Chapter 5: Digging for Ancient Paintings He Just Feels It’s Worth It Even If He Dies…
As Jiang Tong entered the compound where the musicians lived, he heard the loud voice of the head of the group shouting:
"Do you still think you're the son of the Prime Minister? We lowly people should have the awareness of being lowly people! Mr. Xu appointed you, which means he thinks highly of you. Who are you showing off to?"
When Jiang Tong heard something was wrong, he immediately rushed in and saw Su Guanqing standing by the screen wall.
His clothes seemed a little messy, as if they had been pulled by someone, but he still stood there unyieldingly, his tall figure straight, like a bamboo bearing tremendous pressure, which would rather break than bend.
Although he lowered his head slightly, his words were resounding: "Even though I am a lowly person, there are things I can and cannot do!"
The squad leader was furious and raised his hand to slap him: "I don't care what you can and cannot do, I will let you..."
"Stop!" Jiang Tong shouted.
Jiang Meng was faster than her. He threw away the hoe on his shoulder, jumped up in one step, and directly knocked the leader away.
Are you kidding? Su Guanqing is his God of Wealth now! If we destroy his God of Wealth, how can he make money?
A scuffle had already broken out over there, but Jiang Tong paid no attention to the vicious dog he had released. He simply rushed to Su Guanqing and asked with concern, "Are you okay?"
She looked him up and down, and seeing that he was not injured, she reached out to help him straighten his messy clothes.
The moment he heard Jiang Tong's voice, Su Guanqing's stern expression disappeared. He took two steps back in panic, but bumped directly into the screen wall, making it impossible to avoid it. He was so panicked that he was at a loss and almost couldn't hold the bamboo stick.
"Tongtong, why are you here?"
Jiang Tong reached out and grabbed him, explaining in a voice only the two of them could hear, "Didn't you ask me to go dig something before? Let's go dig today."
In fact, Su Guanqing had already told Jiang Tong the location of the buried treasure, so she didn't need to come here at all. But she just didn't want Su Guanqing to stay alone in that smelly room, so she wanted to take him out for a walk.
The dog-eat-dog fight over there was quickly separated by the musicians in the courtyard.
Jiang Meng's body had long been drained by alcohol and sex, and he was completely defeated in this fight, and was beaten so hard that his nose was bleeding.
The squad leader spat at Jiang Meng, then pointed at Su Guanqing and angrily said, "Su Guanqing, I'm telling you, you can't avoid it even if you try. Sooner or later, you'll have to accept your fate!"
"He doesn't have to accept his fate," Jiang Tong stood in front of Su Guanqing and said coldly, "I will redeem him."
The squad leader sneered, "Your Jiang family has fallen on hard times, and you think I don't know? Your good brother gambled away all the family fortune, and now the whole family relies on Su Guanqing's singing to survive, and you still want to redeem him? What big talk!"
Jiang Meng still had some dignity to protect. When someone exposed his shortcomings right in front of him, he immediately exploded: "You are slandering me! Say it again if you dare!"
"Jiang Tong! There's no need to argue with him." Jiang Tong was not a young man after all, and was unwilling to argue with others. "Whether he is just bragging or not, we will know within a month. I will come back in a month to redeem Guan Qing. Within this month, I hope you will not force Guan Qing to do anything he doesn't want to do."
"You want me to wait a month? Not impossible, but if you don't have the money to redeem me after a month..." The squad leader looked at Su Guanqing, a gleam in his eyes, "Su Guanqing, what do you say?"
Su Guanqing was stunned by Jiang Tong's words, "He doesn't have to accept his fate. I will redeem him." At that moment, he felt that even death would be worth it. Without hesitation, he said, "I will follow the orders of the squad leader."
"Okay," the squad leader nodded with determination, "I can still wait a month."
He already knew the situation of the Jiang family very well. He didn't believe that the Jiang family could afford the money. Compared to forcing Su Guanqing, who would not cooperate and offend the guests, he was willing to wait patiently.
"It's a deal." Seeing that it was agreed, Jiang Tong grabbed Su Guanqing's hand and was about to leave.
"Wait! If you want to take my people out, you have to pay a fee," the squad leader stared at Su Guanqing with amusement, "You're not going to let Su Guanqing pay for it, are you?"
"Jiang Ming, give me money!" Jiang Taidou spoke with a sense of majesty. Jiang Ming didn't know why, but he subconsciously took out the money from his pocket.
It wasn't until he went out with the hoe on his shoulder that he realized something was wrong.
Why did I listen to Jiang Tong just now? !
And Jiang Tong actually called me by my name! How disrespectful! How disrespectful!
Jiang Meng gritted his teeth, wanting to get back at her, but then he changed his mind and decided to forget it. Digging for treasure was more important, he would settle the score with her later.
Following Su Guanqing's instructions, the three of them quickly found the treasure burial ground outside the city.
In a mass grave, in front of a tombstone.
Jiang Meng felt a little nervous and lowered his voice, as if he was afraid that the tomb owner would hear him. He asked, "Are you really digging the grave?"
Jiang Tong laughed in his heart. Could such a heartless person actually be afraid of ghosts and gods?
Su Guanqing said, "There is no coffin under this stele. It is just a mark."
Jiang Tong finally felt relieved and started digging. After a few digs, he came to his senses and glared at Jiang Tong with his hoe in hand:
“Why am I the only one digging?”
"Because you are the oldest. The two of us, one hasn't reached the age of marriage yet, and the other hasn't reached the age of adulthood yet, so we are both considered children." Jiang Tong took advantage of the fact that the other party had no idea how old they were and lied.
