Chapter 26 Great Fortune Arrives
Yao Fanghua packed up the items, and Wu Peng and Yao Weimin worked together to load the safe onto the tricycle.
"Sister, are you really leaving?" Yao Fangyuan sniffled. She didn't want her sister to leave. Seeing Zhang Xiuxiu get beaten up so badly, she couldn't be happier. What if she got bullied again? It would be so much better if her sister stayed. Yao Weiguo and Zhang Xiuxiu would definitely behave themselves, and maybe they could even take the house back.
Yao Fanghua: "Focus on your studies, the college entrance exam is coming up soon."
What if I fail the exam?
Yao Fanghua: "Read it again."
"Still can't pass the exam?"
Yao Fanghua: "Read it again."
"Sister?" Yao Fangyuan asked, her eyes brimming with tears, trying to evoke sisterly affection.
“Reread”.
Yao Fangyuan was really about to cry. Time was too tight, studying was too difficult, and she felt like dying. She didn't want to repeat a grade at all; it was too much suffering.
After being beaten, Zhang Xiuxiu quieted down. Every day, she took care of the children, cleaned the house, did laundry, and cooked. She would make breakfast for the whole family in the morning and help wash vegetables and dishes for dinner. She had become a model wife.
She shared a room with her three children. Yao Weiguo continued to study for the exam in Yao Weimin's room.
Although she was beaten up, her actual interests weren't harmed. Zhang Xiuxiu then became much more cautious. Moreover, she gradually realized that the most capable and money-making person in the family was Yao Fanghua, the one who had beaten her up, and she couldn't help but regret offending her so badly. She also regretted not extorting some medical expenses that day.
Although the family members had frequent disagreements, they all learned to exercise restraint.
Yao Fanghua declined Yao Weimin's offer to see her off, and only had Wu Peng deliver her belongings to her new home. Aside from Wu Peng, she doesn't want anyone else to know she bought a house.
Wu Peng carried the two safes into the main bedroom by himself. He had been riding all the way here, and carrying two safes in total, he was almost exhausted.
"You still have to treat your friends to dinner. Hurry up and go, or the restaurant will have to close down."
Wu Peng laughed angrily, "Don't you have a heart? Don't you have a conscience! I'm exhausted, and you rush off as soon as you're done. Not even a sip of water?"
"I'm just worried you won't have time to treat us to a meal. Restaurants have plenty of water, but look at me, I don't even have any for you. I'll treat you to a big meal this weekend!"
After seeing Wu Peng off, Yao Fanghua tidied up quickly, put her tools beside her, and then went to sleep.
In the middle of the night, Yao Fanghua woke up, dressed in black, and took her toolbox to the big tree outside. Recalling the key details in the drawing, she took out her carving knife and inserted it. She cut a rectangle into the tree trunk, then peeled off the bark. She repeated this process, cutting another rectangle in the same spot and peeling off another layer.
As she peeled away the fifth layer, Yao Fanghua's brow twitched—something had appeared. She immediately slowed down and softened her movements, carefully cutting out an even thinner layer.
Under the moonlight, Yao Fanghua's heart pounded. They say even beggars have three years of good fortune, and Yao Fanghua felt that her luck had finally turned around.
The bark was slowly peeled off. Sure enough, a round hole the size of a palm was revealed, hollowed out and stuffed with something.
Insects kept crawling out of the tree hole. Yao Fanghua waited a while until no more insects came out before reaching into the hole. She took out two tightly bound packages made of kraft paper and stuffed them directly into her toolbox.
After feeling around inside the tree cavity several times to make sure there was nothing else, the bark was pasted back on layer by layer. Finally, a thread was used to sew the outermost edge together.
After stitching up the bark, Yao Fanghua carried her toolbox directly to the front gate of the yard.
The location of the doors was easier to pinpoint; the center line of each door, roughly at the kneecap from bottom to top. Starting with the left door, Yao Fanghua crouched down, located the position, and examined it repeatedly, feeling around until she found old marks. This wooden plank was clearly not part of the door; it was stuck to it. Yao Fanghua removed several small screws in extremely inconspicuous places and, following the old marks, lifted a piece of wood. Inside, gold bars were exposed without any concealment. Each gold bar was embedded in a groove inside the door. Yao Fanghua suppressed her wildly beating heart and removed the gold bars one by one. A full fifteen gold bars. The moment she touched them, she knew each one weighed at least a pound.
Put the gold bars away, then reattach the wooden boards and tighten the small screws again.
