This is what he raised.
Xie Ronghua and Lu Guangbai ran over, shining their flashlights on the sandalwood box. Lu Guangbai squatted down to examine it and said, "Small-leaf sandalwood."
It has a history of at least three hundred years.
It is an antique.
He cleared away a little bit of the surrounding soil, revealing a sapphire about the size of half a thumb inlaid on the edge of the rosewood lid, surrounded by a pattern of intertwined branches made of gold wire.
It must have been used by young women in their boudoirs in the past.
Zheng Nanle wasn't an expert on antiques and couldn't see much, but she still knew whether something was valuable or not. Small purple sandalwood was precious to begin with, and the sapphire on it made it even more valuable.
This is just the outer box; we don't know what's inside.
And underground, there are eight more boxes of various sizes.
She guessed that this was the reason Xie Jianhua had been wandering in the mountains.
She was just about to have Xie Ronghua tell Xie Jianhua about it when she heard Xie Jianhua shout with ecstasy, "We've struck it rich! Dig it up quickly, we'll split it. Er Ya deserves the most credit, so she gets 60%, and Guang Bai and I each get 30%."
Xie Ronghua's share of the profits wasn't to take advantage of Zheng Nanle, but rather to silence any dissent.
It means that the three of them are in the same boat, and none of them will go back on their word.
Zheng Nanle and Lu Guangbai both looked at Xie Ronghua as if he were an idiot.
Xie Ronghua, still excited, sensed something was off. He looked up and met their gazes, then shrank back and asked in a low voice, "What's wrong?"
Lu Guangbai asked, "What do you think your brother is doing wandering around the mountains every day? Is it for fun?"
Xie Ronghua wasn't really stupid. He understood immediately after Lu Guangbai's brief hint. Moreover, Lu Guangbai had previously mentioned that his brother was very likely on a mission.
He looked down at the small sandalwood box and reluctantly admitted, "Really? For the treasure?"
Zheng Nanle and Lu Guangbai remained silent, clearly acquiescing.
“Then let’s take some. Anyway, he doesn’t know how much treasure there is.” Xie Ronghua said this, but his movements of digging into the soil were noticeably slower.
“There are always traces of what has been done,” Lu Guangbai said, his identity was sensitive, and he didn’t want to get involved. “Besides, how do you know your brother doesn’t have a record?”
"You just need to tell your brother about this. If your brother is a decent person, he will leave you some. If he doesn't leave any, then he can't do anything about it."
"So we've wasted our time?"
He lost the treasure, and he also lost the chickens and pigs. What was the point of all that trouble?
"Hmph, if he wants to hand over my chickens and pigs, I won't tell him the location of this treasure. I'll let him find it and die." Xie Ronghua stood up and said angrily.
Zheng Nanle clapped his hands in approval, "Good, no one will say anything, whoever does is a dog. We'll wait a few decades and then the three of us will divide it up."
Lu Guangbai glanced at Zheng Nanle and smiled secretly.
Xie Ronghua hesitated and said, "That's not a good idea. My brother is injured, and he still has to go up the mountain every day. It's too hard for him."
Zheng Nanle walked out of the valley, laughing as she went, "So, do you want to tell me or not?"
Xie Ronghua knew Zheng Nanle was joking with him, so he felt relaxed and laughed along, "I just didn't want him to get it too easily. Who told him to try and harm my chickens and pigs?"
Lu Guangbai said, "If you hand over this treasure, there's a good chance you'll keep your chickens and pigs."
The three of them crawled out of the passage again. Lu Guangbai used a wooden stick to pry the large rock back into place to block the entrance. Zheng Nanle stepped forward and tidied up the vines and weeds. After confirming that it was impossible to see anything wrong at a glance, he led the two away.
The next day, Zheng Nanle went up the mountain to catch a wild rabbit. When Lu Guangbai returned from work in the evening, Zheng Nanle forcibly shoved the rabbit in front of him and ordered from the menu, "Spicy rabbit meat."
Lu Guangbai casually took the unconscious rabbit. "???"
