She thought the cave would be very deep and big, but to her surprise, she only had to walk around the cave twice before reaching the bottom.
The bottom was piled with a lot of messy things, including firewood, straw, a thick layer of silt, and even some residual water in the low-lying areas.
Looking up, it's easy to understand why: rainwater must have flowed in and down the steps.
Some small animal carcasses were also found inside, but nothing else.
But Xiao Jiu always felt that since so much effort was put into digging such a cave, especially since it wasn't a natural cave but rather something that had been piled up later, there shouldn't be so little stuff in it.
Especially the steps that circle the cave twice—why not just go straight down? Why make it so complicated?
So she started walking slowly around the two sets of steps, feeling her way along the wall as she went, and even tapping the wall with something.
Unexpectedly, she actually found the difference; on the second basement level, she could feel the difference between the real stone and the fake one.
Aside from the different temperatures, textures, and echoes of the stones, the main difference was that she vaguely felt as if she had pressed a switch, and as the stone door opened, a warehouse of several hundred square meters appeared before her.
After confirming that there were also mechanisms to open inside, she cautiously stepped inside.
Guns, ammunition, various machetes, and food were found, and many boxes were found among them. Inside the boxes were account books.
She could only tell from the font that this was the property of a bandit during the Republic of China era. As for why it had been hidden until now and had not been discovered, that was the reason.
It's possible that those who knew this secret are all dead, or perhaps they've forgotten and can't be found.
In short, regardless of the reason, not to mention the large number of firearms and ammunition, the key point is that there was well-preserved rice with its husk still on, piled up in the barn. Perhaps because it was tightly sealed, the rice had not spoiled.
Thinking that this was good fortune bestowed upon her by heaven, Xiao Jiu did not hesitate to confiscate it all.
After calmly storing the contents of the secret room in his private stash, Xiao Jiu left the room and continued to explore along the stone wall.
Sure enough, on the first floor, which is directly opposite the second floor, they found the second secret room.
If the first secret room filled her with dread, then the second secret room was a delightful surprise.
Boxes were stacked one on top of another, along with ancient books, documents, and paintings scattered haphazardly on the ground.
She opened one of the boxes at random and was so overwhelmed by the golden light that she couldn't open her eyes. There were large and small yellow croakers, jewelry, jade bracelets, antiques, and calligraphy and paintings—so many that she couldn't even count them all. She subconsciously swallowed and grabbed a large yellow croaker with trembling hands.
This one must weigh over 300 grams, right?
She had only ever seen small yellow croakers before, and this was the first time she had ever seen a large yellow croaker. But when she saw one, she ordered a whole box, no, possibly N boxes.
Now he was completely convinced that this was the treasure that the bandits had hidden back then. With these things, it would be enough for her for a lifetime, and even for her descendants.
When such a large sum of money suddenly came her way, she accepted it without any hesitation.
How could I not accept the money after all the hardships I've endured? I'm also glad that this trip wasn't in vain.
After clearing out the second secret room and confirming that there were no more tricks in the two rooms and that no new mechanisms could be found on the surrounding walls, Xiao Jiu entered the space with a clear conscience. Because the child had woken up, there was another flurry of activity. She held the child and comforted him for a long time before she went to take stock of the things.
Aside from gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, and calligraphy and paintings, the key discovery was also aged cured meat, and the grain was roughly estimated to be over ten thousand kilograms.
The stockpile of firearms and ammunition is enough for a battalion, which is quite a lot. She has no use for these; she'll have to find a way to donate them later.
As for all that gold and silver jewelry, after the initial surprise, there wasn't much desire to do anything with it.
After all, she wasn't short of money and had no urge to spend it, so naturally, the value of those items wasn't apparent.
But you can pile them up here and admire these beautiful jewels; after all, nobody dislikes money.
The rain stopped the next day, and after realizing there was no danger, Xiao Jiu left the cave.
After she came out, she realized why no one had discovered this place. It was because there was a steep hillside up there. If she hadn't slipped and fallen into the cave, the cave entrance would have been surrounded by thorny bushes and various thorny jujube trees of all sizes, so no one would have come this way or discovered the cave entrance.
The terrain inside the mountains is complex. It took three to five days of wandering around before we finally found a road leading out of the mountains. No wonder so many trafficked people in my past life could never get out of the mountains. As soon as they ran out, they were quickly caught and brought back.
During the days she was searching, she had already encountered four or five groups of people, one of whom was followed by Sister Mei, clearly looking for her.
I dared not walk during the day, and at night I would only walk in sections after confirming the direction, and I would hide whenever I heard any noise.
She knew that after being missing for so many days, people outside must be frantically searching for her, but she dared not walk during the day for fear of being captured by human traffickers again.
Now, she no longer wants to venture into the lion's den; she just wants to find her family, including her baby, as soon as possible.
