place. He quickly led his people away from the overly commercialized area and came to an area where ordinary residents lived. There were obviously fewer people here, and there were very few pedestrians on the road.

"This is still the best." Jiang Zaizhou showed a satisfied smile and turned to look at the people he brought with him. Behind him stood 19 big men wearing uniform sports suits, half of them were over 1.8 meters tall, and the other half were around 1.7 meters tall. Standing together, they looked majestic and very scary.

"Ah..." Jiang Zaizhou felt a headache when he saw so many bodyguards. He sighed and waved at the bodyguards. "Hey! You big brothers, don't stand so neatly. It makes me look like gangsters invading the village. Spread out a little, pretend to be tourists, and don't get so close to me."

Among these bodyguards, only four were permanently stationed at his home, and the rest were specially hired by his parents to protect him. He didn't want so many, thinking it was too much, but if he didn't want them, his parents would be so worried that they couldn't sleep or eat. He had no choice but to bring all these bodyguards with him.

"You, you, you...the tall ones, please stay a little further away from me and pretend to be passers-by enjoying the scenery. In fact, protect me. You, you, you, the short ones who are good at kung fu, stay by my side."

Under his assignment, the bodyguards quickly dispersed.

Jiang Zaizhou finally calmed down, and he walked leisurely on the road, stopping to let the bodyguards take pictures of him when he saw a good-looking place. As he walked, he approached the home of an old lady who knew Miao embroidery and whom he had met here before.

There were many large business cars parked at the intersection of the village where the old woman lived. Jiang Zaizhou saw those cars and stopped to look. He saw two foreign men standing at the driver's door of two of the cars, dressed exactly the same, tall, with brown hair and brown eyes.

This gave him a bad feeling, so he withdrew his gaze and walked quickly into the village.

There was no one on the main road in the village. It was probably dinner time, and everyone in every household stayed at home to cook. The cleaner the road was, the more flustered Jiang Zaizhou became. When he got to the back, he simply ran.

"I hope it's not those damn foreigners." He prayed silently in his heart.

He looked around as he ran, and when he reached the end of the village, he finally saw the suspected owners of those business cars. They were a group of foreigners, and a few Chinese. Those foreigners were dressed in business-like attire, and the leader was holding a briefcase. He saw what looked like a corner of a folder sticking out of the bag.

He slowed down his pace and stood at the edge of the road looking at the foreigners. After a moment, he saw a familiar figure, the Miao embroidery granny he knew. The granny waved at the foreigners with a bad look on her face, as if she was "seeing them off".

Seeing this, he hurriedly trotted over to the mother-in-law, followed closely by his bodyguards.

"Granny Ran, what are you doing?"

Ran Yan heard the voice and turned to look. When she saw Jiang Zaizhou, she felt familiar, but couldn't remember who he was. She was stunned for a while before she reacted. She could understand Mandarin but couldn't speak it. She could only speak the local dialect. After recognizing Jiang Zaizhou, she immediately called him over in the local dialect. "Xiao Jiang, come here quickly! These little bastards wanted to steal our Chinese people's things. I refused and they threatened me."

Jiang Zaizhou immediately appeared beside Ran Yan and stood in front of her, "Grandma Ran, what's going on? Did they force you to sell your Miao embroidery skills?"

Ran Yan stamped her feet and said anxiously: "Alas, I don't know either. At first they said they would help us promote Miao embroidery, but then they asked me to sign a contract. I didn't dare to sign a contract because I don't understand anything. Anyway, they are so fierce."

"Okay, I understand." Jiang Zaizhou responded, then looked at the foreigner holding the briefcase and said in English: "What do you want to do? Tricking an old woman into buying out her work and skills at a low price?"

The foreigners didn't leave, they were all looking at him. When he asked this, the foreign man with the briefcase took a few steps forward, smiled contemptuously, and responded in broken Chinese: "In the words of you Chinese, this is called mutual consent. I give money and she gives me what I want. It's that simple."

Hearing the foreigner speak poor Chinese, Jiang Zaizhou continued to communicate with him in English, "Do you have a problem? This technology has belonged to us Chinese since ancient times. We have already applied for World Heritage status. What are you still buying? Isn't this ridiculous?"

The foreign man shrugged and switched to English to talk to Jiang Zaizhou, "So what? Even if Miao embroidery is yours and you have applied for it to be listed as a world heritage site, your people don't value it and most people don't even know it exists. When we sell it, your people will spend a lot of money to buy it, shouting that it is a unique work of art. When we explain that it is yours, your people still don't believe it. You are alone, what are you insisting on? We use it just to raise its reputation, what's wrong with that?"

"Wrong! Absolutely wrong! You are not Chinese. You are not pitying the fact that Miao embroidery is not well-known. You just want to make money with its exquisite art. Then you can just say that it was invented by your team and originated from the West without any explanation. Don't think I don't know your methods. Go away! We will not sign a contract with you! Nor will we teach this technology to a foreigner with ill intentions."

The foreign man restrained the contemptuous smile on his face. He looked at the dozen or so bodyguards behind Jiang Zaizhou, looking as if he was thinking about something.

At this moment, another group of people came out from the corner. Hearing the noise, everyone looked over and saw that the person who came was an Asian with three people around him.