Pei Zhengnian effortlessly caught Shen Nanchu with a princess carry.
After safely setting her down, Pei Zhengnian immediately switched to lecture mode.
“Didn’t I tell you to just stand and wait?”
“What if something happened jumping down from such a height?”
“Do you want to worry me to death?”
Shen Nanchu tucked the messy strands of hair by her temples and smiled brightly.
“Isn’t there you?”
Pei Zhengnian was instantly speechless.
“Would you fail to catch me?”
“Would you let me get hurt?”
Shen Nanchu’s two quick questions left Pei Zhengnian completely dumbfounded.
*Pfft~~~*
Xiong Lei quickly covered his mouth to stifle a laugh.
Sun Xuelin, meanwhile, had already turned his gaze elsewhere.
Pei Zhengnian shot Xiong Lei a glare, then looked at the real culprit, Shen Nanchu…
He had no way to deal with her, so he could only sulk silently.
System: “Host, is the male lead mad?”
Shen Nanchu: “I know.”
System: “Want me to cheer him up?”
Shen Nanchu: “Not easily.”
System: “Why?”
Shen Nanchu: “Because he won’t give me any dislike points.”
System: “……”
Sun Xuelin glanced at Pei Zhengnian, who was still sulking, then at Shen Nanchu, who wasn’t fazed in the slightest. In an instant, he figured out the household dynamics of the lieutenant and his partner.
He poked Xiong Lei, the big tough guy.
Xiong Lei, clueless, asked, “Old Sun, why are you poking me?”
Sun Xuelin nearly rolled his eyes to the ceiling. “You idiot.”
Following Sun Xuelin’s pointed chin, Xiong Lei looked at Shen Nanchu, his simple mind finally making the connection.
“Sis-in-law, why did you come up the mountain?”
Pei Zhengnian perked up his ears, waiting for her answer.
Shen Nanchu caught Pei Zhengnian’s little movements clearly.
Even the system was sweating nervously for her.
This little goldmine-stealing business absolutely couldn’t be exposed!
“I came here looking for gold!” Shen Nanchu answered honestly.
If she hadn’t said it, it might have been better. But as soon as she did, Pei Zhengnian got angry again.
“This is just nonsense.”
“How many times did I tell you before I left?”
“Didn’t I tell you not to go up the mountain?”
Shen Nanchu kept a very pleasant attitude. “I obeyed!”
“Where did you obey?” Pei Zhengnian asked.
“I didn’t go up the mountain!” Shen Nanchu said seriously. “I was in the mountain hollow.”
“You…” Pei Zhengnian was so annoyed he was speechless.
Shen Nanchu even asked Xiong Lei with a serious face, “Walking in the mountain hollow isn’t going up the mountain, right?”
Under Pei Zhengnian’s pressure, Xiong Lei quickly nodded, “Right.”
He was an honest guy and couldn’t lie.
Sun Xuelin couldn’t bear to watch.
No sense of discretion at all—no wonder he can’t find a wife.
But at critical moments, they still had to rely on him.
“Sis-in-law, did you find something?”
“That’s right.”
Shen Nanchu began her performance.
“Pei Zhengnian told me not to go up the mountain, so I was just taking a walk at the foot of the mountain. As I walked, I found a fault line.”
“What’s a fault line?”
Xiong Lei was a good listener.
“It’s a geological structure in the earth’s crust or lithosphere where rock masses have fractured due to tectonic movements, and significant relative displacement occurs along the fracture surface.”
Pei Zhengnian explained professionally.
Unfortunately, Xiong Lei only finished elementary school and didn’t understand a word.
“A fault line can be understood as a huge crack within the earth’s crust.”
Shen Nanchu began to explain.
“When the crust moves, rocks get torn apart, creating a gap. And the rocks on either side of the crack don’t just separate—they shift. Some move up, some drop down, and some even slide sideways.”
Shen Nanchu used a vivid metaphor.
“It’s like breaking a cookie in half. Not only do the two pieces separate, but their edges don’t line up perfectly anymore. That broken and misaligned crack is similar to a fault line.”
Xiong Lei finally understood and gave Shen Nanchu a thumbs-up.
“Sis-in-law, you’re amazing.”
Even Sun Xuelin looked at Shen Nanchu with a hint of admiration.
But Pei Zhengnian frowned.
“Haven’t you been dancing in the arts troupe all this time?”
“How do you even know about this stuff?”
The system dared not watch what happened next.
A major unmasking scene—there was no way the host could talk their way out of this one.
Unfortunately, the system had underestimated just how thick-skinned Shen Nanchu really was.
Turning the tables and throwing blame back was her specialty.
“You don’t care about me,” Shen Nanchu said, her voice tinged with sorrow.
“Have you forgotten what my dad does?”
“What does your dad do?”
