My whole family is involved in diplomacy, so you dare to flex your muscles?

Palmer Street, London.

The night was drizzling, and this neighborhood, home to Britain's most prestigious clubs, exuded an air of arrogance and gloom that had endured for a century.

Gu Yun pushed open the door of an old-fashioned private club that didn't even have a sign.

The heavy velvet carpet absorbed all footsteps, several medieval oil paintings hung on the walls, and waiters in tailcoats stood with bowed heads, as if even their breathing had undergone strict etiquette training.

Li Ang followed behind Gu Yun, his gaze sweeping over the luxurious surroundings, and muttered in a low voice:

"Brother Gu, this place is amazing. The air is filled with a rotten smell of 'how to elegantly claim someone else's stuff as your own family heirloom.' It's practically a high-end pirate's VIP room for disposing of stolen goods."

Gu Yun handed the rain-soaked umbrella to the waiter, slowly unbuttoning his suit jacket as he glanced at him indifferently: "Say less later."

"Understood." Li Ang immediately dropped his playful grin, adjusted his glasses, and

"I'll hand you the knife, you take charge of the knife. I won't steal the show."

The waiter pushed open the heavy oak door at the end of the corridor. Inside the box, British Museum Council Chairman Holden and Deputy Director Edmund had been waiting for some time.

Holden, in his sixties, had his hair neatly combed and his silver-grey suit was impeccably tailored without a single wrinkle. Upon seeing Gu Yun enter, he immediately stood up, a fake yet attentive smile typical of old-fashioned British gentlemen.

"Director Gu, good evening. Thank you for agreeing to this private conversation." Holden extended his hand.

Gu Yun reached out, touched him briefly, and then calmly sat down: "Mr. Holden, you're too kind. Your side always talks about 'complex procedures' in public. I think that private communication can save time from reading prepared statements and be simple and direct."

They started by throwing in all the polite pleasantries.

Edmund's face froze instantly, and the pleasantries he had just prepared got stuck in his throat.

Holden, a shrewd old fox, sat down without batting an eye: "I fully understand the Chinese side's concerns. The recent online discourse has indeed made what was originally a purely academic issue somewhat...politicized and complicated."

"The matter is not complicated at all." Gu Yun leaned back on the leather sofa, crossed his legs, and looked cold. "Make the accounts public, verify the source, and return the stolen goods. Three steps, logic that even an elementary school student can understand. What's complicated is that your side wants to be respectable, but doesn't want to empty its pockets of the stolen goods."

The air in the private room instantly dropped to freezing point.

Holden's lips twitched. He clearly hadn't expected this young Chinese diplomat to be even more aggressive in private than on the steps, not even bothering to use the most basic "diplomatic language" to cover up his true feelings.

Edmund couldn't hold back any longer and bluntly interrupted, "Director Gu, you must understand that the British Museum has its own legal constraints and governance structure. Millions of items in its collection cannot be disposed of simply because of external pressure!"

Gu Yun turned to look at him, her gaze sharp as a knife: "I also hope you understand, Mr. Edmund. The Chinese have been hearing the phrase 'cannot be dealt with simply' for over a hundred years. From the Qing Dynasty to now, we're sick of it. Your procrastination needs to be cured."

Edmund was speechless.

Holden reached out and patted Edmund's arm, signaling him to shut up. Then, he took a document with a gold-embossed cover from his briefcase and pushed it in front of Gu Yun.

"Director Gu, we're not here tonight to argue about historical grievances. We're here to resolve the issue." Holden tried to make his voice sound sincere. "This is a highly constructive solution that the council has provided to you after urgent consultations."

Gu Yun didn't touch the document, but simply raised her chin: "Tell me about it."

Holden cleared his throat: "First, the British Museum is willing to open up a 'partial' catalog of the source archives of Dunhuang documents to the Chinese side within six months for academic reference."

Standing behind Gu Yun, Li Ang rolled his eyes, mentally ranting: *Partial? Six months? Waiting for the ink to dry on your fabricated claims, huh? The same old stalling tactic!*

"Secondly," Holden continued, "the museum is willing to fund a global digitization collaboration with China on Dunhuang documents, providing Chinese scholars with ultra-high-definition image data free of charge."

Hearing this, Li Ang almost laughed in anger. *They took our stuff, and now they're being so merciful as to send us a few JPEG photos, expecting us to kowtow and thank them? If Dean Ma Weihan were here, he'd smash a teacup in his face!*

"Third, and most importantly," Holden emphasized, as if making a huge concession, "we can consider a long-term 'loan' of a collection of Dunhuang documents to China, provided it complies with British law. The initial term is five years, and it can be renewed as needed upon expiration."

