Chapter 1722
Hiding Things
As per the rules set before entering the mountains, the spoils would be divided into 12 portions: Huang Zhong would take 2 portions, Mu Xueli and Wang Li would each take 3 portions, and Wang An, as the leader, would take 4 portions.
Therefore, Huang Zhong received 2 yuan, Mu Xueli and Wang Li each received 3 yuan, and Wang An received 4 yuan.
It has to be said that nothing, whether it's gold, a gun, ginseng, or diamonds, is as tangible as money.
Because when the four of them were dividing the money, their smiles became noticeably wider, and after receiving the money, they were all beaming with delight, wishing they could go and plunder more dead people's pockets.
The most satisfying feeling is the security of having your money in hand, and the ability to buy whatever you want whenever you want after descending the mountain.
Speaking of money, having money in your pocket means you don't panic; only those who have experienced it know what it's like to be broke!
After the money was distributed, it meant the gold mine business was over. Wang An pointed to the various looted items on the ground and said:
"Alright, let's find a place to hide all these things, and then starting from noon, let's properly traverse the old village with our sticks."
Mu Xueli held three stacks of ten-yuan notes in her hand, her face beaming with satisfaction, and said:
"Yeah, we're basically neglecting our duties here. We'd better get back to work on Old Anzi, hahaha."
As soon as Mu Xueli finished speaking, Wang Li curled his lip and said:
"If you ask me, you're the one who doesn't do your job properly, while the three of us are always doing our jobs properly. Don't put the three of us together with you, it's beneath you."
Mu Xueli's smile froze, and she asked:
"Is this what you call doing something productive? Don't you know what we came into the mountains for? How dare you say that?"
Wang Li tilted his head slightly upward, his face full of resentment, and asked:
"Then tell me, what did we come into the mountains for?"
Mu Xueli immediately said with a straight face:
"We're heading into the mountains to wade through the old village, carrying our carrying poles."
Wang Li pointed to the two sacks containing ginseng buns and asked:
"Then what is this? Come on, tell me, what is this if it's not a club?"
Wang Li's words stunned Mu Xueli. Her eyes widened in surprise before she finally spoke:
"So, did we carry this? Did we steal it?"
No sooner had Mu Xueli finished speaking than Wang An's large foot landed on her buttocks. At the same time, Wang An asked Mu Xueli with a sinister smile:
"What do you mean 'stolen'? Who stolen it? Huh? We just happened to be passing by and picked it up, you know?"
Mu Xueli immediately realized that she had said the wrong thing.
Three years ago, Wang An said that if anyone asks about anything of unknown origin, you should say that you bought it or found it. Even when chatting with your own people, you should say that you found it and never mention the word "robbed".
Wang An believes that only by deceiving oneself can one deceive others. Only by forming this subconscious mindset can one avoid accidentally revealing the truth when chatting casually with others in the future.
Although what happened in these mountains is impossible to investigate and there is no way to find out, the saying still holds true: "Better safe than sorry!"
Wang An didn't want anyone to end up in jail or even face death because of a slip of the tongue.
Given the power of Wu Dong and Zhang Shuya, these second-generation elites, it wouldn't matter if many things became known, because as long as the scope wasn't expanded, they could suppress everything. However, in the end, this would be a losing proposition. Mu Xueli rubbed her bottom, looking utterly aggrieved, and said:
"Fourth Brother, I was wrong."
Wang Anshun shoved Mu Xueli and said irritably:
"You've gone off-topic in your conversation, and even Lao Wu can trick you into revealing information. You're a complete bastard, you're nothing."
Mu Xueli lowered her head and remained silent, while Wang Li burst into laughter beside her.
To be fair, although these two idiots only talked and never actually hit each other, they were always trying to get Wang An to beat the other up.
As long as the other party gets beaten up by Wang An, the other party will immediately become overjoyed.
Wang An rolled his eyes at Wang Li and said:
"You too, I've noticed you haven't improved much in other areas, but you've learned to be cunning. Where did you learn that from?"
Wang Li laughed as he pointed at Mu Xueli and said:
"I learned it all from my brother Mu. He would play tricks on me every day, and that's how I learned it."
Wang An, too lazy to deal with these two idiots, changed the subject:
"Alright, enough of this nonsense. Think about it, where is a good place to hide things along the way? We mainly need to hide the gun and the gold. Those two items together weigh almost 300 pounds. It's not practical to carry them around everywhere."
After Wang An finished speaking, Mu Xueli, Wang Li, and Huang Zhong each recalled the places they had traveled along the way, and then shared their thoughts for everyone to consider the pros and cons.
Finally, at Huang Zhong's suggestion, the four of them agreed that these things should be hidden in a small cave at the foot of Shilazi Mountain outside the dense forest.
That small cave must have been a hideout where a brown or black bear once crouched, because right at the entrance there were two bear skulls and bear ribs that had been thrown away by hunters.
When Wang An passed by yesterday, he even smashed the fangs off those two skulls.
This indicates that the hunter or these hunters had hunted two bears in this area and, after killing the bears, immediately extracted their gallbladders, skinned them, and butchered them on the spot.
Bears will generally no longer live in such barns, mainly because the scent of their own kind is too strong.
Therefore, such a place is perfect for hiding things.
Even if passersby saw it, they would never pay attention to an abandoned cellar, much less venture into the dark, smelly cellar to look for something.
Having made their decision, the group reorganized their belongings and placed them on their horses before heading towards the granary.
After having Xiao Hei and Xiao Bai check if there were any living creatures in the underground storage, and after Xiao Bai and Xiao Hei showed no abnormalities, Wang An and the other two stuffed the boxes containing gold and diamonds, the sacks containing ginseng buns, and the urea bags containing guns into the underground storage.
And you know what? The place the bear chose for hibernation was dry and sheltered from the wind, so there was no need to worry about it being damp or rain getting in.
After hiding all their belongings in the cellar, the four of them made no alterations to the outside of the cellar and returned to their lodgings together.
The best disguise is a completely natural one. Any alterations would be superfluous and give the impression of "protesting too much." (End of Chapter)