novelraw Chapter 216 Double-crossing? They robbed the Cheng family!
Chapter 216 Double-crossing? They robbed the Cheng family!
Chapter 216 Double-crossing? They robbed the Cheng family!
The semicircle made of withered branches was very obvious. Ah Gou saw it as soon as he reached the edge of the mass grave. He faced the way he came and waited for people to come, while Gu Tang hid to the side, waiting for an opportunity to act.
She took out the other five modified poison gas grenades and placed them at her feet, ready to provide support if needed.
Before long, the group of men in the distance quickly arrived.
Upon meeting, Ah Gou breathed a sigh of relief. Although the opposing side had more people, their auras were mixed, their footsteps were unsteady, and their skills were probably average; there were no experts among them.
Ah Gou breathed a sigh of relief, but the guards of the Cheng family on the other side were all on edge.
They had never seen a gas mask before. When they first saw one, they all gasped in shock. In this mass grave, wearing a ghost-like mask, was he trying to scare people by pretending to be a ghost?
The head guard, after regaining his composure, asked, "Brother, are you the one who delivers messages and sells incense?"
"Come with me." Ah Gou didn't reply to him, but directly told him to follow him.
Upon hearing this, the person on the other end understood that they hadn't picked the wrong person.
The group followed Ah Gou at a leisurely pace, unaware that they had entered the semi-circular trap that Gu Tang had set up beforehand.
Once inside the trap, Ah Gou spoke again: "Did you bring the silver?"
"Where is the incense? We need to see the incense first."
Ah Gou paused, then said, "I don't have any incense; my master didn't give me any."
Seeing that he didn't speak, the crowd assumed he was arrogant and wanted to see the money before offering incense.
The head guard pulled a money pouch from his pocket and tossed it at Ah Gou's feet: "There are thirty thousand taels of silver notes in here..."
"I want cash, not banknotes." Ah Gou kept in mind what Gu Tang had said earlier.
“You arranged the meeting too hastily. The Cheng family doesn’t have time to gather the cash, and banknotes are just as good.”
"Cash only."
fraud!
Ah Gou pursed his lips. After delivering the letter, he took a stroll through the Cheng family's warehouse. Not to mention 30,000 taels of silver, the Cheng family could even come up with 100,000 taels of silver!
"A banknote is still silver; what's the difference between it and cash?"
What's the difference? He didn't know; he knew his master wanted cash.
Ah Gou insisted on cash: "I only want cash, not banknotes!"
The head guard's patience ran out, a sinister glint flashed across his face, and he glanced back at the thugs behind him, signaling them to make their move.
If you don't eat the toast, you will be punished with a drink!
Want to get money from the Cheng family? That's something you wouldn't even dare to dream of!
The thugs quickly surrounded Ah Gou and forced him to hand over the incense.
Gu Tang, who was hiding not far away, stared blankly at this scene. Was it a double-cross?
Good, good! She's been double-crossed!
Since that's the case, she doesn't need to hold back when she robs the Cheng family later!
Gu Tang stretched out her hand and gestured for Ah Gou to step back.
Not far behind Ah Gou, on the ground, was the pull cord for the poison gas grenade. He stepped back to the pull cord, pulled it with his foot, and immediately heard a series of "ding ding ding..." sounds.
The sound was very soft; only Ah Gou heard it.
With that "ding-ding-ding" sound, five plumes of white smoke shot rapidly upwards from the ground and quickly spread outwards.
In the instant the poison gas erupted, Ah Gou immediately leaped away, leaving the Cheng family guards and thugs in the smoke.
The Cheng family's guards and thugs quickly became a chaotic mess, wandering aimlessly through the smoke like headless flies, cursing Ah Gou as they searched for a way out.
"You despicable brat! You just wait... cough cough cough! When we get back, the Cheng family won't let you get away with this!"
"Cough cough cough! Kid! You still have time to admit your mistake! Otherwise, I'll skin you alive!"
"That's right! Cough cough cough! Quickly, get them out of here!"
……
As they continued cursing, the group quickly fell silent and lay sprawled on the ground.
Gu Tang retrieved the poison gas bomb at her feet and slowly moved closer to it.
These white fumes are all hallucinogens; once sprayed into the air, they quickly turn colorless.
Although it had become colorless, the effect was the same. Gu Tang touched the gas mask to make sure she was wearing it properly before daring to go towards them.
Ah Gou returned to this side, picked up the money bag on the ground, opened it, and took out a roll of something.
The money bag contained a thick stack of papers that at first glance did look like banknotes, but upon closer inspection, one would find that the words and seals on the banknotes were incorrect.
