Chapter 327 - Heavy Losses
Chapter 327: Heavy Losses
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
Old Master Cao did not come from a privileged background and was born in an ordinary family. Later on, he worked as a waiter in a restaurant and met his benefactor there. After that, he became an apprentice in a pawnshop. He was diligent and quick-witted, so he quickly became the manager of the shop. As time passed, he also fell in love with antiques and calligraphy. When someone came to pawn valuable things, he would hide them.
Later on, Old Master Cao hid everything he had and only kept a few of his most precious jade artifacts with him. After being displaced and wandering around for half a year, he finally moved into this part of the Xia family’s house. He originally thought that he could live in peace for a few years, so he had placed the items inside the wall of the main room. Now that the house had collapsed, the jade were all gone.
Old Master Cao wanted to weep out loud, but he was afraid of disturbing the neighbors, so he could only sit on the ground and teared as he looked at the ruins.
He did not dare to act rashly and attempt to look for those treasures in the ruins. If someone found out about it, he would never be able to explain himself. At that time, he would have to explain where his money came from and how these things came about.
“Why is Old Master Cao so sad? What happened to his family?” asked a passerby.
“Him? I guess he’s crying for his treasures.” The people around him laughed about it and went home.
The people here had all lived here for more than 10 years and everyone knew everyone’s background. It was no secret that Old Master Cao liked antiques, but there was no evidence so no one reported it. Now, it seemed that Old Master Cao had hidden away a lot of “good stuff”!
When the Cao family members saw the old man crying silently, they realized something was wrong. However, it was too late and all the things inside must have been destroyed.
Qiao Mei had yet to withdraw the underground vines. Now, she could still sense what was happening at the Cao family’s side and she silently observed the items in the ruins.
She could find scattered money, broken porcelain, eroded calligraphy and paintings, broken bangles, among other things. These things were not valuable at all. Shei slowly searched around and suddenly felt energy surging nearby. There must be something valuable nearby.
Qiao Mei looked around and finally found an inconspicuous jar. She used a vine to slowly reach into it and found a treasure!
It was a rusty iron box. After opening it, she found a crystal clear bangle inside. The quality of this bangle was definitely not inferior to the one she was wearing! It was such a pity that it was part of a set and only this bangle was left intact.
The golden energy slowly transferred to Qiao Mei’s body through the vines. She closed the box and wrapped the vines tightly around it before pulling it underground.
“Father, stop crying. Let’s find a place to stay first,” Cao Da advised.
If Old Master Cao continued crying in such heavy rain, he would probably fall sick and be hospitalized.
“Where else can we go…” asked Old Master Cao.
The Cao family’s eldest daughter-in-law said, “Let’s go to stay at Xia Zhe’s house. He can’t possibly leave us in the lurch!”
The rest of the Cao family members also thought that it was a good idea. As long as they stayed in the front yard, they would definitely still be able to dig up something!
However, they did not expect that Xia Zhe had no intention to let them into the house.
The Cao family made their way to the front yard and knocked on the door. Their voices were so loud that they could be heard from two streets away. Xia Zhe came out with an angry expression and asked the Cao family, “What do you want?”
The Cao family’s eldest daughter-in-law put her hands on her hips and said, “Our house collapsed! You have to take us in!”
Xia Zhe was so angry to hear what the Cao family’s eldest daughter-in-law said that he burst out laughing. How dare they destroy someone’s house and then still have the cheek to ask the owner to take them in. If they wanted to ask for help, then they needed to have the right attitude. What were they trying to do with this air of self-righteousness?
“No, my wife is asleep. She’s pregnant and can’t take any shock. You guys can find another place.” After saying that, Xia Zhe closed the door and refused to open it no matter how they shouted.
Qiao Mei got up in a daze and looked towards the door.
“Xia Zhe! Xia Zhe!” Qiao Mei shouted twice before she saw a black figure enter the room.
“I’m here.” Xia Zhe took off his raincoat and placed it along the long corridor. He went into the room and hugged Qiao Mei.
“Why is it so noisy outside?” Qiao Mei asked curiously.
She had been focused on searching for treasures in the Cao family’s side and did not notice that the Cao family had started to have designs on her front yard.