Chapter 242

Old Pei hurriedly pulled it over and held it in his palm, "My little ancestor, even if there is something down there, we can't dig randomly. The things down there belong to someone. Someone hid them there, so if we dig them up, that's theft, stealing someone else's stuff!"

But she was still puzzled in her heart about who buried this stuff in the corner of her backyard?

Was it Old Pei?

Or was it hidden by the An family before they moved here?

Upon hearing that he couldn't dig, Yuan Bao immediately drooped his head, looking somewhat disappointed.

"I know you want to prove your ability, and I'm not saying I don't believe in you. It's just that we can't touch things that belong to others, or else the owners will be very sad when they lose their stuff." Zhi Xia restored the soil Yuan Bao had dug up to its original state. Seeing him looking so dejected, she said helplessly: "How about this - if you really want to go treasure hunting, look for those abandoned yards where no one lives, or desolate wilderness..."

At the same time, Zhi Xia was thinking that she should also give Yuan Bao access rights to the space. This little guy didn't seem to like staying cooped up all the time. Letting him out would make her worry he might get lost or encounter some danger. But if he had space access rights, she could summon him back anytime, so there'd be no need to worry.

"Zhi Xia, what are you doing?" Old Pei's voice suddenly appeared behind her, giving Zhi Xia a shock.

Soon after, two children came running up excitedly shouting "Mommy!".

Zhi Xia looked back and saw the panicked expression on Old Pei's face, and realized that he was aware of the things buried underground here.

"Dad, I haven't had a chance to tell you yet - I adopted a pet named Yuan Bao. Just now he dug a hole here, but I've filled it up already." Zhi Xia put Yuan Bao down on the ground. The palm-sized white rat was covered in mud, its fluffy fur not looking as scary as an ordinary rat, but rather cute and adorable instead.

"So it's a rat? What breed is this?" Old Pei was very worried. Rats were not the same as dogs. There were also kids in the house. If this critter went crawling all over the place and onto their beds... What was Zhi Xia thinking, adopting a rat instead of some other pet, and not even keeping it locked up in a cage!

"I picked it up, no idea what breed it is. But Yuan Bao seems especially sensitive towards treasures and such." Seeing the look of disdain in Old Pei's eyes, Zhi Xia knew what he was thinking.

She couldn't blame him. Nowadays, the only pets ordinary folks kept were cats and dogs. Keeping a rat was indeed hard to understand.

Luckily Yuan Bao was rather good-looking, otherwise Old Pei might have tried to catch the rat upon first sight.

These words clearly revealed some secrets about her little friend, giving Old Pei food for thought.

So this rat could seek out treasure, that's why it dug a hole here.

He had to laugh at himself for even entertaining the idea.

Whether true or not, these were her things to begin with, so telling her about them earlier didn't make a difference.

"Since you discovered this place today, I might as well just tell you everything." Old Pei told Pei Chenye to take his sister outside first. Without any hesitation, Pei Chenye pulled Wanqing along and left.

After they had gone far away, Old Pei patted the ground beneath their feet and continued, "Buried down here are your family's belongings, hidden away by your grandfather. This yard was originally intended as Wanqing's dowry, but unfortunately..." Old Pei heaved a sigh as he said this - it was also why he had no choice but to take over this yard back then.

Because by then, Zhi Xia's little aunt had already passed away, and it was very difficult for the An family to sneak those things out from under heavy surveillance.

Her grandfather had given Old Pei the deed to the yard, partly because he wanted someone to guard those buried belongings.

Even the greatest man would inevitably have some selfishness. The An family did a lot of good deeds, donating most of their money and assets, but understandably still wished to leave some things behind for their descendants.

And those things were originally Wanqing's dowry. Now that she was gone, keeping them at least allowed them to cherish her memory.

Of course, while the buried objects didn't belong to Old Pei, the yard itself was indeed given to him - it was the old grandfather's affection as well as compensation for guarding those things.

"Dad, you knowing about these things is enough. I only chanced upon this place today because of Yuan Bao." They weren't her things, so Zhi Xia didn't covet them.

However, Old Pei guarding those things for so many years without any selfish intentions proved why the old grandfather trusted him so much - he must have really treated them like his own children.

"A couple years ago your grandfather already said, everything buried down there now belongs to you. He was worried you rash youngsters might not know the value of things, that's why he didn't tell you. Now that you've found it, letting you know is for the best too. That way when we two old geezers kick the bucket one day, at least we've had a chance to explain things clearly." Back then when Old Pei talked about donating the house, he really was just trying to scare Wang Yue. Just the things buried underground alone meant there was no way he could simply donate the place on a spur of the moment decision.

Once this matter was discussed, it would be treated as forgotten. Old Pei wouldn't bring it up with her a second time either.

Zhi Xia also gave Yuan Bao access to connect with her trading system, and once again spent all her Star Coins down to the last penny.

It seemed like a lot of things had happened lately, hence she kept earning less than she spent.

But this incident also made Zhi Xia suddenly think of establishing a connection with Pei Jing, so she wouldn't have to suffer from lovesickness anymore.

Currently, the children could all enter the space, they just didn't know about it themselves, which was why they never came in before.

"Chenye, Wanqing, come in for a bit..." Zhi Xia suddenly recalled something and called towards the doorway.

"Mommy, we're playing with Yuan Bao and Big Yellow! What do you want us for?" Wanqing didn't dare go near Zhi Xia, because she had just touched Big Yellow.

Even though mommy herself had also touched Yuan Bao, she still wasn't allowed to touch her after touching Big Yellow, or her younger brothers. Her older brother disliked her too.

Zhi Xia closed the door after bringing them inside, then looked at the two curious kids and said, "Mommy's going to tell you a secret, but you have to promise not to tell anyone else - including grandpa, grandma, grandfather or your uncles, understand?"

"Don't worry mom, I'm very good at keeping secrets," Wanqing assured her. Her eyes shifted as she asked, "We're going to eat yummy stuff right? Mommy mommy, I want to eat those huge shrimps, reaaally big ones, as big as..." She looked at her chubby arm, "as big as my arm! Those huge shrimps that are super yummy and fun!"

She loved them so much.

But she hadn't gotten to eat them since coming back here. She wanted them a lot, but her brother wouldn't let her talk about it. Her brother said those giant shrimps were only available in the place daddy was at. If she talked about them, it would make mommy very awkward.

Seeing her innocent and adorable daughter, Zhi Xia laughed, "As long as you keep the secret properly, we can be just like when we were with daddy. You can eat whatever you want."

"Oh...that's awesome..."

She excitedly spun around twice on the spot, still holding Pei Chenye's little hand while chattering away, only to be brushed off with complaints, "Wanqing Pei, you just touched Big Yellow, and you touched Yuan Bao too..." Yuan Bao still had mud on him!

And now she took hold of his hand too, getting him all dirty as well.