Liu Gouzi dashed off to town and found his old friend Wang Xiaofa, whom he usually hung out with, in a bungalow in a corner of the back street.
"Brother Fa, I think I've found the ginseng you're looking for," Liu Gouzi said excitedly to Wang Xiaofa.
Wang Xiaofa's brother is in charge of the town's black market. Although it's a shady business, he does quite well because he has some connections in the speculation and profiteering office.
Finally, he heard that someone higher up wanted to find some ginseng that was quite old, and he wanted to take this opportunity to expand his network and help solve the problem, but unfortunately he couldn't find a way in.
Wang Xiaofa had always lived off his brother, so when he heard about this, he wanted to help out. He mobilized his underlings to go out and search, hoping they might just stumble upon something by sheer luck.
Before Wang Xiaofa could even rejoice at Liu Gouzi's claim of finding ginseng, he noticed the word "maybe" in Liu's words, his face darkened, and he immediately slapped Liu across the face.
"Maybe? It's not even certain yet, why are you coming here to tell me? You almost made me happy for nothing."
Liu Gouzi quickly covered his head, squatted on the ground, and shouted, "Hey, hey, Brother Fa, don't hit me yet. Although I didn't see it with my own eyes, this matter is definitely 80-90% true."
As he spoke, he told Wang Xiaofa everything about how Grandma Gao saw Xing Zhaozhao find wild berries in the mountains.
Wang Xiaofa initially didn't believe it: "At this time of year, you think I'm stupid? You're kidding me."
“It’s true, my aunt saw it with her own eyes. Apparently, they found a treasure trove in the mountains. Think about it, if it’s a treasure trove, it can’t just have wild strawberries, right?” Liu Gouzi said, looking at Wang Xiaofa eagerly.
Wang Xiaofa thought about it and agreed. He got up to go find his brother: "I'll go tell my brother."
Liu Gouzi quickly grabbed him: "Hey, hey, Brother Fa, don't be in such a hurry."
Wang Xiaofa turned to look at him, puzzled.
“We haven’t even gotten the ginseng yet, what’s the point of telling Fei Ge now, Brother Fa?” Liu Gouzi said.
"Of course we'll go find someone to buy it right away," Wang Xiaofa said matter-of-factly.
Liu Gouzi looked at Wang Xiaofa with a strange glint in his eyes: "A single ginseng root must cost several hundred yuan, and they're all picked from the mountains. Why waste that money? Besides, what if she refuses to sell? Wouldn't that be a wasted effort?"
Wang Xiaofa immediately understood the implication in his words, and raised an eyebrow slightly: "So, what you mean is..."
“Her family lives up in the mountains now, there are no other houses around, and there are no men at home, just a woman with three children. We can sneak in quietly, find what we need, and leave without anyone noticing,” Liu Gouzi said, looking meaningfully at Wang Xiaofa.
Wang Xiaofa frowned, somewhat hesitant.
If this gets discovered, it'll be terrible. He's living such a comfortable life now, he doesn't want to be sent to a labor camp.
“A single ginseng root costs several hundred yuan. None of us brothers have ever seen that much money before. Why let that woman benefit from it? Besides, hasn’t Brother Fei always complained that Brother Fa isn’t making any progress? If you help him find the ginseng this time, he’ll definitely look at you in a new light. Then you can just say we found it ourselves in the mountains,” Liu Gouzi continued to tempt him.
Wang Xiaofa was completely tempted. After a moment of silence, he quickly nodded and agreed: "Okay, I'll do it. Tonight. You know the place, you lead the way."
"Alright, Brother Fa, don't worry." Liu Gouzi said excitedly.
In the dead of night, everyone in the village was asleep, and all was quiet except for the occasional bark of a dog coming from somewhere.
Liu Gouzi led Fa Ge and his group silently into the village and headed straight up the mountain.
Although Liu Gouzi used to come to the village often, he mostly went to his aunt's house to freeload and wasn't very familiar with the situation on the mountain. To ensure everything went smoothly, he came in advance to scout the area and also found two people in the village who used to play with him to go with him.
The group, familiar with the area, made their way up the mountain in the dark.
Soon, in the darkness, the dark outline of the stone house came into view.
"We're here, it's just ahead," Liu Gouzi said in a low voice, pointing.
Wang Xiaofa immediately began to follow the plan he had prepared beforehand: "Da Mao and Er Mao, keep watch at the crossroads. The rest of you, come with me to climb over the wall. Be quiet and try not to disturb anyone. If we have no choice but to wake someone up, tie her up quickly and gag her. Make sure she doesn't make a sound. Even if we're far from the village and won't disturb the villagers, we can't let our guard down. Once we find the item, we'll leave immediately."
"Understood, Brother Fa," the others replied in unison.
The group then split into two groups. Except for Da Mao and Er Mao, who stayed at the crossroads to keep watch, the others followed Wang Xiaofa to the outside of Xing Zhaozhao's house wall and formed a human ladder to climb over.
Little Hongling woke up once in the middle of the night. Xing Zhaozhao fed her milk, and she had just lain down when she suddenly heard rustling sounds outside.
Startled, she immediately sat up in bed.
Oh no, there's a thief!
She quickly got out of bed, slipped on her shoes, and rushed to the door, pressing her ear against it to listen carefully.
They've already entered the house, and judging from the noise, there's more than one or two thieves coming tonight.
She was a little confused. Apart from delivering a bunch of wild strawberries to Aunt Hao's place today, she hadn't flaunted any wealth. So where did she get so many thieves so quickly?
However, she didn't have time to think about that now, as two thieves had already reached her door.
Xing Zhaozhao thought for a moment, then opened the door.
The two thieves, hunched over, had just reached the doorway and hadn't even had a chance to push it open when they were startled to see the previously closed door suddenly open by itself. When they looked up, they saw a person standing there, looking down at them.
It was pitch black, and they couldn't make out what they looked like, but the oppressive feeling from above still made the two thieves' pupils shrink, their legs tremble, and they instinctively opened their mouths to scream.
Xing Zhaozhao delivered two punches to their temples, instantly knocking them unconscious.
Immediately following this were two loud "thump" sounds as the heavy object hit the ground.
Wang Xiaofa and Liu Gouzi had just reached the door of the room where Hongfei and Hongyu were staying when they heard the noise. Startled, they whispered towards Xing Zhaozhao, "Keep your voice down! Have you forgotten why we're here? Don't wake them up."
After saying that, he prepared to go with Liu Gouzi to push open the door to Hongfei and Hongyu's room.
Xing Zhaozhao tiptoed over and patted him on the shoulder.
Wang Xiaofa was furious.
Do these people even know what they're here for? So much trouble.
He turned his head sharply and growled, "What?"
Xing Zhaozhao crouched down and looked him in the eye: "What are you doing?"
Wang Xiaofa's eyes widened in terror, his mouth opened wide, and he instinctively tried to scream, but his throat seemed to be blocked, and he couldn't make a sound.
Xing Zhaozhao rolled her eyes, too lazy to waste words with him, and knocked him unconscious with a single punch.
Seeing that things were going badly, Liu Gouzi turned around and tried to run away, but Xing Zhaozhao grabbed him by the collar and pulled him back.
By this time, Xing Zhaozhao's eyes had adjusted to the darkness.
Holding Liu Gouzi up close and staring at him for a moment, Xing Zhaozhao narrowed her eyes slightly.
She seemed to recognize the face.
She probably realized where the thief had come from.
With a "bang," he was knocked unconscious and tossed aside. Xing Zhaozhao rolled up her sleeves and continued to deal with the others.
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