The Sweetness of the Seventies
Chapter 462 - 433: The Thief Hole, Tomb Robber_1

Chapter 462: Chapter 433: The Thief Hole, Tomb Robber_1

Some of the older folks, after studying for two days, stopped learning; the children, with their playful natures, quit as well. Parents wielded sticks, beating the children, who retorted with quick tongues, "If you can’t read, what right do you have to make me study?"

"You don’t need to read to get married and have kids!"

Such statements left the adults without a rebuttal, so they pinched their noses and continued their studies, hoping to set an example for the children.

Thanks to Village Chief Qi’s vigorous promotion, Qijia Village’s literacy campaign was ahead of other villages.

Village Chief Qi even used surplus funds from the village branch to set up rewards. Those with good performance could win prizes such as water bottles, washbasins, toothpaste, and more.

Wang Lei, Zhang Qingshan, and even Huang Jingli grew much closer to the villagers because of their participation in the literacy campaign.

He Jingyu and Wang Shuping, along with their twenty-some apprentices, took about ten days to plant the cut branches into plastic greenhouses. With last year’s experience, this year, despite the workload being several times greater, the increased manpower made the task easy.

Everything in Qijia Village was on track.

One night, Qian Shikun and Sun Shihao were watching over the Peach Orchard.

The room was a bit cold, so the two lit a fire and began to warm themselves, discussing matters of the village.

At that moment, Qian Shikun heard noises outside.

"Shh!" Qian Shikun hissed to signal Sun Sihao to keep quiet.

Sun Sihao fell silent, and they both crept over to the window.

There was a crack by the window, which Qian Shikun and Sun Sihao peered out of.

It was pitch black outside and nothing could be seen clearly, but they could hear the clanging of metal on stone—undoubtedly the sound of human activity.

"Old Qian, should we go out?" Sun Sihao was scared. These people had tools, and if they decided to confront them directly, the odds were not in their favor.

Qian Shikun listened carefully and said, "There are several people out there, we can’t beat them, we can’t go out. Quickly, pretend we are asleep."

Qian Shikun heard footsteps drawing closer.

Hurriedly, Sun Sihao and Qian Shikun lay down on the wooden bed and covered themselves with blankets.

Soon, two men whispered by the window, "Brother Qian, should we kill them?"

After a moment of contemplation, the other man replied, "No, we might not finish digging the tunnel tonight. If we kill them now, someone might come up tomorrow and discover us."

"What should we do then, Brother?" the man asked, growing anxious, "What if they wake up...?"

"Didn’t you bring the sleep-inducing drug?" the man whispered, "Blow it their way, make sure they sleep sounder."

"I did, I did," the man responded. Then there was the sound of a match striking, and a plume of smoke was blown into the cabin.

Inside, Qian Shikun and Sun Sihao didn’t dare to move, nor did they want to.

Because those people were only looking for something, not intent on killing anyone, risking alerting the villagers downstairs.

Before long, Qian Shikun and Sun Sihao lost consciousness.

After being blown with anesthetic, a group of people continued to dig holes not far from the Peach Orchard, clanging and banging away.

The next morning, when He Jingyu arrived, Qian Shikun and Sun Sihao were still sleeping.

"Uncle Qian, Brother Sun, wake up," He Jingyu said, surprised. Normally, it was impossible for them to sleep in so late and not be awake yet!

After a while, Qian Shikun and Sun Sihao rubbed their eyes and finally woke up.

"What happened to you guys? Why did you sleep so heavily last night?" He Jingyu laughed. "If someone had stolen our peach trees, you wouldn’t have heard a thing!"

At this, Qian Shikun remembered what had happened during the previous night!

"Jingyu, we didn’t mean to sleep so deeply; someone blew anesthetic into our room last night," Qian Shikun said, still feeling frightened when he thought about it.

"What happened?" He Jingyu exclaimed, turning his head to inspect the Peach Orchard. The peach trees were all there, and the greenhouses were undamaged!

Sun Sihao said, "Last night, we were by the fire chatting when we heard noises outside. We looked out the window and..."

Sun Sihao and Qian Shikun recounted the incident.

He Jingyu frowned and said, "Come on, let’s go over there and see why those people were digging holes in the middle of the night!"

"Could there be treasure?" Sun Sihao excitedly said. Otherwise, who would be so bored as to dig holes on a hillside in the freezing cold!

Qian Shikun looked around and said mysteriously, "There might not be treasure, but ancient tombs are a possibility."

Many ancient emperors and nobles liked to carve tombs into mountains; maybe this mountain hid an ancient tomb!

After hearing this, He Jingyu also thought it was very possible and they went to the place where noises were heard the night before.

The area was thickly covered with withered grass, camouflaged so that without a closer look, one couldn’t see the fifty-centimeter-deep hole beneath it.

Although He Jingyu was no archaeology expert, at first glance, he could tell it was a robbers’ tunnel!

"A robbers’ tunnel?" Qian Shikun was thrilled. "It really is an ancient tomb!"

"Yes," said He Jingyu. "This place isn’t safe. Let’s get down the mountain quickly and inform Secretary Qi, to report it to the cultural relics authorities."

"Then... then do we still come and guard this place at night?" Qian Shikun asked. "Tomb robbers are no different from bandits, almost all of them are killers."

He Jingyu thought for a moment and said, "You don’t need to come over tonight."

"If the tomb robbers see that there’s nobody in our wooden house, they will definitely get suspicious," Sun Sihao said. "If they get desperate and blow up this place with explosives, our Peach Orchard would be in even greater danger."

"Let’s talk to Village Chief Qi first," He Jingyu said. This was not the time for heroics.

The three of them went down the mountain and headed straight for the village office.

Village Chief Qi had just arrived at the village office. Seeing He Jingyu coming with Qian Shikun and Sun Sihao, he had a solemn look on his face. His heart skipped a beat, and he carefully asked, "Did someone come to destroy the Peach Orchard?"

"No!" He Jingyu shook his head. "They didn’t come for the Peach Orchard; they came to rob a tomb."

"Tomb robbing?" Secretary Qi’s heart, which had just settled, was up in the air again. "Am I hearing things wrong, tomb robbing?"

"Yes, you heard right, it’s tomb robbing," He Jingyu said. "Not far from the Peach Orchard, we found a well-concealed robbers’ tunnel. And last night, Brother Qian and Brother Sun were on night duty. They heard those people making noise, and they even blew anesthetic into their hut. They must be up to no good."

"But there are no treasures or grand royal tombs in Qijia Village," Qi Shuliang said. "Our ancestors have lived here for hundreds of years, and we really have no idea about such things!"

"You said it’s been hundreds of years; maybe this tomb is from hundreds or even thousands of years ago," He Jingyu said. "Whether it’s tomb robbing or not, someone clearly has malicious intentions. The most important thing now is to report it immediately. Otherwise, the loss won’t just be the artifacts in the tomb but our Peach Orchard too!"