1940s: I supported my wife and sister-in-law by hunting.

He didn't know when, and there was no more noise. He took the books he had taken from Li Banjie's study and randomly picked up a copy of Jin Ping Mei to read.

Suddenly, Zhu Mantang and Zhu Wangshi's voices came over again. The couple were secretly discussing how to hide their family's wealth behind closed doors.

"Those two bastards have gone to catch up on sleep right now. Let me tell you, you can't keep all the silver coins and your gold bracelets together at home, they're too conspicuous."

Zhu Mantang gave the instructions in a low voice.

"Hurry up and pack everything. Put some of it in boxes and bury it deep under the old apricot tree in the backyard. Hide most of the rest in the potato cellar and cover it tightly with potato seeds. And put the small box containing the most valuable items behind the portrait of the God of Wealth on the wall of the side room."

"Remember, hide it well and don't leave any trace. Tomorrow, when the third leader leads the brothers down the mountain to smash the kiln, and they're gone, we'll be completely safe. Also, don't tell anyone about this, just the two of us."

Madam Zhu nodded hurriedly. "My dear husband, I'm not that stupid. If I don't know everything, I'll be dead. I'll go get it right away."

"Go and get ready in a bit. I'm taking people out in the middle of the night, so get started."

Upon hearing this, Chen Gaoshan's lips curled into a cold smile.

That old bastard, no wonder he's a landlord in the rich village, he's really good at scheming. He even knows not to put all his eggs in one basket, he's got a good plan.

Unfortunately, I ran into him.

In the middle of the night, the village was quiet, with only a few barks from dogs.

The gate to Zhu Mantang's courtyard creaked open from the inside.

Two men wearing black cotton-padded jackets and dog-face hats walked out of the courtyard, hunched over and with their shoulders hunched.

Both men had bulging waistbands, clearly carrying guns, and their faces exuded the menacing aura of gangsters. They were none other than Bearded Man, who had come down from Black Tiger Mountain to scout the area.

Zhu Mantang followed closely behind the two men, lowering his voice and muttering to himself as he pointed out the residents of the village to them.

"Old Li's family at the east end harvested a lot of grain this year and has some savings. Then there's Old Chen's family, who sold some hides a while ago and have some silver dollars. Although their courtyard wall is high, it's easy to get in because of the crowds. Old Wang's family is the second largest in the village. I think they have quite a bit of wealth."

Knowing the place well, he pointed out a few families in the village with some wealth to the two bearded men.

The three of them trudged through the thick snow and, under the cover of night, circled the village thoroughly, scouting out all the targets they wanted to smash the kilns.

Chen Gaoshan is still in the space at this moment.

He was waiting for Zhu Mantang to lead the two bearded men to scout out the village. Once the courtyard was completely empty, Chen Gaoshan flashed out of his spatial dimension.

His eyes were icy cold as he headed straight for the large granary in Zhu Mantang's backyard.

The Zhu family's granary was locked with a large iron lock, which ordinary people could not open at all.

But for Chen Gaoshan, it was like a game. The lock was no different from a decoration. He simply put it into his space and pushed open the storage door.

The warehouse is full of corn, sorghum, wheat flour, millet, black fungus, dates, and walnuts—all kinds of grains and mountain products. This rich man, damn it, he really has a lot of stuff.

Chen Gaoshan, too lazy to dawdle, started organizing the space.

As it walked by, everything it touched was stored in its space. In just a few minutes, the entire granary of grain disappeared completely, leaving not a single grain behind.

After harvesting the grain and restoring the lock, he immediately entered the space again upon hearing footsteps.

A short while later, Zhu Wangshi emerged from the house furtively, carrying three wooden boxes.

It was freezing cold, and she was shivering as she groped her way to the backyard in the dark.

She first squatted down under the old apricot tree and used a small shovel to dig through the frozen soil.

"Damn it, we can't dig this up. We've really got some nerve. We'll just have to go back and talk to them." Unable to dig it up, Zhu Wangshi simply hid the box in the chicken coop in the backyard.

After finishing the chicken coop, she went into the cellar, squatted inside and tinkered for a long time, hiding the second box of silver dollars and piling potatoes on top to cover it up.

