Chapter 918: A Very Small Wooden Box

The east and west wing rooms of this courtyard were not small. The east wing had five rooms, and while the west wing had six, the three rooms on the southern side were used as sheds.

The group first entered the three rooms of the west wing, which were packed to the brim with grain.

The grain here was extremely varied; one could say there was every kind imaginable—corn, rice, wheat, millet, broomcorn millet, and various types of beans.

Naturally, processed goods like corn grits, cornmeal, white rice, white flour, and foxtail millet were also all present.

By a conservative estimate, these grains combined must weigh thirty to forty thousand jin, which is roughly fifteen to twenty tons.

However, it was obvious that this grain had been collected as debt repayments—or to put it bluntly, they had been fucking stolen.

Looking at these three rooms full of grain, Captain Zhang couldn't help but curse angrily

"These animals... how many people must they have ruined?"

Captain Zhou also spoke with a grim expression

"They've stolen everyone's food rations and piled them up here. These bastards aren't even human."

Sun Nian's enchanting face, which usually captivated all who saw it, was now covered in frost, as if she were about to freeze the entire earth at any moment.

Only Wang An's expression remained largely unchanged, maintaining a completely indifferent attitude.

Mainly, once a person has experienced enough in life, they basically stop being surprised by anything.

Moreover, as long as loan sharking isn't eradicated, this kind of thing will never stop.

Wang An remembered that in his previous life, a large private enterprise in the south had borrowed from loan sharks, leading to a break in the company's capital chain. An enterprise with a production value of hundreds of millions became riddled with debt and was eventually dragged down into bankruptcy.

From this, it was evident that if even a large enterprise couldn't withstand loan sharks, ordinary commoners stood no chance.

After a while, Sun Nian asked Captain Zhang and Captain Zhou

"If we step in, can this grain be returned to the people it was stolen from?"

Captain Zhang and Captain Zhou looked at each other, and then Captain Zhang shook his head

"This is a mess of a ledger. There are all sorts of different grains here. We don't know how much was stolen or where it was stolen from; there's simply no way to return it."

In truth, Sun Nian had only asked out of curiosity, as she also felt that with this much grain, it would be impossible to return every bit to the victims.

Thus, hearing Captain Zhang's answer, Sun Nian simply nodded and said nothing.

At this point, Captain Zhou suddenly interjected

"Captain Sun, I reckon the things we're looking for aren't in here. Why don't we check the east wing?"

Sun Nian glanced at the room full of grain once more, then nodded and instructed a nearby officer

"Seal these grains and the doors. Let's go; check the rooms over there."

With that, the group turned and walked toward the east wing.

Just as they had with the west wing, the large lock on the door was violently smashed open. The officers entered the east wing and began searching.

It must be said that this gang led by Wei Cheng had certainly collected quite a few "goodies."

Of the five rooms in the east wing, two were used as game rooms, filled with gambling tools like mahjong, pai gow, dice, old-style cards, and poker. The remaining rooms were filled entirely with guns.

Yes, guns—at least a hundred of them.

However, the vast majority of the guns here were air rifles; there were only about twenty single-barrel and ten or so double-barrel shotguns.

The most surprising thing was that the guns were all new—absolutely brand new.

Subconsciously, Wang Li asked Wang An

"Fourth Brother, why do you think they got so many air rifles? Aside from shooting sparrows or grey squirrels, these things are a struggle even for wild pheasants or rabbits. They aren't of much use."

It had to be admitted that Wang Li was correct. At this time, air rifles were defined as toy guns, firing lead pellets 4.5mm or 5.5mm in diameter.

Their range was at most twenty to thirty meters, and they lost almost all power beyond twenty meters, so using them for hunting was pure nonsense.

Most importantly, these things weren't cheap. Whether at the supply and marketing cooperative, the hardware store, or even the bookstore, the price was eighty yuan or more—equivalent to two full months' salary for a formal employee.

Yes, the bookstore; bookstores sold air rifles back then.

Wang An touched the protective oil on one and said

"They probably collected them as debt repayments. Looking at the state of things, they haven't had time to sell them yet."

It must be said that seeing this pile of guns was quite a spectacle.

While Wang An and Wang Li were examining the guns, the officers finally made a new discovery.

An officer accidentally found a small, shabby box inside a very worn-out large chest, and inside that small shabby box was an even smaller box.

To be honest, looking at those two broken wooden boxes that looked like they could only be used for firewood, no one would have guessed there was a third box inside.

This small box was very tiny—rectangular, about 15cm long, 10cm wide, and 5cm high.

When the officer opened it, he couldn't help but let out a startled cry: "Holy shit!" which instantly drew everyone's attention.

Simultaneously, everyone's eyes instinctively shifted toward the spot.

Immediately following that, a chorus of "Holy shit!" and "Oh, holy shit!" erupted from the crowd.

The reason everyone lost their composure was that the small box contained nothing other than a full load of gold.

Inside were gold chains, gold bracelets, gold earrings, gold locks, gold pendants, and a heap of other gold jewelry.

Of course, there were also several gold bars the size of a pinky finger, gold sycees the size of a fingertip, and small gold beads or grains that had fallen off certain gold ornaments.

It had to be admitted that gold was truly fucking eye-catching.

However, due to discipline and strong willpower, although the officers cried out, none of them crowded forward.

Naturally, Wang An and Wang Li didn't crowd forward either; mainly because their family didn't lack this stuff, so there was no reason to.

Wang An estimated the thickness of the box's walls and concluded that this box of gold must weigh at least twenty jin.

Calculating by the gold price of that era, this box of gold was worth over 85,000 yuan!

Wang An couldn't help but lament inwardly

"The loan sharking business is truly fucking lucrative!"

And that didn't even include the grain, the guns in the room, or the cash the group hadn't found yet.

No wonder Wei Cheng didn't care about the silver jewelry and jade pieces that were worth a bit of money.

Who would care about worthless silver when they had this much gold?

(End of Chapter)