The bank note did not specify which bank it belonged to, and the seal was not a name mark, but rather some scribbles.
"This is fake, isn't it?" Gu Tang took a deep breath, her anger rising.
Ah Gou nodded: "It's fake."
"Search them!" Gu Tang gritted his teeth, squatted down, and began to search the corpses!
These people were all raised by the Cheng family, so they should have valuables on them.
Ah Gou helped with the search without hesitation, and quickly stripped all the people naked, leaving them only in their underpants.
The money collected by the dozen or so people totaled less than fifty taels of silver. Gu Tang was so angry that he kicked each of them and ordered Ah Gou to throw their clothes into the locust grove.
These people are obviously no good. They've probably caused a lot of trouble by relying on the Cheng family. Let's just let these bastards freeze to death!
Ah Gou had no objections and threw all the people's clothes into the locust grove after two trips.
After throwing away the clothes, Gu Tang coldly dug out and recycled all the discarded poison gas bombs, and then took Ah Gou back to the city.
Back in the courtyard, she took out all the poison gas bombs and hallucinogens, taught Ah Gou how to replace the poison gas devices inside the bombs, and told him to take his time. She then carried a pile of replaced poison gas bombs and started signing in.
[Ding! Congratulations, host, for completing today's check-in! You have received one box of psychedelic smoke grenades!]
Psychedelic smoke bomb?
Gu Tang put down the poison gas bomb in his arms and took out the newly acquired box from his backpack.
The box was a black iron box, very heavy. When it was placed on the table and opened, there was a round black ball about the size of a palm inside.
There was also an instruction manual in the box. Gu Tang read it carefully and saw that it read: "Hallucinogenic smoke bomb, containing one hundred units of hallucinogen. Pull the tab and throw it into the crowd, and it can knock out everyone within a thousand square meters within ten seconds."
This is good; it's fast and has a wide range of destructive power.
I counted them one by one; there were thirty in one box, which should be enough.
She handed the instruction manual to Ah Gou: "Take a good look at it, we'll use it tonight."
Ah Gou put down his work, carefully read through the instruction manual, and memorized every word.
With the hallucinogenic smoke bombs and their modified poison gas bombs, Gu Tang was very confident and eager to launch the attack that night.
As time passed, night soon fell.
Gu Tang patiently waited until midnight before taking Ah Gou to the Cheng family home. At this hour, the masters of the Cheng family had already turned off their lights and gone to sleep, and the maids and servants, except for those on night watch and patrol, had all left early.
Ah Gou climbed over the wall and entered the house first, then drugged all the guards at the gate with hallucinogens before opening the door to let Gu Tang in.
After Gu Tang came in, he threw a gas mask to A Gou and put one on himself, telling A Gou to drug all the servants and guards who were patrolling back and forth at night.
After taking down the night patrolman, the two found the Cheng family's storeroom. Ah Gou yanked off the iron lock on top and opened the storeroom door.
The two whispered a few words and decided that Gu Tang would stay in the warehouse to pack things into her system backpack, while A Gou would carry a basket full of poison gas bombs and hallucinogenic smoke bombs to throw around for fun.
She tried her best to charm everyone in the Cheng family.
Ah Gou, having received the mission, quickly disappeared into the night, leaving Gu Tang alone in the dark warehouse.
Gu Tang wasn't afraid at all. There was no one left in the warehouse; they were all captivated by them.
Reassured, they lit torches and carried them inside.
This storeroom should be the Cheng family's public storeroom, not a private storeroom for the masters. It contains many household items, utensils, antiques, and ornaments, all bearing the character "Cheng".
She didn't touch any of those. Her target was silver and gold, which were marked and difficult to remove. Only silver and gold were the easiest to deal with; a big fire would burn away all the marks.
After wandering around the warehouse, Gu Tang found many boxes of various sizes at the very back.
She stuck the torch to the side, took out a crowbar from her system inventory, and began to pry open the boxes one by one.
The first box was a large box as tall as a person. After prying it open, they found a box full of fine silks and satins inside.
Gu Tang didn't move and moved on to the next box.
The next box was about thigh height for Gu Tang. When it was pried open, it was full of silver ingots!
Gu Tang smiled and took them all without any hesitation.
And so she kept prying open the boxes one by one.
Soon, all the boxes in the warehouse were pried open. Gu Tang's hands were trembling from exhaustion, but he remained incredibly excited.
There are about two hundred boxes of various sizes. Forty of them contain cloth, jewelry and headwear. We can't accept these. First, they're unwearable, and second, we dare not sell them. If we investigate, we'll be caught red-handed!
There are thirty boxes filled with various leathers, all of them as tall as a person. I can take them.
