Beachcombing: The beach is full of amazing seafood, but my wife won't let me get out of bed!

The crowd gradually dispersed.

Wu Gang quickly snatched the hoe from his father's hand, and Wang Feng called everyone into the yard.

Wu Sui glanced in the direction Cheng Kaixuan had left, and a smile tugged at the corner of her lips.

Go ahead and make a scene, make as much noise as you want.

Once you're on that wrecked ship, you'll have your day to cry.

Cheng Kaixuan followed his mother all the way back home.

As soon as he entered the yard, Cheng Kaixuan kicked over a basin of water in anger.

"Damn it! That bastard Wu Lao Er, he really went all out!"

Cheng Kaixuan touched his swollen cheek and gasped in pain.

Old Mrs. Liu sat on the doorstep, wiping away tears and cursing.

"My oysters, those cost several thousand dollars!"

Cheng Kaixuan felt increasingly aggrieved. Not only had he not gained anything today, but he had also lost face in front of the whole village. He couldn't swallow this insult.

He walked to the door of the main room, cursing and swearing, intending to go inside and find some medicinal wine to wipe his face.

Suddenly, my foot kicked something hard.

Cheng Kaixuan looked down and saw a stone the size of a fist, wrapped in a cigarette box.

"Damn it, don't let them catch the bastard who broke the window."

Cheng Kaixuan cursed, bent down to pick up the stone, and was about to throw it outside.

His gaze swept over the words on the cigarette pack, and he abruptly stopped.

Cheng Kaixuan leaned closer for a look, and his eyes widened in surprise.

He quickly rubbed his eyes, took the note out into the sunlight, and read it carefully again.

The handwriting on it is clear and legible.

"Smuggled gold bars were found at the bottom of a wrecked ship in the old Maritime Bureau compound."

Cheng Kaixuan's heart began to pound wildly.

bullion?

Smuggling ship?

Of course he knew that a smuggling boat seized by the coast guard was moored in the dilapidated courtyard of the Maritime Bureau; the whole town had already heard about it.

Could there really be gold bars hidden in that ship?

Cheng Kai turned his head and glanced at his mother, who was still crying and wailing at the door. He quickly crumpled the cigarette pack into a ball and stuffed it into his pocket.

He went into his room and bolted the door shut.

He leaned against the door, panting heavily, his palms sweaty.

Smuggling gold bars!

These four words were like a thorny brush, scratching at his heart with a persistent itch.

The embarrassment I lost and the beating I received in front of the Wu family's house today were all pushed to the back of my mind by these four words.

He had heard people talk about that dilapidated boat in the old compound of the Maritime Bureau before; they said it was a smuggling vessel seized by the coast guard and had been left there unattended.

Who would have thought that gold bars were hidden in the hold?

Cheng Kaixuan swallowed hard and read the note over and over again, more than a dozen times.

"If this were true..." he muttered to himself, his mind already racing with calculations.

With gold bars, who would bother going out to sea to earn a meager few dozen dollars a day?

With the gold bars, he was determined to go to Wu Lao Er and throw the money in that stinky face of his, to get back all the humiliation he had suffered today, with interest!

He became more and more excited as he thought about it, and even the swelling and pain on his face were forgotten.

go with!

We absolutely have to go!

Who could possibly notice this so late at night?

Even if we don't find it, at worst we'll have made a wasted trip.

If it really happens... then we'll be completely turned around!

Cheng Kaixuan rummaged through drawers and cabinets, found his tools, and anxiously waited for nightfall.

After watching the commotion, Lai Erguang returned home, clutching the note from the cigarette box containing the stone, and pondered to himself.

Why would someone tip me off about something so good for no reason?

He was an old bachelor who usually stole chickens and dogs in the village and didn't even have enough money to buy a pack of cheap cigarettes.

I heard a few days ago that Wu Lao Er, that good-for-nothing, made a fortune by beachcombing, and I was so envious that I couldn't sleep well for several nights.

Now, fate has smashed his chance to make a fortune right through his window.

"It must be someone who knows the inside story and wants to recruit others, but doesn't dare to do it themselves."

Lai Er thought to himself, "It would be a fool not to take advantage of this."

