Chapter 65. Old Mrs. Yu glanced at the other person sideways…
Grandma Yu glanced at the other person and snorted, "You'd better mind your own business. You can talk a good game about principles, but don't be the first to take action when it comes to it. We're old enough to have seen it all. We've lived longer than you have. It's not your place to give us advice."
Cheng Xiuying: "Our whole family has always been open and aboveboard. If anyone messes things up, I won't even need the factory leaders; I'll be the first to punish them."
No one can stop her from getting promoted and making a fortune.
Grandma Yu curled her lip, thinking that Cheng Xiuying's words were not just a bluff; she really would do it! In the end, she would be used as a stepping stone to help Cheng Xiuying rise in rank, earning a reputation for 'putting righteousness before family'.
Bah! She wouldn't give Cheng Xiuying that chance.
Grandma Yu: "I will also keep an eye on you!"
Yu Jiajia found it quite amusing to listen to her grandmother and mother arguing. After the two elderly people finished their meal, Cheng Xiuying asked Yu Songchuan to take the lunchboxes to wash them before they went home together.
When the three of them returned home, everyone else was asleep. After washing up, Yu Jiajia carefully climbed into bed, but still woke up Yu Jiamin.
Yu Jiajia quickly patted her back gently: "Sleep well, sleep well, my dear third sister~~"
Yu Jiamin: ...
I closed my eyes and went back to sleep.
That night, the moon was dark and the wind was high, so dark you couldn't see your hand in front of your face—perfect for doing bad things.
Yu Jiajia was woken up by Yu Jiamin. She rubbed her eyes, sat up abruptly, put on the dark clothes and cloth shoes she had prepared in advance, and went out with Yu Jiamin.
Cheng Xiuying led Yu Jiajia and Yu Jiamin, while the three Yu brothers, Yu Songchuan, had already left and would meet in the suburbs.
There are streetlights in the city, but when you get to the suburbs, it's really dark. You can't even see a person's face clearly when you're face to face. You'll need a flashlight, otherwise you might end up in a ditch.
With Cheng Xiuying on her left and Yu Jiamin on her right, Yu Songyan leading the way in front and Yu Songqing bringing up the rear, Yu Jiajia felt very safe.
Yu Songchuan was constantly jumping around and running back and forth, never able to stay still.
The road leading to Yu Songyan became increasingly difficult, until finally, in a vast wilderness, they found the Zhu family ancestral graves.
Fortunately, it was in the open field. If it were in farmland, there would be militia patrols, and there would be no chance to dig.
A strong wind blew, rustling the leaves like ghosts howling. A tornado even swept from the graveyard toward them, making Yu Jiajia's hair stand on end and giving her goosebumps all over her body.
Cheng Xiuying lashed out a few times with a peach wood stick in her hand, "Stop playing tricks on me! Since I dared to come, I have nothing to fear! Blame it on your Zhu family for having such an unfilial descendant, Zhu Jingsong! He touched things he shouldn't have touched and incurred debts he shouldn't have incurred!"
One tornado dispersed, but the other two swirled around Cheng Xiuying, trapping her in the middle. Cheng Xiuying lashed out at the tornadoes with a peach wood stick, yelling, "Damn it, don't push your luck! If you behave yourselves, I'll dig you up, take a look, and bury you again. But if you keep causing trouble, I'll dig you up, whip your corpses, and throw you into the slaughterhouse. Having such a beastly descendant deserves to be ground to dust!"
Yu Songqing and Yu Songchuan also used peach wood sticks to beat the tornado. Yu Songchuan said, "Pah! You still have the nerve to make the wind blow? Do you think we're easy to scare? Mom, where are we going to dig from? We'll burn it all later and scatter the ashes to the slaughterhouse."
The tornado dissipated, and even the wind stopped.
Yu Jiajia firmly believed that this must be a coincidence! She silently recited the 24-character core socialist values: prosperity, democracy, civility, harmony, freedom, equality, justice, and the rule of law…
Cheng Xiuying: "Sweetie, look at these graves, point to one, and let's start digging!"
Yu Jiajia:......
She followed Cheng Xiuying around the cemetery. There were six graves in total, some high and some low, some large and some small. They must have been regularly maintained, as there was no grass on the graves, and they were all clean.
Yu Jiajia hesitated before pointing to the smallest grave mound and asking, "This one?"
Without a word, Cheng Xiuying picked up her hoe and strode to the grave. She raised the hoe high and struck the grave mound: "Dig!"
