Chapter 68

There was no sign of them, but who knew they would sneak out in the middle of the night and go to that old house, carrying shovels!

"A shovel?" An Yi asked as he closed the door. "What are you going to do with this thing in the middle of the night?"

"Who knows? Anyway, it doesn't seem like they're up to any good."

An Xin waved his hand, opened his collar, and fanned himself with his clothes. "I rushed over to tell you, but the Guesthouse said you weren't there. I figured if you weren't at the Guesthouse, you might be here with An Yi, so I came right away. Let me tell you, ten yuan a day isn't enough. This trip has exhausted me."

"Brother!" An Yi, somewhat annoyed.

Gu Jinshui waved his hand. "It's alright, brother is right. If it weren't for helping us, you could be sleeping at home. Why are you out here working so hard? I'll give you extra money, five yuan more, okay?"

He took out some money and handed it to An Xin.

An Xin glanced at An Yi and said, "This was given to me by someone else, I didn't force it."

An Yi was utterly humiliated. Her lips twitched for a moment, then she could only turn her head away and pretend she hadn't seen anything.

Gu Jinshui didn't care about the money. He asked, "What about what happened before? What else did you see before you came here?"

"What do you see?"

An Xin was taken aback, scratched his head, and then suddenly seemed to remember something, slapping his thigh and saying, "Oh, you were right! When I came over, I saw two people heading towards that old house, towards the main gate. Those two looked like that Tom."

"Tom and George?"

He Fei leaned forward, his eyes filled with surprise.

An Xin clapped his hands. "That's right, that's the name. Damn it, why does a perfectly good China person have to give themselves a foreign name? Don't think I, Old An, am greedy for money. I wouldn't take this fake foreigner's money even if it were given to me for free."

He Fei's lips twitched. "You wish."

They're too busy scamming people to give you money.

"That's really strange, why are both groups heading towards that old house?"

An Yi said, puzzled, "Speaking of which, that swindler is quite strange. It's understandable that he swindles antiques, but why would he swindle an old house? He's offended the Lin Family to death here, do you think he would dare to come back and live here?"

"Song Jianshe and the others went there with shovels. Don't you think they were trying to dig something out of the old house?" Gu Jinshui tapped his fingers on the table, speaking thoughtfully.

Most of the people here are in the antique business.

Although no one has ever actually dug up graves or robbed tombs, such things are often heard of.

He Fei immediately realized, "That house wasn't originally owned by a big capitalist, you mean they knew there was treasure inside?!"

"Otherwise, why would they bring shovels?"

Gu Jinshui countered with a question.

"Oh dear, if there's treasure here, wouldn't that be a windfall for those bastards!"

He Fei immediately jumped up from his chair. A big capitalist! He's so rich! This area of Xi'an used to be his territory. His old house was built a hundred times more magnificent than many of the houses we have now. The things he hid there must be worth a lot of money.

"Are we going there?"

An Yi asked in surprise.

Gu Jinshui looked at him. "Why aren't you going? Are you just going to let them get away with it for nothing? And that Tom, he traded that house with cash to us. The Lin Family's losses have been recovered, but He Fei and I haven't suffered any losses yet."

"Yes, we haven't even recovered our losses yet!"

He Fei had almost forgotten about this; he had been so blinded by the gifts from the Lin Family that he had forgotten he was still losing money.

In the darkness of night.

It was pitch black. Song Jianshe held a flashlight in his hand, his eyes darting around, seemingly searching for something.

"Did you find it?" Liang Renyi slapped his arm, looked at his hands, which were covered in blood. "Damn it, the mosquitoes here are more venomous than snakes. They bit me all night."

Song Jianshe said impatiently, "What's the rush? I'm anxious too. If you can do it, you do it."

He handed the flashlight to Liang Renyi.

Liang Renyi retorted, his neck stiff, "If I knew where it was, I would have found it long ago. I wouldn't need you."

"Ha, anyone can say that. If I knew where it was, I would have taken it out long ago. Why would I be sharing it with you?"

