Song Zhibai led the charge, grabbing a shovel first. After just a couple of digs, a black wooden chest was exposed.
He opened it to find rows of neatly stacked gold bars—often referred to as “big yellow croakers.”
“There really is treasure in here,” Song Zhibai said.
He dug out eleven chests in total, all filled to the brim with gold bars. Inwardly, he marvelled at how the lifestyle of the capitalist class was truly beyond the imagination of ordinary families.
What he didn’t know, however, was that this was merely a drop in the bucket for the Mu family’s wealth—not to mention the vast hidden treasure secured by Old Man Mu himself. Over the past decade, Mu Shangyu had also surreptitiously transferred several portions of their assets away. A crafty rabbit keeps three burrows! He wasn’t stupid enough to keep all the family’s eggs in one basket.
Seeing the gold uncovered, Mu Shangyu gritted his teeth and forced a stiff smile. “See? I told you, we really had no intention of running away.”
Mu Yunxing looked at Song Zhibai with coy eyes and said softly, “Zhibai, do you believe me now? I truly want to marry you.”
Song Zhibai ignored her completely, giving her the cold shoulder.
Mu Zhaozhao watched silently from the side with cold detachment. She thought to herself that since Mu Yunxing was the female lead in this story, she was destined to end up with Yue Xianzhi, the ambitious climber. She shouldn’t go around ruining Song Zhibai’s life.
Qi Ruobing tried to smooth things over: “Factory Director Song, Ailing… look how unpleasant things turned out today. How about in a couple of days, Shangyu and I bring Yunxing over to apologize in person?”
Her words carried a double meaning. First, they definitely wouldn’t bring that troublemaker Mu Zhaozhao along next time—the marriage proposal hadn’t even been finalized, and everyone was already leaving fuming. Second, it was a subtle hint that today’s visit was over, politely asking them to leave.
Factory Director Song caught her drift. Having no desire to get involved in the Mu family’s internal mess, he said in a deep voice, “Very well. We’ll take our leave for today. We can discuss future matters later.”
Before leaving, Wang Ailing leaned in to instruct Mu Zhaozhao, “Zhaozhao, if you ever run into any trouble, come find me. Auntie Wang will definitely help you.”
Mu Zhaozhao offered a sweet smile. “Thank you, Auntie Wang. Take care on your way out!”
Noticing Mu Zhaozhao’s smile, Song Zhibai flashed her a bright, sunny grin in return and waved. “Goodbye, Mu Zhaozhao!”
He then left alongside his parents.
This exchange cut Mu Yunxing to the quick. As soon as the Song family walked out of sight, she couldn’t hold back her rage any longer.
Raising her hand, she lunged at Mu Zhaozhao to strike her. “You little shrew! I’ll teach you to run your mouth!”
In truth, growing up, Mu Shangyu and Qi Ruobing played the good cops while Mu Yunxing played the bad cop. Mu Yunxing had bullied the original body owner constantly, after which Qi Ruobing and her husband would step in to coax her back into compliance. As a result, the original owner suffered in silence, never daring to speak up.
But now that she had taken over, there was no way she would endure it.
Mu Zhaozhao snatched Mu Yunxing’s wrist with a firm grip, exerting enough force to pin her completely in place.
Mu Yunxing shrieked frantically, “Ah~! Mu Zhaozhao, let go! Ow, ow, it hurts!”
Watching from the side, Qi Ruobing was anxious, but being accustomed to playing the mediator, she choked down her anger and urged gently, “Zhaozhao, don’t fool around with your sister like this. Be careful not to hurt her arm!”
Mu Zhaozhao pretended to accidentally twist harder. With a sharp snap, Mu Yunxing’s shoulder dislocated!
“AHHH~!”
A piercing scream broke through the air as pain surged through Mu Yunxing. Cold sweat poured down her forehead, and she collapsed onto the ground.
Heartbroken, Qi Ruobing rushed straight over. “Yunxing, how are you?! Mu Zhaozhao, she’s your sister! What do you think you’re doing?!”
Unable to keep up her gentle facade any longer, she shrieked her accusation.
