In the dim light, Lang Yifeng pricked up his ears to listen to the sounds around him before bending down again to pry up several bricks from the ground.
Just then, a voice came from the front door, "Brother Feng, are you asleep?"
Lang Yifeng quickly tiptoed back into the house without opening the door, and said coldly, "What now? I'm going to sleep."
Tang Jie said, "Brother Feng, I'd like to talk to you about something."
However, Lang Yifeng was not interested and replied icily, "It's late! Let's talk tomorrow! I'm very tired and don't want to be disturbed anymore!"
In the quiet of the night, footsteps were clearly audible. A set of footsteps faded away, presumably Tang Jie walking away disinterestedly.
Soon after, Lang Yifeng's footsteps could be heard heading towards the back of the house, this time carrying several bundles of cash. He returned to a water tank, retrieved a small iron box about a foot square from the ground, opened it, and put the cash inside.
Seeing this, Luo Yang largely understood what was going on.
Lang Yifeng ran an underground gambling den and loan sharking business, needing to keep cash at home but worrying about police raids, so he hid the cash under the water tank – a rather cunning move on his part.
Had Luo Yang not seen it with his own eyes, he would never have guessed such a secret lay beneath the water tank. Most people wouldn't think to check the water tank, especially since it was located outside the greenhouse.
This was a perfect example of "the most dangerous place is the safest place."
After putting the small iron box back in the pit, covering it with bricks, and moving the water tank over it, Lang Yifeng stood there and smoked a cigarette before going back inside the house. The sound of footsteps ascending the stairs indicated he was going to bed.
Luo Yang thought that Lang Yifeng, who earned illicit money and also had a grudge against him, now deserved a windfall since he had uncovered this secret.
Thus, he left the Lang Family's place and hurried home.
Just as he had walked about a hundred meters, he heard voices under a willow tree ahead. Recognizing Tang Jie's voice, he moved closer to eavesdrop.
Tang Jie said, "I wanted to ask Lang Yifeng to join us earlier, but he wouldn't open the door; I guess he wouldn't agree to what we were planning. Think about it, Boss Chen is a regular at his casino—how could Lang Yifeng agree to kidnap him?"
Then, hidden in the shadows, Zhang Xiangqian spoke, "What do you think then? Just the two of us do it?"
Tang Jie replied, "Just the two of us is enough. Tomorrow, let's rent a van first, then in the evening pick up Boss Chen, claiming it's the casino's shuttle service. Once he's on board, we'll take him to the rubble site, force him to reveal his bank PIN, and after we get the money, we'll finish him off and bury him there—no one will know."
Luo Yang, having heard this, was taken aback.
That was an abandoned rubble site located about two li northwest of the Hongyun Brigade. Originally an area where state-owned enterprises dumped mined earth, it towered in tiers, four layers tall, each layer reaching up to several meters.
For decades, the surrounding villagers, to prevent the rubble site from collapsing and covering their fields, had planted trees on top of it. Now, from a distance, it looked like a hill with a circular road leading up to the flat summit, which was at least as big as a football field.
After listening a while longer and hearing Tang Jie and Zhang Xiangqian finalize their plan, Luo Yang headed home.
It was past four in the morning when he returned to the landscape painting. Apart from being tired, Yin Spirit also felt some pain, wondering how long it would take to recover from the burns inflicted by the light.
When Yin Spirit entered the pond, it was as if it was charged with electricity, suddenly revitalized, not only no longer tired but also free from the pain of the burns!
By then, Luo Yang realized that the pond had the ability to heal Yin Spirits.
After swimming through the pond, the Yin Spirit returned to the body, not only feeling refreshed but also invigorated as if a person had gone for a morning run, full of energy.
After this outing, the Yin Spirit had clearly become stronger.
Thinking that it was soon going to be dawn and remembering the money Lang Yifeng hid under the water jar, Luo Yang left the landscape painting, tiptoed to the door, and slipped out quietly.
The time before dawn was the quietest, and aside from the occasional crowing of roosters, dog barks were rare. He made his way familiarly to the water jar behind Lang Yifeng's shed, quietly moved the jar aside, took out the small iron box, opened it, and stuffed all the banknotes inside a plastic bag. There were about a hundred thousand.
After that, he put the iron box back, moved the water jar back into place, and stealthily returned home, locked the door, hid the banknotes well, lay on his bed, and Luo Yang smiled contentedly.
In the morning, Luo Yang went to school as if nothing had happened. He wondered to what extent Lang Yifeng would freak out if he knew the money under the water jar was gone.
During the morning reading time, Hong Jiaxin turned around several times, smiled, and glanced at Luo Yang, wanting to say something, but she didn't.
Luo Yang guessed she wanted to say a few words of thanks. Peering into her body, he saw her skin was as smooth as jade and wondered how silky it would feel to touch.
Soon, the head teacher Suyun came to patrol the class, scrutinizing Hong Jiaxin closely for a long time before asking her to step outside. After a while, Hong Jiaxin returned to her seat and asked Luo Yang to go to the teachers' office.
Luo Yang roughly guessed what it was about, and seeing Suyun, she indeed wanted to buy beauty stream water, so he generously gave her a bottle.
All morning, Luo Yang thought about two things, first, whether Lang Yifeng knew the money was gone and second, Tang Jie and Zhang Xiangqian's plan to kidnap a boss.
Luo Yang did not mention these two things to Xiao Daniu, fearing he might carelessly leak them.
Luo Yang considered notifying the police in advance, as that should be able to stop Tang Jie and Zhang Xiangqian's criminal act. However, since they had not yet acted and there was no evidence proving they intended to kidnap anyone, it was hard to convince anyone.
After much thought, he felt it was best to go there himself. If they indeed had kidnapped the boss and taken him to the debris site, he could then overpower them and hand them over to the police.
He was confident that he could easily take them down two-on-one.
After school at noon, Luo Yang hurried back to Hongyun Brigade, first stopping at the village chief's general store for a moment—it was the center of village gossip. However, he heard no news about a theft at Lang Yifeng's home. He surmised it was very possibly because Lang Yifeng didn't know yet, by tomorrow there would certainly be a conclusion.
Upon returning home, he checked the three small fish in the water jar behind the house and found they had grown a bit larger.
This was the first time he encountered fish growing this fast, Luo Yang felt like he was dreaming. As long as it was confirmed that this type of fish was suitable for human consumption, it would be a significant way to make money.
Last night, the Yin Spirit had lain on An Yuying's bed for about fifteen minutes, and Luo Yang wanted to know if she had felt anything. After lunch, he went to see her, also planning to perform acupuncture on Teacher Lin.
First, he performed acupuncture on Lin Jialan, then Luo Yang arranged to meet An Yuying at the grassland at the end of the village to practice martial arts.
Walking along the village road and glancing over at An Yuying's jade-like delicate figure, Luo Yang suddenly felt his body temperature rise a bit. He thought how nice it would be if the Yin Spirit could touch real objects.
He initiated the conversation about dreams, naturally wanting to find out if An Yuying had dreamt about him last night.
An Yuying said in a soft voice, "Niu Zai, it's so strange. I really don't know how to describe it. I had such a weird dream last night. I'm too embarrassed to talk about it."