But the two of them had no intention of explaining anything to Juxiang. They simply said they wouldn’t go up the mountain.

What a joke. Why would they go to the grave hill for no reason?

Their ancestors weren’t buried up there. Did they have nothing better to do than burn paper offerings for someone else’s ancestors?

Neither Jiang Ling nor Song Guanshu took the incident to heart. Juxiang had always been a gossip, and with the story passed around by multiple people—each adding more fuel to the fire—the rumor took on a life of its own.

A few days later, the narrative changed direction.

Juxiang’s “Yu family girl taking revenge” theory was replaced by a different version. This one claimed that a landlord surnamed Wang was buried on the hill behind the residential compound. He had died before the liberation, leaving behind no children. After his death, instead of passing his immense fortune on to his nephews and nieces, he supposedly chose to have his gold and silver treasures buried with him in the mountains rather than leave them to any heirs.

Before the liberation, the area where the Steel Factory now stood was part of the countryside, and it had indeed belonged to a landlord surnamed Wang. This much was common knowledge.

As the saying goes, it started with a single image and the rest was all made up.

Aside from the confirmed existence of a landlord surnamed Wang, everything else about the buried treasure was pure fabrication—details concocted and embellished during the course of spreading the tale.

In truth, the Wang family landlord had a son who later joined the revolution and died young. After losing his son, the landlord donated all of his wealth to the People’s Liberation Army before he passed away. That was why he had no estate left for any remaining relatives. Still, at the time, some people insisted he must have buried his money underground.

Juxiang’s earlier theory about the Yu family girl seeking revenge ended up triggering certain people’s memories, bringing this old rumor back to the surface.

Because this version catered to the common dream of getting rich overnight, it spread even more widely.

Everyone was now saying it wasn’t the Yu family girl seeking revenge—it was someone sneaking up the mountain at night to dig for treasure.

Especially since several residents had indeed seen someone carrying a shovel up the hill in the middle of the night—what else could that be, if not treasure hunting?

People are people, after all. Who doesn’t dream of getting rich overnight?

Workers at the Steel Factory lived on fixed wages—not enough to starve, but far from wealthy. Some people nearby had made money from small side businesses. Those who also wanted to earn more, but didn’t dare take risks, saw treasure hunting on the mountain as the perfect solution. Even if they only dug up a few jars or containers, that might be enough to keep their entire family well-fed for life.

So they went ahead with it. Half of the families from the Steel Factory teamed up to head to the mountain in search of “buried treasure.”

Juxiang, who had been the one spreading ghost stories and warning everyone not to go up the mountain, conveniently forgot all about what she had said before. After hearing there might be treasure up there, she even went out of her way to ask Jiang Ling if she wanted to come along.

The way things unfolded was completely beyond Jiang Ling’s expectations.

She didn’t believe there was any treasure buried on the mountain and politely declined Juxiang’s offer.

Jiang Ling wouldn’t go—but Li Jun wanted to.

She was very tempted by the rumors of buried treasure. If she could dig up a gold ingot, she wouldn’t need to work anymore.

Tempted as she was, her family had both elderly and young to care for, and with no one to go with her, she didn’t dare venture up the grave hill alone.

When she heard Juxiang inviting Jiang Ling from across the way, she immediately rushed to the door of the west wing. “If Xiao Jiang doesn’t want to go, I do! With more people, we can keep each other brave!”

But Juxiang had no intention of going with Li Jun. Her relationship with Juxiang’s elder brother-in-law was questionable, and if Juxiang brought her along, her own sister-in-law would definitely be angry.

Besides, Li Jun loved taking advantage of others. If they really did dig up something valuable, what if she tried to claim it for herself?

Li Jun, on the other hand, had a very clear idea in mind: if she missed this opportunity, there might not be another one. Who knew who she’d run into next time? Now that Juxiang was going, she would stick to her no matter what. Even if it meant being shameless. As for what Juxiang thought, that didn’t matter at all.

And just like that, Li Jun ended up following Juxiang home.

When Juxiang’s husband saw that she had actually brought Li Jun along, he couldn’t help but shoot her a couple of sharp looks. Forget finding treasure, if they could get through the day without a fight breaking out, he’d count himself lucky.

He hadn’t originally planned to go up the mountain, but now that Li Jun and the two kids were tagging along, he worried something might happen. So, he reluctantly decided to go too.

Meanwhile, Jiang Ling was keeping herself quite busy at home. She had borrowed a knitting book from Li Chunjiao, planning to learn some handiwork.

Knitting sweaters wasn’t the real goal, it was mostly about having something to pass the time.

Before she began, Jiang Ling declared her grand ambition to the man reading nearby, “I’ll knit you a scarf to wear this winter.”

But Jiang Ling had clumsy hands and couldn’t grasp the technique no matter how she tried. After an entire morning, she still hadn’t managed to cast on a single row.

Frustrated, she was about to toss the yarn aside when she heard a commotion outside. Someone shouted, “Section Chief Liu, there’s a fight on the mountain! You better go take a look!”

The three Han siblings were at home, but Section Chief Liu had gone out drinking with friends.

Han Ruixue had already stood up, but upon hearing that one of the people fighting was Li Jun, she sat back down again.

As for Third Brother Miao asking where Section Chief Liu was?

