Chapter 386 — Treasure Hunting in the Courtyard

"I'm a bit tired too, so why don't we let Brother Jianpai give it a try?" Had Shen Yushu not been worn out herself, she would never have lit up so at the sight of his return, nor been in such a tearing hurry to summon him over and lend a hand.

"Mm, then go on and call him." Gu Mengyao nodded. "If we keep digging like this, heaven knows when we'll ever reach it."

"That's just it — heaven knows where it's even buried. The map I drew when I was little is worth nothing at all..." Shen Yushu wiped the sweat from her brow with the back of her hand, and left several more streaks of black mud in its place.

"You're one to talk! Look at this wreck of a map you drew — it'd take a ghost to find anything with it." Gu Mengyao waved the map in her hand. "You swore back then there'd be no problem, that we were sure to find it. Find what, a ghost..."

"All right, Sister Yaoyao, stop picking on me. I was only a little thing then — to have drawn a map like that was already pretty good..." Embarrassed, Shen Yushu took the treasure map back, then reached for Gu Mengyao's arm...

"Don't touch me... ah..." Gu Mengyao found that Shen Yushu had left several muddy streaks across her arm.

"Something you need?" Wei Zhao locked the car door and walked over, to find Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu with their heads together, muttering away at something he couldn't make out.

"Wei Zhao, dig up the treasure for us." Gu Mengyao handed him the Luoyang shovel.

"Dig up treasure?!" Wei Zhao's eyes went wide. He rubbed his ears, half suspecting that his hearing had gone wrong on him. "Treasure, where?"

"Right here." Shen Yushu pointed to the ground of the courtyard.

"In the villa's courtyard?" Wei Zhao was stunned. "You're not joking, are you? How could there be treasure in this villa's courtyard? Have you two been watching too many films? This place was put up barely ten years ago — how could there be any treasure?"

"Of course there is. It's ours..." Shen Yushu was on the point of saying "we buried it" when Gu Mengyao cut her off.

"If we say there's treasure, then there's treasure." Gu Mengyao shot Shen Yushu a glare. She could not let Wei Zhao know that they themselves had buried it — what if he grew curious, dug it up and took a look?

"All right." Wei Zhao looked at the two girls' peculiar, shifty expressions and could only nod. The young lady had ordered him to dig, so he would dig; it wasn't as though it would cost him any effort. "Where do I dig?"

"Right here in this courtyard. Dig where you see fit." Besides the Luoyang shovel, Gu Mengyao passed him the rest of what she was carrying — a plain pick, some rope and the like.

"Brother Jianpai, here's a treasure map for you too." Shen Yushu handed Wei Zhao the map she had drawn as a child. "Use it as a reference."

He took the treasure map, nodded, and made ready to set to work.

Gu Mengyao rolled her eyes at Shen Yushu in exasperation and pulled her a few steps away. "Are you stupid? How could you hand that treasure map to Wei Zhao?"

"Oh... it's no big deal. If anyone's humiliated, it's me — I drew it." Shen Yushu couldn't have cared less. "I figured that with a map he'd have an easier time of it; otherwise he'd have no clue where to start."

"It's your embarrassment, true — but hand Wei Zhao a treasure map and aren't you plainly telling him that we were the ones who hid it?" Gu Mengyao was at her wit's end. "What will you do when he sees what's inside? Can you afford that humiliation?"

"I can. Can you?" Shen Yushu nodded.

"..." Gu Mengyao wished she could stamp Shen Yushu flat under her heel. Fuming, she said, "You can — I can't..."

"Hee hee, it's all right, Sister Yaoyao. Don't forget we have the key." Shen Yushu waved the key in her hand.

"Fine..." Gu Mengyao had no choice; it had come to this. She could hardly ask for the treasure map back after handing it over, could she?

"Sister Yaoyao, don't overthink it. Brother Jianpai isn't the sort who likes to peek into other people's privacy. If he sees a lock, he certainly won't open it." Shen Yushu soothed her.

Gu Mengyao nodded. It was true: Wei Zhao hardly seemed the type to pry into other people's business of his own accord. She and Yushu lived upstairs, yet he had never once gone up — leaving Mighty General on guard there looked, in hindsight, rather superfluous.

Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu went back inside the villa to rest. The two of them had been digging for a good while already: yesterday they had dug the whole afternoon, starting the moment Wei Zhao left, and today they had dug from dawn till dusk. They were dead on their feet.

Both were soaked in sweat and grey with dust, and Shen Yushu had come off worse — her face was smeared with mud. So the instant they were through the door, the two of them made a bolt for the bathroom in the second-floor bedroom, intent on showering and changing before anything else.

Once the two had gone, Wei Zhao picked up the treasure map Shen Yushu had given him and took a look. He very nearly toppled over on the spot. Was this supposed to be a map? Could it possibly be any more brainless?

The map showed a dog. By the looks of it, a miniature Mighty General — perhaps the dog in its younger days. Beside Mighty General stood a sandbag, and facing the sandbag lay two schoolbags.

As for the treasure's location, it had been fixed by triangulating among these three things, which was at least reasonably accurate. But where on earth was Wei Zhao supposed to lay hands on them now?

Mighty General was alive and moved about; the sandbag had long since been tossed who knew how many miles away; and as for the two schoolbags, they must have belonged to Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu — probably broken and thrown out by now.

Wei Zhao was rendered speechless. A treasure map like this — only Shen Yushu could have drawn one. It was almost impressive; no wonder the two of them could hold a map and still not dig anything up. The thing was no better than having no map at all.

The young lady had really saddled him with a thorny task.

Wei Zhao frowned down at the treasure map without starting in. He had no intention of turning over every inch of the courtyard; he would have to think up some shortcut.

Wei Zhao tossed aside the Luoyang shovel in his hand. He had no idea where the two girls had unearthed such a rare object — had they been watching too many TV dramas? This was no grave-robbing expedition, and yet they had gone to all the trouble of turning out a Luoyang shovel! To dig up the earth in one's own courtyard, an ordinary iron spade was more than enough.

Of course Wei Zhao had no way of knowing that yesterday Uncle Qing had moved heaven and earth to get hold of the Luoyang shovel. The young lady had telephoned him to say she wanted a Luoyang shovel; when Uncle Qing asked what for, she told him she was digging for treasure.

Uncle Qing didn't dare ask too many questions — what if some secret was involved? So he hurriedly set about pulling every string he could, and at last produced just such a Luoyang shovel...

Wei Zhao turned and walked into the villa, to find Mighty General still sitting there blankly at the foot of the stairs, carrying out Gu Mengyao's orders with strict and unswerving fidelity.