“Look at this, there’s nothing here,” Aunt Shufen said.
Dean Duan had someone bring a flashlight and a ladder, preparing to go down himself.
Luo Yunhang stepped forward: "Dean Duan, let me do it!"
Dean Duan looked at him and thought to himself that this kid was clever and might actually discover something.
"Okay." He then handed the flashlight to Luo Yunhang.
Luo Yunhang was genuinely afraid. If they went down and got lost again, he wouldn't be able to give them any more hints. He had already given them three hints, and he was practically becoming one of them.
Well, this cellar was used by Village Chief Qin as a cover. The real entrance was actually on one side of the cellar, but it was not easy for unprepared people to find it. That's why they say an old fox is cunning and has three burrows.
Luo Yunhang had someone fetch a bucket of water for him and lower it down with a rope. He then took a flashlight and went down himself.
After looking around, I found that apart from a pile of yellow soil and some tools, there was nothing else in the cellar.
Luo Yunhang set up the flashlight, picked up the water ladle from the bucket, and began to splash water onto the wall, ladle by ladle.
Xiang Tianhong also came down to help.
Bucket after bucket of water was passed down the river, leaving everyone puzzled and wondering what they were doing.
Village Chief Qin's heart was pounding. He knew he might have to admit defeat today.
Luo Yunhang knew the door was there, and he could clearly see the man inside, who was leaning over the door to listen after hearing the noise outside.
But he couldn't possibly find the door right away, that would be too far-fetched, unless he was an accomplice, how could he know the other party's location so clearly?
To avoid being misunderstood, he had to find a way to openly and legitimately find the door.
Splashing water is a great method.
These cellars are filled with loess. If water is poured in, it will quickly seep into any cracks, making it easy to spot the door.
The two quickly poured water all over the cellar, and after a minute or two, they could clearly see unusual marks on one side of the wall.
"Dean Duan, we've made a discovery!" Xiang Tianhong excitedly shouted as he rushed upstairs.
Dean Duan breathed a sigh of relief. Thank goodness, the gods and Buddhas have finally discovered something; otherwise, things would have been really difficult to handle today.
He quickly called a few more people to come down and help.
Normally, this stone door can be pushed by just one person, but now, even with four or five people pushing it in, the stone doesn't budge.
The reason is that after hearing the commotion outside, the people inside blocked the stone door with many heavy objects in an attempt to sneak through.
"Is this really a door? Why can't I push it open?!"
"It looks like a door, but I can't push it open. Could there be some kind of mechanism?"
"Yunhang, what do you think we should do?" Everyone looked at Luo Yunhang.
Unbeknownst to many, Luo Yunhang had become everyone's pillar of support.
Luo Yunhang's gaze fell on the wall, but he was actually looking at the people inside. He moved all the heavy objects he could carry from the cellar to the doorway and piled them up. With the weight of the stone door, even if a few more people came, it would be difficult to move it.
Since that's the case, then don't blame him for being ruthless.
"I have an idea. Let's go up first and talk about it." Luo Yunhang was the first to climb up.
The person inside, hearing no movement outside, assumed that the person outside had given up and left, and only then did he feel relieved.
Twenty minutes later, he suddenly smelled a strange odor.
Then he clearly saw wisps of smoke drifting in through the cracks in the stone door, more and more, thicker and thicker.
"Damn it, you son of a bitch, I xxx..." the man began to curse from inside.
It turned out that after Luo Yunhang went up, he had someone cut some fresh tree branches, set them on fire, and throw them into the cellar before covering it up.
Fresh branches and leaves cannot be burned into a strong fire, only producing billowing smoke.
Either you choke to death inside, or you roll out on your own. It's that simple.
When they found the stone gate, Aunt Shufen was already stunned. She probably really didn't know the inside story, otherwise she wouldn't have been so sure that her husband was innocent.
"Husband, you haven't done anything wrong, have you?" Aunt Shufen looked at her husband in a daze.
Village Chief Qin looked away, not daring to look at her.
Aunt Shufen knows her husband so well; there's nothing she doesn't understand from that expression.
She grabbed his clothes and said, "Why? What did you do? Our family is doing just fine now, why did you do something so foolish!"
You should quickly and honestly confess to Dean Duan and try to get leniency!
Village Chief Qin shook his head with a distressed face: "It's too late, it's all too late."
Once he made a mistake for money, there was no going back.
"Dean Duan, it's all my fault, it has nothing to do with my family. Please don't make things difficult for them."
Village Chief Qin stood up and looked at Duan Jie. He had been clinging to a sliver of hope, thinking that a few young punks couldn't possibly expose him.
But when Luo Yunhang used the smoke attack, he knew he was completely finished.
Now I just hope that his family won't be implicated.
The people around him were shocked when he finally confessed, and some even started to curse. Who would have thought that the kind and amiable village chief Qin would collude with outsiders to steal cultural relics from the grotto?
The village chief's parents, two elderly people nearing seventy, knelt on the ground, crying and pleading: "My child definitely didn't do it on purpose, please give him a chance to correct his mistake."
Those who watch it feel an indescribable sadness.
Village Chief Qin knelt on the ground and kowtowed to the two elderly people: "Father, Mother, I have wronged you. Please get up."
Aunt Shufen knelt on the ground blankly, her initial vitality gone.
At that moment, coughing and slapping sounds came from below the cellar.
Several people opened the cellar door, and a middle-aged man struggled to climb up from underground, collapsing to the ground coughing incessantly.
He couldn't hold on any longer. Between keeping the secret and saving his life, he chose to save his life first. Although he would face trial or even execution, it was still much better than suffocating to death.
Luo Yunhang and others immediately took him into custody.
After the thick smoke dissipated, the group went down into the cellar again, where the stone door had been opened.
Goodness, it's practically a small processing workshop inside.
Many counterfeit murals were piled up in the corner, almost indistinguishable from the real ones. It's hard to imagine what the entire grotto would have become if Luo Yunhang hadn't discovered the problem with the mural that day!
The moment the villagers saw the evidence, they understood that the grottoes were their precious treasure and they must protect them well.
The system notification in Luo Yunhang's mind also sounded at the right time: "System task: Prove the innocence of the mute brother."
Completed. Task rewards have been issued; please use them as needed.
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