Mu Shangyu stood nearby with a grim, solemn expression, keeping entirely silent.
Mu Zhaozhao blinked innocently and said, “Auntie, I didn’t mean to. It was just a knee-jerk reaction; I didn’t realize I couldn’t control my strength. I remember when my sister hit me as a child, you explained it the exact same way. Now I truly understand how you felt back then.”
Qi Ruobing was rendered completely speechlessly by her words, unable to mount a single defense—because she had indeed said those exact words in the past.
Mu Yunxing could only whimper and groan in pain on the ground.
Mu Zhaozhao offered a thoughtful reminder: “Auntie, Uncle, maybe you should take Cousin to the hospital? I ate a bit too much roast chicken earlier and overexerted myself. I’m not sure if her arm can still be saved.”
Hearing this, Mu Yunxing fainted dead away from sheer terror. If her arm couldn’t be saved and she became disabled, people would laugh at her for the rest of her life!
Flustered and terrified, Qi Ruobing panicked. “Shangyu, hurry! We need to go to the hospital!”
Mu Shangyu took a large stride forward, scooped Mu Yunxing up in his arms, and headed straight for the door.
Before leaving, he didn’t forget to glare sharply at Mu Zhaozhao.
He had a growing suspicion that she had changed. On the surface, she still seemed harmless and naive, but every word she said and every move she made now felt thoroughly calculated.
After the family of three left, Mu Zhaozhao swept her gaze over the eleven chests of gold bars sitting in the courtyard.
She figured Mu Shangyu would return soon to rebury them. Now wasn’t the time to take them; she needed to wait for the right opportunity to store them into her pocket dimension.
……
Meanwhile, at the Shanghai Military Base.
Ruan Jingsheng and Shan Chengming found Senior Yuan.
Ruan Jingsheng respectfully admitted his mistake and gave a detailed account of how they had failed to reach an agreement with the foreign guests over the price of the second-generation fighter jets.
Naturally, he took all the blame upon himself, making no mention of how Mu Zhaozhao’s impulsive outburst had led to the argument with the foreign diplomats.
Hearing how arrogant the foreigners had been, Yuan Zeguang didn’t blame them at all. Instead, his eyes turned grave. “If that’s the case, we don’t need to copy their fighter jets anyway.”
“However, relying solely on the strength of our few military research experts, I’m afraid it will be difficult to produce a fighter jet with comparable combat capabilities in a short time. That means we won’t be able to complete the mission assigned by our superiors on schedule.”
At the thought of this, Yuan Zeguang let out a heavy sigh.
Ruan Jingsheng clenched his fists tightly. “Senior Yuan, I will go to the capital to plead guilty and explain the situation to the leadership.”
Yuan Zeguang waved his hand. “Jingsheng, it’s not your fault. It’s simply that we lack the capability.”
Faced with advanced foreign weaponry, he genuinely felt powerless.
“By the way, Jingsheng, you mentioned earlier that you met a young female comrade on the train who spoke foreign languages well. Does she also understand professional terminology in military research? Our nation’s younger generation is finally rising up,” Yuan Zeguang remarked with relief.
Even if their generation was growing old, it didn’t mean the youth of tomorrow couldn’t build even higher-tech combat aircraft.
Hearing this, Shan Chengming chimed in hastily, “Senior Yuan, that young comrade is named Mu Zhaozhao. Not only does she speak foreign languages fluently, but she even boldly claimed she could manufacture fighter jets! She said she could build one with 75% higher maneuverability and 2 to 3 times the close-range combat effectiveness of second-generation jets.”
He didn’t actually believe Mu Zhaozhao knew how to build fighter jets; he was merely bringing it up as casual small talk with Yuan Zeguang.
“What?!” Yuan Zeguang’s elderly eyes suddenly gleamed with sharp intensity. “Where is this young comrade right now?”
Unaware of the gravity, Shan Chengming shook his head blankly. “I didn’t get a chance to ask before she got off the train.”
“Search the entire city for Mu Zhaozhao! Quick!” Yuan Zeguang declared excitedly.