Chapter 286 Found

"Is your friend reliable? Why are you asking this if I didn't ask you?"

Five hundred thousand taels of silver is too frightening; it's easy to arouse suspicion.

"Don't worry, Miss Lu, we're on the same side. Before I was demoted..."

"So, even you, sir, were demoted?" Lu Qingqing asked in surprise.

Why bring up something you shouldn't talk about!

"I didn't do anything wrong. Someone framed me. If it weren't for you, young master, I would have died unjustly!"

So it turns out he was also saved by Ji Ruyan, no wonder he's so loyal.

The kindness shown in the past has ultimately been rewarded.

fine.

"Don't worry, Miss Lu, this matter will not be leaked. Let's hurry up the mountain!"

Magistrate Xu could no longer contain himself; hundreds of thousands of taels of silver!

They went to that mountain village again.

Lu Qingqing told the village chief that the village had been razed to the ground, which was actually a lie, but when she came up there, it didn't seem any different.

The walls were in ruins, the stone house was broken on the east and west sides, even the cracks in the walls had been searched.

Everyone first arrived at the big tree in the center of the village. The ancient tree, which is thousands of years old, is very spectacular. Its six large branches twist and turn upwards like dragons and snakes, reaching a height of nearly 20 meters. It is a single tree that forms a forest.

As an evergreen tree species, it should not have lost its leaves, but due to the cold winter here, many leaves have fallen. However, the dense trunk and branches, like a spider web, can still block out the sun.

The grayish-brown bark, with its deep, cracked grooves, speaks of its long life and the hardships it has endured.

Ancient people believed that these thousand-year-old trees, which gather the essence and energy of heaven and earth, are spiritual. Mountain people call them sacred trees, and it is quite common to hold ceremonies here.

Such a tree, of course, could not be cut down; they could only peer inside by torchlight along the crack.

"Miss Lu, sir, there really is something inside!"

It was just dark and I couldn't see what it was.

The young guard who had chatted with Lu Qingqing that day reached out to grab it, but suddenly cried out and hurriedly pulled his arm back, his hand trembling as if he had suffered a stroke.

Lu Qingqing noticed a distinct red dot on the back of his hand, and soon the area around the dot swelled up.

"I got stung by a scorpion! Go fetch water quickly!"

Lu Qingqing quickly took out silver needles to stop the poison from spreading.

In just a short while, the little guard's hand had swollen up like a steamed bun.

He was in so much pain that he broke out in a cold sweat.

He shouted, "Father, Father..."

Lu Qingqing: "..."

Could this scorpion be a rare species with potent venom that has caused hallucinations?

“I’m not your father, I’m Lu Qingqing. Just bear with it, I’ll remove the poisonous thorns and drain the toxic blood.”

There was laughter nearby.

Lu Qingqing looked up and saw her companion who was often with the little guard.

Seeing that both Lu Qingqing and Magistrate Xu were looking at him coldly, his companion straightened his attitude and said nervously, "Miss Lu, he didn't call you father. It's just that we have a saying in our area that if you get stung by a scorpion, you should call him father so that it won't hurt anymore."

The young guard grinned and said, "Yes, yes, Miss Lu."

Lu Qingqing and Magistrate Xu were both speechless.

"Where are you from?" Magistrate Xu asked.

"It's Hanshan County, which isn't far from the northern border."

"Oh, Hanshan County's father is quite capable, even more so than the doctor."

"..."

Magistrate Xu is quite eloquent.

Lu Qingqing cut her skin to force out the poisonous thorns and blood, washed the wound several times with water, applied some medicine, and waited for the swelling to subside naturally, which would take at least half an hour.

Now we can't just reach in randomly. Everyone put on gloves, covered their hands tightly, and used tree branches to finally pull everything out.

It was indeed a pile of oxidized, blackened silver ingots, cut into pieces of varying sizes.

Magistrate Xu found the official seal in some of the subordinates.

In addition, there were some red cloths with prayers written on them.

It was indeed thrown in as a sacrifice.

These silver ingots totaled only about three or four hundred taels.

Magistrate Xu was very angry.

Who do you think you can fool with this little bit of money?

"Keep searching! Send some people to climb the trees and see if there are any more holes up there!"

Several guards quickly climbed up the tree.

Lu Qingqing went to check out the stone house.

The stones in the stone house are of different sizes and are mixed with yellow clay.

Lu Qingqing picked it up and weighed it in her hand, then smashed it open on both sides, but found nothing suspicious inside.

When Magistrate Xu couldn't find it in the tree, he ordered people to dig up the grave.

He would not do such a despicable thing unless absolutely necessary, and besides, no descendant should be a beast and hide such a large amount of silver in the ancestral grave.

So, when we need it, do we have to dig up the grave again and again?

However, there is a possibility that they might create a fake tomb and bury the silver inside.

So, after looking at the tombstones, Magistrate Xu found several graves with no names or strange names and dug them up.

It's all for nothing; those are just normal graves.

Magistrate Xu was at his wit's end.

He took a deep breath and finally gave the order: "Dig a latrine!"

"..."

Are you sure?

Not every household in this village has a latrine; instead, several large latrines have been dug, with separate latrines for men and women. People in the village relieve themselves outside.

It's cold, the latrines are frozen, there's no way the silver could be hidden there, right?

The guards: They only knew that the stones in the cesspool were smelly and hard, but they never thought that silver would be treated like this one day.

What are you waiting for? Let's dig!

For money!

Just as the group was walking toward the latrine with shovels, Lu Qingqing shouted, "Come here, everyone!"

The sound was like heavenly music, and everyone rushed over.

They all ran faster than the last.

Magistrate Xu was the last to arrive.

"Cai, Miss Lu, what have you discovered?"

Lu Qingqing held up a torch and pointed it at a spot on the ground. "Look, sir, what is this?"

"This... silver powder?"

"What silver powder? This is termite eggs!"

Termite eggs? What's so special about termite eggs?

Magistrate Xu picked it up to examine it.

Lu Qingqing said, "Look, there's a huge patch of termite eggs here. They used to burn firewood in the stone house, and the house was warm, so a lot of termites hatched. These termites like to gnaw on wood and they also like to eat silver!"

Once you find termites, you'll know if there's any hidden silver here!

"Everyone, dig along the base of the wall and look for it."

The guards picked up their weapons and got to work.

This is much better than digging a latrine!

Magistrate Xu's eyes lit up: "Miss Lu, won't termites produce droppings after eating silver?"

"No, the silver they eat will remain inside the termites' bodies. If they eat too much, the termites will die."

"As long as you find termites, even their corpses will do; burn them, and they'll produce silver powder."

Magistrate Xu exclaimed in surprise, "I only knew that termites could damage dikes, but I never imagined they also liked to eat silver. Miss Lu is indeed very knowledgeable!"

Just then, the guard shouted:

"Termites! Found them!"

"They're here too!"

"And here too!"

Lu Qingqing and Magistrate Xu quickly stepped forward and saw that they had dug out nests of termites in the soil at the base of the wall. The termites were milky yellow and were scurrying around, which was quite a sight.

Lu Qingqing directly pushed the torch up.

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