Thinking about this possibility made him even more determined to find out what was going on.

"Wu Lao Er, just you wait until I'm rich, I'll be hanging around your door every day, making you drool!"

Lai Er muttered to himself as he rummaged through the house for any usable tools.

Neither of them had ever felt time passing so slowly.

Lai Er waited from daylight until it was completely dark. Feeling guilty, he peeked out and looked around before sneaking out of the house along the wall.

These two men, blinded by greed, had no idea that Wu Sui had bought the dilapidated courtyard of the Maritime Bureau several days earlier.

It was late at night.

Inside the Wu family's stone house, Chen Xue was fast asleep, holding Ya Ya in her arms.

Wu Sui quietly dressed and got out of bed. After making sure his wife and daughter hadn't been woken up, he opened the door and left.

Outside the courtyard, the eldest brother, Wu Gang, was already waiting.

"Second brother," Wu Gang called out in a low voice.

"Let's go." Wu Sui waved his hand.

Instead of riding bicycles, the two took advantage of the darkness and took a shortcut along the back road of the village, making their way to the town in the dark.

The sea breeze was chilly at night, and Wu Gang followed behind Wu Sui, his heart pounding.

"Second brother, they really went!"

"That's normal. Money can corrupt people's hearts, especially these two desperate scoundrels."

Wu Sui walked very fast, making no sound at all. "There's going to be a good show tonight."

When they arrived at the old compound of the Maritime Bureau, Wu Sui did not take Wu Gang to the main gate, but instead went around to the side of the compound wall.

There is an old banyan tree here, with lush branches and leaves, which can perfectly shade them.

Sitting on a tree branch, you can see the entire abandoned steel boat in the yard.

The two had been perched in the tree for less than half an hour when they heard footsteps on the path in the distance.

"Here you are." Wu Sui patted Wu Gang on the shoulder.

Wu Gang held his breath and stared down.

A dark figure crept furtively to the courtyard wall, looked around, then grabbed the top of the wall and laboriously climbed over.

By the moonlight, Wu Gang recognized the man at a glance.

"It's Lai Er." Wu Gang whispered in Wu Sui's ear.

Wu Sui didn't say anything, but just gave a cold laugh.

After landing, Lai Er squatted in the grass for a while to make sure the gatehouse lights were off before crouching down and walking step by step toward the boat by the dock.

He didn't dare turn on his flashlight and groped his way onto the boat.

Just a few minutes later, another commotion came from outside the courtyard wall.

The people who came this time were obviously more nervous. When they were climbing over the wall, they slipped and fell with a "thud" onto a pile of weeds in the yard.

Wu Gang watched anxiously from the tree, fearing the noise would wake up Old Liu, the gatekeeper.

It was Cheng Kaixuan who fell in.

He clutched his sore bottom and lay motionless in the grass for a long time.

After waiting for a while and seeing that no one had been disturbed, he breathed a sigh of relief and tiptoed to his feet.

Cheng Kaixuan's goal was clear: he headed straight for the wrecked ship.

He climbed the iron ladder onto the deck, and as soon as he poked half his body out, he sensed a dark shadow crouching at the entrance to the lower deck.

Cheng Kaixuan was so frightened that the hairs on his body stood on end, thinking it was Old Liu, the gatekeeper.

He instinctively took a step back, tripped, and kicked a rusty lump of iron on the deck.

"Clang!"

The sound was like thunder in the quiet night.

Lai Er, who was squatting at the bottom of the hold, wondering how to get down, was startled by the sudden noise and dropped the crowbar on the deck with an even louder sound.

"Who!" Lai Er turned around abruptly, instinctively turning on his flashlight and sweeping it towards the stairwell.

In the light, Cheng Kaixuan's pale face was revealed. He shielded his eyes with his hand and was about to turn and run away when he heard that familiar voice and stopped in his tracks.

"Lai Er?!" Cheng Kaixuan's eyes widened, his voice suppressed.

Lai Er was also stunned and pressed the flashlight down.

"Cheng Kaixuan? What are you doing here in the middle of the night?"

The two men, separated by a few meters on the deck, stared at each other, and the air seemed to freeze instantly.