"Pingping!"
Lu Jianjun, pushed aside, was naturally unhappy. This woman, always stopping him at this point, trying to pique his interest? Trying to get him to take her back to the city? She should look at her own looks and education, were they a match?
A pantomime?
Tian Jing could only see Lu Jianjun's lips moving, but couldn't hear what he was saying. How could this work? Without uncovering Tian Ping's secret, how could she threaten this 'dear' sister?
Carefully and gently adding a little wood-elemental ability to the dragon's breath vine, Tian Jing saw Tian Ping's lips move again, but still no sound.
What to do? If she channeled more wood-elemental ability into the dragon's breath, it would probably explode.
Glancing around, she spotted several poplar trees not far away and decided to draw energy from ordinary plants to add to the dragon's breath.
Drawing plant energy from a distance, it circulated in her body before being sent into the dragon's breath vine. The vine visibly thickened. When the plant energy reached the leaf at the tip, Tian Jing finally heard Tian Ping's voice.
"Brother Lu, don't be angry. I, I'll tell you a secret, my grandparents have a lot of good things."
Delighted by the simultaneous reception of image and sound, Tian Jing was so shocked by these words that she almost destroyed the dragon's breath vine in her hand. Was this Tian Ping a pig?
"Good things?" Lu Jianjun's eyes darkened. "You mean money and coupons? Who doesn't have those? It's just a matter of more or less."
Seeing that her beloved didn't believe her, Tian Ping wasn't happy about this secret. She grew anxious. "It's gold. I heard Grandma say she has a lot of 'yellow fish' – aren't yellow fish gold? You, we need money to go back to the city. I'll ask Grandma for one. I heard one gram can be exchanged for several yuan."
"Really?" Lu Jianjun's eyes darted quickly, but his voice was filled with feigned excitement. "However, Grandma Tian would surely be reluctant to give it to us."
A large gold bar was ten taels, five hundred grams, worth several thousand yuan. A small gold bar was one tael, fifty grams, worth hundreds of yuan. How could the Tian family possibly be willing to give it to the idiot Tian Ping?
If he could find out where the Tian family's gold was hidden, he could take it all. Back in the city, even without a job or salary, it would be enough for him to live on for the rest of his life.
Tian Ping's words were, of course, meant to coax Lu Jianjun. Normally, her grandmother wouldn't even give her a cent. How could she possibly get gold? "I..."
Lu Jianjun gently cupped Tian Ping's round face, his voice soft. "Ping'er, do you know why I dare not take you back to the city with me? Because when I get back, I have to find connections to get a job. Even the quota to return to the city was obtained through connections. Why would people help me? It's because I gave them enough money and gifts.
You also know I can't do farm work in the countryside. If I don't go back, I'll starve to death here. If I go back without a salary, I'll also starve to death. That's why I dare not take you with me. You wait for me. Wait until I find a job and earn enough money, and then I'll come back for you."
"How... how long?" Tian Ping felt the tenderness of being cared for, her heart trembling.
"Three to five years, maybe longer. But you must wait for me. I will work hard to earn money, settle everything in the city, and then I will come to pick you up." Lu Jianjun's voice grew even gentler.
Tian Ping's eyes widened. Three to five years, maybe longer? Wouldn't she become an old maid? No, she had to go with Brother Lu directly. She deserved a share of the family's possessions.
"Brother Lu, you, can you take me with you? I, I know where Grandma hides the things. I, I can sneak one out quietly. With the money, you can find connections and find me a job too, an easy one."
"How can that be?" Lu Jianjun's voice held a hint of anger, and his grip on her face became even gentler. "Sneaking it out means stealing. I can't let you become a thief."
"For you, I'm not afraid of anything. As long as we can live together happily, what's there to fear about being a thief?"
Brother Lu was too good to her. What was stealing? She wasn't afraid of walking through a sea of fire and swords.
"Then, how about I do it? Since you're willing to go to any lengths for our future, I can't just sit back and enjoy it. You tell me the place, and I'll sneak in and get it. If, one day, your family finds out, you won't be blamed."
"Brother Lu," Tian Ping's eyes welled up with tears, "You are too good to me. How could I bear to let you do it? I'll do it."
"No," Lu Jianjun righteously refused. "I must do it. I am a man, how can I hide behind my woman?"
Hearing this, Tian Jing rolled her eyes. Heh, 'I must do it'? He wants more than one piece, doesn't he? This Lu Jianjun seems to be returning to the city in a couple of days. In her past life, Tian Ping didn't leave with him. Was she appeased? Or abandoned?
Oh dear, she was getting confused by these two idiots. Appeased or abandoned, weren't they both forms of abandonment? In her past life, although the original owner paid less attention to the Tian family after marrying into the Li family, she knew Tian Ping married a widower.
This Lu Jianjun intended to take all the gold bars while returning to the city and never look back, right? No one would know he took the things, Tian Ping wouldn't admit it, and the Tian family wouldn't dare to report it.
Those gold bars were sent to the Tian family by the original owner's maternal grandfather to ensure the Tian family treated the original owner well because of the substantial sum. Since the Tian family had failed to do so, these gold bars should be returned to their rightful owner.
It was a good opportunity to use this pair of lovebirds.
Her thoughts raced, but it was only for a moment. Tian Jing continued to listen to their conversation.
"Alright then," Tian Ping was moved by her beloved man. "When do you plan to go? I'll keep watch for you."
"Tomorrow night," seeing that Tian Ping had finally agreed, Lu Jianjun fanned the flames. "After taking the things tomorrow night, you pack your bags quickly. I'll wait for you under the big tree at the village entrance in the early morning. We'll go back to the city together, find good jobs, and then have a wedding. Our wedding will be magnificent then."
Mentioning the wedding, Tian Ping's face flushed. "Then I'll go to the team office tomorrow to get a letter of introduction."
"Don't!" Lu Jianjun quickly stopped Tian Ping's idea. The address he had given Tian Ping was fake. The address on his own letter of introduction was real. If the address issue was exposed, how could he escape perfectly?
"I'll go get it, quietly. We're not engaged yet, and if others find out, it'll harm your reputation. When I got my letter of introduction yesterday, I slipped the team leader a pack of cigarettes, so it should still be useful."
"Okay." Tian Ping excitedly kissed Lu Jianjun's lips. They lingered for a while before Tian Ping whispered the burial place of the gold bars to Lu Jianjun.
Having heard the most important information, Tian Jing was impatient to listen to the two of them being affectionate any longer. She destroyed the dragon's breath vine and left with her basket.
Returning to the Tian family, Old Mrs. Tian was collecting clothes in the yard. "Where has that girl Tian Ping gone? She's not collecting clothes, feeding pigs, or chickens. With so much housework, how can my old arms and legs do it all alone? Uh, second daughter-in-law, hurry out and chop pig feed and cook pig slop. The pig feed has been brought back."