Chapter 41: Where Did This Luoyang Shovel Come From?
It was around seven o’clock, and once the customers started coming in, the place became busy in an instant. Earlier, after hearing the bad news about someone falling to their death, Lu Shengdong had accidentally knocked the cash register onto the floor. A repairman came yesterday morning, but it still could not be fixed. Now it had to be sent to a professional repair shop.
Cheng Fei was also called away by customers, leaving Gao Ming alone to organize the vegetables.
What a waste of these hands. Instead of touching gold and silver, he was here sorting vegetables. But then again, who told him to casually call someone his future father-in-law and mother-in-law? If he suffered a little because of it, he deserved it.
Partway through the morning, two young women came by. When they saw Gao Ming wearing an apron, they stared at him with wide eyes.
That was the charm of being handsome. Cheng Fei had even wanted to place him at the entrance as a greeter.
After working the whole morning without seeing anyone come back, Cheng Fei thought to herself that even if they checked everything one by one, it should have been done twice already.
What she did not know was that the old couple had already returned long ago. They were quietly watching from nearby, wanting to see what the two of them were like when no one was around.
Their conclusion was simple. Very good.
At the very least, Gao Ming truly cared about Cheng Fei and treated her like the most precious person in his eyes.
The couple was very satisfied, but they did not know that Gao Ming had already noticed them through the reflection on a car window parked by the roadside. Because of that, he had acted even more attentive than usual.
When the couple finally came back at the right moment, Cheng Fei and Gao Ming headed home to cook lunch and rest for a while. On the way back, Cheng Fei noticed that Gao Ming still had that “President-style” smile on his face, making her shiver.
“Did something go wrong with your brain, or are you acting silly?” she asked.
“Today?” Gao Ming replied with a question.
“Obviously!”
After spending the whole morning acting carefully and putting in effort, Gao Ming was also tired. He raised a hand and rubbed his forehead.
“It was for… for my future father-in-law and mother-in-law.”
“What!?”
After hearing that, Cheng Fei finally understood. But she also felt it was pointless. Thinking too deeply about it would just make it even more boring.
“What do you want to eat for lunch?”
Gao Ming stayed silent as he looked at the noodles she had just finished pressing. In his mind, he felt like he did not really have any choice anyway.
Cheng Fei’s stomach was growling from hunger. She wanted to eat quickly, but Gao Ming happened to be in one of his slow and calm moods again. She got impatient, and even her voice became louder.
“Do you want dry noodles or noodle soup?”
“Anything is fine.”
“......”
Just as she finished washing and cutting the vegetables and was about to start cooking, she suddenly stopped. After preparing almost everything, she opened the fridge and realized they were missing something important.
“We ran out again!”
“What?”
“Eggs!”
Cheng Fei wiped her hands, untied her apron, and even turned off the stove in front of Gao Ming.
“I’m going to the back to collect some eggs. We’ll cook the noodles after that. If you’ve got nothing to do, just play on your phone.”
Without caring about his reaction, she walked straight out of the kitchen toward the door. Just as she grabbed the iron door bolt, she heard footsteps behind her.
He really could not sit still. Forget it, they could go together.
They followed the cement path behind the residential area. The road slowly started going uphill, and after passing a slope, the dirt road became visible. Ahead of them were three connected hills, each a little over a hundred meters tall.
The hills were covered in rich greenery. Looking at them from far away made people feel cool and relaxed, as if the summer heat had disappeared completely.
“So this is the resting place of Princess Shanyang and her husband. It really is a nice place.”
Hearing that, Cheng Fei glanced sideways at him.
“Not bad. You really know quite a lot.”
“There’s an ancient tomb here that still hasn’t been excavated. Not just in this province, but in the whole country, there probably aren’t many places like this. So…”
“Showing off your knowledge again? Then do you know this? Back in the late Qing Dynasty, the county center was called Lu Family Village. At that time, more than half the people around here had the surname Lu. And technically, they’re even distant relatives of mine. Do you know why?”
This time, Gao Ming truly did not know. It was his first time hearing that so many people nearby were connected to her family.
Cheng Fei smiled.
“Because the princess and her husband cared deeply about the people while they were alive. They treated servants and relatives equally well. After she died, the housekeeper could not bear the thought of the two masters being lonely without anyone to talk to, so he settled nearby.”
“Grave keepers?”
Gao Ming really had not known that the ancestors of the nearby residents had such a connection to this famous princess.
“You could say that.”
Cheng Fei tossed her long hair back, looking relaxed and confident.
At the foot of the mountain stood a row of fences blocking outsiders. From inside came the faint sounds of free-range chickens.
“Don’t tell me your family rented this whole mountain area?”
“Don’t look at me like I’m some greedy businessman. My family isn’t that rich. We only rented a few acres of land to grow vegetables and raise some chickens for ourselves.”
“It would be a waste to fence off farmland completely. Here there’s grass, water, and insects, so it doesn’t need much care. The food produced here is natural and tastes great too. Honestly, I think your parents are better at business than I am.”
Those were nice words, but they sounded full of flattery.
“Enough already. I’m starving. Let’s collect the eggs and go back to cook.”
Cheng Fei waved her hand impatiently and crouched down to look for eggs in the grass.
Cheng Fei had a sharp nose, and Gao Ming’s sense of smell was not bad either. He could already smell a trace of danger in the air. If they kept talking like this, it might start an argument.
The free-range chickens were much wilder than the ones raised in cages. When they saw people coming in, they got scared and ran through the knee-high grass. Some even flew straight onto the peach tree branches at the edge.
