He Caiwei came out of the space and carefully listened to the sounds around her. She realized that the house next door was already empty.
It was around nine at night, and the entire street had fallen into quiet slumber.
She specifically glanced toward the spot where she had seen Butler Hu yesterday. Someone was still there—but this time it wasn’t Steward Hu, but a ragged man who looked like a beggar.
Moving as quickly as she could, He Caiwei loosened the door bolt and then fastened a lock. With just a push from the outside, the lock could easily be opened.
After finishing all this, she ran to the backyard, set up a ladder, and then let He Yuping out of the space. The mother and daughter quietly climbed into the neighboring backyard.
They then moved the ladder to the left wall of the adjacent yard. After climbing over, He Yuping immediately and cautiously removed the door bolt and opened the door. She peeked outside, and seeing no one lurking nearby, quickly led her daughter out.
Once outside, they tied the door shut with a hemp rope. When the old lady woke up tomorrow and couldn’t open it, she would surely curse—but if someone came around from the front to the back door, it could still be opened, or the rope could simply be cut from the inside. It wouldn’t cause any real trouble.
The two of them kept close to the walls as they moved. It was late at night, and the moon was hidden behind thick clouds. Visibility was less than five meters. After leaving the alley and reaching the main road, there were dim streetlights, but each one only illuminated a small area. As long as they avoided stepping into the light, they wouldn’t be seen.
He Yuping found the direction toward the granary. The road at the start was fairly wide, so she told her daughter to take out the small lightweight vehicle.
The two of them got on, speeding toward the warehouse.
A journey that would normally take four hours took them less than one hour.
They arrived at a small dirt path outside the warehouse. The path was compacted earth, and at its widest, only allowed two people to pass shoulder to shoulder. Back then, the goods had been delivered here and then carried in by hand.
The warehouse was nestled in a mountain hollow, surrounded on all sides. Aside from this narrow path, there was no other way in.
From the outside, it looked like a large courtyard, with only two rooms inside and a vast open space.
“How did they even transport grain in here with such a narrow road? It’s way too difficult to walk,” He Caiwei muttered, suddenly understanding the saying: “If you want to get rich, build roads first.”
With wide roads, transporting goods would be much easier. On a path this narrow, unless people carried everything by hand, even riding a bicycle would be unstable—let alone delivering supplies.
The mother and daughter stumbled along for over half an hour before finally reaching the end of the narrow dirt path.
What appeared before them was a simple, old courtyard. A large lock hung on the gate. They looked at each other helplessly—they had no key.
“We have a ladder?” He Yuping thought of climbing in, but after looking around, she couldn’t find any windows to enter through.
“Mom, there’s a tool shed in my space. There’s a kind of pliers inside—but I’m not strong enough. Try and see if you can cut the lock,” He Caiwei said, once again feeling helpless about her small arms and legs.
“Alright, show me how to use it. I’ll give it a try. I’m not that strong either, but at least I’m an adult,” He Yuping replied.
He Caiwei took out a hydraulic cutter from her space, taught her mother how to use it, and handed over the heavy tool.
Following her daughter’s instructions, He Yuping clamped the cutter onto the lock and pressed down. Once didn’t work, twice didn’t work… Finally, after five attempts, the lock snapped open.
By the time she succeeded, she was drenched in sweat. “Phew… I really need to exercise more. Having no strength is exhausting—I’m soaked.”
“Then why don’t we get a map and walk all the way to Grandpa’s place?” He Caiwei suddenly suggested, startling her mother.
“Are you out of your mind? Do you even know how far that is? We wouldn’t even make it halfway before our legs give out!” He Yuping scolded.
“Didn’t you just say we should exercise? Walking all the way would be good training—and we’d save money on train tickets,” He Caiwei rolled her eyes.
“You think I can walk that far looking like this? Don’t be ridiculous. Hurry up and open the door—let’s go in and rest here tonight. Right now, aside from us, only your father knows about this place. Who knows where he’s gone or whether he’ll come back? Let’s move everything out first—whether he returns or not doesn’t matter,” He Yuping said firmly.
At this point, she didn’t want to see that man at all. She even considered finding other warehouses and taking everything from there as well. After all, her daughter was also part of the Qu family—taking a share of the property wasn’t unreasonable.
Thinking this way, she felt no guilt anymore. These things belonged to the Qu family, and her daughter had every right to a portion. However, the large public warehouses were out of the question—they had already been claimed and were now under the control of the new government.
After entering the warehouse, the two of them realized just how enormous it was. From the outside, it didn’t look particularly big, but inside, it was a different story. The structure extended downward an entire extra floor.
Inside the thousand-square-meter warehouse stood six massive iron grain silos, each as tall as a two-story building. The entire silo, including the lid, was tightly sealed with iron sheets, with only a small outlet about one meter above the ground for releasing grain.
“My goodness… how much grain is this?” He Caiwei marveled, unable to even estimate the quantity.
“A silo this size can hold about two and a half tons of grain. Your grandfather calculated that himself. These were assembled section by section,” He Yuping said proudly. “Sweetie, can you take all of these into your space? The gold is hidden beneath the silos.”
She admired her father deeply—he was the most capable person she had ever known, especially with his lightning-fast abacus skills.
But with silos this tall, she wasn’t sure whether her daughter’s space could store them whole. If not, retrieving the gold beneath them would be quite difficult.