radicalducati Chapter 239 Abandoned Brick Kiln
Chapter 239 Abandoned Brick Kiln
Xu Damao held his breath, crouched outside the broken cave, and stared at the movement inside through the cracks in the window. Chef Zhao squatted in the corner and lit a cigarette, the flame of the cigarette butt flickering in the dim cave.
"What the hell is this old man doing... coming here just to smoke?" Xu Damao muttered to himself when he smelled the smoke outside the kiln. When Chef Zhao finished smoking slowly, he suddenly stood up, crushed the cigarette butt with the sole of his shoe, and then stomped on the ground three times.
"Dong, dong, dong--" the dull sound echoed in the empty cave. After Chef Zhao stamped his feet, he brushed off the dust on his body and walked out.
Xu Damao quickly shrank behind a pile of waste bricks. When the sound of Chef Zhao's footsteps completely disappeared, he immediately rushed into the cave, carefully searched for the wrong place on the cave wall, and searched on the ground for a long time before he found that there was a patch of ground in the darkest part of the cave floor that was different in color from other places, as if it had been moved recently.
"Found it! No wonder the old guy stomped his feet so hard." Xu Damao rubbed his hands excitedly. Just as he was about to look for something to dig, he suddenly heard noisy voices outside.
“Quick! Right over here!”
"I clearly saw a figure just now..."
"Could it be that he stole the coal?"
Xu Damao's face changed drastically and he hurried to the kiln entrance. He saw seven or eight villagers walking towards this side with shovels and sticks. The leader was Zhao Tiezhu, the son of chef Zhao!
"Damn it!" Xu Damao cursed inwardly, crouched down and rushed out of the cave, accidentally kicking over a broken clay pot.
"Who?!" Zhao Tiezhu shouted, and the villagers immediately chased towards the sound.
Xu Damao didn't even dare to look back, and ran desperately into the wasteland behind him. The thorns scratched his trouser legs, and the branches hit his face, which was burning, but he didn't care about these things, and just ran towards the steel mill.
Only after he was sure that he had shaken off the pursuers did Xu Damao slump down under an old locust tree and gasp for breath.
"Chef Zhao, this old fox..." Xu Damao pounded the tree trunk with gritted teeth, "Is this really the place where the Lou family hides their treasures? If there's no one watching here, aren't they afraid that someone will come and dig it up? If not, then why would Chef Zhao come here, and why would his son come here?" Xu Damao couldn't figure it out.
It was already dark when Xu Damao returned to the courtyard. He deliberately exposed the holes in his trouser legs and the scratches on his face, and shouted as soon as he entered the door: "Ouch, I fell to death!"
Qin Jingru was hanging clothes in the yard. Seeing this, she hurried over and asked, "What happened to you? Did you have a fight?"
"Don't mention it!" Xu Damao raised his voice to make sure that Liu Haizhong across the street could hear him. "I went to the east of the city to do some work today. I passed by the abandoned brick kiln in Erligou and saw Chef Zhao sneaking around..."
"Chef Zhao? Who is Chef Zhao?" Qin Jingru asked puzzledly.
"The cook of Lou Xiao'e's family. Hiss...it hurts so much..."
As expected, Liu Haizhong came out of the house and walked slowly in the yard, pretending to digest his food.
When Xu Damao saw Liu Haizhong coming out, he stopped talking and quickly pulled Qin Jingru into the house. After closing the door, he said, "I saw with my own eyes that old guy wandering around in the cave, stomping on the ground, as if he was looking for something..."
Liu Haizhong saw Xu Damao closed the door, so he quickly walked to Xu's window and eavesdropped.
Xu Damao told Qin Jingru the whole story with exaggeration, deliberately concealing the fact that he had peeped and was almost caught, and only said that he suspected that place was where the Lou family had hidden its treasure.
"If you ask me," Xu Damao lowered his voice mysteriously, "the Lou family had so much money, and they ran away just two days after being released. It's impossible for them to take everything with them. Chef Zhao must have left something behind..."