Not only Pei Zhengnian was curious, but the system was intrigued as well.
“My dad is a geologist!”
Tears glimmered in Shen Nanchu’s eyes.
“I knew you didn’t care about me if you didn’t even know about my dad.”
Now Pei Zhengnian had effectively shot himself in the foot.
Then again, it wasn’t entirely his fault. The original owner had told the Pei family that her parents were both deceased.
So no one in the Pei family dared to ask about Shen Nanchu’s side of the family anymore.
They figured, if both parents were gone, any further questions would just be rubbing salt in the wound.
The system’s eyes instantly turned into stars, and if it had a tail, it would have been wagging excitedly.
“Host, you’re so clever coming up with that excuse to fool them.”
“I’m a good kid. How could I possibly lie?”
Shen Nanchu smiled innocently.
System: “...Then how do you know the original owner’s dad was a geologist?”
Shen Nanchu: “I guessed!”
Since Shen Nanchu had taken over the original owner’s body, she naturally inherited all her memories.
Buried deep in those memories were fragments of childhood.
A tall man holding her, pointing at a map, telling her about the great rivers and mountains of the country.
Anyway, since the original owner’s father had already passed away, even if Pei Zhengnian wanted to verify, there was no way to confirm it.
Shen Nanchu boldly exaggerated without a hint of nervousness.
Sure enough, just as she guessed, Pei Zhengnian didn’t press further.
“So what’s the connection between this gold mine and the fault line?” Xiong Lei, now fully curious, asked.
“Generally speaking, if there are minerals in the mountains, they’re mostly found along fault lines,” Shen Nanchu explained.
“That’s why, when I saw the fault line, I decided to give it a shot and followed it all the way here.”
“This rock—did you chip it off?”
Pei Zhengnian picked up a piece of the rock’s surface from the ground.
“Yeah.”
Nothing escaped Pei Zhengnian’s sharp eyes. It was definitely the right choice for Shen Nanchu not to lie.
“This is the end of the fault line. No wonder I found some clues here.”
Shen Nanchu walked over to the rock face, picked up a stone that had just been chipped off, and held it up to the sunlight.
“Look at this,” she said.
Pei Zhengnian took the stone from Shen Nanchu’s hand and held it toward the sun.
Inside the stone, there was a glint of something golden.
What could these objects be?
The answer was obvious.
Pei Zhengnian and Sun Xuelin exchanged a glance, instantly recognizing the gravity of the situation.
Pei Zhengnian nodded to Sun Xuelin, who immediately put down the backpack he had been carrying and pulled out a radio.
This radio looked very similar to the one Shen Nanchu had seen earlier at Pei Zhengnian’s place.
“I’ll take you down to the foot of the mountain. You head straight home,” Pei Zhengnian said.
This time, Shen Nanchu shook her head and refused.
“It’s too late.”
“Someone’s already on their way here.”
...
What?
Xiong Lei quickly listened.
Sure enough, faint footsteps were approaching—not far away.
From the sound, they were definitely coming toward them.
Without hesitation, Pei Zhengnian ordered, “Pack up and hide up top.”
“Yes.”
“Yes.”
Pei Zhengnian grabbed Shen Nanchu in his arms and jumped up to the spot where she had been hiding earlier.
The old hiding spot now had one more person concealed within it.
Shen Nanchu nestled into Pei Zhengnian’s embrace.
Adjusting her position, she found a comfortable way to lean against him and settled in to watch the unfolding drama.
No need to guess who the four approaching people were—Shen Nanchu could tell one of them was Zhao Hongmei. As for the other three?
She was curious too.
The footsteps grew louder and closer.
When they finally saw the faces of the other three, Shen Nanchu was stunned.
The other two were understandable—likely villagers secretly stationed in other nearby villages.
But the fourth person—
Shen Nanchu never expected that the undercover agent in Wang Family Village would turn out to be none other than Uncle Eighth Wang.
If it was Uncle Eighth Wang, everything made sense.
After all, how could anyone outside the village know about the Wang Family Village’s old gold mine, or about the legendary “Big Yellow Fish” smelting?
Shen Nanchu turned her head slightly and looked at Pei Zhengnian.
A look of surprise mirrored on his face as well.
Their eyes met in midair, mouths silently moving to communicate without a sound.
Shen Nanchu: “Could Uncle Eighth Wang be the contact Wang Jianshe uses for his upstream connections?”
Pei Zhengnian: “It’s possible.”
Shen Nanchu: “Should we take them all down now?”
Pei Zhengnian: “You stay put here quietly. I’ll handle the arrests.”
Shen Nanchu: “Are you sure you don’t want me to help? I’m quite capable.”
Pei Zhengnian: “...No need.”
Shen Nanchu: “Well, good luck then.”
Pei Zhengnian: “...”