Then Yao Fanghua moved to the right door. This time, she was noticeably faster.
"Did you hear that sound?"
"No," he yawned and complained, "The station chief is the same, making us patrol so late at night. Everyone knows this area has the best security. Hurry up, finish this round and go back to sleep." It's the middle of the night, and there's not a soul in sight on the road. I don't know why they make us patrol every day.
From the moment she heard the noise, Yao Fanghua held her breath, pressed herself against the door and wall, and remained motionless.
Only after the voices faded into the distance did she slowly move and pry off the remaining gold bars.
After closing the door, Yao Fanghua sat on the toolbox to relieve the numbness in her legs. By the moonlight, her smile widened, and she covered her face, laughing silently.
The teacher is right; she should focus more on her major courses.
It turns out she even fooled herself; she didn't actually enjoy sculpting that much, she just loved money. She loved making money with her hands.
Yao Fanghua carried her toolbox and slowly walked back into the house.
After locking all the doors and windows and drawing the curtains, a single candle was lit.
She peeled back the layers of kraft paper, revealing sixteen jade bracelets of different colors, neatly wrapped in soft cloth. Another layer of kraft paper contained a long wooden box piled high with various small items: thumb rings, tourmaline and agate bracelets, gold bracelets inlaid with pearls, and over a dozen jade pendants. Each piece was exquisite, clearly carefully selected. Yao Fanghua felt the value of these two boxes far exceeded that of the thirty gold bars. After admiring each item, Yao Fanghua placed them one by one into the keyless safe.
Lying back in bed, Yao Fanghua felt as if she had just woken from a dream, and her emotions remained unsettled for a long time.
The next day, she got up as usual and went to work.
After work, she went straight to Wu Peng and told him not to worry about the renovations anymore; she wasn't planning on renovating. She intended to sell the house and buy a new one.
Wu Peng looked at Yao Fanghua as if she were a lunatic.
"I don't feel comfortable living in this house. I don't know if it's because someone just died, but I had nightmares all night last night." Yao Fanghua said with a cold face and pursed lips, looking like she had made up her mind after lingering fear.
"Didn't you say you didn't care about this?" They did say this a long time ago, and we saw the white couplets on the gate.
"I've never encountered anything like this before, but it's never happened to me personally. Now that I've experienced it, I realize that there are some things you just have to believe." Yao Fanghua looked up at the sky and sighed helplessly.
"At that price, I doubt anyone will buy this house." It's not easy to find a sucker. Wu Peng continued tidying up the junk in the yard without stopping.
"At least 20,000, I'll accept the loss."
Wu Peng laughed in exasperation, "You're really rich, aren't you? Do you have money to burn? Why don't you sprinkle some for me?"
"I can't help it, I really have nightmares."
"You can say this to me and that's fine, but if word gets out, the house will be stuck with you."
Yao Fanghua quickly sealed her mouth and promised that she would only tell him this.
"There is indeed a dilapidated courtyard for sale, and it's not far from your workplace."
Yao Fanghua was delighted; it was good that it was close by. She was just worried about the safe being too far away. "How much?"
"Three thousand."
Yao Fanghua smiled. Putting aside everything else, just the price alone made her tempted.
She really didn't want to live in that house anymore. She dreamt every night that the original owner would come back to find her, catch her red-handed, and make her hand over her gold and jewelry. She couldn't sleep soundly, not at all. Although she was determined that even if someone came, she would deny everything, she still felt it was best to sell it as soon as possible and get out of the house.
Wu Peng stopped what he was doing and looked Yao Fanghua up and down. "You still have money?"
"That's all we have left." At worst, we can sell it for a hundred grams of gold. We can cut a piece off the gold bar and melt it down into a small gold ingot.
Wu Peng looked her up and down, instinctively disbelieving. However, he didn't press further, only sighing that the brat was quite good at saving money.
Neither of them were procrastinators, so once they mentioned the house, they wanted to go see it immediately.
Wu Peng originally planned to buy this house for himself, but he thought he needed enough capital before going to the south to try his luck, so he didn't make the purchase. By the time he returns, the house might have already been sold, so he might as well introduce it to Yao Fanghua.
The house was really dilapidated; half of the roof had collapsed. Fortunately, it was on the edge of the yard, and the yard wasn't small either, which Yao Fanghua liked quite a bit.
"Just consider it buying a piece of land. If you really want to live here, we'll rebuild."
Yao Fanghua thought about it and agreed.
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