Chapter 106 - 107: The Cellar
"We could also plant some fruit trees in this backyard," Ancient Wen Heng said, his eyes fixed on Jin Qianqian, his voice filled with anticipation. "We could build a play area for children under them, and one day, we can sit here and watch them run around and play."
Jin Qianqian looked down and smiled, pressing her lips together. "We’re getting a little ahead of ourselves. You should get back to clearing your patch of land!"
Ancient Wenheng felt a surge of energy course through him. The small saplings next to him, however, were not so lucky. With each swing of his blade, they were felled, destined to quickly become nutrients for the earth once more.
Jin Qianqian’s gaze fell on a curious patch of rotted wood on the ground. ’Everywhere else is growing grass,’ she thought, ’so why is this spot still bare?’
She gave it a little kick with her foot. The rotted wood suddenly vanished, and Jin Qianqian cried out in alarm.
"What is it?" Ancient Wenheng immediately ran to her side, his eyes scanning their surroundings defensively.
Jin Qianqian pointed at the hole that had suddenly appeared. "I thought it was just a piece of rotted wood, but it looks like there’s a cellar entrance here. It suddenly caved in and scared me."
Once she recovered from the shock, Jin Qianqian realized the previous owner must have dug a cellar, which were usually used for storing grain and dried vegetables.
Ancient Wenheng leaned over and peered inside, but it was pitch-black, and he couldn’t see a thing.
Jin Qianqian took out a flashlight. As its beam cut through the darkness, it illuminated a dusty, earthen floor below.
"Wait, don’t go down yet," Jin Qianqian said, quickly grabbing Ancient Wenheng as he tried to get closer to the cellar entrance.
Ancient Wenheng didn’t dare to rush down either. The memory of the snake he’d killed earlier still gave him the creeps. "I know. I’m quite fond of my life, you know. I plan on spending a long, long time with you."
Jin Qianqian was speechless.
"Stand back a bit. I’ll toss something down to check it out." Ancient Wenheng picked up a broken piece of a clay brick, raised it high with both hands, and threw it down with all his might. The brick shattered upon impact, exploding like a flower of dust.
"Doesn’t seem like anything moved." After waiting quietly for a moment, they tossed a few more items down before slowly peering over the edge.
"There seems to be something down there... boxes, one after another. Maybe it’s grain the family stored," Jin Qianqian said, tossing another dirt clod at the containers.
"Get a ladder out. I’ll go down and take a look first." There was an old wooden ladder nearby, but it was obvious that it would disintegrate at the slightest touch.
Once the new ladder was steady, Ancient Wenheng carefully climbed down. After reaching the bottom and confirming it was safe, he waved up at Jin Qianqian.
Ancient Wenheng carefully pried open the first wooden chest with his machete. A cloud of dust billowed out, revealing some blackened contents inside.
He prodded the contents gently. "This must have been grain," he said, "but after so many years, it’s completely rotted away."
Jin Qianqian glanced up at the cellar entrance. "That’s because the cellar wasn’t sealed properly. It looks like none of this is worth anything."
Sure enough, it was like opening one disappointing blind box after another. Besides some items rotted beyond recognition, there was nothing of value.
Jin Qianqian surveyed the small cellar, which was less than ten square meters. "Should we dig a new one, or should we just fix this one up?"
Ancient Wenheng stomped his foot on the dirt floor. It felt unusually soft, as if water had been seeping in over the years, or perhaps for some other reason.
"If we keep it, it’ll need a thorough cleaning and reinforcement."
A sudden question occurred to Jin Qianqian. "Didn’t Chief Li say that people came to clean up the village back then? How could they not have found these cellars?"
It was grain, after all. Surely people back then wouldn’t have just ignored it?
"Whatever happened back then probably left a deep trauma on the locals. They might have only done a superficial cleanup," Ancient Wenheng speculated, also uncertain. He held the ladder steady and gestured for Jin Qianqian to climb up first.
"Wait," Ancient Wenheng said, grabbing Jin Qianqian’s hand just as she reached for the ladder.
With his other hand, he pressed down hard on the ground. A grating squish sounded from beneath the dirt, and they exchanged a look.
Ancient Wenheng gently lifted the ladder. A scrape mark was visible where its leg had been, a line of rust ground into the dirt.
They carefully cleared away the overlying soil, revealing an iron plate.
"This must be another entrance. Let me try to pry it open." Ancient Wenheng tried to move Jin Qianqian behind him for safety, but she sidestepped him.
"It’s a heavy iron plate. We’ll do it together." With that, she also took her machete and started prying at the opposite corner.
After a great deal of effort, they finally managed to pry open a small crack. To their surprise, a yellow light shone through the gap.
Jin Qianqian blinked. ’It can’t be what I think it is, can it?’
Gritting their teeth, they heaved together and finally lifted the iron plate.
Before them lay rows of neatly stacked gold ingots.
"Did we... did we just find treasure?" Jin Qianqian asked, hardly daring to believe it. To think they could find something like this in an ordinary farmhouse courtyard.
Ancient Wenheng picked up one of the ingots and turned it over. The bottom was smooth, with no official markings. He breathed a sigh of relief. As long as it wasn’t Official Silver, they were fine.
Looking at the gold ingots they transferred into a suitcase—a full one hundred of them, worth ten thousand gold coins—even Ancient Wenheng couldn’t help but gulp.
Jin Qianqian was also dumbfounded. "This is incredible. To think we’d literally stumble upon a fortune."
"Let’s put this away first," Ancient Wenheng said. "I’m going to check if there are any other strange spots."
Ancient Wenheng looked at the now-empty iron chest, then hauled it out of the pit with a single heave. He took his machete and repeatedly prodded the ground inside the hole until he was certain he wouldn’t hit anything else solid.
By the time they were back on the surface, their expressions had turned grave. What kind of family could have stored so much Gold?
"Should I ask the Clan Leader to find us a different place?" Ancient Wenheng suggested, looking toward the road not far from the village entrance.
Jin Qianqian shook her head. "That would look too suspicious. Besides, no one has lived here for decades. Who’s to say what might have happened in all that time?
Let’s just act like this never happened. It’s ownerless property, after all. If it really bothers us, we can use it for charity later on."
"It’s a shame we can’t find any records about this place," Ancient Wenheng said. "And there isn’t a single scrap of writing in the whole house."
"Hiding out in a remote mountain village with this much Gold isn’t normal to begin with," Jin Qianqian replied. "Even if we could find any information, it would probably be fake."
Jin Qianqian also felt the Gold they had just found was a bit too hot to handle. But they’d already stumbled upon it—did they really have a choice?
Ancient Wenheng grabbed his machete and hacked away a patch of the surrounding weeds. Once he was sure there were no little critters hiding there, he finally stopped for a drink of water.
Meanwhile, the other families who had moved into the village were also encountering all sorts of problems.
One family also discovered a hidden cellar. Like the first one, it contained no grain. Instead, two skeletons were laid out stiffly inside.