Chapter 82: The Gold Left by Grandfather

Zhou Zhao picked up the small piece of gold from the ground, his eyes wide with surprise. He examined it closely and exclaimed, “Brother, look! There’s a piece of gold here!”

Zhou Ruizhen pushed aside the grass in front of him and strode over. Seeing the small, shiny piece of gold in Zhou Zhao’s hand, he asked in surprise, “Where did you find this?”

Zhou Zhao handed the gold to him. “I just picked it up from the ground. I don’t know if there’s more.”

After saying that, he crouched down again and searched the ground.

He pushed aside a thick patch of grass, but all he found were rocks and black soil. There was no more gold in sight.

Standing up straight, Zhou Zhao wiped the sweat off his forehead. “Looks like that was the only one.”

Zhou Ruizhen held the gold up to the light, his brows furrowing. Then, he interrupted, “No, there’s more.”

Zhou Zhao looked at him in confusion. “Brother, I only saw this one piece on the ground.”

Zhou Ruizhen shook his head, then pointed at a small marking on the gold. “Look at this. What do you see?”

Zhou Zhao leaned in for a closer look. Beneath the gold, a character was faintly engraved—“Lu.” However, a corner of the marking was missing due to the gold’s damage.

His eyes widened in shock. “This is Grandfather’s gold!”

Zhou Ruizhen nodded. “Before Grandfather’s household was raided, Steward Sun fled with a chest of gold ingots. If my guess is right, this gold likely came from the batch he took.”

Zhou Zhao stared at the gold, dumbfounded. He looked at it again and again, still puzzled. “But Steward Sun ran away, didn’t he? How did the gold end up in the mountains?”

Zhou Ruizhen carefully put the gold away and gazed into the distance. “Steward Sun’s hometown was in Wanzhou, near Qingzhou Prefecture. If he wanted to return to his village without attracting attention, he would have taken this mountain path.”

Realization dawned on Zhou Zhao. “That Steward Sun! When disaster struck, he ran away with the gold. I bet Grandfather wouldn’t have let him off, even as a ghost!”

Steward Sun had been a long-time servant of the Lu family and was known for his loyalty. But when disaster fell upon the household, he took the gold that Master Lu had left behind and secretly fled the capital.

Zhou Ruizhen frowned and glanced around. “The gold was originally stored in wooden boxes. Now that a piece has fallen out, it seems like something happened to him on the way back. We should search the area. There’s a chance he hid some of the gold here.”

Zhou Zhao nodded firmly. “Alright, I’ll keep looking.”

Zhou Ruizhen picked up a hoe, and the two brothers continued their search.

They searched for more than half an hour and eventually dug up a wooden box. Though they didn’t find any more gold, the discovery confirmed Zhou Ruizhen’s suspicions.

Steward Sun had indeed hidden part of the gold in this mountain.

But where exactly? It would take time to find it.

The mountains surrounding Changliu Village weren’t very high, but they stretched far and wide. Walking from west to east would take at least an hour.

Zhou Zhao let out a long sigh and sat down. “Brother, let’s leave it for today. We can come back tomorrow.”

Zhou Ruizhen was also exhausted. He glanced at the sandalwood trees around them and nodded. “Alright, let’s take these trees down first and continue searching for the gold tomorrow.”

Hearing this, Zhou Zhao lay flat on the ground for a moment before suddenly getting up again. He grabbed an axe and started cutting trees.

Zhou Ruizhen also stood up, patted the dirt off his clothes, and helped him chop the wood.

Before long, the two of them carried two fine sandalwood logs down the mountain.

On their way down, they happened to pass by the Cao family’s house.

Du Damei spotted them and quickly brought out two cups of water to offer them at the door.

As Zhou Ruizhen and Zhou Zhao drank the water, they could hear Madam Cao calling from inside the house.

However, Du Damei seemed to ignore the calls, continuing with whatever she was doing. Once Zhou Ruizhen and Zhou Zhao finished their water, she smiled and walked them to the foot of the mountain.

After delivering the sandalwood to their home, the two brothers went to the vegetable garden.

They worked together to plant more vegetables in the field.

Meanwhile, knowing they had gone up the mountain, Du Wanchun prepared some tea and boiled eggs at home, then brought them over to the garden.

The family worked until dusk before finally heading home.

That night, when the village was quiet and no one was around, Zhou Ruizhen took out the gold he had found and told Du Wanchun about it.

Du Wanchun looked at the gold in shock. “Husband, this piece of gold is worth at least a hundred taels of silver!”

Zhou Ruizhen nodded. “Yes, that’s right.”

She took the gold and examined it carefully before falling into deep thought. “With this gold, we could buy another shop.”

Zhou Ruizhen sat beside her. “Yes, we could. But now is not the right time.”

“Why not?” Du Wanchun asked.

Zhou Ruizhen replied, “The entire Qingzhou Prefecture is controlled by the Fang family. If we don’t cooperate with them, they will surely find a way to stop our business from succeeding in Cheng’an County.”

Hearing this, Du Wanchun quickly suggested, “Then why don’t we open a shop elsewhere? If we can’t do business in Cheng’an County, we could open a shop in another town where the Fang family has no control. That way, we can have a business of our own.”

Zhou Ruizhen nodded. “That’s exactly what I was thinking.”

Du Wanchun asked, “Where do you think we should open our new shop?”

Zhou Ruizhen lifted his gaze toward the distance, deep in thought. After a long silence, he finally answered, “The capital.”