Chapter 16 Burial Mound
"Brother Zhang, was the box really left here? Why isn't it here?"
"Heh, you still don't believe me? Third Aunt told me, last night the Shi family killed a runaway slave, and she packed the body into a trunk and dumped it in the chaotic grave of West City.
There's quite a bit of gold and silver jewelry buried with it. Once we dig it up and split it, we'll have enough to pay off our gambling and drinking debts."
"But... why would the Shi family's house slave be dumped outside? And why throw out the jewelry and gold with them?"
"Hm, you don't understand. Third Aunt said that little maid was favored at home and tangled with several masters, so arrogant and domineering that she angered the Lady of the house and drew the resentment of the concubines.
I suspect it was one of the Shi family's concubines who, taking advantage of last night's chaos when the men were away due to a fire at home, secretly killed the little maid and had Third Aunt dispose of her.
When the Shi family masters return, they'll claim the little maid ran off with the family's gold and silver to elope with her lover, and with no proof of her death, they wouldn't investigate further."
"Wow, these aristocratic families really are so sinister in their ways."
"Of course! If they weren't ruthless and treacherous, how could they ever be ennobled?"
On a dark and windy night, two men hefted hoes and held a fire wick, digging in the burial mound searching for the 'box of gold and silver'.
Liangzhou Prefecture is a city with a population of over a hundred thousand, where only officials and wealthy families can afford ancestral tombs. Common folk, once gone, are often shrouded in a grass mat and thrown into the chaotic grave in West City.