He pretended not to understand Zheng Nanle's words and smiled slightly, "For me? Thank you."
Zheng Nanle pressed down on his shoulder, "Look what this is?"
“Polygonum multiflorum!” Lu Guangbai turned his head, stared at the grass doll-like thing that Zheng Nanle was carrying, and said excitedly.
He put the rabbit down and reached out to touch it.
Zheng Nanle moved his hand back, and Lu Guangbai grabbed at empty air.
She held up the roots of the Polygonum multiflorum and strolled in front of Lu Guangbai, smiling as she asked, "This little grass doll, in exchange for you cooking for me for a month, isn't that too much to ask?"
Lu Guangbai pondered.
Making the main dishes takes the most effort, and the spices also need to be adjusted to suit Zheng Nanle's constitution. To be honest, he wasn't too willing to do it; it was too much trouble.
But looking at Zheng Nanle's thin, bony face and her big, expectant eyes, Lu Guangbai felt a little soft-hearted.
Zheng Nanle's cheeks have become a little fuller, which has filled out the angles of her face, making her features more prominent on her small face.
Her eyebrows were light but long, untrimmed, growing naturally without appearing messy; her eyes were dark and bright, clear and sparkling, as if they held the ripples of spring.
Lu Guangbai already knew that Zheng Nanle had beautiful eyes, but when viewed on her delicate face, those big eyes stood out even more, bright and expressive, as if they could speak.
She hadn't yet fully recovered, and her lips were a pale color. But this paleness was just right; it was inconspicuous on her slightly yellow face, drawing attention to her overly bright eyes and concealing any flaws in her appearance.
Lu Guangbai felt a sense of satisfaction.
These are his pets.
From being as thin as a skeleton, she has transformed into someone who is now quite attractive.
This sense of accomplishment is quite captivating, like having a little pet.
He changed his mind. "Okay, come over at 7:30 tonight to prepare the ingredients."
There was no other way; he had to go to work, and when he came back, he had to cook for the elders in the cowshed. Only after doing all that did he have any free time.
"Lu Guangbai, you are so kind."
Zheng Nanle stepped forward and gave him a half-hearted hug, pretending to be so moved that she choked up.
Lu Guangbai was so frightened that his eyes widened and his whole body stiffened like a piece of wood. He wanted to push Zheng Nanle away, but he was worried about touching something he shouldn't, so he moved his hands clenched up.
He spoke nervously and stammeringly, "Zheng Nanle, you, you are a girl."
Men and women should not have physical contact.
However, unlike the last time when Zheng Nanle put his arm around his neck and resisted with all his might, this time he was more embarrassed, and that feeling of resistance was not as strong as before.
Lu Guangbai attributed this to the fact that the two were very familiar with each other and had become friends.
Zheng Nanle stepped back two paces and apologized with a smile, "I'm sorry, I was being presumptuous."
She forgot that this was the 1970s, a special era when even married couples had to maintain distance when they were away from home, not the era when friends could hug each other freely.
Haha, in Lu Guangbai's eyes, wasn't her action just now... indecent?
Zheng Nan was delighted to see Lu Guang's face turn so dark that it was impossible to tell if he was blushing.
“Ben, he was reckless to begin with.” Lu Guangbai clenched his fists, trying to calm himself down. His words were both a reminder and an accusation. “Zheng Nanle, you can’t treat yourself like a child.”
Even if you think you're only eight years old, don't forget that your body is seventeen years old, and you're a big girl.
In the end, Zheng Nanle still got to eat spicy rabbit.
Fragrant, numbing, crispy, spicy, and salty—one bite is like a flavor bomb exploding, instantly capturing the attention of all the taste buds on your tongue. Because the wild rabbit runs all year round, its meat is very chewy. And because it is fried to the perfect temperature, the meat is tender and juicy, not dry at all. Its flavor is not just numbing and spicy, but also a mixture of salty and fragrant, crispy and sweet, with a rich texture and lingering aftertaste.
She felt she could eat two large bowls of it mixed with white rice.
Of course, there wasn't that much white rice. Lu Guangbai was careful with the amount, only letting Zheng Nanle eat until she was about 80% full.
