Chapter 266 There's Another Way

After leaving the waiting hall, I found a roadside stall, ordered a bowl of noodles, and also stuffed three large steamed buns into my pocket.

She had money and tickets, but she dared not spend them recklessly.

We need to save this money so that Zhou Haiwei will dote on her wholeheartedly when we get back.

Zhou Shufen and Zhou Yujie have been extremely busy lately, keeping an eye on the vegetables and fruits in the greenhouse every day and moving them out.

Before dawn, they put on their coats and went into the fields.

The truck was already parked at the door as soon as the sun rose.

With that mysterious space, the Zhou family's foundation grew rapidly.

After she started growing vegetables in greenhouses, the money she earned each time she sold vegetables was several times more than before.

Zhou Yujie's company has all the necessary permits and is completely legitimate.

The greenhouse has undergone several rounds of quality inspections, and no problems can be found.

July came as soon as it was supposed to.

Zhou Shufen went back to Yuxin.

Cheng Jiaqi is about to take the college entrance examination.

She temporarily entrusted the greenhouse to Zhou Yujie and hurriedly packed her bags to return to her hometown.

The college entrance examination is a major event in a child's life, and she cannot miss it.

She had to hurry back to Yuxin to be with her child during the exam.

I haven't been sleeping well lately, and I often wake up in the middle of the night in a nightmare, dreaming that Cheng Jiaqi has been tricked and taken away.

Zhou Hairong is a persistent ghost; if he tries to get close to Jiaqi again under the guise of "family ties," the consequences will be unimaginable.

Back in Yuxin, Zhou Shufen continued to haul truckloads of goods back as usual.

Kang Liangwen called and said that many vendors in the surrounding area were rushing to her shop to buy goods, which they then transported to remote mountain villages to sell.

"Sister-in-law! There were five or six people squatting at the door waiting to open it before dawn this morning!"

People from Lianyang City and Kang County came, and businessmen from neighboring provinces also visited every few days.

A boss from Hebei even drove two hours specifically to talk to her about cooperation.

They walked around the store and saw that the prices of the goods on the shelves were much lower than those in the market, and they were immediately tempted.

Everyone says that Zhou's department store has good quality goods, fair prices, and a wide variety of products; you can find almost anything you want there.

Every time I get goods from her, they sell out in two days, and I can't even find the best ones left over.

Some people even filmed it and posted it online with the title:

Why is there a queue at this small shop in the county town every day?

Zhou Shufen frowned deeply as she watched this scene.

While a supply shortage is desirable, it also means increasing pressure.

Zhou Shufen gritted her teeth and stockpiled nearly one million yuan worth of goods in one go.

But then a problem arose.

With so much cargo, how are we going to transport it back?

On the day she returned to Yuxin, she called Kang Liangwen to that dilapidated old house on the outskirts of the city alone.

The house was leaning precariously, and half of the roof had collapsed.

No one wants to go near it normally, saying it's haunted.

But Zhou Shufen chose this place because it was secluded enough that she wouldn't be overheard talking.

This time, they can't be brought back by handcarts alone.

A single cart can carry a maximum of five or six hundred pounds, so this million-pound shipment would require at least dozens of cartloads.

Not to mention the trouble of manpower allocation, the roadside checks alone would be impossible to pass.

She had to find a way to transport it discreetly and return safely.

Kang Liangwen had been working at the store for almost a year, and he had long harbored doubts.

Why do you never charge shipping fees for the goods in your store?

He is an honest person, hardworking, and not stupid.

Every day, while moving goods and keeping accounts, I would observe Zhou Shufen's incoming and outgoing goods and always felt that some things didn't add up.

Despite having low purchase prices, high selling prices, and astonishing profits, "transportation costs" are never listed on the books.

The Zhou family isn't a charity.

They're in business, and they're shrewd to the core.

Boss Zhou never suffers a loss; he makes sure to calculate every single penny.

Where did the shipping fee go?

Could it be...?

Someone gave it away for free?

Or is there something else going on behind this?

