Chapter 2794

Gu Bing held an iron shovel, muttering as he said: "Old sir, since you left something for your granddaughter, we'll start now—please don't blame us."

After muttering, Gu Bing shoved the iron shovel hard into the grave mound, then strained his arms to dig out the first shovelful of earth. Then Yu Zhan, Lian Kai, and Shen Weiming also began digging.

Because the soil was loose, the pickaxes weren't needed; Wang Wentian, Zhou Andong, Jian Mingfan, and Xiao Yuer held flashlights to illuminate them.

The grave mound wasn't large, so it was soon levelled, and Gu Bing began to pant. After all, sitting in an office every day, he rarely did physical labour and usually lacked exercise—being able to persist this long was already not bad.

"Director Gu, give me the iron shovel!" Wang Wentian took the shovel: "You rest a while!"

With Wang Wentian's help, the speed increased considerably; digging downward half a metre revealed the coffin. Soon, all the soil atop the coffin was cleared clean.

Zhou Andong stepped forward and looked: though called a coffin, it was more like a long wooden box. But because it had been coated with tung oil, it was well preserved, with no rotting parts.

Zhou Andong took out a lighter, squatted down, and lit the paper money: "Old sir, your granddaughter is right here. No matter what you think of her, when we open the coffin lid later, you must not move—don't frighten your granddaughter."

Hearing Zhou Andong's serious nagging, everyone wanted to laugh but dared not, watching him hold back with visible discomfort.

"Alright!" Zhou Andong stood up: "Open the coffin!"

Seeing Jian Qiu picked up Xiao Yuer and walked back over ten metres: "Xiao Yuer, you're too young to watch."

Wang Wentian and three others took iron shovels and pickaxes, straining hard to pry open the coffin lid. When the lid was lifted, Jian Mingfan grabbed Zhou Andong's arm in one go, his expression turning tense, his face twisting to one side, then slowly turning back as he opened one eye while closing the other, looking toward the coffin's interior.

Zhou Andong tilted his head to look at Jian Mingfan and mocked: "You're afraid?"

"I... I'm not afraid at all!" Jian Mingfan immediately released his grip on Zhou Andong's arm.

Zhou Andong no longer bothered with Jian Mingfan, turned to look at the coffin. Inside lay a corpse—no, a skeleton. And what surprised everyone was that it wore a Daoist robe.

Wang Wentian and Yu Zhan bent over, carefully extending their hands into the coffin, trying not to disturb the remains. But after feeling around, they found nothing.

"Chairman, there's nothing inside."

Zhou Andong frowned; he didn't believe this person would have deceived Xiao Yuer at the moment of death.

"Xiao Yuer!" Zhou Andong turned and walked toward Xiao Yuer not far away: "How did Man Laoyezi tell you when he left?"

Xiao Yuer said without hesitation: "Man Laoyezi said, when I grow up, if I can't survive, I should dig up his grave—there's something beneath the coffin to let me live on."

Zhou Andong's heart stirred, and he asked: "Beneath the coffin, or inside it?"

Xiao Yuer tilted her head, thought, and said: "Beneath the coffin!"

"I understand." Zhou Andong turned back: "Wentian, first cover the coffin, lift it out, then continue digging downward."

Wang Wentian and the three others covered the coffin lid, jointly lifting it out. Being nailed planks, it wasn't too heavy, and the four lifted it easily.

"Chairman!" Yu Zhan stood in the pit and asked: "Should we keep digging here?"

Zhou Andong nodded: "Yes!"

Due to limited space, the four worked in pairs, taking turns digging. After digging over a metre, Lian Kai's shovel struck something with a "crack!"—an obstruction, and he couldn't dig further.

"We've hit something!" Lian Kai shouted.

"Hurry!" Shen Weiming sped up, and soon the object's true form emerged—a coffin. But this one was far superior to the old man's previous one.

Zhou Andong didn't know what kind of wood it was, but he could tell it was a single slab, coated with thick red lacquer. No idea how many years it had lain in the soil, but the lacquer remained vividly red.

Wang Wentian stood at the pit's edge: "If this coffin used special coffin nails, iron shovels and pickaxes probably couldn't pry open the lid."

"Hey!" Lian Kai, who was inspecting below, exclaimed: "Old Wang, this coffin has no nails."

"Bang!" Wang Wentian jumped down, checked, and said: "Still no nails."

Zhou Andong laughed: "Probably the old man worried his granddaughter couldn't open it, so he left no nails."

Wang Wentian said: "Keep digging—mainly widen the surroundings a bit; otherwise, even without nails, the lid would be hard to open."

The four resumed digging together, mainly clearing the covering soil and widening the area.

Twenty minutes later, the coffin's true form was fully exposed. Wang Wentian and the three others stood at the four corners, first using iron shovels to pry up the lid, then gripping it with their hands and flipping it open.

Then everyone stared wide-eyed, as if forgetting to breathe, fixedly gazing into the coffin.

"This... this this this..."

Jian Mingfan pointed inside the coffin, unable to speak clearly: "Brother-in-law, how much is this worth?"

Gu Bing's throat rolled, then he took a deep breath and said: "It must be worth at least several tens of millions."

Zhou Andong held a flashlight, its beam moving back and forth inside the coffin. Inside were antique calligraphy, paintings, and jewellery—everything filled the coffin. Moreover, this coffin seemed about one size larger than a normal one.

Zhou Andong jumped down, then squatted and picked up a porcelain bottle. Though he didn't really understand these things, having seen many collections, he could still estimate their value.

"Judging by current value, the contents here are definitely over a hundred million."

Jian Mingfan sucked in a breath of cold air: "The contents here are worth a hundred million?"

Zhou Andong nodded: "About that."

At that moment, Seeing Jian Qiu came over holding Xiao Yuer. When she saw the coffin's contents, she also opened her mouth wide: "My goodness!"

Zhou Andong took a deep breath, raised his arm, and lowered Xiao Yuer: "Xiao Yuer, these things are what your grandfather left for you. Keeping them here is relatively safe, but it's hard to say what accidental exposure might occur."

"So I've decided to bring these things home for safekeeping, and return them to you when you turn eighteen. Of course, this is just consulting your opinion—if you disagree and want to keep them here, that's fine too."

Xiao Yuer blinked, then looked at Jian Mingfan. Though she said nothing, her meaning was clear: she was asking her brother's opinion.

Jian Mingfan laughed: "He's your brother-in-law; his family has plenty of money—he won't embezzle your little bit of stuff. Letting him keep it is safer."

Having received the answer, Xiao Yuer nodded her little head: "Good!"

Zhou Andong looked at Wang Wentian: "Wentian, does the car have any bags or sacks?"

Wang Wentian shook his head: "No!"

Zhou Andong sighed: "Who would have thought Xiao Yuer's grandfather would leave her so many treasures?"

"Xiao Yuer!" Zhou Andong asked Xiao Yuer: "Is there a road where we can drive the car over?"