The Yu family only had one iron shovel and one hoe. Yu Songchuan got the right to use the iron shovel and used it to dig the soil. With one hoe and one dig, the grave was quickly dug open. They dug down another three meters deep and saw the elm coffin board underneath.
When the coffin was pried open, inside was a rotting, mummified corpse, emitting a foul odor, but there was no gold or silver jewelry.
Cheng Xiuying used a hoe to dig through the body, but there was nothing there. "Give me a hand, lift the coffin lid."
With a few efforts, the coffin was lifted out. Cheng Xiuying jumped inside and continued digging with a hoe. "There's another layer down there, dig faster!"
Yu Songchuan jumped down and continued digging. There was another coffin at the bottom. He pried open the coffin lid and found dozens of small boxes inside. He opened one of them and shone a flashlight on it. The dazzling array of gold and silver jewelry was almost blinding.
She opened a few more, which were also gold and silver jewelry!
Cheng Xiuying's heart was pounding, and her hands were trembling. This was too much! If there was only one box, she could take it without any burden. If there were two boxes, she could also carry them without any pressure. Now it was a coffin full of gold and silver.
Even the Yu family couldn't spend all of it.
Cheng Xiuying gritted her teeth: "One box for each person! The rest can stay inside! I'll find a chance to bring people to rob the grave."
Yu Jiajia looked around and pointed to a box in a corner, saying, "Mom, I want this!"
Even a graveyard is no longer scary when surrounded by gold and silver.
Cheng Xiuying opened the box and saw that it was full of large yellow croakers, heavy with weight. There were five large yellow croakers in each row, and two rows in total, making a total of ten large yellow croakers! Not bad! She closed the box and threw it up.
She looked at them one by one and chose a box.
The others also chose their own boxes, one for each person.
After selecting the items, wipe away the handprints and shoe prints, leaving no trace, then restore the coffin to its original state and re-bury it with the soil compacted.
But there's definitely a difference between the new grave and the old one. Luckily, the Zhu family ancestral graves didn't have any grass on the top. They just dug up a layer of old soil from the road next to them and covered it up to make the grave look old.
They didn't dig up the other graves, and even if there was gold or silver inside, the Yu family didn't dare take it.
Yu Songchuan: "Zhu Jinsong must have kept this grave so clean so that he could put his treasures there at any time. If it were overgrown with grass, it would be too obvious that the graves were being dug up. You can't keep digging up new graves when people die all the time."
Everyone cleaned up the footprints along the way, and now it was time to hide the treasure.
Everyone should keep their own things hidden; never put them together, because nobody trusts anyone else.
Cheng Xiuying, carrying two boxes, took Yu Jiajia to a very secluded spot, dug a pit four or five meters deep, placed the boxes inside, and instructed Yu Jiajia: "This place is a secret known only to heaven, earth, you, and me. Don't tell your older brother, older sister, or younger brother. Don't even tell your father!"
Yu Jiajia: "Mom, I'll do whatever you say."
Cheng Xiuying nodded in relief. Her darling always kept her word. "Come on, Mom will carry you home."
Yu Jiajia jumped onto Cheng Xiuying's back, and Cheng Xiuying carried her daughter and ran home. When they got home, Cheng Xiuying first told Yu Jiajia to take off her clothes and throw them outside. The clothes were covered in soil from the grave, which was bad luck. She would soak them in mugwort water and then wash them properly.
Cheng Xiuying: "Sweetie, it's not dawn yet. Wash your face and go back to sleep."
They were quick and had already returned. It took a while for the others to return one after another.
It's not even five o'clock yet, so we could still sleep, but everyone is too excited to fall asleep. Yu Jiajia is also quite excited; ten large yellow croakers, weighing about four kilograms!
Who wouldn't be excited about becoming rich overnight?
Yu Jiamin simply dragged Yu Jiajia into practicing the Five Animal Frolics together.
Compared to practicing the Five Animal Frolics, Yu Jiajia felt that she could still fall asleep.
At dawn, a ray of golden-red sunlight shone into the earth, igniting the entire sky with the force of a wildfire, and in an instant, the sky was ablaze with rosy dawn.
Cheng Xiuying looked up at the sky. They say a red sky at morning means good weather, and a red sky at night means good luck. It looked like it was going to rain. They were careful enough to erase all their footprints along the way, but after such a heavy rain, all traces were gone.
Even if the soil on the grave mound is washed away, no one will suspect anything.
Several streaks of lightning flashed across the sky, seemingly splitting it in two, followed by a deafening roar of thunder, and then a torrential downpour began, as if tilting down from the sky.
