Chapter 2795

Xiaoyuer pointed at the forest: "There's a path that way, but we have to go around."

"Going around is fine, as long as we can get the vehicle over there." Zhou Andong shouted: "Liankai, Shen Weiming, you two take the Land Cruiser over there to scout the route."

"Yes!" Liankai and Shen Weiming grabbed their flashlights and jogged away. It's already past 1 a. m., and we must finish and leave before 3 a. m. Because in the countryside, some diligent villagers wake up around 3:30 or 4 a. m. to feed pigs, chickens, and livestock.

The village isn't far from here—either car headlights or flashlight beams would be visible to anyone with sharp eyes. If what we're doing here gets discovered, the trouble won't be small.

Zhou Andong took out a cigarette, lit it, and looked at the thin wooden coffin where the old man lay: "Once we take out what's inside, we'll give the old man a new place—such a fine 'house' left empty would be a shame."

Gu Bing nodded: "Indeed, a coffin for treasures is obviously high quality, made from a single piece of timber—far better than the planks the old man is currently lying on."

Xiaoyuer is still young; even though she's mature for her age, she doesn't understand this kind of thing. She trusts Jianmingfan completely—whatever he nods at, she agrees to without hesitation.

After nearly half an hour, we finally saw light—swaying up and down, piercing the darkness. Soon, the vehicle crept slowly along the edge of the forest.

"Take off your coats—first wrap the calligraphy, paintings, and jade artifacts in clothes and send them to the vehicle." Zhou Andong took off his own coat, jumped down, spread the clothes on the ground, picked up the calligraphy, paintings, jade, and jewelry, placed them on the clothes, then bundled them up and handed them to Jianmingfan standing above: "Take them to the vehicle, put them in the trunk, then bring the clothes back."

Jianmingfan carried the clothes and treasures running toward the Land Cruiser just stopped outside the forest, and then Wang Wentian and Yuzhan also took off their clothes and jumped down. Thus, several people made multiple trips, finally transferring the calligraphy, paintings, and jade jewelry onto the vehicle.

"Brother-in-law!" Jianmingfan panted: "The trunk is full—what do we do with these ceramics?"

Gu Bing frowned slightly: "There are over thirty ceramic pieces left—we can't just leave them without proper containers. On this road, if we put them on the vehicle, they'll definitely get damaged."

Zhou Andong said: "There are several crates of wine at the back of the vehicle—take the wine out and use the wine crates to pack the ceramics. Don't put them in the trunk; place them on the floor of the rear seats, using the front and rear seats to brace them—no problem."

Wang Wentian called out: "Yuzhan, Liankai, Weiming, come with me to get the wine crates."

The four of them jogged toward the parking spot—familiar with the route, they returned quickly. Each carried two cardboard boxes, totaling eight, holding over thirty ceramic items. Two larger vases wouldn't fit in the boxes, so they had to be held. The rest filled seven boxes, leaving one empty cardboard box.

Wang Wentian and the others made two trips, delivering the seven boxes to the Land Cruiser and placing them on the rear seat floor. Honestly, with the seven boxes packed together and padded with a few people's clothes, it's actually quite stable—driving slowly will definitely pose no problem.

"Alright!" Zhou Andong exhaled deeply: "Let's relocate the old man."

"Indeed!" Wang Wentian nodded: "A coffin for antiques is far better than where he's currently staying—this old man truly feared his granddaughter's inheritance would be stolen by rats."

Gu Bing said with feeling: "While alive, the old man had already arranged everything for his granddaughter's future. But Xiaoyuer is too young—when he passed, he likely couldn't rest easy, unable to close his eyes in peace."

"We'll talk later." Zhou Andong said: "First, help the old man move house."

Exhuming, relocating graves, merging bones—these matters involve many customs. But tonight's situation renders all such rules irrelevant, and no one here understands them anyway.

Besides, none of the people present tonight believe in this superstition—especially Wang Wentian, Yuzhan, Liankai, and Shen Weiming, who crawled out of mountains of corpses and seas of blood—how could they care about such things?

"Yuzhan, Liankai, Weiming!" Wang Wentian called: "Lift the old man's coffin to the edge of the pit."

Four people lifted the coffin to the pit's edge: "Liankai, Weiming, you stay above; I and Yuzhan will go down."

Wang Wentian and Yuzhan jumped down, while Liankai and Shen Wenming stayed above, carefully lifting the old man's remains and handing them to Wang Wentian and Yuzhan.

"Old man!" Zhou Andong began burning paper money, saying as he burned: "Let you move to a new home—live more comfortably, so you'll have the strength to properly bless your granddaughter."

Zhou Andong muttered softly, and Wang Wentian and the three others also helped the old man complete his move, then closed the coffin lid.

"Chairman!" Wang Wentian looked up: "The coffin has no nails—what now?"

"Let's do it this way for now!" Zhou Andong had no choice: "Wait until Xiaoyuer is a bit older—in two years, bring her here to pay respects to her grandfather, then we'll seal the coffin with nails."

"That's all we can do." Wang Wentian nodded, and the four climbed up: "Then let's fill the grave!"

"Fill it!" Zhou Andong said, then turned and called to Seeing Jian Qiu and Xiaoyuer in the distance: "Bring Xiaoyuer over—let her burn a few sheets of paper for her grandfather."

Seeing Jian Qiu took Xiaoyuer's hand and walked over: "Xiaoyuer, burn paper for your grandfather."

Xiaoyuer obediently squatted down, took the paper money from the ground, and tossed it into the fire; Seeing Jian Qiu also took some paper money and burned a few sheets alongside her.

Zhou Andong burned paper while asking: "Xiaoyuer, was your grandfather a Daoist?"

"Yes!" Xiaoyuer nodded: "I lived with my grandfather in the Daoist temple."

Zhou Andong asked again: "Who buried your grandfather?"

"The grave site was chosen by my grandfather himself, the pit was dug by people he hired, and the coffin was already placed inside." Xiaoyuer's tears fell pattering: "That afternoon, my grandfather told me to go find the village head, saying he was going to die, and asked the village head to bring people to seal his coffin and fill the grave."

"When I and the village head arrived at the grave, my grandfather was already lying in the coffin. He said, 'In two hours, I'll depart.' Then, we could seal the coffin."

Upon hearing this, Zhou Andong felt Xiaoyuer's grandfather might truly be an enlightened adept—able to calculate his own time of departure: "Then how did you end up in Jingcheng while living in this village?"

Xiaoyuer suddenly stopped crying, fell silent for a moment, then said: "While alive, my grandfather gave Wang's wife a sum of money to raise me. At first she treated me well, but two months later she told me she wanted to take me to Jingcheng for fun—and that day, she dumped me in Jingcheng and left herself."

Zhou Andong's eyes flashed coldly: "Xiaoyuer, where does that Wang's wife live? I'll get the money back and send her to prison."

Xiaoyuer shook her head: "No need—let the past stay in the past."

Zhou Andong was stunned—he hadn't expected a child of just ten or so years to say such a thing: "Alright, brother, I'll listen to you."

Soon, Wang Wentian and the three others finished filling the grave—and the mound is now much larger than before.

Zhou Andong finished burning all the paper money, stood up, and said: "Let's go!"