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Some older children quit after a couple of days; some younger children, more playful, also quit. The parents then beat them with sticks, while the children, quick-witted as ever, retort, "You can't read, why should I learn?"

He couldn't read, but he still got married and had children!

The adults couldn't refute this statement, so they could only swallow their pride and continue studying to set a good example for the children.

Thanks to Secretary Qi's vigorous promotion, Qijia Village's literacy campaign has taken the lead over other villages.

To encourage everyone, Secretary Qi also used the surplus funds in the village branch to set up awards, with prizes for those who performed well.

There is a kettle, a washbasin, toothpaste, etc.

Wang Lei, Zhang Qingshan, and even Huang Jingli all became much closer to the villagers because of their involvement in literacy work.

He Jingyu and Wang Shuping, along with more than twenty apprentices, spent over ten days propagating the plants from cuttings of branches and planting them in the plastic greenhouse. Thanks to last year's experience, even though the number of workers was several times greater this year, they were able to handle the task with ease.

Everything in Qijia Village is on track.

That night, Qian Shikun and Sun Shihao were watching over the peach orchard.

It was a bit cold inside, so the two lit a fire and started warming themselves by the fire, talking about things in the village.

At that moment, Qian Shikun heard a noise outside.

"Shh!" Qian Shikun shushed Sun Sihao, signaling him to be quiet.

Sun Sihao fell silent and they both leaned against the window.

There was a crack in the window, and Qian Shikun and Sun Sihao looked out through it.

It was pitch black outside, and you couldn't see anything, but you could hear clanging and tinkling sounds.

The sound was clearly made by a hammer striking a stone; it was man-made.

"Old Qian, should we go out?" Sun Sihao was scared. These people had tools. If they went out and fought them head-on, their chances of survival would be slim!

Qian Shikun listened carefully and said, "There are several people outside. We can't beat them, so we can't go out. Quickly, hurry up, pretend to be asleep."

Qian Shikun heard footsteps approaching.

Sun Sihao and Qian Shikun quickly lay down on the wooden bed and covered themselves with blankets.

A moment later, two people whispered by the window: "Brother, should we kill them?"

The other person pondered for a moment and said, "No, we may not be able to dig the tunnel well today. If we kill them, someone will come up tomorrow and will probably find us."

"What do we do, brother?" the man asked anxiously. "What if they wake up...?"

"Didn't you bring sleeping pills?" the man said softly. "Blow one into their mouths so they can sleep better."

"I brought it, I brought it," the man said, and then there was a crackling sound of a match being lit, and a puff of smoke was blown into the wooden house.

Inside, Qian Shikun and Sun Sihao dared not move, nor did they want to.

Because those people were just looking for something, not trying to kill anyone, they alerted the villagers down the mountain.

A short while later, Qian Shikun and Sun Shihao lost consciousness.

After administering the sleeping pills, the group continued digging a tunnel not far from the peach orchard.

The next morning, when He Jingyu arrived, Qian Shikun and Sun Sihao were still asleep.

"Uncle Qian, Brother Sun, wake up!" He Jingyu asked in surprise. Logically speaking, the two of them shouldn't have been sleeping until now!

After a while, Qian Shikun and Sun Sihao rubbed their eyes and finally woke up.

"What's wrong with you all? You're sleeping so soundly last night?" He Jingyu laughed. "At this rate, even if someone stole our peach trees, you wouldn't hear it!"

Upon hearing this, Qian Shikun remembered what had happened the night before!

"Jingyu, we didn't sleep so soundly on purpose. Someone blew sleeping pills into the room last night," Qian Shikun said, still feeling terrified when he thought about it.

"What happened?" He Jingyu was shocked. He turned to look at the peach orchard. No peach trees were missing, and the greenhouse was not damaged!

Sun Sihao said, "Yesterday we were chatting by the fire when we heard noises outside, so we looked out the window..."

Sun Sihao and Qian Shikun recounted the whole story.

He Jingyu frowned and said, "Come on, come with me over there and see why those people are digging a hole in the middle of the night!"

"Could there be treasure?" Sun Sihao asked excitedly. Otherwise, who would be so bored as to come halfway up the mountain to dig a hole in this freezing weather?

Qian Shikun looked around and said mysteriously, "There's probably no treasure, but there might be an ancient tomb."

Many emperors and generals of the past liked to carve tombs into mountains, so there might be an ancient tomb in this mountain!

He Jingyu, upon hearing this, also felt that it was highly likely, and together they went to the place where the sound had come from yesterday.

The surrounding area was covered with dense, withered grass, which had been used as camouflage. If you didn't look closely, you wouldn't be able to see that there was a hole about 50 centimeters deep underneath the withered grass.

Although He Jingyu was not an archaeological expert, he could tell at a glance that it was a tomb raider's hole!

"A tomb raider's hole?" Qian Shikun exclaimed in surprise, "It really is an ancient tomb!"

“Yes,” He Jingyu said. “It’s not safe here. Let’s go down quickly and tell Secretary Qi to report it to the cultural relics department.”

"Then... will we still be guarding this place at night?" Qian Shikun asked. "Tomb raiders and robbers are no different; they almost always have people on their hands."

He Jingyu thought for a moment and said, "You don't need to come over tonight."

“Those tomb raiders will definitely become suspicious when they see that no one is in our wooden house,” Sun Sihao said. “If they are desperate and blow this place up with gunpowder, our Peach Garden will be in even greater danger.”

"Let's talk to Secretary Qi first," He Jingyu said. Now is not the time to play the hero.

The three of them went down the mountain and headed straight for the village branch.

Secretary Qi had just arrived at the village branch when he saw He Jingyu approaching with Qian Shikun and Sun Sihao. His expression turned grave, and his heart skipped a beat. He cautiously asked, "Has someone come to sabotage the peach orchard?"

“No!” He Jingyu shook his head. “We’re not here for Peach Garden, we’re here to rob tombs.”

"Tomb raiding?" Secretary Qi's heart, which had just been at ease, jumped again. "Did I hear that right? Tomb raiding?"

“Yes, you haven’t heard? It’s tomb raiding,” He Jingyu said. “We found a well-concealed tomb raiding hole not far from Taoyuan. Yesterday, Brother Qian and Brother Sun were on night duty and heard those people making a lot of noise. They also blew sleeping pills into the wooden house. They must be up to no good.”

“But there’s no treasure in our Qi Family Village, nor any royal tombs!” Qi Shuliang said. “Our ancestors have lived here for hundreds of years, and we really don’t know!”

“You said it yourself, it’s several hundred years old. Maybe this tomb is hundreds or even thousands of years old?” He Jingyu said. “Regardless of whether it’s tomb raiding or not, it’s true that someone has ulterior motives. The most important thing now is to report it immediately. Otherwise, the loss will not only be the things in the ancient tomb behind, but also our Peach Garden!”

(To be continued.)