Chapter 225: Chapter 225: Old Wang’s Treasure Chests

Seven pots of rabbit stew—one whole rabbit per pot.

No one else could quite master the technique, so almost every step was handled by Gu Qinghuan herself. By the end, when she was too exhausted to stir the pot any longer, Xu Huaian took over the task.

After cooking it all, she was completely worn out.

But seeing the table piled high with several large bowls of cold rabbit, she felt a deep sense of accomplishment.

Her arms, though, were aching unbearably. Between making beef jerky and now all this cold rabbit, and in such large quantities, her hands had really taken a beating.

Tonight, she’d have to soak in the spiritual spring water in her space to recover.

Dinner that evening was prepared by Zhong Luoning and Ming Ruxue. Recently, Zhong Luoning had learned quite a few dishes from Gu Qinghuan, and she was getting pretty good at it.

To be precise, she already had a solid foundation in cooking, and with Gu Qinghuan’s guidance, her dishes now tasted excellent.

Once they returned to Beijing, Gu Lanting and Ming Ruxue, the two little ones, would be in for a treat.

That night, one whole pot of cold rabbit was finished off immediately. If it weren’t for the other dishes, the rest probably wouldn’t have lasted either.

The spicy, savory flavor was just perfect with rice.

After dinner, Zhong Luoning took the kids to bed.

Gu Qinghuan and Xu Huaian “disappeared” together once again, but by now, everyone was used to it.

Lately, they’d been slipping away often, and everyone just assumed the couple wanted some private time before parting ways, so they were happy to give them space.

In reality, the two weren’t off having any heart-to-heart talks—they were just working and chatting together.

The first thing they did upon entering the space was treat the injured ewe from that afternoon.

If left untreated, the sheep wouldn’t die—after all, there was food, water, and no predators here—but it would definitely end up crippled.

Xu Huaian washed the wound with spiritual spring water, applied ointment, and splinted it.

Gu Qinghuan gave the two sheep a special meal and some undiluted spiritual spring water.

She’d discovered that animals who drank the spring water long-term became noticeably more intelligent—like the little sable, who was practically human now, though the Exorcist Flower had helped too.

For the other livestock, she only gave highly diluted spring water, since they’d eventually be eaten—no need to make them too clever.

But these two sheep were different. She intended to raise them well and train them as leaders of the flock, so she gave them undiluted spring water.

For now, they were kept separately.

Once the sheep were settled, the two set about processing the wild game they’d caught earlier. Gu Qinghuan cleaned the wild chickens, while Xu Huaian slaughtered and butchered the two wild boars that had been injured during the hunt, storing the meat away.

After finishing all the chores, they turned their attention to the five large chests they’d brought in earlier.

“What do you think is inside? Gold and silver? Jewels? Calligraphy and jade? Or maybe weapons?” Gu Qinghuan tapped on one of the camphorwood chests.

“I have no idea, but we’ll know once we open them,” Xu Huaian said, ready to get started.

Gu Qinghuan stopped him. “What if there’s something bad inside? Let me do it.”

She pulled Xu Huaian back a few meters, then opened the first chest with her mind.

They waited a moment—nothing happened. Moving closer, they saw just what Gu Qinghuan had expected: all sorts of objects, big and small, bottles and jars, glittering with a hint of luxury and history.

Cotton had been stuffed between the items to keep the porcelain from bumping into each other.

This chest alone made Gu Qinghuan even more curious about the rest.

She opened all the chests in one go.

The contents of the second chest left them both stunned.

Half the chest was filled with silver dollars, and inside was a smaller wooden box—packed with gold bars.

A whole chest full of gold bars.

How much would all this be worth?

Things were getting more and more mysterious. Who could have buried so much treasure deep in these mountains?

The third chest contained women’s gold and silver jewelry and jade ornaments.

The gold and silver pieces had tarnished and lost their luster, but Gu Qinghuan could still tell the quality of the jade.

Each little box inside held a full set of jewelry, all made from top-grade jade: there was premium glassy emerald green, fresh icy apple green, beautiful spring-colored jade, and fiery red jadeite.

The emerald set was especially stunning—bracelet, beads, earrings, pendant, hairpin, all included.

In modern times, a set like this would easily fetch over a hundred million yuan, given how much emerald jade is hyped up.

But for now, these things couldn’t even be worn outside for fear of attracting trouble.

Judging by this chest, its owner must have been a woman of considerable status—no ordinary person could have collected so many complete sets of jade jewelry.

Setting aside the jade, Gu Qinghuan opened the fourth chest. The contents seemed to have come from a man’s study—rather messy, a bit of everything.

There were several sets of the Four Treasures of the Study: brushes, ink sticks, inkstones, and so on—clearly cherished items.

Alongside them were many thread-bound books and a few scrolls of calligraphy and paintings.

So the man of the house must have been a scholar—or at least an intellectual from the old society.

Gu Qinghuan didn’t understand these things and skipped over them, but Xu Huaian was quite interested and started looking through the books and paintings.

The last chest was, unbelievably, packed full of gold bars—an astonishing amount.

My god, who on earth buried all this here? This family must have hidden their entire fortune underground.

Gu Qinghuan had a guess.

Xu Huaian quickly confirmed it.

“These belonged to Old Wang the Wealthy!”

“How do you know?”

“Look at this seal: ‘Wang Zhiyuan.’ That was Old Wang’s name.

I remember when I was little, before he was labeled a landlord and toppled, he ran a sort of literacy class in the village, teaching the tenant farmers’ kids to read.

He was an educated man, inherited his family’s estate, but he preferred teaching, so he often taught us in person. We all called him Mr. Wang.”

Gu Qinghuan hadn’t expected such a story behind all this.

She remembered, from the original host’s memories, that Old Wang had helped her too.

“So, he wasn’t a bad person.”

Xu Huaian seemed lost in his memories.

“He wasn’t. The real villain was someone else.”

Gu Qinghuan guessed he meant Xu Mingshan—after all, it was he who repaid kindness with cruelty, hunted Old Wang to extinction, and brought about his tragic end.

But Xu Huaian didn’t say any more."