Longevity starts with inheriting a friend's legacy

Chapter 3: Treasure Hunt at the Land Temple

"Yep!"

"Uncle must be informed of this matter and asked to avenge Ergou."

Speaking of Wang Erhu, Wang seemed to have gained some confidence. After looking at Fang Xu with gratitude, a strange feeling arose in her heart. Her face flushed and she quietly hugged Fang Xu's arms.

Feeling the softness coming from his arm and smelling the faint scent of rouge, Fang Xu resisted the urge to push her down and helped her up, saying, "Sister-in-law, let's not disturb the scene. Let's go back and report to the police now."

Wang nodded slightly, and almost leaned half of her body on Fang Xu, following him towards Fenglin Town.

"Sister-in-law, why did Brother Ergou quarrel with the young master of the Zhang family?" Fang Xu asked casually on the way to break the awkwardness.

"I don't know..."

"I just heard from Ergou that the Zhang family seemed to be planning to demolish the land temple and build a shop, but Ergou stopped them..."

"Ergou doesn't believe in gods or Buddhas on weekdays, but I don't know why he cares so much about the land temple and likes to go there whenever he has nothing to do."

Land temple?
Wang's words made Fang Xu feel something was wrong. Wang Ergou, who usually didn't believe in gods and Buddhas, would be so concerned about the abandoned land temple. Could it be...

After secretly noting this matter, the two continued on their way and after walking for half an hour they arrived at the town government office.

In the Great Yu Dynasty, the town had a mayor, and under him there was a police station responsible for maintaining public order and catching thieves. These police stations were fine in handling disputes among the common people, but when it came to murder, especially when it was the brother of a government soldier, they were obviously overwhelmed.

Listening to Wang's crying, the mayor Huang Dechuan held his forehead in his hand and said nothing. He glanced at Fang Xu and asked in confusion: "Are you the grandson of the old man Fang in the town?"

Fang Xu cupped his hands and said, "That's right, kid."

"Why were you with Wang so late at night, and how did you discover Wang Ergou's death?" Huang Dechuan's tone was full of questioning.

Fang Xu replied calmly, "During the day, Brother Ergou came to me to repair the plow, and during the conversation he mentioned that he wanted to introduce me to the daughter of Butcher Wang. I had nothing to do in the evening, so I planned to bring some homemade wine to talk to Brother Ergou."

"When I arrived at Brother Ergou's house, I heard Sister-in-law Wang say that Brother Ergou had not returned after dark, so I went with Sister-in-law to look for him."

He had already thought of these excuses on the way. Wang Ergou's death had nothing to do with him, and he must not get involved in any trouble.

"Master, Wang Ergou's brother was a soldier and a warrior. Now that Wang Ergou is dead, Master must send someone to inform him immediately and ask Qinghe County to send an official to investigate."

"It's a murder case. We in Fenglin Town can't handle it." Next to Huang Dechuan, a thin man with a mole on the corner of his mouth and a mustache holding a folding fan whispered.

Huang Dechuan hesitated for a moment and nodded. He immediately stood up and looked at Wang and Fang Xu and said, "You two go back first. I will have someone transport Wang Ergou's body to the charity cemetery for temporary storage. We will discuss everything after the superiors arrive."

Fang Xu bowed slightly, helped Wang, who was slumped on the ground, up and said, "Sister-in-law, go back first."

After helping Wang out of the government office, Fang Xu sent her directly to the door of her home. He then planned to go to the land temple under the cover of night to see if it was as he had guessed.

However, Wang was leaning against the door at this time, grabbing the corner of Fang Xu's clothes, with a bit of fear and inexplicable emotions in her eyes, she said softly: "Brother Fang, I... I am afraid."

As she spoke, a pair of beautiful eyes, with a hint of charm, stared at Fang Xu expectantly.

Such a charming young woman was a fatal temptation to Fang Xu, who had been single for two lifetimes. It seemed as if his feet had taken root and he could hardly move.

The power of the system has changed Wang's thinking. Fang Xu knows that even if he stays and does something tonight, Wang will not object.

But he didn't dare.

Wang Ergou is dead. At this critical juncture, if something happens between him and Wang and is discovered, it would be like mud falling out of his pants, and it would be shit at best.

"Don't be afraid, sister-in-law. Tomorrow, someone from the county will come to deal with this matter. Brother Erhu will come as soon as he gets the news." After comforting Wang, Fang Xu quickly escaped from this fatal temptation.

Looking at Fang Xu's departing figure, Wang's eyes were somewhat resentful, and at the same time, there was a hint of worry.

With her looks, how could she be willing to marry a filthy fellow like Wang Ergou? But who made Wang Ergou have a younger brother who is a palace soldier?

Marrying him as his wife is much better than being a concubine to a powerful man.

As for Fang Xu, after leaving Wang Ergou's house, he hurried to the land temple in the town.

After the current Emperor Yu of the Great Yu Dynasty ascended the throne, he prohibited the people under his rule from believing in gods and Buddhas. Temples for the Emperor Yu were built everywhere, from prefectures to counties, towns and villages, and statues of the current Emperor Yu were enshrined in the temples.

After the incense service stopped for this land temple in Fenglin Town, it became completely abandoned. Most of the time, it was used as a place to stay overnight by people passing by Fenglin Town when they went into the mountains.

Entering the land temple, Fang Xu took out a fire starter from his arms, put it to his mouth and blew it, then looked around with the light of the fire starter.

Half of the roof of the abandoned temple had collapsed, and among the broken walls stood a huge stone statue without a head, covered with cobwebs and in tatters.

In front of the stone statue, there were some straw scattered on the ashes of several piles of burnt wood. It was obvious that no one had spent the night here for a long time.

Standing in front of the stone statue, Fang Xu frowned slightly.

If I were Wang Ergou, where would I hide the hundred taels of silver?

While looking at the surrounding environment and simulating it in his mind, Fang Xu discovered that there seemed to be no place in the dilapidated land temple to hide a hundred taels of silver.

Could it be... that I guessed wrong?

Wang Ergou’s private money is not hidden in this land temple?
A trace of doubt arose in his heart, and his eyes scanned all the places in the ruined temple again.

"Ok?"

When his eyes passed by the huge headless stone statue on the altar, Fang Xu's eyes narrowed slightly.

There seems to be something different on the left arm of the statue!

There were spider webs everywhere in the dilapidated temple, with large patches of spider webs connecting the stone statues and the beams. Only the spider webs on the left arm seemed extremely sparse.

Noticing this, Fang Xu immediately jumped onto the altar, put a fire stick close to the left arm of the stone statue and observed it carefully, and indeed found some tiny bits of dirt on it.

The temple is in ruins, so it is normal for the stone statues to have some dust on them, but it is obviously wrong to have mud on them.

Looking up at the three-meter-tall stone statue, Fang Xu held the fire starter in his mouth and climbed up using his hands and feet.

At the top of the stone statue, Fang Xu sat on the statue's shoulder. He took the fire starter out of its mouth and shone it down along the statue's neck. Sure enough, he found a wooden box in the hollow chest of the statue!
The wooden box was within reach, and Fang Xu took it out easily.

Holding a tinderbox in one hand and opening the wooden box with the other, what came into view was a box of neatly stacked silver ingots. Each silver ingot was slightly larger than a thumb and weighed two taels. There were a total of fifty silver ingots of this size!
One hundred taels of silver!

Looking at the silver ingot in front of him, Fang Xu showed joy.

Although he did not receive this inheritance from the system, he obtained the one hundred taels of silver with his own intelligence.

With these one hundred taels of silver, he was one step closer to reaching the realm of a martial artist.

(End of this chapter)