Chapter 386 — Treasure Hunting in the Courtyard

"I'm a bit tired too. So why not let Brother Arrowhead give it a try?" If Shen Yushu had not been tired earlier, she would never have been so delighted to see him come back, nor so eager to summon him over to help.

"Mm, then you call him." Gu Mengyao nodded. "Digging on like this, who knows when we'll ever hit it."

"Exactly, and we don't even know where it's buried. The map I drew as a kid is completely useless now..." Shen Yushu wiped the sweat from her forehead with the back of her hand, and a few more streaks of black mud appeared...

"You're still talking? Look at this lousy map you drew—it'd be a miracle if anyone could find anything with it." Gu Mengyao waved the map in her hand. "You swore up and down back then that there was no problem, that we'd find it. Find a ghost, more like..."

"All right, Yao-yao, don't scold me. I was only ** back then. Being able to draw a map like this at all was already pretty good..." Shen Yushu sheepishly took the treasure map back, then reached for Gu Mengyao's arm...

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

"You were looking for me?" Wei Zhao locked the car door and walked over. He saw Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu whispering to each other, though he could not make out what they were saying.

"Wei Zhao, help us dig for treasure." Gu Mengyao handed him the "Luoyang shovel" in her hand.

"Dig for treasure??" Wei Zhao's eyes went wide. He rubbed his ears, seriously doubting whether his hearing had gone wrong. "Dig for treasure where?"

"Right here." Shen Yushu pointed at the ground in the courtyard.

"In the villa's courtyard?" Wei Zhao was dumbfounded. "You're not joking, are you? How could there possibly be treasure buried in this villa's courtyard? Have you two been watching too many movies? This villa was only built about ten years ago—how could there be treasure here?"

"Of course there is. It's the one we..." Shen Yushu was about to say "the one we buried," but Gu Mengyao cut her off.

"If we say there is, then there is." Gu Mengyao shot Shen Yushu a glare. They absolutely could not tell Wei Zhao that they had buried the treasure themselves—what if he got curious and dug it up to peek?

"Fine." Wei Zhao looked at the two girls' strange expressions and could only nod. Whatever the young miss wanted dug, he would dig; it was no great effort anyway. "Where do I dig?"

"Right here in this courtyard. Just dig where you see fit." Besides the Luoyang shovel, Gu Mengyao handed over a few simple tools—a pickaxe, some rope, and the like.

"Brother Arrowhead, here's a treasure map for you too." Shen Yushu gave him the map she had drawn as a child. "Use it for reference."

Wei Zhao took the treasure map and nodded, then prepared to get 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 give Wei Zhao that treasure map?"

"Oh... it's fine. If anyone loses face, it's me—I drew it, after all..." Shen Yushu was utterly unconcerned. "I figured with a map he'd have an easier time searching. Otherwise he'd have no clue at all."

"You're the one losing face, true enough, but by giving Wei Zhao a treasure map, aren't you plainly telling him that we're the ones who buried the treasure?" Gu Mengyao said helplessly. "What if he sees what's inside? Can you afford to lose that much face?"

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

"..." Gu Mengyao wanted to stomp Shen Yushu to death. Furious, she said, "You can. I can't..."

"Hehe, it's fine, Yao-yao. Don't forget we have the key." Shen Yushu jingled the key in her hand.

"Fine..." There was nothing Gu Mengyao could do but let it be. She could hardly demand the treasure map back after giving it away, could she?

"Yao-yao, don't overthink it. Brother Arrowhead isn't the sort who likes to peek at **. If he sees a lock, he definitely won't open it." Shen Yushu tried to comfort her.

Gu Mengyao nodded. Indeed, it seemed Wei Zhao was not the type to go prying into other people's affairs. She and Xiaoshu lived upstairs, and yet Wei Zhao had never once gone up there. Keeping Weiwu Jiangjun there now seemed rather pointless.

Gu Mengyao and Shen Yushu headed back inside the mansion to rest. The two of them had been digging for ages. Yesterday afternoon they had dug nonstop, starting from the moment Wei Zhao left, and then they had gone at it all day again today. They were utterly exhausted.

Both were covered in sweat and dirt, Shen Yushu even worse off, her face smudged with mud. So the very first thing they did was charge straight for the bathroom in the second-floor bedroom, intending to take a shower and change out of those clothes 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 nearly toppled right over on the spot. Was this even a map? Could it get any more brain-dead?

There on the map was drawn a dog. By its appearance it looked like a miniature version of Weiwu Jiangjun, perhaps from the dog's younger years? Beside Weiwu Jiangjun stood a punching sandbag, and on the opposite side of the sandbag sat two schoolbags.

The location of the treasure was determined by triangulating between these three items, and the method was actually reasonably precise. The problem was, where on earth was Wei Zhao supposed to find all of these things?

Weiwu Jiangjun was alive and could move; the sandbag had long been lost to God knew where; and those two schoolbags were probably Gu Mengyao's and Shen Yushu's, likely already broken and thrown away by now.

Wei Zhao was more than speechless. A treasure map like this could only have been drawn by Shen Yushu - it was something else entirely. No wonder they had a map but still hadn't dug up anything. Having this map was the same as having none at all.

The young miss had truly assigned him a formidable task.

Wei Zhao frowned at the treasure map without making a move. He did not have the time or the patience to turn over every single inch of the courtyard. He needed to find a shortcut.

Wei Zhao tossed aside the Luoyang shovel in his hand. He had no idea where the two girls had managed to dig up such a rare item. Had they watched too many TV dramas? They weren't tomb raiders, and yet they had made such a show of procuring a Luoyang shovel? For digging dirt in one's own courtyard, a regular iron shovel was more than enough.

Wei Zhao naturally did not know that Uncle Qing had gone to enormous trouble yesterday to get this Luoyang shovel. The young miss had called him and asked for one. When Uncle Qing asked what she needed it for, she said it was for digging up treasure.

Uncle Qing didn't dare ask too many questions - what if it involved some sort of secret? So he hurriedly pulled every string he could, and finally managed to get his hands on a Luoyang shovel, the kind you only ever read about in novels...

Wei Zhao turned and walked into the mansion. He saw Weiwu Jiangjun still sitting blankly at the foot of the stairs, faithfully and strictly executing Gu Mengyao's orders.