CHAPTER 214: CHAPTER 214: HIDING THINGS

Qin San Lang glanced around to make sure there was no one hiding nearby before opening the bag.

The bag was a coarse hemp sack containing another sack made of cotton.

From the cotton sack, Qin San Lang took out an object wrapped in red silk cloth, obviously treated as a treasure.

Qin San Lang unwrapped the red silk cloth layer by layer, revealing a curved iron plate.

It was not exactly an iron plate as its surface had traces of verdigris...

"This is bronze." Gu Jinli’s brows furrowed deeper. Was Qin San Lang planning to give her a bronze artifact?

"It is indeed cast from bronze." Qin San Lang nodded and handed her the bronze plate: "This is the gift I wanted to give you."

Gu Jinli took the heavy bronze plate, needing both hands to hold it: "This heavy object, you’ve been carrying it all along?"

The bronze plate was nearly one foot long and about the height of a palm, quite large.

"Mm, when fleeing the famine, I always tied it around my waist," Qin San Lang whispered.

Under the moonlight, Gu Jinli squinted at the curved bronze plate which had characters of various sizes engraved on it, some as big as thumbs and others as small as mung beans. The small characters were plenty and dense.

The moonlight was not bright enough; after squinting for a while, she could only decipher the thumb-sized characters but not the smaller ones. Even so, what she saw gave her a fright.

First-rank Marquis.

Inheritance without replacement.

Could it be what she was thinking?

"Is this... an Iron Certificate?" Gu Jinli asked.

Qin San Lang nodded: "Yes, this is the Iron Certificate granted when the title was bestowed, a heritage item of our family."

Gu Jinli laughed lightly, she had actually seen the legendary Iron Certificate!

"You’re giving this to me, won’t your ancestors come and strangle you in your dreams?" Gu Jinli asked quietly, afraid of being overheard, that would get their families executed.

Pausing, Qin San Lang replied, "This is the best gift I can offer you right now."

"You better not give any gift then, don’t you realize this gift is a hot potato?" Giving her an Iron Certificate of nobility title, was he tired of her living and eager to send her to heaven?

Qin San Lang said, "If you bury the Iron Certificate, no one will discover it. You can dig it out when it’s needed."

As long as their identities remain undisclosed, even if someone investigates her, they wouldn’t find anything. Being a young girl who escaped the famine, her family’s and grandparent’s identities are clear. The past five generations are all traceable in detail.

Hearing this, Gu Jinli looked at Qin San Lang... Under the moonlight, the young man’s handsome face was serious, his eyes under his sword-shaped brows slightly deep, staring unblinkingly at her.

"What if we’re unlucky and it’s found?" she asked.

"It won’t be, the Emperor is now busy searching for my uncle and my elder brother, he definitely thinks this Iron Certificate is with my uncle, he won’t expect it to be hidden in the countryside of the south," Qin San Lang spoke very softly: "My brother and I have no old acquaintances or followers in the south, the Emperor won’t come to the south to search."

This was also why his brother was reluctant to come south.

Without old acquaintances or followers in the south, coming here was a waste of time, unable to connect with old followers for revenge.

Hearing this, Gu Jinli was silent. She looked at the young man before her and squinted, asking, "The gift is just a pretext, your real intention is to hide this object with me, right?"

"Why do I feel like I’ve been used?" Gu Jinli asked, suddenly feeling very upset!

This Iron Certificate is indeed a valuable item. If Qin San Lang’s family rises, she could use it to exchange for countless gold and treasures. If Qin San Lang’s family gets caught, she could also bring out this certificate to accuse Qin San Lang’s family, and if she’s lucky, she could indeed earn some merit.

The scary part is if Qin San Lang’s family hasn’t risen yet, nor have they been caught, and suddenly someone from the Capital comes here. If this Iron Certificate is found, everyone in their families, even the entire Da Feng Village, would have to die!

Qin San Lang was stunned, looking at her and shaking his head, "That was not my intention, I just wanted to give you the most valuable thing I have."

He added, "I didn’t intend to use you again."

Again, use you?

Gu Jinli sneered, pointing at his wrist, "Is your hand healed?"

Qin San Lang knew what she was referring to, and replied, "No." It was just bitten the day before yesterday; it had barely scabbed over.

Gu Jinli laughed, "Good that it hasn’t healed."

Her expression changed, and she pointed at his hand, "Roll up your sleeve for me!"

Qin San Lang was stunned for a moment, and then obediently rolled up his sleeve, presenting the hand she had bitten to her: "It’s washed, go ahead and bite."

Gu Jinli sneered coldly, grabbed his hand, and bit hard into the previous wound.

"Hisss~" Qin San Lang wasn’t someone who feared pain, but her bite was even more vicious this time.

Gu Jinli bit Qin San Lang’s wrist until it bled again; if her teeth hadn’t still been changing, she could have crippled his hand!

After biting, Gu Jinli finally felt a bit less depressed.

"I’ll keep this item." Gu Jinli wrapped up the Iron Certificate, putting it into a burlap sack: "Although it’s a hot potato, it still has some value. After all, the troubles your family has caused us are enough, adding one more item won’t matter."

Qin San Lang felt somewhat embarrassed by her words.

Gu Jinli glanced at him; seeing him with his head down, she didn’t feel it right to scold him again, so she said, "Let’s go, to the old well. While it’s midnight and no one’s around, let’s hide this."

Initially, she had planned to hide the Iron Certificate in the mountains or bury it under her house, but thinking about it, it would be disastrous if someone dug it up; only the walls of the old well were the safest.

Qin San Lang nodded. The two of them, crouching, made their way to the old well at the edge of the village under the cover of night.

Qin San Lang untied the rope from his waist, tying one end to the windlass of the well and the other around his own waist, he told Gu Jinli, "You squat down; I’ll go down to hide the certificate and will be back up quickly."

With that, he held the rope, pushing against the well walls, gradually descending.

Gu Jinli squatted down, hiding next to the old well, silently waiting. After 30 minutes, Qin San Lang finally came up from the well.

His body was still pretty dry, only the hem of his clothes was somewhat wet, and his head and hands were covered with mud and moss.

He untied the rope, tidied it, and hung it back at his waist, then told her, "It’s hidden. It’s on the left side of the well wall, three feet above the water level. I pried open the green bricks of the well wall, dug out the soil beneath, placed the Iron Certificate there, then sealed it back with soil and green bricks."

Carrying a dagger and a machete, it wasn’t difficult for Qin San Lang to pry open some green bricks.

Gu Jinli nodded, "It’s put away now, let’s go back. Being out too long might get us discovered."

Qin San Lang said, "Don’t worry, my second brother won’t suspect anything. He’s on night watch at the workshop, and I’ve been angry with him lately. I didn’t go to the workshop tonight; he won’t realize I came to see you."

If his second brother were at home, or if he had been with his second brother keeping watch at the workshop, he couldn’t have escaped his brother’s eyes to see her.