Tomb raiding: A mere 20 is nothing!

Without any intention of helping his rival in love, Wu Xie directly told Shen Mingchao that he had arranged for a driver and that the two men should obediently guard Wu Shan Ju, or else he would close the gate and unleash the dogs.

Shen Mingchao relayed Wu Xie's original words, and the verbal sparring finally stopped. Neither of them looked too good. It wasn't that they were afraid of Wu Xie, but rather that they were genuinely afraid of the Wu family's dogs.

Those are a bunch of real troublemakers who would bite your underwear off, and they're incredibly difficult to deal with. Superficial injuries are one thing, but losing face is what truly hurts them. They're all gangsters; they might not care about their lives, but they can't afford to lose face.

Shen Mingchao naturally wouldn't know these inside details. She only knew that the Wu family kept a lot of dogs, but Shen Mingyue didn't explain the reason to her at the time. She simply thought that the Wu family liked dogs.

Seeing that the two people were taken aback by the threat of "close the door and unleash the dogs," he instinctively asked, "Are you afraid of dogs?"

She wasn't surprised; she also had animals she disliked, such as mosquitoes, cockroaches, and caterpillars...

Upon hearing this, Wang Meng and Bai She realized that Shen Mingchao had misunderstood. In order to salvage their image, the two decided to reveal some information.

Wang Meng shook his head: "No, we're not afraid of dogs, it's just that the boss's dogs are intelligent, and if they really get aggressive, most people can't handle them."

The white snake nodded in agreement.

These words piqued Shen Mingchao's curiosity, but seeing the two people's inscrutable expressions, she suppressed her curiosity, feeling that it couldn't be anything good, so she decided not to ask.

After the matter was settled, Shen Mingchao had no intention of staying in Hangzhou any longer. She wanted to go and check on the results of Wu Xie's help in building the house, since she had funded its construction herself.

It is said that a professional decoration team was hired. She has also seen the photos sent by Wu Xie. The room is not big, but it has everything you need. It is somewhat like a one-bedroom apartment.

The next day, with the two of them watching, Shen Mingchao carried San San into a black car.

As the vehicle disappeared on the horizon, Wang Meng couldn't help but pat the white snake on the shoulder.

"You really don't hold back at all, do you? Now that they're gone, are you behaving yourself?"

The white snake dodged Wang Meng's hand: "You talk too much now. Don't think that just because you're a few years older than me you can lecture me. What I do is none of your business."

After saying this, the White Snake turned and entered Wushan Residence.

Wang Meng remained where he was, a slight smirk playing on his lips. He wasn't exactly pleased to be retorted like that by a junior, but he was too lazy to engage in a verbal battle with the White Snake.

He was indeed a few years older than the White Snake, and his youthful impetuosity and impetuosity had long since faded. He was also clearer about what he truly wanted.

His father was a gambler, leaving the family in debt for years, and is now in prison. His mother shouldered the burden of the family alone, but tragically passed away at a young age.

The rain from my childhood, when I waited in vain for my mother to come home, seems to have never stopped, drizzling on and on until now.

As he grew up, he followed Wu Xie, watching firsthand how that naive boy transformed into the formidable Third Master. To say he didn't admire him would be a lie.

He did the foolish thing of stopping people in Changbai Mountain because he was afraid that his boss, whom he considered family, would not be able to come back again.

He didn't want to be abandoned again.

Shen Mingchao's ability is an invisible thread that creates a subtle relationship between them.

He didn't think he had the ability to compete with these living gods, but fortunately, this time he wouldn't be excluded.

This is enough.

All he ever wanted was a sense of security. Whether it was friends or siblings, he didn't ask for much.

*

On the other side, Shen Mingchao sat in the passenger seat, his gaze falling on the driver with a hint of curiosity.

He was a middle-aged man wearing glasses.

His facial muscles were taut, and judging by his appearance alone, one would think he was a middle-aged tough guy with a very burly physique. In fact, the opposite was true; the middle-aged man was lean and muscular, and this face created an inexplicable sense of incongruity.

She hadn't originally planned to sit in the front passenger seat; she was thinking of bringing her cat along in the back. But just as she was about to open the back door, the driver rolled down the window, leaned out, and said apologetically that Boss Wu had arranged for him to deliver some goods along the way, so the back seat was full of cargo and there wasn't much room. He asked her to sit in the front passenger seat.

After she got in the car, the driver kept talking, and the topics were all over the place.

After introducing himself as surnamed Zhong, he said he was an elderly man from the Wu family who had lived in Hangzhou for many years. Then he began to introduce various scenic spots in Hangzhou, saying that during the National Day holiday, West Lake was packed with people, and he had to drive for Didi (a ride-hailing service) and was so busy that he was completely overwhelmed.

He even complained to her about West Lake Fish in Vinegar Sauce, saying that the only reason this dish has survived to this day is because laymen don't believe in superstitions.

Shen Mingchao echoed twice, only to find that this wasn't the end of it; the driver's topic had already shifted back to San San.

"Is this your cat?"

"Yes, a long-haired calico, its name is San San."

Although the back row was piled with goods, it was no problem for the cat. The calico cat jumped out of Shen Mingchao's arms and went to the back row to patrol its territory.

The driver caught a glimpse of this out of the corner of his eye: "This fur is really well-maintained, shiny and fluffy, it looks a lot like the cat in an old painting I saw in a museum before."

Shen Mingchao reflexively asked, "An ancient painting?"

"Yes, let me think of a name..." The driver paused, then suddenly frowned. "Sigh, so much time has passed, I don't remember the name very well anymore. I only remember that the painter's name was something like Li Di, and he was extremely good at painting flowers, birds, bamboo, rocks, and animals."

That makes it even more incongruous.

Judging from the driver's appearance, Shen Mingchao thought he was a calm and quiet honest man, but he didn't expect him to be so talkative.

As she listened, she used the power of the internet and quickly found the name of the ancient painting: "Is it called 'Okra and Rocks'? I just found it online."

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man's lips twitched almost imperceptibly; he had forgotten that we were now in the age of the internet.

Unfortunately, he was a man of the old ways and could not shake off his old habits.

Just like the time he used to wear glasses frames made from hawksbill turtle shells, which have now become a Class I protected animal in China.

He stared at the clear sky in the distance, and his memory stretched out to a great distance. He had buried too many things on that foreign coast, not just the tortoiseshell glasses, but also a person.

The driver, who had been talking non-stop just moments before, suddenly fell silent, leaving Shen Mingchao momentarily bewildered.

After listening to the other person say so much, she had only one thought in her mind—as expected of someone from the Wu family of the Nine Gates, they really have a lot of knowledge.

Thinking of this, Shen Mingchao had an idea. She thought that if she got tired of studying in Yucun, she would pester Wu Xie and Fatty to tell her stories. As the Iron Triangle, they had traveled all over the country over the years and must have experienced countless strange and wonderful things.

The thought had barely formed when his eyelids began to feel heavy, perhaps due to motion sickness. Shen Mingchao found a comfortable position.

He then said to the driver, "Uncle Zhong, I'm sleepy, I'll take a nap first. Call me if you need anything."

The way he was addressed made the driver raise an eyebrow, feeling as if the mask on his face was cracking.

Uncle?

Is he that old?