Shuzhen held the flashlight, watching her two brothers work together to push the heavy red lacquered catalpa wood coffin lid aside, revealing its full contents. Inside the enormous coffin, measuring four by six feet, seven feet three inches long, and sixty centimeters high, lay a third full of gold bars, while another two-thirds consisted of neatly stacked silver dollars and a small forty-centimeter square rosewood box.
Opening it revealed eight finely divided layers of small drawers, all filled with various types of jewelry. The least valuable items were pure gold bracelets, necklaces, and peace locks, with minimal quantities. The rest were mostly various kinds of jade, sheep fat jade, fire oil diamonds, and sapphires.
Shuzhen couldn’t estimate the specific value, but she clearly knew it was definitely worth more than the gold bars and silver dollars in the majority of the coffin combined. Her eldest brother told her that every item inside was carefully prepared by their parents as a dowry for their precious daughter.
Previously, others said their parents were unusual, favoring daughters over sons, which Shuzhen didn’t pay much mind to. She thought although her parents spoiled and loved her, they certainly relied on and counted on her two brothers. She thought she was merely slightly better off compared to other families, where daughters were seen as financial burdens, destined to be traded for dowries for their brothers.
Now seeing this hefty box of dowries, Shuzhen finally understood how much her parents truly loved their beloved daughter and how much her two brothers spoiled their only sister.
Also, she completely understood why those damned people were risking their lives to fight against Second Brother’s family, unwilling to rest until they destroyed him.
Because wealth moves the heart.
And to completely dominate the enormous wealth, they couldn’t allow the Liu family any chance of revival. Fortunately, with her rebirth, she knew the opportunity in advance. Otherwise, if even a hint of these gold and gemstones leaked out, it would likely become the source of unfounded accusations against the Liu family, leading to their downfall and ruin.
Previously, Shuzhen thought that after transferring the items, everything would be safely resolved. But after deducing the insane sins those people had committed, she felt that not digging a pit to make them reap what they sow would waste the heavens’ goodwill in allowing her rebirth.
She used the flashlight to illuminate for her brothers, letting them pack the contents of the coffin into the burlap sacks they brought. Both brothers got to work dividing three hundred gold bricks, each ten centimeters long, five centimeters wide, and a little more than one centimeter thick, each weighing two pounds, into four burlap sacks, while the silver dollars filled two sacks. It’s not that they didn’t want to load more and make fewer trips.
It’s just that gold, though small in volume, is not light in weight. Even with only seventy-five pieces per bag, it was still a full 150 pounds, wasn’t it?
If it weren’t for their years of hard work with the production team from spring to autumn, they wouldn’t have the stamina to carry this load. Fortunately, the other coffin contained only famous calligraphy and paintings, ancient booklets, and the like. There were a few porcelain and bronze antiquities too, but they were small and exquisite. Although their value was no less than gold, and possibly even greater, at least these items weren’t as heavy, right?
Finally, after sorting and classifying the items, the next thing to consider was the return journey and transportation. According to Liu Shouren and Liu Shouyi, the plan was to close the mechanism and return home together with their sister. Then Shuzhen could simply sleep while they handled the rest of the work. This idea was definitely for Shuzhen’s good, but having just acquired supernatural abilities, she was keen on restoring the marsh grasses that her brothers had removed before, smoothing everything over. With such an important task unfinished, how could Shuzhen agree to leave with them?
But no matter how much she wheedled this time, Liu Shouren and Liu Shouyi had no intention of compromising. It would be ridiculous to leave a delicate sister alone in the graveyard in the middle of the night. If anything happened, how could they live with it?
Reluctantly, after exhausting all their arguments, they still couldn’t convince their stubborn little sister to listen. She insisted that without someone guarding these treasures, she wouldn’t be able to rest assured. Graveyard, graveyard, so what? If anything did happen, it would be their Liu family ancestors eager to protect their descendant, with no room for those "what-if’s"! Better hurry and get things home; dawn would break soon if they dallied any longer!
The brothers had no choice but to repeatedly warn Shuzhen to stay safe down below as they quickly went and returned. In front of her brothers, Shuzhen of course nodded eagerly, being obedient as could be.
Once she felt assured her brothers were halfway home, she ascended the steps from below to a tombstone above. She touched a broken root with her hand, thinking for it to grow fast into tall wormwood. Watching the broken root sprout new shoots, then grow and spread branches and leaves like a fast-forwarded film, tall enough to reach her waist in a blink, Shuzhen finally felt relieved.
Hurriedly eradicating the grown wormwood, Shuzhen quickly returned underground, fearing her brothers would see she hadn’t followed instructions and forcibly take her back this time.
Sure enough, soon after she returned below, Liu Shouren and Liu Shouyi were back, bringing along the two flags Shuzhen requested, as well as proof of heroics from their uncle and third uncle. After wrapping the items in oilcloth and ensuring no damage, they put them back into the coffin along with the new uniforms their late father had prepared for their uncle and third uncle. Then, the brothers took axes, began hammering nails, creating a genuine burial mound out of what was once a treasure cache.
Yes, with a hidden lethal trap!
Let’s just hope Wu Xia wasn’t so cruel and venomous, or else she’d be failing to gain credit and losing half her life instead.
After seven or eight trips back and forth, they finally managed to bring everything home. The siblings then began working to restore the gravesite to its original state. Naturally, after removing the items, Liu Shouren adopted a new method. He ensured that other than forcibly digging, there was no other way to open the graves, thoroughly concealing the steps leading from the burial chamber to the surface, and attempted to level and compact the excavated soil as much as possible, striving to make it appear as if no ground had been disturbed.
As for the outcome, Liu Shouren and his brother only hoped that in the next ten days or half a month, those smart yet idle people wouldn’t snoop around, giving the wormwood between the tombstones time to take root and regrow.
The worried brothers didn’t notice their little sister squatting beside their uncle’s gravestone, gently stroking the just-filled ground. In the blink of an eye, their already wide eyes almost popped out. They watched as a small patch of wormwood and weeds sprouted and grew densely over the spot that had been black moments ago.