After speaking, Holden leaned forward slightly, his eyes fixed on Gu Yun, trying to catch a glimpse of attraction on his face.

After all, in the past few decades, countless countries have had to pay extremely high loan fees and insurance premiums just to bring their lost cultural relics back home for exhibition, even for just one month. He felt that this condition was sufficient for Gu Yun to return home and deliver on his promise.

However, Gu Yun didn't even lift his eyelids.

He stretched out his long, slender fingers, casually flipped open the document, glanced at it, and then pushed it back to the center of the table like a piece of waste paper.

"Are you done talking?" Gu Yun asked calmly.

Holden frowned slightly: "Director Gu, this is the greatest sincerity the council can offer at the moment."

Gu Yun didn't answer him, but turned her head to look at Li Ang behind her: "Li Ang, what do you think of this 'sincerity'?"

Li Ang was taken aback. In this kind of battle of the gods, Brother Gu actually asked him to turn on his microphone?

But having followed Gu Yun for so long, he was quick-witted and immediately understood.

"Brother Gu, I think this proposal, translated into plain language, is—" Li Ang pushed up his glasses and began his "simultaneous interpretation" in a clear and articulate voice, "I can show you the cover of the ledger, I can send you photos of the items, and I can rent you your ancestors' original works for five years. After five years, it will depend on the mood of the British Empire to decide whether to continue to grant you access. This ROI (Return on Investment) would make even Wall Street capitalists shed tears of inferiority."

"Bang!"

Edmund slammed his hand on the table, his face flushed red. "Sir! Your expression is extremely rude and completely contrary to diplomatic protocol!"

Gu Yun picked up the black tea on the table, took a small sip, and said unhurriedly, "Mr. Edmund, please don't get agitated. He's a young man, and he's speaking in internet slang, which is rather straightforward. If you prefer a more diplomatic version, I can repeat it for him—"

Gu Yun put down his teacup, his gaze instantly becoming extremely authoritative: "This proposal is absolutely unacceptable to the Chinese side. Not even the punctuation marks."

Holden's face finally darkened: "Director Gu, you should know that the return of cultural relics cannot be resolved overnight. The British Museum Act clearly stipulates that museums are prohibited from stripping their collections! 'Long-term loan' is the most realistic and feasible path we can find for you within the legal framework!"

"Mr. Holden, let me give you an example," Gu Yun said, looking at him with undisguised mockery, "If you lost a car, and twenty years later you found it in your neighbor's garage, and the neighbor told you, 'This car is mine now, but I can be kind enough to lend it to you for five years,' do you think that's realistically feasible?"

Holden was speechless for a long time.

Gu Yun continued to press on: "Don't try to disguise 'return' as 'loan for exhibition.' Loan for exhibition means that we legally acknowledge that you own these documents. Keep this humiliating word game to deceive yourselves."

Edmund gritted his teeth: "But the law is the law! Britain will not amend a domestic law that protects human civilization for the sake of a single country!"

Gu Yun laughed. His laugh was three parts mockery and seven parts coldness.

"Who told you this is a problem of a single country?"

Gu Yun snapped his fingers. Li Ang immediately pulled a thick document from his briefcase and slammed it on the table with a 'thud'.

The document's cover prominently displays the flags of twelve countries, including Greece, Egypt, Nigeria, and India. The title is: "Joint Initiative on Establishing a Legal Mechanism for the Compulsory Repatriation of Cultural Relics Lost in Transnational Wars."

Holden turned to the first page, his face gradually turning ashen.

Gu Yun's voice resonated like a booming bell in the private room: "The structure of the British Museum's collection dictates that this has never been a bilateral issue between China and Britain, but rather a problem of you facing a global mob of victimized nations. If Britain continues to use an old law enacted in 1963 as a shield..."

Gu Yun leaned forward slightly, his gaze fixed on Holden like a hawk's: "Then we will formally launch a global issue at the UN General Assembly and G20 Summit next month—'Does a country's domestic law have the permanent immunity to launder the spoils of colonial plunder?' At that time, Britain will become the only negative target in the global wave of decolonization."

Holden's hand froze in mid-air, trembling slightly.

That's a very harsh statement. If the issue truly escalates to the UN level, then the British Museum will no longer be the pride of Britain, but rather a pillar of shame for the British Empire, exposing its nakedness to the entire world!

