Chen Jiandang didn't even bother to eat his meal. He put down his chopsticks and ran to the front yard. He was even more gossipy than Chen Shuning, making Chen Shuning wonder if this gossipy nature was inherited from his family.
Although Chen Shuning was also curious about whether Shen Wenge had been found, he was really exhausted and cold after a whole day of running around. Even now that the meal was finished, he still hadn't recovered.
So Chen Shuning didn't go to the front yard to watch the commotion, but calmly ate his meal and waited for Chen Jiandang to return.
Fortunately, Chen Jiandang didn't keep her waiting for long; he rushed back in a flurry of activity shortly afterward.
As soon as she entered the door, she shouted, "Sister, sister, Shen Wenge has been found! I heard he was found in a small wooden hut where hunters temporarily stayed in the mountains. When they found him, his body was already frozen solid. I don't know how many days he had been dead."
"After the heavy snow blocked the mountain, even the most experienced hunter in the team didn't dare to go into the mountains easily. If he went into the mountains alone, wouldn't he be courting death?"
Chen Shuning did know about the small wooden cabin where the hunters rested temporarily in the mountains. It was a small cabin of about five or six square meters located on the edge of the deep mountains, and it was built entirely of wood.
A while ago, before the snow was this heavy, the brigade's hunting team stayed in the mountains for several days.
It's only been a dozen days since then. Could it be that Shen Wenge went there as soon as the hunting team came down from the mountain and died inside?
"That's what Brother Feng and the others said too. They also said that they heard from experienced hunters in the village that Shen Wenge was frozen to death."
It's strange, really. Brother Feng said there was still plenty of firewood in the cabin, and matches were just sitting on the table. How could someone so big choose to freeze to death instead of lighting a fire for warmth?
"How would I know? I'm not a policeman. Alright, let's eat quickly, or the food will get cold."
As she spoke, Chen Shuning moved the oil lamp on the small kang table closer to Chen Jiandang. Looking at the still quite a few pieces of braised pork left, Chen Jiandang said with a disapproving expression, "Sister, you haven't eaten much of this meat. How about I get you some more rice so you can eat some more?"
"I'm not eating anymore. Eating too much late at night is hard to digest. You should eat less too. I bought some fruit today. We can eat some fruit after we finish eating and rest for a while. We don't eat many vegetables in winter, so we need to eat more fruit."
"By the way, where did you put the box I bought from the scrap yard?"
There were still several small yellow croakers in that box; that was the money she was going to give her family to buy a house, so she couldn't lose them.
Chen Jiandang had long been curious about why his sister treasured that jewelry box so much. After all, the only thing his sister owned was a watch that his mother had bought for her before she went to the countryside. He really didn't know what his sister planned to put in that box, which cost her several cents.
However, even though that's what he thought, when his sister asked for the jewelry box, Chen Jiandang resigned himself to getting out of the closet and taking the jewelry box out.
Chen Shuning took the box and carefully looked for the small mechanism she had seen during the day, but unfortunately the light was too dim, and she couldn't find the leaf that she had easily found during the day.
So they had to move the oil lamp back. They didn't know when the village would get electricity, and their eyes were getting damaged from using oil lamps for lighting all year round.
Under the light of the oil lamp, I easily found the leaf with a barely noticeable dent. I pressed it gently, and a drawer immediately popped out from the inconspicuous spot at the bottom of the jewelry box.
Inside were the eight small yellow croakers that Chen Shuning had placed there during the day. The golden yellow croakers were neatly arranged in the drawer, gleaming under the oil lamp.
Chen Jiandang, who had been keeping a close eye on Chen Shuning, was completely stunned the moment the drawer popped out.
The piece of braised pork that he had just picked up fell directly into his rice bowl, and his mouth remained agape for a long time.
It wasn't until Chen Shuning took out all eight gold bars from the drawer that Chen Jiandang realized what was happening.
Without even putting on his shoes, he ran straight to the outer room. He found that the door to the outer room was already locked from the inside. Then, like a headless fly, he checked the windows. Only when he saw that the windows were properly locked and the curtains were drawn tightly did he breathe a heavy sigh of relief.
He picked up a gold bar and tossed it in his hand, feeling its weight, before sitting back down on the edge of the kang (a heated brick bed) and sneakily leaning close to Chen Shuning's ear, whispering, "Sister, is this... is this a real gold bar?"
Looking at her younger brother's silly expression, if he knew that she had more than a dozen boxes of large yellow croakers that cost ten taels each in her space, he would probably go crazy like Fan Jin after passing the imperial examination.
Then Chen Shuning calmly picked up a gold bar and put it back in Chen Jiandang's hand, smiling as he said, "You'll know if it's real gold or not once you try it."
"Huh? How do I test this? I've never seen what a real gold bar looks like."
They say true gold is not afraid of being tested by fire, but does that mean it has to be burned?
And sister, how did you know there were gold bars in this box?
Holding the gold bar in his hand, Chen Jiandang still felt somewhat dizzy and incredulous.
How come his sister just went to a scrap metal yard and bought a jewelry box, and there were so many gold bars inside?
Chen Shuning was waiting for these words; she was counting on Chen Jiandang to go back and explain to her family the source of the large sum of cash she had.
So Chen Shuning quickly gave the reasons he had prepared beforehand.
"Well, it's a long story. Here's what happened."
When I first arrived, I went with everyone to the scrap metal yard to buy some newspapers to wallpaper the walls, but I accidentally saw a book about antiques, so I secretly slipped it into the newspapers and bought it..."
Just as Chen Shuning finished speaking, Chen Jiandang said in a low voice, both surprised and angry, "Sister, how dare you be so bold? Don't you know those things are the Four Olds? If someone sees you reading those kinds of books, you'll be criticized and denounced."
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