Ignoring Chen Zhe's advice, Hu Ling insisted on getting down.
The thought that Chen Zhe might like her made Hu Ling a little worried. Chen Zhe was now her hand in the outside world, unlike the men who liked her before. She had to make things clear to him.
She looked at Chen Zhe very seriously.
"I know I'm good-looking, rich, and smart. I have many, many advantages, but even so, you can't have any improper thoughts about me. Our relationship is that of superior and subordinate, and that will never change. Do you understand?"
"ah?"
Hu Ling's abrupt words left Chen Zhe a little bewildered.
"Sister Hu, what are you saying?"
"Stop playing dumb. I know you. If I openly reject you now, it will make you feel bad and lose face. So you're pretending you don't know anything so I won't find out, right?"
Chen Zhe's eyebrows furrowed into a V-shape, and his lips twitched slightly.
He knew Hu Ling was narcissistic, but he didn't expect her to be this narcissistic.
"Sister Hu, have you misunderstood something?"
"Hehe, what did I misunderstand? It seems you're still playing dumb, Chen Zhe. It's a good thing I rejected you today. I'm not like a woman like Chen Si, and I'm not like any other woman you know. I will never fall for you, and I want you to understand that clearly..."
Chen Zhe interrupted her.
"No, no, no! Sister Hu, you must have misunderstood. I really have no feelings for you at all."
"Hehe, stop pretending. If you weren't interested in me, why did you carry me when I asked you to? And you've been with me for so long without ever asking for overtime pay. You do whatever I tell you to do. What normal person is that obedient?"
"I'm innocent!"
Chen Zhe felt utterly speechless.
"Sister Hu, I initially refused, you heard that, right? I didn't want overtime pay because the salary you give me is already enough. Asking for overtime pay would be a bit excessive. Whatever you ask me to do, I have to do it. Otherwise, you can threaten me. You've made Guan Yingjie such a big enemy for me. If I leave you, how am I supposed to survive? I'm being forced into this by you!"
"Huh? You really don't like me?"
Hu Ling asked in confusion.
"I swear! Even if you were the only woman left in the world, I would never love you, and you can rest assured of that!"
"I...that's good!!! Similarly, I could never like you."
"Thank God!"
Seeing Chen Zhe's relieved expression, Hu Ling, who should have felt relieved, suddenly felt a surge of anger. Chen Zhe had no feelings for her, which was what she wanted, but why did his words sound so infuriating?
After climbing a few steps, she became increasingly angry and suddenly turned around and said something.
"What do you mean you wouldn't like me even if I were the only woman left in the world? Please! You're completely out of my consideration. Even if I were poisoned by love and needed a man to cure me, and you happened to be right next to me, and you were the only man there, I would choose to die immediately rather than give you any chance."
Chen Zhe didn't want to argue with her anymore, but Hu Ling's words were too hurtful to his self-esteem.
"If one day we are stranded on a desert island, and I have to choose between you and the female monkey, I will choose the female monkey."
"Ha, you're so compassionate, you can even connect across species. I'll definitely wish you both well then, and wish you a baby soon!"
"Thanks!"
...
The two of them talked back and forth, neither willing to concede to the other, discussing everything from human emotions to interspecies interactions, from the origin of species to the Big Bang, all to show each other that they would never fall in love.
Time flies when you're bickering. By the time they reached the top of the mountain, the sky was already turning a pale white, a sliver of light was appearing between heaven and earth, the shore was slowly receding, and dawn was approaching.
Following the path they had taken before, Chen Zhe led Hu Ling to the cave where he had discovered the treasure.
After navigating rugged mountain caves and squeezing through cramped spaces, Hu Ling finally saw the treasure Chen Zhe had mentioned.
Even though she was very knowledgeable, she was still frightened by what she saw.
She walked over with her eyes wide open.
He placed his hand on the chest filled with gold and silver.
"I really didn't expect this, I can't believe it's true! There really is treasure here!!!"
Seeing how excited she was, Chen Zhe was a little puzzled. He felt as if he knew Hu Ling.
"Sister Hu, do you know about the treasure?"
Hu Ling nodded; "That's right. I wasn't very sure before. When you were talking about it, I kept having doubts, but now that I see all this, I understand. It turns out it's all true. Qingyun Mountain really does have a treasure!"
"Oh? You've heard about these bandits too?"
Hu Ling chuckled; "These people are not as simple as bandits."
Hu Ling took out a piece of gold and threw it to Chen Zhe, who caught it and looked at it.
Can you see the difference?
"There are words, what about treasury silver?"