His heart skipped a beat as he recalled the words his grandfather had spoken under the kerosene lamp when he was a child.

The older generation has passed down the story that the Zhou family has a hidden treasure. Generations have talked about it, but no one has ever seen it.

The less people have seen it, the more mysterious it seems.

But after Zhou Shufen returned, she spoke these words more and more loudly.

Some say it's a gold bracelet that can connect you to spirits and conjure things when worn.

With just a thought, you can have whatever you want.

The prerequisites are that one must be of the Zhou family bloodline and also have a special connection.

But no one in the Zhou family could activate it.

It is said that it is because the bloodline is not pure enough, or the heart is not sincere.

Several generations have tried, but none have succeeded.

On the contrary, some people developed high fevers and had nightmares after wearing them, and were so frightened that they quickly took them off and put them in the ancestral hall.

From then on, no one dared to touch it easily.

Whoever gets it wears it, and when they die, it must be returned to their clan.

This is a rule, written in the family genealogy.

Over the years, the bracelet has either been lost or confiscated.

Zhou Shufen's grandfather knelt on the ground, without uttering a sound.

By then, the bracelet had long been hidden in a crack in the wall and sealed with mud, so no outsiders knew about it.

Looking at it now, the silver bracelet on Zhou Shufen's wrist is incredibly shiny.

It's probably the one!

Kang Liangwen's heart skipped a beat.

But he held back, staring intently at the wrist without blinking.

The legend actually exists?

Was he dreaming?

Zhou Shufen stood there, the bracelet on her wrist resting quietly against her skin.

But he knew that once that thing woke up, it would cause a complete upheaval.

Zhou Shufen's heart tightened.

Why isn't this guy scared? Instead, he's as excited as if it's Chinese New Year.

This reaction is highly unusual.

She couldn't help but become wary.

"Liangwen, how many years has your family been working for my father?"

She didn't mention the bracelet, but instead probed first.

"Boss Zhou, my great-grandfather, used to carry bags and move goods for Zhou's business."

"My grandfather said that the contract was a death contract, meaning that you would be a member of the Zhou family in life and in death."

“Our Kang family moved from Dong Province to Hu Province along with the Zhou family, and we have never separated.”

That year, there was a severe drought, and the Zhou family moved south as a whole. The Kang family, consisting of three hundred people, followed behind, crossing mountains and valleys, and no one strayed from the group.

When they arrived in Hubei Province, the Zhou family opened a shop, and the Kang family became their employees.

When the Zhou family built their house, the Kang family helped with the bricks and mortar.

Over several generations, the two surnames have become inextricably linked by blood, as close as family.

The Zhou family and the Kang family are already tied together?

Zhou Shufen's heart skipped a beat.

She had initially thought the Kang family were just ordinary employees, but from what she heard, they seemed to be a family of loyal servants for generations.

The bracelet...

Could it be that the Kang family was also aware of this?

Why is your family so devoted to you?

Zhou Shufen asked softly.

Her fingers quietly gripped the edge of the bracelet.

She traveled back from the 21st century and witnessed far too much scheming and betrayal.

But the man before me had a sincere heart shining in his eyes.

"I really don't know about this."

Kang Liangwen scratched his head.

"But before my father passed away, lying on his hospital bed, he held my hand tightly and said to me, word by word, 'Our Kang family is where we are today because the Zhou family lent us a helping hand back then. This kindness must not be forgotten; it must be remembered for generations to come.'"

"Mr. Zhou, please rest assured, I will never divulge even a single word about the Zhou family."

"oh?"

Zhou Shufen tilted her head slightly.

"So, what secrets does the Zhou family have that they're hiding? That piques my curiosity."

Kang Liangwen opened his mouth to answer, but before he could speak, his heart suddenly tightened.

He suddenly remembered that on the night his father died, he had gripped his wrist tightly.

"This matter must not be mentioned even in front of the Zhou family, understand? Understand..."

He felt a chill run down his spine and quickly swallowed back the words that were about to come out.