No idea. He never tells me where he goes.

With no other choice, Third Brother Miao had to go door to door looking for someone.

Jiang Ling, who was sitting at home, also heard the commotion and said excitedly, “Come on, let’s go dig for treasure.”

Though she said they were going treasure hunting, she didn’t even bring any tools. Whether she was really going to dig or just there to watch the chaos, only Jiang Ling herself knew.

Compared to the other residents of the compound, Jiang Ling and Song Guanshu weren’t familiar with the grave hill.

Of the two, only Jiang Ling had been there about a month ago. Not knowing the proper route, she simply followed the path she had taken last time to the Yu family girl’s grave.

Along the way, Jiang Ling began to suspect she had taken the wrong path. They hadn’t seen a single person with shovels or spades digging for treasure.

They had already reached the Yu family girl’s grave but still hadn’t encountered anyone. Jiang Ling gave an awkward laugh. “Looks like I took the wrong way.”

“Let’s go back,” Song Guanshu said.

Just before turning around, Jiang Ling noticed something strange—the mound over the Yu family girl’s grave looked like it had been disturbed. There was fresh soil on top.

Jiang Ling felt deep sympathy for the poor girl.

She couldn’t help but curse, “What kind of person does this? Digging for treasure right on someone’s grave—how shameless can you be?”

She walked over, wanting to check if the grave had been dug deep enough to expose the coffin. She reached out to press the soil down a bit, just in case it rained and the water washed the coffin boards into view.

But the moment her hand touched the soil, she sensed something was off.

Standing right behind her, Song Guanshu silently watched as Jiang Ling busied herself. He saw her fumble around in the dirt and then pull out something wrapped in a rain tarp.

When she opened it, inside was a hunting rifle—and a handgun.

And these two firearms were no ordinary finds. Not long ago, in the neighboring city of Hucheng, a shocking incident had occurred: a public security officer was killed and his gun stolen.

Xie Lang had even mentioned it to Jiang Ling and Song Guanshu at the time. Because of the robbery and murder, his parents had forbidden him from staying out at night, terrified he might become the next unlucky victim.

The robber’s name was Chen Mazi. Not long ago, he had used the stolen guns to rob a savings bank, making off with a total of thirty thousand yuan.

In response, the entire city of Hucheng went into lockdown to hunt him down. By then, Chen Mazi had already fled with the money and weapons to Beicheng.

At first, he hadn’t planned to hide the guns. After all, Beicheng hadn’t yet begun a manhunt or weapons search.

While wandering the streets, Chen Mazi caught wind of the story about the Yu family girl’s ghost seeking revenge.

Anyone capable of committing armed robbery and murder was bound to have a violent, ruthless streak. Hearing the tale, he was stirred by a mad idea—to climb the infamous grave hill and find out which was fiercer: the vengeful ghost or the gun in his hand.

So, he carried the weapons and snuck up the hill under the cover of night.

Since it was dark and he was unfamiliar with the area, it took him the entire night to finally locate the Yu family girl’s grave.

It must be said that after Qingming, the grave hill was full of life.

People here were deeply superstitious. They’d rather eat poorly themselves than let their ancestors go without.

Whether the ancestors were truly well-fed or not was unclear—but Chen Mazi certainly wasn’t going hungry.

When he was hungry or thirsty, he helped himself to the offerings of fruit and food left on the graves. If he came across some baijiu (white liquor), he didn’t spare a drop.

After eating and drinking his fill, he even took a nap right on the Yu family girl’s grave. In his heart, he thought, She’s not nearly as terrifying as the rumors said. Seemed like even evil spirits feared evil men. He felt quite proud of himself for having scared off the ghost.

By the time he got up, the sun was already high, and thin smoke was curling from the chimneys of the residential compound at the foot of the hill.

Though arrogant inside, believing himself to be the fiercest man in the world, he still didn’t dare be seen walking around in broad daylight with guns in hand.

So he simply buried the guns at the Yu family girl’s grave. After all, the ghost rumors had spread all over Beicheng—no one would dare approach her grave.

In his hungover state, his mind wasn’t clear. He completely forgot that he had come to the hill precisely for the thrill of it.

Besides, he didn’t need the guns for anything in Beicheng at the moment. He figured he’d just come back to the hill and retrieve them before he left town.

With that, he confidently descended the mountain, swaggering through the residential compound like an ordinary passerby.

Of course, when Chen Mazi buried the guns on the hill, he never imagined that the Steel Factory’s compound residents would start a grave-digging treasure hunt.

Even more unexpected was how difficult it would become for him to retrieve the guns again.

This was Jiang Ling’s first time seeing such things in person—until now, she had only ever seen them in movies and TV shows.

She weighed it in her hand—it was surprisingly heavy. Seeing the hunk of metal, Jiang Ling’s first instinct was to turn it in.

“This?” She looked up at Song Guanshu. “Should we hand it over to the Public Security Bureau substation?”

“No need,” he replied.

Song Guanshu took the gun from her. His hands moved quickly, and in no time, the disassembled weapon had been restored. Jiang Ling, sharp-eyed as ever, noticed he had slipped something inside.

He did the same with the second gun—same swift, practiced motions.

“What did you put in there?” she asked.

Song Guanshu gave a faint smile. “Something useful.”