Edmund's tone had become tinged with panic: "Director Gu, you are blatantly threatening British cultural institutions!"

“No, Mr. Edmund,” Gu Yun leaned back in his chair, his gaze disdainful, “I’m reminding you that times have changed. Before, you said ‘the law doesn’t allow it,’ and the victims could only swallow their anger. Now, everyone will scrutinize the law with a magnifying glass, asking: Who made this law? Whose interests does it protect? And whose crimes does it cover up?”

The private room was deathly silent. Only the ticking of the antique grandfather clock on the wall seemed to be a countdown to the British Museum's centennial of prestige.

Holden stared intently at the multinational joint initiative, as if it were a death knell. After a long silence, he asked in a hoarse voice, "What exactly are China's bottom-line demands?"

Gu Yun extended three slender fingers.

"First, within thirty days, all relevant archives from Dunhuang will be made publicly available without any blind spots. Chinese experts and a UNESCO working group will jointly conduct on-site verification."

"Second, the first batch of Dunhuang documents whose provenance has been confirmed to involve serious issues such as looting and smuggling will immediately enter into negotiations for their unconditional return. China will not accept any statements containing the words 'loan' or 'gift'."

"Third, the British Museum must issue a public statement acknowledging wrongdoing in the acquisition of historical artifacts and permanently cease using 'protecting the heritage of all mankind' as a public relations rhetoric to cover up the origins of stolen goods."

Upon hearing the third point, Edmund jumped up like a cat whose tail had been stepped on: "Impossible! Publicly admit to misconduct? The council will never approve it! This is like opening Pandora's box, triggering a global chain reaction of investigations! The British Museum will be emptied out!"

Gu Yun looked at the furious Edmund, his eyes devoid of any pity: "The chain of investigations didn't begin because you admitted it. It's because you robbed far too much back then."

Li Ang bit his lip hard, afraid he would burst out laughing. *Brother Gu's mouth is like poison, every move is deadly!*

Holden's face was extremely grim. He knew Gu Yun was telling the truth. The British Museum's biggest problem wasn't any particular artifact, but rather that its entire existence was built on the false narrative of "I safeguard the world." Once it admitted that something was of dubious provenance, this myth would completely collapse.

But if they didn't agree... Gu Yun's three hundred pages of top-secret files would slice them to pieces like a slow, agonizing death.

Holden took a deep breath, as if he had aged ten years in an instant: "We need time. The council needs to reconvene and vote."

Gu Yun stood up and looked down at them: "Twenty-four hours."

"This is not realistic!" Edmund cried out in despair.

"Your side set up that so-called 'review team' yesterday in less than two hours just to appease public opinion." Gu Yun slowly straightened his suit cuffs, his tone cold. "Whether it's realistic or not doesn't depend on procedures, but only on whether the pressure of a knife to one's throat is strong enough."

Holden, gripping the table for support, stood up, gritting his teeth: "What if we refuse?"

Gu Yun stopped, turned around, looked at the two British elites who were still making a death throes, and unleashed the ultimate nuclear bomb for the night.

"The first phase of the Independent Archives Reading Project will be released tomorrow morning at 10:00 AM. The first document is the minutes of a meeting held by your museum's senior management to discuss how to maintain a unified narrative and conceal the true origin of the Dunhuang documents."

Holden's pupils contracted sharply.

Gu Yun's lips curled into a devilish sneer as he continued, "The second item is a top-secret list. It records the details of how the British Museum secretly divided up some Dunhuang documents as 'gifts' and gave them to private British patrons to cover their tracks. The third item is an identification report on the traces of chemical alteration on the acquisition register."

"Are you crazy! You can't disclose the information of private sponsors!" Edmund's voice cracked with fear. "This will implicate countless nobles and celebrities in Britain!"

Gu Yun turned around, walked towards the door, and left without looking back, throwing out a single sentence.

"Don't worry, we will omit the names when we publish this. But I'm sure those British journalists on Fleet Street will be more than happy to help the public find out those names one by one."

The door was opened by a waiter, and Gu Yun strode into the corridor.

The temperature in the private room seemed to drop to freezing instantly. Only at this moment did Holden and Edmund fully realize that Gu Yun hadn't come tonight to negotiate a deal with them at all.

He came to deliver an ultimatum.

He is using this "spoils list" to tell the entire British high society: the price you offered is far from enough to buy back your dignity!