"That's right. These people were originally soldiers of the previous dynasty, responsible for escorting these treasury silver. Later, when the world fell into chaos, these people simply became outlaws and took these treasures for themselves."
"Huh? Really? I saw a letter left here that said he was a scholar from the previous dynasty who was forced to become an outlaw."
"The person you're talking about is named Song Dan, right?"
Chen Zhe was surprised. How could Hu Ling know so much? He hadn't shown Hu Ling the letter.
Hu Ling stepped forward, looked at the skeleton on the chair and said, "This person's surname is Song, given name is Dan, courtesy name Wushuang. He was indeed a scholar from the previous dynasty. The reason I know him is because when I was young, I found one of his paintings at a street stall."
Seemingly afraid that Chen Zhe wouldn't believe her, Hu Ling took out her phone, opened her photo album, and found the photo she had saved.
Chen Zhe zoomed in on the photo, saw the signature on the painting, and then took out the letter he had taken from here before. He had brought it with him because he was going to give it to Zhong Yuan today.
I noticed the handwriting at the end.
It really is exactly the same.
"What a coincidence! There really are such coincidences in this world!!!"
He had never mentioned to Hu Ling that he had this letter, nor had he told Zhong Yuan or Zhang Xin'ai.
However, Hu Ling produced this photo by chance.
"When you said you found the treasure, I suspected it was him. I like his paintings, so I studied him and looked through many history books, but there was no record of him in history. I almost thought he was a made-up character and was about to give up. But when I returned to my study at home, I accidentally found information about him. It's really a coincidence that our family has some connection with him. My great-grandfather was from the same village as him. They went to the capital to take the imperial examination together. My great-grandfather passed, but he failed. They exchanged many letters. In the letters, he talked about some of his own experiences. In the last letter, he mentioned the treasury silver. He said that he came to the East China Sea and became a mountain king, uniting the officials and bandits who were holding the treasury silver. He wanted my grandfather to join him in a big plan. When I saw these letters, I really wanted to find the treasury silver. I didn't expect that after so long, I would actually find it here."
Chen Zhe's mouth was wide open.
"There's actually something like this going on? You mean this person was planning a rebellion back then?"
"You could say that. At that time, the world was in chaos, and uprisings were happening in many places. It's normal for him to have such thoughts. That's what makes a real man."
Hu Ling's tone couldn't hide her admiration for this person.
Did your great-grandfather agree to it?
"He probably didn't agree. He had already passed the imperial examination and had a certain status. According to the tradition of our Hu family, we wouldn't do something so risky."
"Oh, your ancestors were quite remarkable. They were already successful candidates in the imperial examinations during the previous dynasty. No wonder your Hu family has achieved its current status. Unlike my family, I know all about my ancestral graves. Going back three generations, we were either farmers or farmhands. We never produced a single decent person."
Chen Zhe made a self-deprecating joke.
People say poverty doesn't last three generations. He counted his family's ancestral graves, and the ones he frequently visited to pay respects at were all poor. You could say they had been consistently poor for hundreds of years.
"That's not how it works. Just because there were rich people in our ancestors doesn't mean we'll stay rich forever. By my grandfather's generation, our Hu family was already very poor. He said he was so poor when he was a child that he stripped the bark off the trees around him and often fainted from hunger. He was extremely destitute. He often taught us that we should always put the interests of the family first. Only when the family is strong will future generations live well."
Chen Zhe laughed and said, "Your grandfather's philosophy is the opposite of mine. When I was little, my grandfather would tell me that suffering a loss is a blessing, and that as long as you have enough money to spend, you don't need to worry too much."
Hearing Grandpa Hu Ling's teachings to the younger generation, Chen Zhe suddenly felt a pang of emotion. He felt that the reason why his Chen family had remained poor for hundreds of years was largely due to this kind of thinking.
His ancestors were either farm laborers or migrant workers. If he hadn't met Hu Ling, he might have been a factory worker in his generation.
Thinking of this, he was still grateful to Hu Ling. Although this woman had been using him, he had also gained things he had never dared to imagine before in the process.
"Sister Hu, would you like to take something back as a souvenir?"
When Hu Ling came, she expressed her desire to take some things with her.
That's why Chen Zhe asked that question.
"No need. I've resolved a knot in my heart, and that's enough for me. Let's go, before it's fully light, let's go back."
"good."
The two left the cave, intending to return the way they came, but as they came out, they inadvertently saw someone standing there in front of them.
Upon noticing someone, the two quickly crouched down and hid in the bushes.
Chen Zhe squinted and looked; "That person looks like Master Xie. It's not even fully light yet, why is he up so early?"
...
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