“Whoa! I haven’t seen them for a few months. Why does this thing look like an eagle now?”
“It eats well.”
Gao Ming pointed under the peach tree. There lay a cauliflower snake that had been eaten down to skin and bones.
Cheng Fei was shocked again.
It was not just because of the snake’s size. Animals naturally feared snakes, just like humans feared huge wild beasts. That fear was deeply carved into living creatures through evolution and survival instincts. Yet this chicken had overcome that fear?
She looked again at the big rooster sitting proudly on the peach tree trunk. Its comb looked like burning fire, its eyes were bright and sharp, and its colorful feathers even shined under the sunlight. It stood there proudly like the true master of the yard, treating Cheng Fei and Gao Ming as intruders.
Could it be that after staying here for so long, the chicken had absorbed some strange energy from the mountain and the ancient tomb?
“Oh my god… don’t tell me it became a spirit or something?”
Gao Ming did not believe in such things. He bent down, picked up a fresh egg, and gently placed it into the basket Cheng Fei had brought.
The whole time, the rooster watched him closely, but it did not react.
Cheng Fei tried the same thing. Even after taking its eggs, the rooster still did nothing. But just moments ago, it had looked ready to peck people. The two of them were confused.
The rooster stretched its neck and let out a loud crow toward the sky. Then it flew down from the branch like a flash of light and started scratching at the ground near the wire fence.
The two looked at each other. Thinking it had only been startled, they ignored it and continued collecting eggs.
Seeing how large and red the peaches on the tree were, they could not resist picking a few.
It had been a long time since Cheng Fei had eaten peaches freshly picked from a tree. Usually, Qin Yi would pick them and mail them to Yunzhou. By the time they arrived after at least two days, the taste had already changed.
Cheng Fei swallowed hard. If the peaches were not covered in fuzzy peach hair, she would already be biting into one right now.
No choice then. She would eat a cucumber first.
Hm? What was that shiny thing?
Just as Cheng Fei was about to satisfy her craving, she suddenly noticed something sparkling brightly under the wire fence in the sunlight.
The fence had been exposed to wind and sun for years and was already rusty. There was no way it could reflect light that strongly.
Looking more carefully, the shiny spot seemed to be near the place where the rooster had just scratched the ground.
Cheng Fei moved closer to take a look. In the grass lay a wooden pole about two meters long. One end had a curved half-circle metal blade attached to it, almost like a steel pipe cut in half lengthwise.
“This thing…”
“A Luoyang shovel!”
Hearing her shout, Gao Ming quickly came over. His face immediately became serious.
There were many families around ancient tombs whose ancestors had guarded the graves for generations. Because of old family rules and traditions, it was almost impossible for grave keepers to rob the tombs themselves.
But the sudden appearance of this tool was definitely not a good sign.
“Let’s go back first and tell Uncle and Auntie. Maybe there’s some misunderstanding.”
Cheng Fei nodded immediately.
Why had the Lu family ancestors stayed here all these years? If something like this appeared in their own vegetable garden, it would be a terrible disgrace.
This matter definitely could not be spread around yet. They could not even call the police right away. Once the news spread, what would the neighbors think of their family? How could they continue living here afterward?
The two left the garden, with Cheng Fei following behind Gao Ming worriedly.
Anything was possible. Even if she knew the good side was more likely, she could not stop herself from thinking about the worst possibility.
Could Lu Shengdong really have tried to rob a tomb?
Bah! Impossible.
Their family was not extremely rich, but the supermarket near the center of the county already earned good money. Was there really any need to risk his life for one or two burial objects, then live in fear after secretly selling them?
The summer sun burned fiercely above them. The heat rising from the ground even distorted the air ahead.
Two men were walking side by side toward them on the road.
At first, Gao Ming thought they were just nearby residents and paid no attention. But as they passed each other, he caught sight of a scar on one man’s forehead and the fierce look in his eyes from the corner of his vision.
Gao Ming’s heart suddenly tightened.
His instincts told him something was wrong.
Cheng Fei was still lost in her own thoughts and had not noticed the people around her. It was only when Gao Ming slowed down that she walked straight into his back.
“Ow… what are you doing?”
Cheng Fei cried out, but Gao Ming was not paying attention to that at all. He turned back and saw the two men looking around suspiciously. They clearly did not act like locals.
He quickly pulled Cheng Fei beneath a courtyard wall.
She had no idea what he was doing and was about to ask, but Gao Ming reacted fast and covered her mouth with his hand.
Shh!
Gao Ming made a quieting gesture. Worried that sticking his head out would expose them, he pulled a loose brick from the corner of the wall and used the gap as a lookout.
Closing one eye, he could clearly see the road outside.
The two men had not gone far before turning back again.
Only then did Cheng Fei get a better look at their faces. They did not seem like local people.
Had they just moved here?
And why were these two wandering around near her family’s vegetable garden? Were they trying to steal chickens?
Thinking this, Cheng Fei had already grabbed a peach tightly in her hand. If they dared touch her family’s things, she would make them suffer from peach-fuzz allergies.
Afraid of getting beaten?
What a joke. Everyone nearby knew—
Ah…
Cheng Fei suddenly sighed sadly.
She had forgotten she was no longer the same as before. Even if she wanted to step out and scare people away using neighborhood connections and reputation, she no longer had the right excuse to do so.
At that moment, something shocking happened.
The two men did not climb over the wire fence, nor did they pick the peaches hanging within reach.
Instead, they crouched down, lifted up part of the wire fence, and pulled out the two Luoyang shovels hidden underneath.