Cheng Chao couldn't help but smile slightly when he thought about the scene of him simply shaking his head and waving a big flag to scare people, but then he was filled with anxiety again.
"She didn't come looking for me, so where could she have gone?"
Lin Dongfang actually wanted to laugh a little. This was nothing like his usual calm and wise demeanor; it was definitely a case of being flustered by concern. However, this also showed that the Cheng family truly treated Jian Dan as their own child. He exchanged a glance with his wife, both of them smiling.
"Cough, you should know her strength. She's not some little girl who can't handle a little setback and hides away."
She still has the time and inclination to come over and let me feed her dog, so she must have some plans of her own.
Knowing her as we do, she dislikes trouble, so she's most likely taking this opportunity to escape to some peace and quiet. But it's definitely not because she's sad; maybe she's gone into the mountains.
Going into the mountains?
Cheng Jin paused for a moment, then it was really hard to say whether to seek peace and quiet or go sightseeing.
Seeing that he was still fidgeting, Mingzhu simply handed him a simple house key.
"Anyway, you'll have to wait for her; her backyard isn't finished being cleaned yet."
"The back garden?"
Cheng Chao knew the place where he first fell in.
Lin Dongfang reached out to stop him, then paused, noticing Cheng Chao's expression. He seemed flustered; having something to do would be helpful. He continued, picking up where Mingzhu left off.
"Yes, she planted a lot of things in her backyard, and it seems she just started harvesting them."
“Okay,” Cheng Chao said swiftly, taking the keys and turning to leave.
"Then I'll head over there."
Lin Dongfang pursed his lips, followed her outside, and gave her some instructions.
"Just feed the dog yourself. I won't go. Bring the key over when you leave, and then I'll go."
"OK."
"Ah, and there's that plot of land with the children; some of the children still need to go and harvest it today."
Cheng Chao knew this plot of land; he had even watered it before. He waved from a distance without turning back, indicating he understood.
Seeing him lower his head to open the door, Lin Dongfang turned around and went back into the house.
Mingzhu, holding the child, asked,
"It's over?"
"That's all in the past. Honestly, I've never seen him like this before. He knows what kind of skills Jian Dan has, so what's there to worry about?"
Mingzhu rolled her eyes at him.
"Say that, if this were your daughter, think about it, knowing she's skilled and won't be in danger, wouldn't you be worried?"
Lin Dongfang's expression immediately changed.
The emphasis placed on men and women becomes very clear at this point.
Originally, she was simply strong and the work wasn't too much of a burden, but she was lazy, and her arms and legs weren't particularly advantageous. However, Cheng Chao had long arms, long legs, and big hands, which gave him an advantage.
The same piece of land, which Jian Dan would need to move around twenty times for, Cheng Chao could finish in just seven or eight times.
In addition, he was impatient and had no self-discipline when he worked. He came over at noon and by evening, when the sun was about to set, all that was left in the backyard were the few dark green plants and ground cherries that he had reserved for the children. He even cut down the sweet stalks that he had simply reserved for the children, removed the spikes and leaves, and neatly arranged them in the cellar.
The children had almost finished harvesting their little vegetable garden. A pile of potatoes, sweet potatoes, watermelons, and peanuts was stacked in one corner of the garden. When asked to take them away, the children insisted on waiting for Jian Dan to come back before dividing them, as Jian Xin also had a share. Only two small rows of watermelon vines remained as conspicuous packages, which Cheng Chao casually plucked.
As darkness fell, Jian Dan quickened his pace down the mountain.
She had originally planned to stay in the mountains for a few more days, as she had collected a great deal of good stuff there—medicinal herbs, game, and even things hidden in various places in the mountains by unknown people.
She also remarked that the family hiding these things was no ordinary family.
What I'm saying is, even in these deep mountains, it's not something an ordinary person can just walk around in empty-handed, let alone carrying so many heavy things.
If it's not like her having some kind of cheat code, then it's definitely not a small-scale operation. Carrying weapons might have some deterrent effect on wild animals, but probably not much.
She was very happy with her harvesting. She would harvest during the day, and at night she would find a tree to climb and then enter the base space. She ate and slept well, and was even thinking about harvesting the previous area in the remaining two days. Anyway, 99.9% of the items in the deep mountains were unclaimed, so she had no burden.
Who would have thought that just after choosing this big tree, intending to use it as a foothold for the night before entering her space, she bumped into something and heard a rumbling sound like an earthquake. Her feet were shaking, and she couldn't even stand up properly. She was thrown far to the side and didn't even dare to enter her space.
The tremors didn't last long, but she waited a full half hour without hearing any other sounds before tiptoeing back to the tree where the incident had occurred.
All she could hear was the rustling of the wind. Feeling uncertain, she cautiously circled around several times, expanding her search area with each step, until finally, about half a mile away, she discovered a hole with fresh soil.
There was a breeze blowing out from inside, and she tried it; it was fresh.
After listening intently for a while and finding no sound, she slowly crawled into the cave. It seemed to be open-air, with sunlight streaming directly to the entrance, making the entire section of the cave brightly lit. This eased her anxiety somewhat.
The cave is about two hundred meters long, and it's not straight; it's winding and sometimes wide and sometimes narrow.
As you walk deeper into the ground, the area of sunlight projected on the ground becomes increasingly smaller and darker. At the very front, there is a narrow gap, which is also on the side and can be easily missed if you are not paying attention, making you think it is a dead end.
Squeezing through that gap, I was immediately greeted by sunshine and a sense of openness.
However, Jian Dan gasped in shock and reflexively took two steps back, his back pressed against the mountain wall he had just passed, his whole body covered in a layer of cold sweat.
This is a large courtyard, or at least we can call it a courtyard. Actually, it's surrounded by a stone wall. The simple spot is on one side of the courtyard, much higher than the courtyard itself. There are rough steps underfoot that spiral down to the courtyard below.
The courtyard was surrounded by stone walls, but in the corner to the left, a sharp eye spotted a semi-circle of unnatural, indistinct light. It seemed there was a cave in the courtyard, possibly facing outwards, and that was the cave entrance.
What alarmed Jian Dan was not the cave, but the things carelessly piled up in the yard.
Even someone like her, whose hands were stained with countless dropes of blood in her past life and who knew she wasn't a good person, was still somewhat shocked by this spectacular sight.
Having survived gunfire in her past life, Jian Dan is certainly not a naive and innocent girl. Her greatest strength is that she remains calm in the most urgent situations, and she is the same now.
Knowing there was something wrong with the situation, she immediately raised her vigilance to the highest level. Before she could figure out what was going on, she heard a faint sound, like a heavy object scraping the ground, mixed with several undisguised footsteps.
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