Twenty boxes contained precious medicinal herbs, and twenty boxes contained precious tonics, both in large boxes as tall as a person. Both are fine; I'll take them all!
There were also various gemstones and other items, and ten boxes, each half a person's height, were filled with them. They were all unpolished and uncarved. Gu Tang looked through them and, finding no markings on them, took them all as well.
The remaining eighty boxes, each half a person's height, were filled with gold and silver!
Gu Tang was stunned when she pried it open!
The Cheng family is incredibly wealthy!
After a few sighs, she quickly realized something was wrong.
These boxes containing gold and silver are different.
There were fifteen black lacquered boxes without any patterns; thirteen of them contained silver, and two contained gold.
There were thirty red lacquered, embossed boxes, half of which were filled with gold and half with silver.
The most numerous were the colorless log chests, thirty-five in total; thirty were filled with gold, and five with silver.
At first, she thought that the Cheng family had bought two more boxes because they didn't have enough of the same type. But after she carefully examined them, she found some marks on the boxes, and there were words on them.
The black, unpatterned box has the character "程" (Cheng) engraved in the same color on its lid. The box with the red flag relief also has the character "沈" (Shen) engraved in the same color on its lid.
The colorless wooden box has a subtly carved "white" character on the side of the character for "box". Without careful inspection, one might mistake it for the wood grain.
Gu Tang touched the character "Bai" and a few guesses popped into her mind. The box engraved with the characters "Shen" and "Bai" should not belong to the Cheng family. Similarly, the gold and silver inside should not belong to the Cheng family either.
As for why it was placed in the Cheng family's possession, that remains unknown.
But no matter whose it is, now that she's encountered it, it belongs to her family.
With a wave of her hand, Gu Tang took all the gold and silver.
At this point, the warehouse was completely looted.
Gu Tang came out holding a torch and waited at the door for Ah Gou to return.
After waiting for about half an hour, Ah Gou returned carrying an empty basket.
"All done?" Gu Tang asked impatiently.
"It's all set. Even if we beat drums and gongs here, they won't wake up now."
"Well done!" Gu Tang was very satisfied and rarely praised him, so she pulled him along to continue the looting.
"Which courtyard does Old Madam Cheng live in? She's been the head of the household for decades, she must be rolling in money... And all the masters, mistresses, and young ladies in her courtyard, who doesn't have their own private savings? Come on, let's go take a stroll around!"
Ah Gou did as she asked, first taking her to the main courtyard where Old Madam Cheng lived. After searching it, they went to the other courtyards one by one, from the nearest to the furthest.
During this time, they also made sure to collect the casings of the poison gas grenades and the psychedelic smoke grenades to ensure that no clues were left behind.
By the time the entire Cheng family had been raided, it was already late in the morning.
It's time to head back. If we linger a little longer, we'll see manure trucks on the road.
The master and servant walked out of the Cheng family's side gate in a very open and unhurried manner. Gu Tang even had Ah Gou climb over the wall and go in, and then locked the door again to prevent anyone from going in.
The Cheng family members, who had been drugged, should have slept for a day.
If the Cheng family has no visitors today, they should wake up one after another in the evening.
If there are visitors... wow! That would be quite a scene!
Gu Tang, with a wicked thought in mind, hummed a little tune as she walked, the lantern in her hand swaying back and forth.
Ah Gou looked at the lantern in her hand with concern. If she kept shaking it like that, the candlelight inside would burn the lantern.
Sure enough, as they approached the courtyard, Gu Tang lost control of her grip and swayed too much, causing the flames to ignite the flammable lantern paper, which instantly burst into flames!
Caught off guard, Gu Tang was startled and immediately threw away the lantern.
Ah Gou stomped on it and put out the fire.
The candle inside the lantern was still usable, so he picked it up, lit it with a tinderbox, and handed it to Gu Tang again.
"It's alright, it's alright, there are still lanterns at home." Gu Tang took the candle, in a good mood, and was not affected by the lantern incident.
Back in the courtyard, her excitement gradually faded as she remembered that she hadn't yet arranged a house for Ah Gou.
The backyard belongs to her. Only her father and Gu Ping'an live in the second courtyard. The west wing is still empty, so she can find a room for him to live in.
In addition to arranging a room for him, we also need to prepare bedding.
The system backpack contained bedding obtained from previous check-ins, but Gu Tang was stingy and didn't give it to him. Instead, she gave him the bedding she had previously replaced.
They were all washed clean and kept in the system's inventory. She originally wanted to find an opportunity to throw them away, but she was afraid that her father would be angry if he found out, so she simply left them in the system's inventory and didn't care.