Qin Jingru interrupted and said, "Then why don't you just take people to search?"
"I don't have any evidence!" Xu Damao slapped his thigh in annoyance. "What if I'm overthinking? How embarrassing!" He stole a glance at the door and saw something through the crack. "I plan to report to Director Li tomorrow morning and then take people to search."
Liu Haizhong heard Xu Damao's words outside the house, touched his chin, and a greedy light flashed in his eyes: "I can't wait for you to report, I'll go and check it out now!" Liu Haizhong made up his mind, went back to the house, said hello to the second aunt, carried a shovel and pushed his bicycle out of the yard.
Looking through the window at the hurriedly departing figure with bangs, Xu Damao curled up the corners of his mouth into a sinister smile.
Qin Jingru asked in confusion: "Da Mao, what are you laughing at?"
Xu Damao put his arm around her shoulders and said, "Wifey, just wait and see. If there is a fringe in the middle, I will just pick up the leaks from the back. Don't wait for me in the evening. I have something important to do." After saying that, he took a few steamed buns, filled a pot of water, put on a thick cotton coat and went out.
When it was late at night and everyone was asleep, Xu Damao quietly followed behind Liu Haizhong.
Liu Haizhong finally found the abandoned brick kiln that Xu Damao had mentioned. He crouched down and crawled into the abandoned brick kiln, the beam of the flashlight sweeping back and forth in the dark cave. The cold wind poured in from the cracks in the broken bricks, making a strange humming sound, which made the back of his neck feel cold.
"That kid Xu Damao, he wouldn't play tricks on me..." Liu Haizhong muttered, and suddenly the flashlight swept to the innermost part of the cave - the color of the ground there was obviously darker than the surrounding area, as if it had been turned over by someone.
Liu Haizhong's eyes lit up, and he quickly took out a shovel from the sack he brought with him. The "squeak" sound of the shovel digging into the soil was particularly harsh in the silent night. He stopped every few digs to listen to the noise, fearing that he would be discovered.
After digging about half a meter deep, the shovel suddenly hit something hard with a clang. Liu Haizhong's hands were shaking with excitement, so he quickly threw away the shovel and dug with his hands. A metal box appeared in the soil, with an iron lock hanging on it.
"I've made a fortune!" Liu Haizhong swallowed his saliva and was about to pick the lock when he suddenly heard footsteps outside the cave. He shivered with fear and the flashlight fell to the ground.
"Who...who is there?" Liu Haizhong asked in a trembling voice, picking up a brick to protect himself.
The footsteps were getting closer and closer, and cold sweat oozed from his forehead. At this moment, a flashlight shone directly into his eyes, blinding him.
"Second uncle, what are you doing in the middle of the night?"
Liu Haizhong squinted his eyes and saw that they were a few young men from the security department of the steel mill! The leader was Li Huaide's distant nephew, Xiao Li.
"I...I..." Liu Haizhong hesitated, and suddenly an idea came to him, "I received a report from the masses that there are suspicious elements here!"
Xiao Li looked at the metal box on the ground suspiciously: "Then what is this..."
Liu Haizhong was about to argue when Xu Damao's voice suddenly came from outside the cave: "Captain Li! Catch him quickly!!"
Liu Haizhong's face changed drastically when he heard this. Xu Damao pointed at the iron box and said righteously: "Captain Li, this is the evidence! Liu Haizhong used his position to secretly hide the stolen goods of the Lou family!"
"Xu Damao! You are slandering me!" Liu Haizhong was so angry that he was shaking all over. "It was obviously you..."
"That's enough!" Xiao Li interrupted, "Take the box with you. Liu Haizhong, you come with us too."
Liu Haizhong's face was ashen, and when he was escorted out of the cave, he glared at Xu Damao fiercely. But Xu Damao leaned close to his ear and said in a voice that only the two of them could hear: "Second uncle, please explain it to Director Li slowly."
Looking at Liu Haizhong being escorted away, Xu Damao showed a grim smile. He turned to Xiao Li and said, "You go back and report to Director Li first, I will check here again."