The rain was fast and heavy, and everyone who was still washing their faces hurriedly ran inside.
Cheng Xiuying felt that the weather was perfect. She sang "On the Golden Mountain of Beijing" while calling on Yu Jiamin to make breakfast.
"The golden mountain in Beijing shines with light in all directions."
Chairman Mao is like the golden sun.
How warm, how kind.
Illuminate the hearts of us serfs.
We are striding confidently onto the road to socialist happiness!
Yu Jiamin hummed along a few lines. She used to think that if she could get a stable job and find a well-paid, easy-going, and obedient husband, her life would be perfect.
Things are different now; she has money of her own! Gold is not in circulation now, so she doesn't dare to spend it, nor can she spend it, but there will always be a time when she can spend it.
If society is to develop and progress, then it cannot remain like this forever.
Otherwise, why would Zhu Jinsong store gold and silver?
Today's breakfast was very plentiful. I steamed buns made from a mixture of wheat and vegetables, stewed ham, vegetables and mushrooms soup, and also stewed a large bowl of ham and egg.
Everyone's become rich overnight, and after working hard all night, they should at least have a moment to vent their frustrations.
The heavy rain came quickly and left quickly; the meal wasn't even ready before the rain stopped.
There was a lot of water in front of Granny Xu's house. Everyone went inside, and the others took brooms to help sweep the water away, otherwise everyone would get their shoes wet when they went out.
Outside the courtyard, a tractor was parked at the gate. Old Mrs. Cheng, Cheng Xiufeng, and several others got off the tractor, carrying three bamboo baskets on their backs, and ran inside.
Grandma Cheng heard about what was happening in the city. She said that the director of the Revolutionary Committee had been overthrown and many cadres had been purged, but she didn't know the specifics. Grandma Cheng was uneasy, so she came to take a look and also brought some cured meat, corn and vegetables to the Yu family.
They were all wearing raincoats, but the rain was so heavy that they still got a little wet.
Cheng Xiuying quickly welcomed the person in and gave the old lady a towel to wipe her down: "Oh my goodness, why did you go out in the rain?"
Yu Songqing and the others hurried to receive the items. The Cheng family had brought three bamboo baskets full of things.
Grandma Cheng: "Sanbao, seeing that you are all well makes me feel at ease. Everyone in the village is saying that something big happened in the county, that some local tyrants and landlords have fallen. If I didn't come to see you, I would be so anxious that I couldn't sleep. The wild boar meat is ready to be cured and hung inside to dry. The early harvest of corn is just about ready to be cooked. I'll bring it to you all together."
“Our family is all fine, Mom, please don’t worry.” Cheng Xiuying looked directly at the contents of the bamboo basket: cured meat, half a basket of corn, fresh mushrooms, and various green vegetables. She grinned and said, “Mom, this cured meat is so beautifully cured! Why did you send so much corn? Aren’t you going to eat it? It would be such a waste to eat this corn now.”
Some people waste food, but how can it be considered wasteful for others to eat it?
Grandma Cheng was very generous in sharing the food with her third daughter's family. She said, "This corn is delicious whether it's boiled or roasted. You should try it too."
Cheng Xiuying said, "Jiamin, stew some pork, cabbage, and vermicelli, and boil five or six corn cobs." Then she asked Old Lady Cheng, "Mother, how did you get here? By oxcart?"
Grandma Cheng quickly said, "Don't bother. We ate some dry food on the way. Seeing that you are all doing well, we'll head back in a bit. Master Liu from the commune is waiting outside with his tractor. We were originally planning to take an oxcart, but Master Liu from the commune saw us and insisted on bringing us here."
Cheng Xiuying was genuinely happy that her family held a high position in the commune, as they could even ride in a tractor. "Where's Master Liu? Song Qing and Song Yan, hurry up and go to the gate to welcome them in for dinner." She then said to Old Lady Cheng, "Mother, you're really something, why are you making them wait outside?"
Yu Jiamin brought out the cooked ginger, jujube, and brown sugar water, and told everyone to drink a bowl first so they wouldn't catch a cold.
Master Liu was quickly invited in by Yu Songyan. Yu Songchuan brought him a bowl of ginger, jujube, and brown sugar water, and also gave him a towel to wipe his hair and clothes.
As everyone was talking, they heard Pan Hongying call out from outside: "Section Chief Cheng, I see that you have a lot of relatives here, and you don't have enough chairs, do you? I've brought over the tables and chairs from home, you can use them for now."
Pan Hongying carried chairs, and her husband Zhang Quan carried a square table. They put the table and chairs in and said, "Section Chief Cheng, just call out when you're done, and Zhigang's dad and I will come and move them."