Finally, I went to the side room, tiptoed to lift the portrait of the God of Wealth on the wall, stuffed the small wooden box inside, and then carefully pasted the portrait back into its original place. There was no sign of anything unusual.

The woman thought she had done everything perfectly and was extremely careful throughout.

Little did she know that every time she hid somewhere, Chen Gaoshan in the space would take her there as well.

She hid the box in the chicken coop. Chen Gaoshan watched her go down into the cellar, then crawled into the chicken coop and put the wooden box into his spatial storage.

She hid it in the cellar, and Chen Gaoshan followed and took it away.

She stuffed the portrait behind her, and after she returned to her room, he immediately went into the side room and put the wooden box into his spatial dimension.

What do you call this? Heaven won't let a blind man starve; it's obviously delivered right to his doorstep. If he doesn't accept it, he'd be letting the space down.

This is all to be expected.

From beginning to end, Zhu Wangshi worked hard for half a day, her palms sweating and her hands and feet numb from the cold, but in reality, she didn't keep anything. All the wooden boxes were taken away by Chen Gaoshan.

Not long after Zhu Wangshi finished tidying up.

At this moment, Zhu Mantang, along with the third leader Zhu Paotou, had finished scouting the village and sent the two away. Now he was talking to his wife in the house.

He asked in a low voice as soon as he entered the room.

"You hid them all well? Did no one see them?"

Zhu Wangshi nodded quickly.

"Don't worry, sir. We've hidden it in all three places. Even if someone searches the yard, they definitely won't find it."

Zhu Mantang breathed a sigh of relief, a smug smile spreading across his face. He felt that he had made the right move tonight.

If he can survive tomorrow night, his family's money and grain will be saved. From now on, he will be the only wealthy household in Nangou Village, and if he speaks, he will be the leader.

The couple rested peacefully in their house, completely unaware that their granary was empty, their silver coins were gone, and their entire fortune had been stolen.

Chen Gaoshan jumped out of Zhu Mantang's backyard and ran quickly towards the back mountain. He saw two bearded men who had left the village not far away, riding horses and heading towards Black Tiger Mountain along the mountain path.

The moonlight made it seem less dark at night, but the snow was thick and difficult to walk on, so the two of them rode their horses up the mountain.

Just as the two left the area of ​​Nangou Village and walked about a hundred meters away, Chen Gaoshan led out a strong horse from his spatial dimension.

He had taken this horse from Li Banjie when he went to town earlier and put it into his spatial storage.

Chen Gaoshan mounted his horse and followed at a distance, accompanied by two bearded men.

He maintained the distance, neither too close nor too far, just hanging there.

The two bearded men in front of me, riding their horses, suddenly felt inexplicably uneasy.

They always felt like someone was following them, staring intently at them, and making noise.

The two of them would turn around suddenly from time to time, but the mountain path behind them was dark and empty, with no one in sight, not even a shadow.

Once or twice is fine, but after a while, the two men with the mustache felt uneasy and uncomfortable all over.

"Something's not right. Why do I keep feeling a chill down my back?"

Zhu Paotou wiped his nose with his hand.

"I feel the same way. I always feel like someone is following me, and then I realize that everything will be gone when I turn around."

The third leader's expression was rather unpleasant.

"We've done far too many inhuman things in our lives. Could this really be karma coming our way, or maybe we've run into some kind of deity?"

Both of them lived one day at a time and were usually fearless, but in the dark old forest, they were genuinely afraid.

They were so frightened that they were filled with suspicion and anxiety. They clenched their horses' bellies and quickly looked back.

But no matter how they looked, they couldn't see a single person.

As soon as Chen Gaoshan saw any sign that they were turning around, he would immediately send them and their horses into the space in an instant.

After they turned around and continued on their way, Chen Gaoshan came out again to follow them.

After going back and forth like this, the two bearded men were so exhausted that their backs were covered in cold sweat. They didn't dare to look back and desperately urged their horses to hurry up the mountain.

It took more than two hours to walk there.

Finally, we arrived at our destination.

On the mountainside, scattered lights shone, and the faint sounds of people talking could be heard.

This is the lair of the Black Tiger Mountain gang.

Chen Gaoshan reined in his horse and stopped far away in the shadows. He watched as the two bearded men rode into the Bearded Den, then put his horse into his spatial storage and followed them.