After searching for a long time, Song Jianshe was also in a bad mood and retorted without any politeness.

"Fine, you finally told the truth, didn't you? You just don't want to share with us." Liang Renyi was speechless after being rebuked, so he jumped up and pointed at Song Jianshe.

Seeing that the two were about to start arguing again, Guo Pu lowered his voice and whispered, "What's all the arguing about? Don't forget, if we don't join forces, neither of us will get these things tonight. We're unfamiliar with this place, and if we start fighting amongst ourselves, we might as well just go back to Beijing."

"That old gentleman is absolutely right."

As soon as Guo Pu finished speaking, a deep, steady male voice came from behind him.

Guo Pu and the others' expressions changed instantly. They exchanged glances, and Song Jianshe immediately shone his flashlight toward the source of the sound, shouting, "Who goes there?!"

The lights illuminated Tom and George.

George held a shovel, facing Song Jianshe and his group. Tom smiled and nodded to Liang Renyi, "My friend, please put down that shovel, or my friend's weapon won't be so discreet."

Liang Renyi cursed inwardly.

He stared at the gun, cold sweat beading on his forehead. He quickly put the shovel down. "I... I was just holding it, I didn't mean anything by it."

"Hehe."

Tom responded with a smile, as if he had been amused by Liang Renyi. His smile was radiant, and the wrinkles at the corners of his eyes smoothed out. "Three friends, you showing up at my house in the middle of the night with shovels doesn't seem very friendly. If this were where I'm from, I could just shoot you dead with a gun and not even have to take responsibility."

The three of them, Song Jianshe and Song Jianshe, were just fighting amongst themselves, but now, facing the gun barrel, they were trembling like quails. They couldn't even speak properly, let alone argue.

Guo Pu raised his hands, "Mr. Tang, we didn't mean anything by it, it's a misunderstanding, we'll be leaving now."

After he finished speaking, he gave Liang Renyi and the others a look, then turned to leave.

"Bang!"

The bullet pierced the ground and grazed Guo Pu's shoes.

Guo Pu froze on the spot, sweat dripping down his face, his pupils contracted, and the muscles at the corners of his mouth twitched.

"Who said you could leave?"

Tom shook his head. "You're my good friends, so since you're here, don't leave. Didn't you bring shovels? Dig."

"Dig... dig for what?" Liang Renyi asked, his lips trembling. He didn't dare to move, afraid that the gun would be pointed at his head the next second.

"Dig for gold, dig for jewelry and antiques!"

A greedy glint appeared in Tom's eyes.

A sinister smile spread across his face. "You don't actually think I don't know what you're up to, do you?"

Liang Renyi and the others' expressions changed instantly.

Just as Song Jianshe was about to speak, he saw the gun pointed at him, and he swallowed back the words of protest that were on the tip of his tongue.

In the dead of night.

In the backyard of the old house, next to the pavilion, Song Jianshe and two others were digging the ground with shovels in hand, using only the faint light of their flashlights.

The three men kept exchanging glances as they dug.

Liang Renyi: What do we do now? Are we really going to help them with the work? Will they give us what we dig out?

Song Jianshe's forehead veins were bulging. "Are you dreaming? They're armed; do you think they'd give you any?"

Liang Renyi couldn't help but curse.

"Ahem, what are you doing? Why are you giving me these looks instead of working? Don't you want to live anymore?"

Tom sat in the pavilion, even lighting a cigarette, leisurely puffing out smoke as he watched Liang Renyi and the others work.

"No, no, I wouldn't dare."

Song Jianshe hurriedly said, and the three of them quickly lowered their heads and got back to work, no longer daring to make any more small movements.

That old man has such sharp eyes, I don't know how they're formed.

Tom looked around at the pavilion, a hint of excitement in his eyes.

After all these years, he had finally returned to this place. Tom had told He Fei and the others that this was his hometown, and that was partly true. Tom had indeed lived in this house before, but he was not the owner of the house.