……

As I stepped out of the club, the rain in London intensified.

Li Ang opened a huge black umbrella and shielded Gu Yun's head, his voice trembling with excitement: "Brother Gu! That was awesome! It was fucking awesome! Didn't you see that old bastard Edmund's face just now? It was as green as leeks that had been left out for half a month! Especially when he heard the list of private sponsors, he almost had a stroke on the spot!"

Gu Yun sat in the back seat of the Hongqi sedan, his expression still calm: "That list is the real bomb that can shatter the illusion of the British Empire."

"What kind of juicy stuff is inside?" Li Ang quickly closed his umbrella and climbed into the passenger seat.

Looking out the car window at the London streetscape blurred by the rain, Gu Yun said coldly, "The British Museum has always touted itself as an academic institution. But that list proves that many British nobles and wealthy merchants funded Stein's looting. In return, the museum's top brass secretly shredded some of the Dunhuang documents and distributed them to these families like pork for their private collections. In other words, the British Museum is not only a den of thieves, but also a black market that launders money and distributes spoils for the powerful."

Li Ang gasped, "Holy crap... if this gets out, won't those pretentious British aristocratic circles explode? No wonder they were so eager to chat with you privately!"

"Therefore, they will definitely submit within 24 hours." Gu Yun closed his eyes and began to rest.

The car sped through the rainy night and soon entered the gates of the Chinese Embassy in the UK.

As soon as they got off the bus, cultural visitor Xu Jianping greeted them with a solemn expression.

"Director Gu, a top-secret telegram just arrived from home! Washington is making another big move!"

Gu Yun paused, his eyes instantly sharpening: "Speak."

Xu Jianping quickly followed Gu Yun, lowering his voice to report: "The US Treasury Department suddenly announced half an hour ago that it is preparing to add several core Chinese companies involved in the 'Asian Semiconductor Framework' to the preliminary list of the 'Entity List.' Even more disgusting, US Secretary of State Hearst has been pressuring London through informal channels, implying that if China continues to press the British Museum on the repatriation of cultural relics, the UK and the US will reassess or even freeze some Chinese banks' cooperative business in the City of London on the grounds of 'national security'!"

Upon hearing this, Li Ang was completely dumbfounded: "Seriously, are these Americans out of their minds? Artifact recovery and financial business—two completely unrelated things—how did they manage to connect them?!"

"This is the rogue logic of hegemonism," Xu Jianping said with a wry smile. "Washington couldn't suppress us on semiconductors, and now they're getting anxious seeing Britain being humiliated by Director Gu on the cultural front. They're trying to coordinate pressure, using the financial stick to force us to back down on the cultural relics issue, while also helping their British masters out of their predicament."

All eyes were on Gu Yun.

Faced with the cross-border pressure from the UK and the US, Gu Yun not only remained calm but also showed a hint of excitement in his eyes.

"Using financial services to threaten me?" Gu Yun sneered. "What a coincidence."

When Li Ang saw Gu Yun's expression, his heart skipped a beat. He was all too familiar with that micro-expression—it meant that someone else was about to be in big trouble.

Gu Yun strode into the embassy lobby, issuing a decisive order as he walked: "Counselor Xu, immediately contact the relevant departments of the Ministry of Finance and the People's Bank of China tonight."

Xu Jianping was taken aback: "Contact the domestic situation? What are we supposed to do?"

Gu Yun stopped and turned to look at them, saying slowly and deliberately, "Have the domestic authorities compile a 'Stability and Compliance Assessment Report on the Business Operations of British and American Financial Institutions in China' as quickly as possible."

Xu Jianping gasped, "Director Gu, do you mean...we should retaliate? Should this report be released immediately?"

"Don't release it yet." Gu Yun's lips curled into a shrewd smile, his eyes chillingly sharp. "We'll send a 'catalog' of the report to Washington and Downing Street first."

Li Ang was suddenly jolted and realized what was happening instantly.

He's an expert at this move!

The British Museum is driven crazy by its archival catalog!

Now they're going to use the business catalog to drive Wall Street and the City of London crazy!

Gu Yun turned around and looked out at the heavy London rain outside the door, as if she could see through the wind and rain and look directly at the White House on the other side of the ocean.

He casually handed Li Ang his rain-soaked coat, his tone exuding an air of domineering arrogance.

"Don't they like 'reassessments'?"

Gu Yun gave a cold, sharp smile.

"Then tell them to open all the ledgers. Everyone sit down and evaluate them together."