Little Hongling was barely standing, holding onto a small stool, her two short legs trembling. Seeing her father and brothers run away, she panicked and tried to follow them, but she fell to the ground with a "thud" and started howling at the top of her lungs.
Gao Mingcheng suddenly stopped, turned around and scooped the little girl up, then, along with his two sons, continued running towards the cellar in the backyard.
He jumped down into the cellar in a few strides, and Gao Mingcheng immediately saw Xing Zhaozhao standing in front of the wall. He was so frightened that he almost jumped out of his skin and cried out in alarm, "Zhaozhao?! What are you doing?"
Xing Zhaozhao turned to look at Gao Mingcheng, who had rushed over in a panic, and wanted to explain: "I..."
Gao Mingcheng wouldn't listen. He strode up to her, pulled her away from the wall, and scolded her with a stern face, "Didn't you promise you wouldn't go there again? What are we supposed to do if something like what happened before happens again?"
Xing Zhaozhao looked at Gao Mingcheng helplessly: "I didn't want to go."
Gao Mingcheng asked suspiciously, "You weren't going anywhere, so why did you suddenly come to the cellar? And why did you stand in front of that door?"
“When you came back yesterday, you said you would prepare some things for me and that I could come and pick them up when I had time…” Xing Zhaozhao explained.
"So you still went, didn't you?" Gao Mingcheng asked, his face unusually grim.
“Really, no.” Xing Zhaozhao shook her head and said, “I just opened the door, reached my hand over, and pulled the things over, but I didn’t go over.”
Gao Mingcheng: "..." This is deliberately exploiting the loopholes in his words.
Gao Mingcheng decisively patched up the loophole: "From now on, you're not allowed to put your hand over there, and you're not allowed to open the door." He didn't want anything else to happen to her.
Seeing Gao Mingcheng staring intently at her with an expression that said, "If you don't agree, this isn't over," Xing Zhaozhao had no choice but to nod and agree, "I understand." Actually, there was no future anyway, since she had already gotten her things back.
"What have I prepared for you?" Gao Mingcheng asked.
“Look, they’re all here.” Xing Zhaozhao pointed to the side.
Gao Mingcheng turned his head and saw 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 6 storage boxes, stacked up to be more than a person tall.
Gao Mingcheng frowned and asked, "Why are there so many? What's in them?"
"I don't know, I haven't had a chance to look yet, and you've already come over." Xing Zhaozhao said as she carried half of the box down.
Each box had a name tag attached to it. In addition to one for each of the five members of their family, there was another box containing items for Fu Lan and the old principal's family.
"This is mine, this is for Mingcheng, and this is for you two brothers..." Xing Zhaozhao distributed the boxes to them.
The two little ones were excited when they saw their boxes, and they immediately grabbed them, opened them, and started rummaging through them.
Gao Mingcheng was somewhat surprised when he took the box from him: "You even have one?"
"Hmm." Xing Zhaozhao nodded, guessing that he had prepared it for himself, and curiously leaned over, saying, "Quickly open it and see what's inside."
Gao Mingcheng casually opened it, and the two of them were immediately stunned. A box full of kraft paper document bags, all stuffed full and neatly piled inside.
Gao Mingcheng casually picked one up, opened it and glanced at it. His face immediately changed color. He quickly stuffed the item back in, closed the box, and looked around. Finding no lock, he couldn't help but grumble inwardly: Damn it, they didn't even bother to use a lockable box when they delivered this. What if someone finds out?
Xing Zhaozhao could tell from Gao Mingcheng's expression that the contents of his suitcase were probably not something he wanted to share, so she didn't ask any further questions and went to rummage through her own suitcase.
The first thing she saw was a thick stack of letters. Besides those for her, everyone in the family had received one, even Xiao Hongling, even though she couldn't understand them at all. There were also letters for Fu Lan and her godparents. Xing Zhaozhao put them all aside and carefully put them away, planning to take them to them when she went to Dacheng Street tomorrow.
The rest are all durable gold and silver jewelry. Just by looking at those dazzling gemstones, you can tell they must be quite expensive and could be kept as family heirlooms.
Inside, Xing Zhaozhao was most satisfied with a box of gold bars. Combined with the ones she had saved up before, she would never have to worry about money again.
The next day, after breakfast, Xing Zhaozhao prepared to go with Gao Mingcheng and the children to visit Fu Lan and the old principal's family in town.
Unexpectedly, they came over on their own before I even had a chance to leave the house.
Hearing the knock, Xing Zhaozhao went to open the door. When she saw Fu Lan, the old principal, Grandma Qin, and Xiao Qin standing outside, she couldn't help but exclaim with delight, "Xiao Lan? Godfather and Godmother? And Xiao Shi? What brings you all here?"
When Fu Lan saw Xing Zhaozhao in person, her eyes immediately welled up with tears. She rushed over and hugged her tightly, sobbing, "That's wonderful, Sister Xing, you're finally back safe and sound."
Xing Zhaozhao patted Fu Lan's back reassuringly, then smiled at the old principal and Grandma Qin: "I just got back. I was planning to come over with Mingcheng and the children to surprise you, but I didn't expect you to come by yourself. How did you know?"
Grandma Qin sniffed, her nose stinging with tears. Seeing that Xing Zhaozhao looked well, she felt relieved and said, "Qingshan came to our house late last night to tell you, which made Xiaolan so excited that she almost couldn't resist running over to see you that very night. We had to persuade her to stay. This morning, she couldn't wait any longer and came over together."
As she spoke, Old Mrs. Qin looked at Xing Zhaozhao with concern and asked, "Did anything happen to you over there?"
Xing Zhaozhao shook her head, comforted Fu Lan, reached out and took Old Madam Qin's hand, and led her, the old principal, and young Qin Shi into the house to sit down.
"It's nothing, I was just held up by something over there," Xing Zhaozhao said casually.
Grandma Qin didn't believe it, her face hardening as she said, "If there's nothing wrong, why would we be stuck there for two months?"
Fearing that Xing Zhaozhao would continue to cover up the truth and refuse to tell the whole story, Old Madam Qin simply looked at Gao Mingcheng and asked, "What exactly happened?"
Gao Mingcheng ignored Xing Zhaozhao's wink and honestly told Old Madam Qin about Tan Juan's matter.
Upon hearing this, Old Mrs. Qin's expression changed. She warned Xing Zhaozhao with a stern face, "You're not allowed to go there again. If you really get trapped there and come back, what will happen to Mingcheng? What will happen to the three children?"
The former headmaster nodded in agreement.
Xing Zhaozhao glared at Gao Mingcheng with dissatisfaction, then looked helplessly at Old Madam Qin and said with a smile, "I promised Mingcheng that I wouldn't go there again."
"Oh, right, there are also some things here for Xiao Fu and his godparents when they were little," Gao Mingcheng suddenly said, then carried a box out of the house.
Grandma Qin looked over in surprise: "What is it? Why are you preparing things for us again? You don't need to spend so much money."
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