On the way, Shen Yanming and Bi Qiaoan remained silent.
It wasn't until they got home that Bi Qiaoan asked, "What happened just now? Why did Wen Mengguan get so angry?"
Shen Yanming was in a low mood. "I made a mistake regarding Yuan Jiasi."
I assumed that Li Gangtie, being the captain, would tell me everything when questioned. Unsure if I could talk about the treasure, I only told Captain Guo that I hadn't contacted Yuan Jiasi, without mentioning the treasure at all.
"Wen Mengguan is right to criticize. My detachment and indifference as a mere spectator is somewhat callous. If I had mentioned it at noon, the guards might have sent people to search and rescue, instead of letting it drag on until late at night."
"That Li Gangtie..."
“He had something to do and went out today. He won’t be back until tonight.” Shen Yanming sighed. “Honey, what if Yuan Jiasi gets into trouble because of the half-day I was delayed? How am I supposed to face him?”
Bi Qiaoan gently hugged him: "Don't think so much, I don't blame you. He's an adult and should pay the price for his actions. If he hadn't acted recklessly, neither of you would have been implicated and scolded."
"But I still feel uneasy." Shen Yanming ultimately felt guilty, believing he bore some responsibility. If that secret passage hadn't been discovered, none of this would have happened.
Bi Qiaoan didn't know how to comfort him. This was probably a knot in his heart that couldn't be untied in a short time.
"This is just our guess; it doesn't necessarily mean something happened to him. Maybe he just went somewhere for fun," Bi Qiaoan said, somewhat self-deceptively.
Shen Yanming shook his head. "I have a feeling, a very bad feeling."
"Go and see for yourself. You'll only know the result once you see it with your own eyes. But remember, I'm here at home, with An'an and Nuannuan, waiting for you to come back."
Bi Qiaoan was worried that Shen Yanming was too preoccupied and might cause an accident.
So she deliberately mentioned the mother and her two children, and even picked up An'an and put her in Shen Yanming's arms, saying, "Baby, Daddy has to go out to work and won't be back until tomorrow. Give him a kiss."
An'an looked up and gave Shen Yanming a quick kiss on the chin, then giggled.
Bi Qiaoan picked up Nuannuan and gave Shen Yanming a kiss, saying, "No matter what the outcome, you must remember that we love you!"
Shen Yanming smiled with relief, bent down and kissed Bi Qiaoan on the forehead: "Don't worry, I'll take good care of myself."
After saying that, he put An'an back in the stroller, glanced at the mother and daughter, and left.
After the door closed, Bi Qiaoan muttered for a long time, "She left without even eating. I don't know if she can stand the cold night."
I sighed and went to cook for my two little ones. But I wasn't in the mood, and even steaming the eggs felt a bit perfunctory.
As soon as Shen Yanming reached the bottom of the building, he saw Li Gangtie and Wen Mengguan approaching.
Wen Chao decided to go and see for himself, otherwise he would feel uneasy.
The three waited for a few minutes, and then Liang Huaxin arrived with about twenty guards.
Because the snow had been cleared beforehand, the roads were still passable. The group didn't linger and drove straight to Sigou Village.
The night was quiet, which made the sounds of their convoy seem particularly loud.
Shen Yanming, Li Gangtie, Wen Chaohui, and Liang Huaxin were in one car. Apart from the driver and Wen Mengguan, the remaining three could be considered the parties involved in this incident. However, due to various reasons, they were unable to gather information together, causing the rescue to be delayed by nearly ten hours.
If they manage to rescue the person, that's fine, even if they're already dead. But if they've been dead for less than half a day, these people are in serious trouble.
The car was silent, or rather, everyone who knew the details of the mission was silent.
Liang Huaxin and his team knew the location of the mission. They had found the treasure in the secret passage based on Li Gangtie's directions after their previous meeting.
It's fair to say they took the treasure away that very night.
But Yuan Jiasi didn't know that Li Gangtie was hiding something and wanted to take it away himself, so on the night after the team finished their work, he and his family returned to Sigou Village...
The group parked their car outside the village and walked to the bottom of the ravine. The sight before them stunned everyone except Wen Chaohui.
That not-so-high mountain was half-collapsed.
Wen Chaohui was startled. "Go find the entrance to the secret passage."
Li Gangtie nodded and began searching along the foot of the mountain with Liang Huaxin.
Because Liang Huaxin had entered through the exit and taken the boxes of valuables, he had no idea where the entrance was. However, the two were focused and found it in less than five minutes.
After clearing away the snow blocking the entrance, they discovered that half of the cave dwelling had collapsed. Several shovels on the ground were also deformed by the falling stones.
Li Gangtie took out a few tools and walked up to Wen Chaohui to report the situation: "These tools are the ones we accidentally left behind when we were in trouble last time."
Wen Chaohui nodded, his heart heavy. He asked, "Can the tunnel be dug? Is it safe?"
The group shook their heads. "The terrain here is low-lying; it might be dangerous."
"Let's ask the villagers what's going on!" Wen Chaohui said, and headed towards the village.
The guards followed behind him, all in silence.
Li Gangtie had stayed at Aunt Yanfang's house for almost a week and had become familiar with her family, so he took some people directly to Aunt Yanfang's house. However, when he knocked on the door, he called out, "Uncle Tiegen, are you asleep?"
"No, who is it?" Wang Tiegen got up and opened the door latch, and was surprised to see Li Gangtie.
"Oh, Captain Li, what brings you back? What's wrong now? Come in, come in, it's cold outside!"
Li Gangtie waved his hand, "Uncle, we're not going in. We just came to ask about something. Do you know what happened to that mountain in the village? We went there to do a mission and found that the mountain had collapsed."
"Sigh, don't even mention it, we don't know what happened either. Just two days ago, in the middle of the night, we suddenly heard a loud bang. We thought there had been an explosion somewhere, so the villagers quickly got dressed and went to check, only to find that the mountain had collapsed."
Isn't it amazing? A perfectly good mountain, and it just collapsed like that.
"Two days ago, in the middle of the night?"
“Yes, it was the night you left, it was quite late.” Wang Tiegen slapped his thigh and said with emotion, “You guys are really blessed by God. The mountain collapsed right after you left. If you had stayed another day, you might have gotten hurt.”
Li Gangtie nodded. "Was anyone injured in the village?"
"No, who would go out in the middle of the night? The village chief has already checked, everyone is at home, it's fine."
"That's good, that's good." Li Gangtie turned to look at Wen Chaohui, and seeing him nod slightly, he said, "Uncle Tiegen, you should go home and get some sleep. We came here today just to ask about this matter."
"That's it? You don't need my help? There are plenty of able-bodied men in our village. Just let me know if you need anything."
Li Gangtie nodded, "Sigh, I'll come and ask for your help if I need it."
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com