Chapter 384: Windfall

With a hoe in hand, Zhang Xiaohua led the way, while Zhang Cai and Zhang Xiaolong followed behind carrying hoes and shovels. Together, they made their way into the bamboo grove behind the house.

Having found the clearing he had scouted earlier, Zhang Xiaohua pointed to the spot and said: “Big Brother, let’s dig a big pit right here.”

Zhang Xiaolong glanced at the spot, then at Zhang Xiaohua’s serious expression. He spat twice into his palms, gripped his hoe, and was about to start digging. But at that moment, Zhang Xiaohua, whose divine sense had been extended all along, noticed some villagers passing by their house. He quickly grabbed his brother’s hand and whispered: “Wait a moment, Big Brother, someone’s coming.”

Zhang Cai frowned and asked in a low voice: “Xiaohua, what are you up to?”

Zhang Xiaohua frowned as well. Suddenly, he slapped his forehead and gave a wry smile. “Oh, Father, Big Brother, I was thinking about this all wrong. Come, let’s go back inside.”

Without another word, he turned and headed back to the courtyard.

Zhang Cai and Zhang Xiaolong exchanged a look, but said nothing. They picked up their tools and followed him back to the small courtyard.

When they entered the yard, they found Zhang Xiaohua standing there in a daze, as if deep in thought. Zhang Xiaolong took the shovel from Zhang Cai and was about to set it down by the wall.

But Zhang Xiaohua stopped him: “Wait, Big Brother, we’ll still need that.”

Then he turned and said: “Father, Big Brother, come into this room. Oh, right, I’ll go lock the courtyard gate.”

Zhang Xiaohua latched the gate and led the two of them into his small room.

As soon as they entered, Zhang Cai asked: “Xiaohua, what are you doing? If you want to give the family some banknotes, just take them out. Your old man has seen them before—what’s there to be afraid of?”

Even Zhang Xiaolong was puzzled. That’s right, isn’t it just some banknotes? What’s with the hoe?

Seeing their confusion, Zhang Xiaohua scratched his chin and grinned: “Father, Big Brother, actually, I really do have something good to show you. But you mustn’t be too surprised, and don’t make a fuss—this is very important.”

Zhang Cai and Zhang Xiaolong both frowned, but after a moment’s thought, they nodded. What a joke—they were both grown men, what could possibly be so shocking?

Seeing their agreement, Zhang Xiaohua couldn’t help but chuckle inwardly. In truth, he’d said all this just to prepare them mentally. If they really weren’t surprised or didn’t make a fuss, then he’d be the one who was shocked.

With that, he reached into his robe and pulled out the money pouch.

When Zhang Xiaohua pulled out the money pouch, the two were even more puzzled. After all these years, Xiaohua still hadn’t replaced that old pouch? Even if he took out a stack of banknotes, how could that possibly be so astonishing?

But what happened next truly left them dumbfounded.

Before their eyes, in the spacious little room, a massive wooden chest suddenly appeared out of nowhere.

“Eh~?” The two exclaimed at the same time.

“Y-you, Xiaohua, what… what’s going on here?”

Seeing the astonishment on his father and brother’s faces, Zhang Xiaohua was quite pleased with the effect and smiled: “Father, Big Brother, this is my savings. Oh, and also my spoils of war. I picked it up from those mountain bandits last time, when I went to West Cui Mountain to rescue Sister-in-law Liu.”

“Ah?” The two suddenly understood. “So that’s it. But, where did you keep it?”

Zhang Xiaohua shook the money pouch in his left hand and said: “Right here. But this thing is rather mysterious—only I can see it. No one else can.”

Zhang Cai just stared at the ordinary-looking pouch, as if weighing the truth of Zhang Xiaohua’s words. Zhang Xiaolong, on the other hand, reached out to take the pouch. Zhang Xiaohua handed it over without hesitation. Sure enough, no matter how Zhang Xiaolong looked, there were only two small stones inside, some loose silver, and a few banknotes—certainly nothing like a giant chest. In fact, it was impossible for such a large chest to fit inside.

He casually tossed the pouch back to Zhang Xiaohua and glanced at Zhang Cai.

At this point, Zhang Cai didn’t know what to say.

Zhang Xiaohua said: “Father, Big Brother, don’t you want to see what’s inside?”

Zhang Xiaolong laughed: “Of course we do. Hurry up and open it.”

As Zhang Xiaohua was about to open the chest, Zhang Cai called out: “Xiaolong, close the door first.”

Zhang Xiaohua had his divine sense extended the whole time, so he knew no one would see them.

Zhang Xiaolong walked to the door, peeked out at the quiet courtyard, carefully closed the door, and made sure to latch it before returning to Zhang Xiaohua’s side.

Zhang Xiaohua smiled: “Big Brother, why don’t you open it yourself? But remember, don’t shout.”

Seeing how mysterious Zhang Xiaohua was acting, Zhang Xiaolong had already steeled himself. With a smile, he stepped forward and casually lifted the lid of the chest.

Yet even though both he and Zhang Cai had mentally prepared themselves, the moment their eyes landed on the chest brimming with gold, they were completely petrified!

It was only after the time it takes to drink a cup of tea that the two finally recovered. The very first thing Zhang Xiaolong did was slam the lid of the chest shut and glance furtively around, as if someone might be spying on them. Zhang Cai lowered his voice and asked: “Xiaohua, does anyone else know about this?”

Zhang Xiaohua smiled: “Father, Big Brother, before just now, only one person knew. Now, there are three.”

“Good, good.” Zhang Cai nodded, pacing slowly back and forth.

