"If you keep this up, I'm not talking to you anymore!"

"Fine, don't talk to me, who needs you anyway, get lost, stop following me!"

"Alright, I'm leaving!"

Lin Shuyou parted ways.

Yin Meng walked alone into the alley ahead.

The three thugs exchanged glances, then followed her. They had seen with their own eyes earlier that the man stuffed a wad of cash into the woman's bag.

"Hey, what are you doing, what do you want!"

Yin Meng heard footsteps approaching behind her and swung her bag at them, but soon, because of her limited strength, even the bag was snatched away.

"Get away from me, don't come closer, don't come any closer!" Yin Meng cried out in fear, hugging herself and retreating into the corner.

The three thugs swallowed nervously, just about to make their next move, when suddenly a sharp whistle sounded nearby.

"Beep! Beep! Beep!"

The thugs, who usually bullied middle schoolers for their money, panicked at the sound. They quickly left Yin Meng and ran off.

Lin Shuyou stood up, the whistle still in his mouth.

Yin Meng calmed herself and said, "You're too fast, I haven't even set the scene yet."

Lin Shuyou replied, "I was worried you couldn't hold back."

If the three thugs had really gotten rough with Yin Meng, Lin Shuyou feared she'd get angry and poison them to death.

Yin Meng said, "Hurry and follow them, see if they fall for it."

"Got it!"

Lin Shuyou climbed over the wall to give chase.

The three thugs ran back to one of their homes. Once inside, they quickly began rifling through the stolen bag.

First, they found the wad of cash – genuine money in large denominations.

Next, they found some loose change along with some makeup products typically used by girls.

"Huh, what's this?"

One of the makeup cases cracked open, revealing a piece of yellowed paper inside.

Brother Hu pulled out the paper and spread it out, revealing a diagram with traditional Chinese characters marking a specific location: the backyard of Jie Mansion, Bai Chi Village, Shazi Town, Zhangjiajie...

At the end was a small illustration showing a pot buried in a yard, with chunks of something inside marked as "gold," but even without the annotation, it was obvious.

"Is this a treasure map from that girl's family? Didn't she say her grandfather buried treasure for her?"

"Is this for real?" one of the thugs asked.

Brother Hu: "I think it might be real."

Hanging from the edge of the roof, Lin Shuyou listened to the conversation through the window.

After some discussion, the three thugs gradually reached a consensus, convincing themselves that the treasure map was genuine.

This scheme wasn't particularly clever, but it was foolproof.

The three thugs never even considered the possibility of being tricked, given that they had nothing to be conned out of in the first place.

Moreover, the most convincing evidence: the wad of cash was very much in their hands.

The weight of the money made the treasure map seem all the more real.

After all, if any con artist used real money to lure you in, how many could resist being fooled?

"Does that girl know the treasure map was in here?"

Brother Hu: "No matter if she knows or not, we need to act fast and dig up the gold. We won't have to worry for the rest of our lives!"

"Even if we don't find the gold, this cash alone is enough for us to live it up with several trips. It's a win-win!"

Brother Hu slapped the other guy on the head: "Shut up with the bad luck talk; there must be gold! You two go home and pack up fast; we're heading to the train station tonight!"

Lin Shuyou chuckled, pulled his head back, jumped down from the building, and set off to find a convenience store to make a call, only to meet Yin Meng who had also found her way there.

Yin Meng tossed a bag of clothes to Lin Shuyou, inside were a new set of clothes, a hat, scarf, sunglasses, and money, she asked:

"How did it go?"

"Notify Brother Xiao Yuan, it's time to catch the fish."

...

Brother Hu and his two buddies entered the train station, each carrying a luggage bag.

First, they headed to the ticket window to buy tickets. Luck was on their side as there was still a train to their destination that night.

"Do you have any sleeper berths?"

Brother Hu acted important, knowing full well sleeper tickets were sold out for this train, but he couldn't help but ask now that he had money.

If there had been sleeper tickets available, he wouldn't have even asked. He wouldn't dare splurge until the gold was in hand.

"No sleepers left, just hard berths. Do you want them?"

"Yes, three tickets."

Brother Hu took the tickets and turned away.

Behind him, Lin Shuyou, in a new disguise, approached with his rich experience in acting and makeup. Following Brother Hu up close without being noticed was almost too easy.

After they walked a bit further, Lin Shuyou said, "On the same train as them, five hard berth tickets."

...

The night's wind was strong on the platform, bringing the chill of late autumn.

The train finally pulled into the station, railway staff began directing passengers, and people started boarding and disembarking.

Brother Hu and his two buddies entered a hard berth compartment with three berths on each side: top, middle, and bottom, a total of six berths.

"We only got one bottom berth."

Brother Hu: "Damn, forgot to mention it when buying tickets."

The tickets were sequential, perfectly taking up three on the left: top, middle, and bottom.

However, the middle and top berths in the hard compartment were truly cramped and uncomfortable.

Brother Hu: "Listen, Xing, you sleep on the bottom berth across from us, take turns with Wen Bin. If anyone comes, we can swap easily, no big deal."

Xing nodded and claimed the bottom berth opposite.

Before long, a burly man with bandages walked in.

He stood next to Xing and said in a deep voice, "That's my berth."

Xing looked up at the man, then over at Brother Hu on the opposite bottom berth.

Brother Hu saw Run Sheng but pretended not to notice.

"Scram!"

Run Sheng raised his voice.

Xing had to get off the bottom berth and climb to the top bunk opposite.

Soon, Li Zhiyuan and Tan Wenbin entered.

The teenager's bag contained Grandma Zhu's drawings and photos, Tan Wenbin's bag held the wanted poster.

Li Zhiyuan climbed to the top bunk on this side, while Tan Wenbin took the middle bunk.

Yin Meng and Lin Shuyou were in the compartment next door.

The train started moving.

Tan Wenbin began chatting, asking Brother Hu, "Where are you headed?"

Brother Hu: "Zhangjiajie."

"What a coincidence, I'm going there too."

"Are you from there?"

"Sort of, went to school there as a kid."

"So do you know where Shazi Town and Bai Chi Village are?"

"Dummy Town and Idiot Village?"

"Yeah, do you know where they are?"

"Ah, not really, local names have changed a lot these years, even Zhangjiajie wasn't always called that, are you headed there?"

"Yes."

"Once we get there, I can help you ask around, I'm sure we'll find it."

"Great."

"By the way, what are you doing there?"

"Business." Brother Hu wasn't keen on speaking further.

Tan Wenbin stopped talking too, as it was late when everyone boarded, people started drifting to sleep.

Initially, Brother Hu and his buddies snored loudly, but soon, Run Sheng and Tan Wenbin's snoring symphony completely drowned them out.

Li Zhiyuan lay on the top bunk, eyes open, glancing at the window.

Outside, it was dark, with only occasional sparse lights breaking the monotony.

A pessimist might look at such a scene and feel melancholic, thinking of the uncertain road ahead.

But the teenager's eyes sparkled with life, he was excited.

Zou Jiang, Zou Jiang,

Perhaps one shouldn't just sit there, timidly waiting for the waves to crash upon them again and again.

One should,

actively walk into the river!

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