Su Guanqing lost his temper. He was indeed not yet an adult, but it would only take a few months for him to reach adulthood. How could he pretend to be a child? "No problem, I'll help you dig."
"What are you digging for? Don't make trouble." Jiang Tong pulled him away without saying a word, and raised his chin, signaling Jiang Tong to work faster.
She involuntarily brought out Jiang Taidou's demeanor, and her two brothers were so captivated by her tone and expression that no one dared to raise any objections.
Jiang Ming had a face covered in blood and his head and body were covered in mud. He looked extremely miserable.
Jiang Tong was leisurely chatting with Su Guanqing.
Jiang Ming came to his senses after digging until he was sweating profusely. He wanted to quit, but then he thought that these two people didn't seem to have any interest in the ancient paintings at all, and they would definitely keep the paintings for themselves. So he stopped caring and dug even harder.
"Guan Qing, whose calligraphy works are hidden in your home?" Jiang Tong did not participate in the treasure hunt in her previous life, so she did not know.
Su Guanqing shook his head honestly: "Actually, I don't know either."
Jiang Ming's hoe paused for a moment and he looked at them suspiciously.
"You don't know?" Jiang Tong was also a little surprised.
"The incident happened suddenly that day. My father hurriedly grabbed a painting and asked Uncle Zhong to find a place to hide it. Even he probably didn't know which painting he was hiding."
"No wonder you said you would be ripped off if you sold pictures." Jiang Tong laughed. If he didn't even know what he was selling, wouldn't he be ripped off?
"But..." Jiang Tong glanced at Jiang Meng lightly and changed the subject, "I know that Uncle Su likes collecting ancient paintings the most. Any painting in his collection must be a rare treasure."
Jiang Meng originally had no strength to dig, but when he heard this, he suddenly gained some strength and soon dug a hole half a person deep.
While supervising the work, Jiang Tong chatted with Su Guanqing intermittently.
Although it was called a chat, it was actually mainly Jiang Tong asking questions and Su Guanqing answering them.
Jiang Tong herself didn't think there was anything wrong with it. She always chatted with her disciples in this way.
As apprentices, who would dare to ask the teacher questions except when asking for advice on skills?
Well, just like Su Guanqing now, he answers whatever is asked, tells everything he knows, and says everything he knows.
However, unlike the apprentice who was trembling with fear, Su Guanqing was happier than he had been in a long time.
You know, Tongtong used to be the most impatient to talk to me. Even when she asked for money from me, she would just say a few words and leave. She had never been so patient to chat with me.
Tongtong even asked about every detail of her life! She really cared about her!
Su Guanqing sat on a hard stone in the mass grave, but for some reason he felt as if he was sitting on soft clouds.
He was so focused on answering Jiang Tong's question that he didn't even notice that the digging sound had stopped.
Jiang Tong had been paying attention to Jiang Ying's movements. Seeing that the other party seemed to have dug up something, she remained calm and continued to chat with Su Guanqing nonchalantly.
So when they saw that bit of dark brown silk, Jiang Meng was the only one who was excited in the entire mass grave.
He didn't dare use the hoe again, so he dug out the silk bag with his hands, opened it hurriedly, and took out a scroll from it.
The next moment, it was as if someone poured a bucket of cold water over Jiang Meng's head. The excitement on his face immediately turned to despair, and then he became furious.
"Su Guanqing! Is your servant a fool?" Jiang Meng threw the scroll towards Su Guanqing, flipped over to the ground, and roared.
Jiang Tong had been prepared for his anger. When she saw him move, she quickly reached out and caught the scroll in mid-air.
Su Guanqing turned to Jiang Meng in astonishment: "What happened?"
"What's wrong? An ancient painting! On paper! Your servants actually buried it directly in the ground! It's all rotten from years of rain!"
Su Guanqing panicked: "Tongtong, are you serious?"
Jiang Tong did not answer immediately. Instead, he squatted on the ground and spread out the scroll very slowly.
The entire scroll had been soaked by groundwater, and the entire painting was brown and black. Without looking carefully, it was impossible to make out what was painted inside. Not to mention the obvious holes on it, some of which were caused by insects, and some were probably torn by Jiang Ming.
The paper that was soaked in water was stuck together. He had just torn it apart roughly and then threw it violently. The damage was so severe that it was simply unbearable to look at.
"Your servant is truly loyal, but also truly..." Jiang Tong ultimately refrained from uttering the word "stupid" in front of Su Guanqing, "...he can't preserve calligraphy and paintings."
Su Guanqing's face turned pale: "Tongtong, I'm sorry, I didn't know it would be like this."
He had originally thought that selling this painting would at least help Jiang Tong buy back the Jiang family's old house. But now this was the result. Would Tongtong be angry? Would she ignore him?
Jiang Xun contributed money and effort today, and even got beaten up, but it was all for nothing. He was so angry that he wanted to beat Su Guanqing up, but unfortunately he had no strength left after digging, so he just cursed a few times and left the two of them alone.
In her previous life, Jiang Tong hadn't participated in the excavation. Her efforts had been in vain, and she'd been furious after returning. Only then did she learn that the ancient painting had been destroyed. But she had no idea what had happened to it.
Now that the painting was in hand, Jiang Tong carefully examined the damage to the ancient painting and breathed a sigh of relief. Looking up, he saw Su Guanqing standing there dejected and helpless. He couldn't help but comfort him in a gentle voice, "It's okay, it can be saved."
Su Guanqing thought Jiang Tong was just trying to comfort him, so he forced a smile and said, "It's already ruined. How can I save it? Just throw it away."
"If I say I can save her, then I can definitely save her." Jiang Tong gently rolled up the scroll again.
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