Cheng Xiuying said politely, "Hongying, just call me by my name, why call me section chief?" She grabbed a handful of greens from the bamboo basket and handed them to Pan Hongying, "These are from my family, you can add them to your dishes when you get back."
Pan Hongying couldn't stop smiling: "These vegetables are grown so well, thank you, Section Chief Cheng." Then she said to Old Lady Cheng, "Thank you, Auntie. Zhigang's dad and I won't disturb you any longer, you two continue talking."
Grandma Cheng was stunned. After Pan Hongying left, she couldn't wait to ask, "Sanbao, was Section Chief Cheng calling you? What does 'section chief' mean? Have you become a leader?"
Pan Hongying was incredibly eager; that's how she was with the commune leaders.
When Grandma Cheng came last time, she wasn't like this.
Of course, there was no need for Section Chief Cheng to explain this; everyone quickly explained that Cheng Xiuying had become the section chief.
Grandma Cheng was shocked: "My God! My third son has become a big leader!"
Master Liu, standing nearby, was so shocked he couldn't close his mouth. The Cheng family's daughter, who had married out, had become a section chief at the steel rolling mill? He felt that his trip had been absolutely worthwhile!
The food was quickly prepared and served at two tables, each with two large platters of dishes: a ham and mushroom soup, a cured pork, cabbage, and vermicelli soup, a bowl of ham and steamed egg soup, and a plate of cucumber salad.
Five ears of corn were cut into sections, one small piece for each person. At this point, the corn was just cooked and had not yet reached a high starch content, making it perfect for boiling.
Cheng Xiuying scooped a spoonful of ham and egg stew into Yu Jiajia's bowl, and then scooped a spoonful for her mother and Chef Liu, saying, "Treat this as home, eat more, don't be shy."
While eating, everyone talked about Zhu Jingsong's matter, which was the biggest issue in the county and the thing that Grandma Cheng and her group were most concerned about.
Cheng Xiuying omitted the part about Zhu Jingsong cornering Yu Jiajia in the river, but told the whole story truthfully. Upon hearing this, Old Mrs. Cheng slapped her thigh and said, "Next time something like this happens, remember to come home and let us know first! There are over ten of us in our family; we're more than a dozen people, and we'll never be at a disadvantage in a fight!"
Cheng Xiuying: "I didn't expect it either, otherwise I would definitely have gone home."
Otherwise, for such a good thing, you'd have to call on your family members.
The more Master Liu listened, the more shocked he became. Cheng Xiuying's family was too powerful. They actually led the raid on the home of the Revolutionary Committee Director! That was the Revolutionary Committee Director! The top leader of the county!
After saying all that, and having almost finished eating, Cheng Xiuying cut four or five pounds of ham for her family. "This was given to my family by the commander. I'll take it back with me so my grandma can have a taste."
Grandma Cheng exclaimed, "The commander sent this? It's good stuff! No wonder it tastes so good!"
Yu Songqing and the others were talking under the eaves when Cheng Yongping said, "The weather really changes in an instant. On our way here, it rained so hard, with lightning and thunder. It was really scary. A bolt of lightning even struck a grave. I don't know what kind of wicked thing they did to be struck by lightning after they died."
Cheng Yonghao: "Yes, it really startled us at the time."
Yu Songqing and the others all looked at Cheng Yongping. Yu Songchuan asked, "Where? Which grave?"
He just asked the question casually, without daring to connect it to the Zhu family graves.
Cheng Yongping gave a general description of the location.
The Yu family: The Zhu family's ancestral graves were struck by lightning!!!
Yu Songchuan quickly told Cheng Xiuying about it, and Cheng Xiuying slapped her thigh, "Mom, why didn't you tell me? We almost missed something important. Quick! Let's go to the county committee!"
Don't let anyone else find out and go rob the grave first.
Grandma Cheng didn't understand: "What?"
Cheng Xiuying put aside the things she had prepared for Old Lady Cheng: "Great news! Don't take the things yet, I'm taking you to do something important. Mr. Liu, could you please drive us?"
The whole family rushed out and squeezed onto the tractor.
Without saying a word, Master Liu started the tractor, which immediately roared and spewed black smoke as it headed straight for the county government compound.
There were still quite a lot of people queuing up today. When Grandma Cheng heard that she could get steamed buns and porridge by queuing up, she wanted to join the queue!
Cheng Xiuying ran inside to ask her superiors for instructions. She learned that the Zhu family's ancestral grave had been struck by lightning, which might be a new directive, and suggested that the grave be dug up.