Zheng Nanle reluctantly put down her chopsticks and bowl. If it weren't for her strong self-control, she would have loved to wash the bowl clean with her tongue.
Even when you're only 80% full, who can stop the lingering craving?
She couldn't help but complain, "Why didn't you cook more?"
Such a large wild rabbit, only a quarter of it was stir-fried, and the white rice was barely enough for one bowl, making one's heart ache with longing.
Lu Guangbai was as cold-blooded as a ruthless tyrant. "Overeating is bad, and eating too much at night is not good for your health."
Eating too late is actually not good for your health, but is there any other way to deal with it for the time being?
He handed Zheng Nanle a bowl of hawthorn water.
The hawthorn water had no sugar added. Zheng Nanle took a sip and her cheeks scrunched up. "It's sour."
Lu Guangbai chuckled softly. In the firelight, Zheng Nanle looked like a startled cat, exuding cuteness. He coaxed, "Just make do for today, I'll add some sugar tomorrow."
Lu Guangbai's voice was gentle, seemingly electrifying in the soft evening breeze. Zheng Nanle scratched her ear, suddenly feeling a little embarrassed, as if she were being unreasonable while the other party had boundless tolerance.
She drank the hawthorn juice in one gulp, stood up, and said, "I'm leaving."
As soon as she finished speaking, she vanished into the night sky like a hare released from a bow.
Lu Guangbai was slightly taken aback, then chuckled softly.
He didn't know why he was laughing, but he just laughed because he felt like it.
He took a bath in the river to wash away the grease and grime, then cleaned the pot and bowls with wood ash, hid them in a hole he had dug in the grass, and returned to the cowshed.
Grandpa Lu was sitting on a simple bed covered with dry straw, waiting for him.
Seeing the relaxed smile on Lu Guangbai's face, Old Master Lu couldn't bring himself to say what he had originally intended to say.
Grandpa Lu originally wanted to remind him to keep his distance from Zheng Nanle, because their current situation would only drag others down, and the young girl's situation at home and in the village was not good either.
But at that moment, he couldn't say a word.
He hadn't seen his grandson laugh so purely in a long time.
His lips curved into a natural smile, just like when he was a child, without those burdens.
Forget it, life is already so hard, why pour cold water on him when he's just starting to enjoy something sweet?
After Zheng Nanle, she brought Lu Guangbai wild game every day and then ordered dishes based on the game.
Because he brought it with him every day, Lu Guangbai had to turn the meat he originally planned to save for Zheng Nanle's next meal into cured meat, or make it into his own dinner.
Thanks to Zheng Nanle, the people in the cowshed ate meat every day, which made them much more energetic.
A week later, Xie Ronghua came looking for Zheng Nanle, followed by Xie Jianhua.
Xie Ronghua said casually, "Er Ya, could you please lead the way?"
Zheng Nanle gave Xie Ronghua a thumbs-up.
They took seven days to come looking for us; they're really patient.
She turned and went up the mountain, leading the way.
Xie Jianhua followed, nudged Xie Ronghua with his shoulder, and whispered, "Er Ya seems fine, so why does everyone say she's stupid?"
If he's not stupid, why does he always just smile like an idiot whenever I see him?
Maybe that wasn't a silly grin, but a friendly one?
Memory can be embellished, and Xie Jianhua couldn't remember whether it was a silly grin or a normal laugh.
“What do you mean, ‘stupid’? Er Ya was traumatized and her personality changed drastically.” Xie Ronghua repeated the theory that Lu Guangbai had told him to his brother. “It’s because she didn’t want to face reality and split off into another version of herself. Er Ya hadn’t figured things out before, so she didn’t talk much, and others misunderstood.”
Xie Jianhua nodded, feeling guilty for having previously misjudged Er Ya as a fool, and apologized to Zheng Nanle.
Zheng Nanle waved his hand with a grin.
That was her original intention, so why blame her?
Once inside the mountains, Zheng Nanle walked confidently toward the cave, but halfway there, he turned back.
It looks like someone is following us.
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