The Breeze of Dusk with the Scent of Musk

Chapter 10: The Growth of the Magician

In the Ruby Kingdom in the Breeze Province in the Lightning City, now, Zixin Quon has an intelligent robust clever plan which is feigning that he found a gargantuan treasure. By this plan, Zixin kills two birds with one stone. First, he becomes the richest person in the Chinese Empire overnight. Second, he acquires a bright image in the eyes of the government for being a truthful, trustworthy and honest man who chose to share his wealth with the government.

Zixin started to carry out his plan. He has a small land that he inherited from his parents. With the aid of his four cousins, they dug a big rectangular hole in this land pretending to build a small house. They bought 100 large antiquated boxes that look from ancient times. They accumulated a large quantity of stones. Zixin then touched these stones with his magical stick and the stones were all converted to gold. Zixin and his four cousins filled the gold in the 100 boxes and placed the boxes arranged in the hole they dug. The boxes were arranged as a square of ten by ten dimensions. Zixin asked his cousins to disappear so that he claims to be the only digger of this hole. The purpose of this move is that Zixin wants to be the sole owner of the treasure in the eyes of the government.

Zixin then sent his wife, Xiulan Yongnian, to the Ministry of Finance office in the Lightning City to inform the government about finding a gargantuan treasure in Zixin's land. Xiulan went to the government's office and informed the officials about this important news. The Ministry of Finance office sent a messenger to the Ministry of Intelligence office so that they both send the required personnel responsible for verifying and tracking the treasure finding event. Representatives from both the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Intelligence arrived to Zixin's land where the treasure was claimed to be found. They examined the boxes and found them full of raw gold. The representatives were very astonished and dazzled by the big quantity of gold stashed in the boxes. The representatives summoned a large armed force to transfer the treasure to the Ministry of Finance office. The treasure was safely transferred. Now, both the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Intelligence started a thorough investigation with Zixin. Here is a snapshot of the investigation:

Investigators: What is your name?

Zixin: My name is Zixin Quon.

Investigators: Why were you digging the hole?

Zixin: I wanted to build a small house in my land with a basement and two floors so I started to dig the level of the basement and then I found the treasure.

Investigators: Did anyone help you in digging?

Zixin: No, I was working alone on that.

Investigators: Why did not you call us when you found the first box?

Zixin: I had a conjecture that more than one box might be buried in this area so I wanted to discover all what I can before informing the government.

Investigators: Do you know about the Treasure Finding Policy stipulated by the Ministry of Finance?

Zixin: Yes, I know about it and this is why I called the government to take the required actions.

Investigators: So tell us about the Treasure Finding Policy.

Zixin: To the best of my knowledge, this policy states that when a citizen finds a treasure buried in a land, he/she gets half the treasure and the government gets the other half, am I right?

Investigators: Yes, you are right. So now, we will evaluate the value of the found treasure in terms of golden taels and share half the amount with you.

Zixin: Thank you so much. I appreciate your help and support.

The government issued an order to dig all Zixin's land and the surrounding lands to see if more treasures were buried in these areas. After an arduous effort in digging, the government found nothing. Zixin, Xiulan, and the four cousins laughed a lot for the government's decision of digging. They laughed that the government swallowed their bait.