Lu Chenzhou: ...
He looked at Cheng Xiuying for a few seconds and said, "I'll go with the comrades from the Revolutionary Committee."
He suspected that Cheng Xiuying knew something, but he had no evidence.
The Revolutionary Committee has been reorganized, but now it has fewer people, mostly the ones Lu Chenzhou used in the commune. He selected about ten comrades from the Revolutionary Committee to accompany him. After taking their tools, they boarded the county committee's tractor, and the two tractors roared off.
The car quickly drove out of the city and finally stopped at the intersection. The Zhu Family Cemetery was just ahead.
From afar, everyone could see that the old jujube tree beside the Zhu family ancestral grave had been split in two by lightning, its charred branches lying menacingly to one side. Even more horrifying, a grave mound had also been cracked open by the lightning, revealing a deep fissure.
Seeing this scene, Cheng Xiuying felt extremely relieved. She had originally had to create an opportunity to dig up the grave, but now she didn't need to. When luck came, it was unstoppable. She shouted, "Long live the Chairman! There must be something dirty in this grave!! Let's go dig it up!"
She picked up a hoe, got off the tractor, took Sibao from the tractor, and carried the hoe through the puddles to the grave.
The others shouted "Long live the Chairman!" and jumped off the tractor, carrying their tools, and followed Cheng Xiuying to the cemetery in a grand procession.
Yu Jiajia lifted her skirt and followed along into the water.
The crack wasn't the one they dug; it was from another grave.
However, at this point, we should definitely start by excavating from the crack.
Cheng Xiuying swung her hoe into the crack, and the others followed suit, digging the grave. After a heavy rain, the soil around the grave had loosened, and they soon dug three meters deep, revealing the nearly rotten coffin inside. The coffin had no nails, and Cheng Xiuying pried it open with her hoe.
The stark white bones inside were exposed.
There was nothing of value to be seen, so Yu Jiajia peered ahead.
Yu Songchuan jumped into the coffin, turned it over with an iron shovel, kicked the skull aside, and looked at the wooden pillow underneath. The pillow was quite large, like a small suitcase, and very sturdy. It hadn't rotted at all. He reached out and started to turn the pillow over. Something was wrong. The pillow was extremely heavy!
"Mom, here you go."
He threw the wooden pillow directly onto the shore, and the mud and water on it splashed out.
Yu Jiajia was afraid of getting mud splashed on her, so she instinctively backed away.
The ground was slippery, and as she stepped back, her foot slipped and she almost fell into a mud pit. Yu Jiamin, who was next to her, reacted quickly and pulled her back.
Almost simultaneously, Lu Chenzhou also reached out his hand, but was a fraction of a step too late. He withdrew his hand without making a sound, his gaze remaining fixed on the wooden pillow.
Cheng Xiuying caught the wooden pillow steadily, placed it on the ground, and carefully disassembled it. Yu Songchuan climbed out of the grave pit and also went over to disassemble the wooden pillow. When they opened it, everyone was surprised.
Inside, there was a dense array of buttons and tangled red and green wires...
Yu Songchuan was shocked: "This, this is a wireless telegraph machine! The Zhu family are really enemy spies! They actually hid this thing in their ancestral graves."
Everyone present was extremely excited, as they had actually found conclusive evidence that Zhu Jinsong was an enemy spy.
Did Zhu Jinsong use this thing to send messages?
Cheng Xiuying: "Keep digging!"
They simply carried the coffin out. The coffin had been there for so long that it was rotten. After it was carried out, the bones were scattered all over the ground, but no one cared. They were all ancestors of enemy agents, so it was good enough that they weren't kicked a few times.
They dug up all the graves, and finally came to the coffin they had dug up yesterday. Inside were small boxes. When they opened one, they found glittering gold jewelry inside. Everyone was astonished. The Zhu family had actually hidden such treasures!
The Revolutionary Committee members immediately inventoried the supplies, categorized and numbered the ten small boxes, registered them, and loaded them onto the tractor. Lu Chenzhou also boarded the tractor with the wireless telegraph machine. If this radio could still transmit and receive messages, they might be able to intercept the enemy's encrypted instructions and even infiltrate their intelligence network.
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Author's Note: If you don't like these overly complicated, plot-driven, lucky-farming storylines, please let me know in the comments, and I'll write fewer of them later. I feel like everyone prefers slice-of-life stories, and I'm not sure if you'll like this kind. My writing is a bit unrealistic, and I'm afraid you won't like it. [Please][Please]
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