These days, the child has exhausted her, and she has lost all interest and sense of mission.
The baby was well cared for, and even the jaundice on his body had subsided considerably, showing that drinking the water infused with Artemisia capillaris had an effect.
After wandering around for a while, on the eighth day after she went missing, she finally found the Luanxian Police Station as dusk fell, carrying her child.
To make people believe how hard she had been these past few days, she made herself look extremely disheveled. She hadn't showered or washed her hair, her hair was disheveled, and she smelled terrible. Her clothes were also tattered, and she and her child both had a slight fever.
In fact, she developed a high fever the day after being caught in the rain, but did not take any medication immediately since the condition was not very serious.
Putting aside how delicate children are, she was thinking that the worse their situation was, the more it would highlight how difficult their escape had been.
So she has been relying on acupuncture to keep the temperature within a controllable range.
All her efforts finally paid off. She not only led the baby out of the mountains, but also drew a sketch of the human traffickers after giving her statement. Thanks to her parents for raising her, the sketch was remarkably lifelike. Based on the clues she provided, the police quickly made their deployment.
They were settled in a special care ward at the hospital, and after washing up, a dedicated caregiver took care of their daily needs.
The baby's family arrived faster than her parents, and as she expected, his parents were well-off and not locals.
They only stopped in the county town because his wife was about to give birth; who would have thought the child would be stolen?
If it weren't for their significant influence, human traffickers wouldn't have given up on them so quickly.
It was precisely because the incident had escalated that the search was halted and the group quickly went into hiding.
The baby's mother got so excited that she almost knelt down, but Xiao Jiu helped her up.
"Auntie, you're too kind. I'm in the same boat as him. If I don't take care of him, who will? The doctor has already checked him out, and he's fine. You're still in your postpartum period, so don't overdo it. You should go home now!"
When they offered to take her home, she shook her head.
"No need, my parents have already received the message and are on their way here. Don't go the wrong way. You go first, I'll wait for them here. Don't worry, it's very safe."
Xiao Jiu refused any thanks, including monetary or material assistance, and the couple looked at her sincerely.
"Our surname is Ni, so how about Tao Tao comes up with a name for him?"
Xiao Jiu shook her head. "It's not appropriate to entrust such a formal ceremony to an outsider like me. I'll give him a nickname, Ni Hao. I hope everything will go well for him from now on, that he'll be healthy, and that we'll meet again if fate allows."
The couple thanked her repeatedly with gratitude before leaving the county town with her sincerest blessings.
More than two hours later, she, who had survived the ordeal, finally met her parents, who looked several years older, and her sisters, who burst into tears as soon as they saw her.
"Okay, stop crying, I'm fine now."
"That's great, really great! Shall I spin around and show you?"
"If you were perfectly fine, why would you be staying in the hospital?"
"I caught a fever a few days ago from being caught in the rain, but it's gone now."
They only arranged for me to stay here for a medical check-up.
Before giving her statement, she had already planned what to say. She would say what she could say and vaguely gloss over what she couldn't say.
After spending so many days wandering in the mountains, it's perfectly normal to not remember this place or that place.
They survived by drinking muddy water and eating wild mushrooms and vegetables.
To convince them, she deliberately ate poisonous mushrooms, the kind with a mild toxin.
This would allow them to easily test her blood for toxins.
As for how the baby survived, she simply gave a bag of biscuits that had been soaked by the rain to appease her.
They told the police that, and naturally, their parents told them the same thing. Only Cuihua and Cuihong knew that Xiaojiu would definitely be safe.
A simple "Are you really okay?"
Xiao Jiu nodded in response, "Don't worry, I'm perfectly fine."
The lost treasure was found, and somehow the newspaper found out about it and gathered outside the police station wanting to interview them.
Fortunately, Tao Changyi reacted quickly, had the strong Cuihong lead the way, and carried her away.
The two- or three-hour mountain road journey from Luanxian to Luoshi was very difficult; Xiaojiu even vomited.
After living in fear for so many days, it's no wonder her health couldn't have improved. If Xiao Jiu hadn't insisted on going back to school, they wouldn't have sent her to Luo City.
"Grandpa and Grandma don't know, do they? Did you let something slip?"
"How could we dare let them know about this? But this has served as a reminder to us that you must let us know when you take the bus back to pick you up in the future, remember?"
Xiao Jiu realized what had happened and lowered her head to admit her mistake: "I understand. I will definitely call first next time."
The group took her to the Weng family's courtyard, where she had a meal with Cuiju before returning to the county town.
Because everyone has been looking for drinks these days, no one has had a good rest. Cuihua and Tao Changyi have both taken leave and are eager to go back to work.
Cuihong was still thinking about going home to let everyone know she was safe, so in the end she didn't leave anyone behind. When only Xiaojiu and Cuiju were left in the rented room, she hugged Xiaojiu tightly...
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