The Xia family was a family of soldiers and politicians after all. It was not a small matter to be accused of hiding restricted items. If the team did not manage to dig up anything and the Xia family asked about who had slandered them, Section Chief Chu would not be able to bear the consequences.
Their digging had already revealed a portion of the thick roots of the cherry tree. They all dug carefully and slowly, afraid that they would break any of the roots.
The Xia family members stared at them intently. If they damaged even one of the roots, no one would be allowed to leave today!
Xia Zhe looked at the tree and recalled what his grandmother had said previously. Back then, he was still too young to understand what she meant. When his grandmother was still alive, Xia Zhe had grown up by his grandparents’ side. At that time, Xia Mao and Xu Lan did not have the time to take care of Xia Zhe. One day, Wu Min held Xia Zhe’s hand and came to this cherry tree, telling him to treat this tree well.
She told him that if this tree could not be saved or needed to be dug out some day, he would have to do it himself. No one else was allowed to do it.
At that time, he only thought that it was because this tree was planted by his grandparents so it had great sentimental value for them. Now that he thought about it carefully, there might be another reason behind her instruction.
After digging for three to four meters under the tree, they still found nothing. If they continued digging, they might reach the groundwater. If that happened, the water would surge up and flood the entire house. Besides, what normal person would dig for three to four meters to hide something? How long would it take for a person to dig so deep? Even if they wanted to hide something, they would not hide it so deep down.
Xia Mao felt relieved when he saw that there was nothing buried here. Xia Zhe did not know how many treasure chests there were within the yard, so he just pretended that there was nothing under the tree.
Section Chief Chu’s subordinates inspected another spot and sent someone to dig there. Xia Zhe looked at the well in confusion. Logically speaking, these people should have found something after so long. He and Qiao Mei had just buried it two days ago, so he did not understand why there was nothing discovered yet.
Then what should I say when they found it and brought it up? Should I say that it was something left behind by my ancestors hundreds of years ago? However, other than the gold and treasure items, there were also silver dollars from recent years inside.
Then who should I say it belonged to…
Let’s just say that it belonged to the previous owner of the house, the Jiang family! This house had gone through eight owners before it finally fell into the hands of the Xia family. Most of the Jiang family members had died early and there was not a single one left by now. There was no choice but to let them take the blame.
Just as Xia Zhe was thinking about how to get out of this situation, he heard someone shouting from behind, “Oh no! We’ve dug up underground water!”
The people digging at the cherry tree shouted out. The Xia family members all looked over. At this moment, the diggers had already climbed out of the pit. The water quickly filled the entire pit and started to overflow.
As more and more underground water gushed out, it eventually formed a fountain. The amount of water gushing out was even greater than the rain last night. In just a few minutes, it had flooded the entire yard and completely filled up the few pits that were dug earlier.
After what happened, there was no way to dig anymore. Section Chief Chu looked at the yard full of water and felt at a loss. There was definitely no way to continue digging today with the whole place being so flooded. If they were to come back another day, the outcome would probably be the same. Given that they did not manage to find anything even after digging up the groundwater, people would say that they had wronged the Xia family.
The Xia family was not one to be bullied. Someone would have to pay for today’s losses.
“Dig, continue digging. I want to see what else you can dig up. You have flooded the house and yet you still haven’t found anything. If you can’t dig anything out today, don’t even think about leaving!” Xia Mao roared.
Section Chief Chu stood awkwardly beside Xia Mao and smiled apologetically. He did not know what to say and could only bite the bullet and asked his subordinates to continue digging.
They had no choice but to dig randomly in the courtyard. When they reached a depth that was waist deep, they were not able to dig anymore. If they jumped in and continued digging, the water would soon reach their heads. None of them dared to jump in, but none of them dared to stop either, so they could only dig around silently.
“What are you doing!” A shout came from outside the door.
Section Chief Chu knew that his mission had failed and he would not be able to keep his position. Everything was ruined!