He used to be a male servant. He started working in this house when he was thirteen or fourteen years old. Before the liberation, the capitalists of this house got wind of something amiss and packed their things overnight to flee to that small island. However, they had too many things, so they specially packed several valuables and gold and silver items and hid them in a box, which they buried in the old house, thinking that if their descendants returned one day, they could use those things to make a comeback.

Tom witnessed this by chance. Fearing that his master would kill him, he didn't dare utter a sound when he fled with his master. It wasn't until decades later, when he thought of the things in the capitalist's old house, that he finally made his way back to the country.

Tom's main purpose in returning was to retrieve the items from the old house, but he unexpectedly discovered how easily these people in China were deceived.

As long as he claimed to be Overseas Chinese and showed some of his wealth, everyone treated him with utmost respect wherever he went. Under these circumstances, Tom hatched a crooked plan to use counterfeit US dollars to buy things in China.

The Lin Family, however, just happened to come into his view.

Ding-ding-dong.

The shovel soon struck something hard, making a crisp knocking sound.

"Found it!" Liang Renyi exclaimed excitedly, but then realized that the item no longer belonged to them.

His face immediately showed disappointment and annoyance.

Tom immediately climbed down from the pavilion, walked to the side, and saw the protruding copper edge. He quickly said, "Quick, get it out! That's what it is!"

One box after another was pulled out.

Tom rushed forward impatiently, smashed the lock with his cane, and the box burst open with a bang, revealing its glittering jewels.

Strings of Pearl, exquisite gold hairpins and jade rings, gold ingots, and scrolls of calligraphy and paintings—it's easy to imagine that these works must be by famous artists, or even have a great provenance, otherwise they would never be so treasured.

Everyone gasped.

Wow, it's so lively here?

From the top of the wall, Gu Jinshui peeked out and greeted everyone with a grin, "Looks like I've arrived at just the right time! Oh, some good stuff!"

Gu Jinshui's voice startled everyone.

Tom immediately closed the box, nodded at George, and George immediately pointed the gun at Gu Jinshui.

"Get down!" Tom said.

Gu Jinshui raised his hands and laughed, "Don't be nervous, I'm just here to say hello, I mean no harm. But is it really okay for you guys to be so arrogant with your weapons?"

"Whether it's good or bad is none of your business. Young comrade, you'd better get down here, lest we fall out and things don't look good."

Tom had a smile on his face, but his eyes were deep and unfathomable.

Song Jianshe said to Gu Jinshui with schadenfreude, "Yeah, don't do anything reckless, those bullets don't have eyes."

"I..." Gu Jinshui had barely opened his mouth when he made a gesture of pricking up his ears to listen.

Song Jianshe and the others also heard footsteps coming from ahead, as if some people had run in. Tom's expression changed slightly, and he snatched the gun from George's hand, "You brought people with you?"

"You're mistaken. I didn't bring it; my friend called the police."

Gu Jinshui smiled and jumped down from the wall with swift and decisive movements. He said, "The police came quickly. If you don't put this away soon, you won't be able to explain yourself."

"What, the police?"

Liang Renyi threw down his shovel, his face covered in black and red grime and dirt. "Gu Jinshui, are you crazy? You actually had someone call the police!"

"Police, don't move!"

With a shout, several flashlight beams suddenly swept towards them.

Tom quickly hid the gun in his pocket. He turned around and his heart skipped a beat. Seven or eight heavily armed policemen entered in a line. The one leading them was a middle-aged man with a purplish-red face, black hair, and bright eyes. The first thing he noticed when he came in was the box on the ground.

"Director Zhou, this is the treasure hidden in this old house."

Ignoring the winks from Song Jianshe and the others, Gu Jinshui walked straight forward and opened the box.

The dazzling jewelry, once on display, refracted a kaleidoscope of light under the flashlight beam.

Director Zhou stepped forward, examined the jewelry, and asked, "Is there only one box?"

"This is still..."