Uncle Eighth Wang and Zhao Hongmei walked at the front, both wearing expressions of unwavering determination.
After years of undercover work, searching high and low with no luck, yesterday finally brought a major breakthrough.
Wang Daming and Wang Daqiang, those two useless brothers, turned out to be somewhat useful after all—they actually found some crucial information in the village committee’s office.
“This should be the general area,” Zhao Hongmei said, comparing the booklet in her hand with the surroundings, about seventy or eighty percent matching.
“Alright, everyone, start searching!”
Uncle Eighth Wang tossed his cane aside and began searching around.
Pei Zhengnian raised his hand, then lowered it.
He signaled with his eyes for Xiong Lei and Sun Xuelin to wait a little longer.
The two nodded in response.
Shen Nanchu and the others were hiding above, looking down from their vantage point at Zhao Hongmei and her group below.
Everything was in clear view.
Shen Nanchu stared curiously at the map in Zhao Hongmei’s hands.
This map looked a bit strange.
Logically, the gold mine had been around for quite some time; the map showing its exact location couldn’t possibly be so new.
Although the paper the map was drawn on looked old and crumpled, Shen Nanchu immediately realized it had been artificially aged, and rather poorly at that.
Suddenly, she looked up at Pei Zhengnian, her small mouth silently asking,
“You didn’t deliberately give them this map, did you?”
Pei Zhengnian was silent for a moment, then nodded.
Having such a clever wife was also a problem.
“So, you set a trap to lure the snake out, huh?”
Shen Nanchu guessed the truth outright.
This time, she didn’t even need Pei Zhengnian to confirm—she had pretty much figured out his plan.
No wonder she was the mother of his child; her brain was just as sharp as his.
As for accidentally stumbling upon the gold mine, Shen Nanchu could only say that being the male lead in the story came with some serious luck. Just pointing casually at a spot was enough to find the gold mine.
Thinking back to how she had spent nearly three to four hours searching for the gold mine earlier, Shen Nanchu felt a bit resentful.
And that wasn’t even counting yesterday, when she had been lying on the terrace watching a movie while observing the mountain!
Truly, the author had made him his own son.
Shen Nanchu couldn’t help but envy him deeply.
Fortunately, this time she was much faster than Pei Zhengnian and successfully intercepted the gold mine for herself.
She gained the wealth, and Pei Zhengnian gained the credit—it was a perfect outcome.
The four people below were still excitedly searching, completely unaware that they had already become prey trapped in a snare.
Sun Xuelin pulled a pair of binoculars from his bag and scanned the distance.
The reinforcements had already arrived at the village entrance.
The net was ready to be closed.
Sun Xuelin made a hand gesture toward Pei Zhengnian.
Pei Zhengnian nodded.
The three exchanged a glance, and with a single signal from Pei Zhengnian, all three jumped down from their high position simultaneously.
Their sudden attack caught Uncle Eighth Wang, Zhao Hongmei, and the other two completely off guard.
By the time the four reacted, Pei Zhengnian and Xiong Lei had already subdued two of them.
Uncle Eighth Wang and Zhao Hongmei reacted instantly and leapt towards the woods.
Sun Xuelin grabbed Zhao Hongmei’s hand and twisted it behind her back.
As for Uncle Eighth Wang, though he usually relied on his cane, when life and death were on the line, he ran faster than a rabbit.
Trying to escape?
No chance.
Shen Nanchu had been ready all along. At some unknown moment, she had picked up a stone and hurled it at Uncle Eighth Wang’s leg.
Another stone flew from Pei Zhengnian’s hand, aimed at Uncle Eighth Wang’s other leg.
The couple, one targeting the left leg, the other the right...
Smack!
Smack!
Bang!
Two stones landed right in the hollow behind Uncle Eighth Wang’s knees. He immediately dropped to his knees, the backs of his legs pounding heavily against the stones.
He only stayed there for a few seconds—just enough time for Pei Zhengnian to rush over and grab him.
All four of them were subdued.
Shen Nanchu no longer had to hide.
With a few nimble jumps, she easily landed on the ground.
Pei Zhengnian twitched the corner of his mouth.
Turning his back, he pretended not to see.
What happened next had little to do with Shen Nanchu.
Pei Zhengnian passed on the orders.
“Let’s go, I’ll walk you back.”
“No need, it’s just a few steps. I can manage on my own.”
Shen Nanchu waved him off.
Pei Zhengnian, who had originally planned to escort her, was flat-out rejected.
He felt a little redundant.
Why were other men’s wives so delicate and gentle, like little birds clinging to them?
Why did other men’s wives pester their husbands for hugs and to be lifted up?
Why did other men’s wives...
Forget it!
Thinking about it just makes me want to cry.
Pei Zhengnian finally realized—
His wife was terrifyingly strong!
Sigh~~~