It wasn’t just Zhang Cai, a simple country farmer—even a lofty scholar like Mister Liu would be drooling at the sight of so much gold and silver. Naturally, he needed to give it some serious thought.

After a few laps around the room, Zhang Cai waved his hand and spat out a single word: “Bury!”

Excellent—decisive and straightforward. Why wouldn’t a father want what his son brought home? At least now, they wouldn’t have to scrimp and save through life anymore.

With his father’s command, Zhang Xiaolong spat into his hands five or six times in a row, rolled up his sleeves, and threw himself into digging a hole in the open space of the little room.

Seeing this, Zhang Xiaohua happily grabbed a hoe and joined his brother. It had been a long time since he’d worked side by side with his big brother, and for a moment, Zhang Xiaohua felt as if he’d returned to their childhood days in the fields.

But when he noticed Zhang Xiaohua digging far away from him, Zhang Xiaolong couldn’t help but ask: “Xiaohua, why are you digging so far from me? It’s not like I’ll bump into you!”

Zhang Xiaohua grinned: “Let’s make the pit a bit bigger—there are still several more chests!”

Zhang Xiaolong nearly stumbled and almost threw his hoe aside. What kind of talk was that? Just one chest was enough to scare a man to death, and you say there are several more?

As the saying goes, “Father and son go to war together, brothers dig pits together”—it was no exaggeration. In less time than it takes to eat a meal, they had already dug deep pits all across the little room’s floor. As Zhang Cai had said, Zhang Xiaohua really should have stayed in the village to farm—most of these pits were the result of his hard work. By the time Zhang Xiaolong had finished more than half, he was already panting for breath, while only Zhang Xiaohua was still bent over, working tirelessly for the sake of his family.

Once all the preparations were complete, Zhang Xiaohua didn’t make any grand gestures. One by one, the chests appeared neatly in the freshly dug pit. Including the one he had taken out earlier, there were a total of five. By now, Zhang Cai and Zhang Xiaolong’s attention was no longer on how Zhang Xiaohua produced the chests, but entirely on the chests themselves.

Zhang Xiaohua, not finding it troublesome at all, even placed the chest from outside into the pit as well. Only then did he stand to the side, brimming with pride.

This time, Zhang Cai personally jumped into the pit and opened each chest one by one. Of the five chests, two were packed full of dazzling jewels, while the remaining three overflowed with gleaming gold.

Standing waist-deep in the pit, Zhang Cai and Zhang Xiaolong paced back and forth, looking at this, touching that, unable to believe that such a staggering fortune now belonged to them!

After a long while, Zhang Cai gritted his teeth and said: “Xiaolong, close the lids and bury the chests.”

“Yes, Father!” Zhang Xiaolong responded with vigor.

Once Zhang Xiaolong and Zhang Xiaohua had shoveled the earth back over the chests, there was actually quite a bit of dirt left over in the room. Zhang Xiaolong pointed at the pile and said: “Xiaohua, you took out so many things from your pouch just now, so you can put this dirt back in—just treat it as ballast.”

Zhang Xiaohua saw through his brother’s attempt to slack off and replied: “Big Brother, I can’t take this dirt away. Even if the weight’s the same, the value is worlds apart. Don’t try to be lazy—after all, I dug the pit, so the dirt’s your responsibility.”

“Hehe,” Zhang Xiaolong chuckled, not the least bit embarrassed at being caught. He opened the door, peeked outside, fetched some tools, and together with Zhang Xiaohua, scattered the dirt in the courtyard.

Zhang Xiaohua grinned: “Big Brother, there’s no one outside the courtyard. Don’t worry—no one will know what happened today.”

“Oh, that’s good, that’s good,” 

Zhang Xiaolong replied, laughing foolishly.

It was just like when Zhang Xiaohua had first laid eyes on a chest full of gold back then.

The three of them sat down in the main hall. Zhang Xiaohua brewed some tea, while Zhang Cai and Zhang Xiaolong’s gazes wandered, mechanically sipping their tea. Zhang Xiaohua remained silent, quietly drinking as he refined the traces of Yuan Qi from the tea.

At his current stage of Qi Refinement, the Yuan Qi in the water was already negligible, but as the saying goes, “Even a mosquito is still meat.” With Zhang Xiaohua’s character, how could he possibly let it go to waste?

As the pot of tea was nearly finished, Zhang Cai’s previously unfocused gaze gradually sharpened, and a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth. He glanced at Zhang Xiaohua and set down his teacup. At the same time, Zhang Xiaolong’s eyes also regained their focus. He smiled at Zhang Cai and put down his own cup.

Zhang Xiaohua said: “Father, Big Brother, it seems you’ve already figured out how to handle this. Honestly, it’s quite a troublesome matter—I wouldn’t know where to start. In any case, you’re the ones who’ll be spending this silver; I won’t need it. I’ll leave it to you.”

Zhang Cai laughed: “Xiaohua, you’re trying to shirk responsibility. But it’s fine—your father, mother, big brother, and sister-in-law are all here. There’s no need for you to worry about such things. Just focus on bringing those things home, hahahaha!”

Zhang Xiaolong also laughed, looking affectionately at his younger brother, who was now nearly as tall as he was.

Zhang Xiaohua hesitated and asked: “So, Father, how do you plan to use all this gold? I’ve thought about it for a long time, but I just can’t figure out a way that wouldn’t draw attention.”

“Oh, that’s actually quite simple,” Zhang Cai said with a smile. “Remember what Mister Liu always says: ‘If you do things beyond your own ability, you’re playing with fire.’”