Chapter 65: A Letter Worth a Fortune
The house had been without electricity for so long that even the wiring had been cut. At the earliest, someone would come to reconnect it the next day.
But Xu Youyou didn’t want to wait—she feared that the longer she delayed, the greater the risk of something going wrong.
The house was filled with all sorts of clutter, mostly junk that the Xie family had dumped there because they couldn’t dispose of it elsewhere.
Xu Youyou held up her phone’s flashlight and walked into the kitchen, following the system’s guidance until she stopped behind the stove.
The house was old and still used a traditional wood-burning stove. Even Xie Datou’s family no longer used firewood.
Because of this, the area behind the stove had remained untouched. Besides a three-legged stool, there was a messy pile of firewood stacked knee-high.
A thick layer of dust had settled on the wood.
Xu Youyou placed her phone with the flashlight on the grimy stove, illuminating the pile of firewood.
She hesitated for a moment but eventually decided to handle it herself. Putting on a pair of work gloves she had bought earlier, she quickly got to work moving the firewood aside.
After nearly half an hour, she had finally cleared the pile, revealing a dirt floor.
This old-style house didn’t even have a cement floor—the ground was made of compacted yellow earth.
The system’s guidance pointed straight to the ground.
“If something is dug up from the ground, doesn’t it technically belong to the state?” Xu Youyou asked.
The system lazily replied: “If its origin and lineage are well-documented and it’s a family heirloom, it doesn’t belong to the state.”
Xu Youyou was momentarily stunned before realizing the system was hinting at something. However, the ground had been packed solid over the years, making it impossible for her to dig it up with her hands.
She pushed open the old wooden door of the house and walked out, covered in dust.
“Boss?” Xu Fang exclaimed in surprise, stepping forward to pat the dust off Xu Youyou. Seeing the state she was in, she couldn’t help but ask, “You could’ve just asked us to clean up. Why do this yourself?”
Xu Youyou shook her head and turned to a nearby bodyguard. “Go buy some shovels and hoes—any farm tools you can find. And bring back a few large bottles of water.”
The bodyguard didn’t ask any questions and immediately drove off.
It was already late at night, but since Xu Youyou had no intention of leaving, everyone else stayed to keep watch. In any case, she always paid generously for overtime.
Half an hour later, the bodyguard returned with a full set of tools, including shovels and hoes.
Xu Youyou carried them inside along with several large bottles of water.
The ground was too hard, so she poured two buckets of water over it.
Once the soil was thoroughly soaked, it softened significantly. When she swung the hoe down, there was much less resistance.
Back at the orphanage, Xu Youyou had only ever picked up trash—she had never done real farm work like this before. Within minutes, she was sore all over.
She kept at it for over half an hour before her hoe finally hit something solid.
Feeling a surge of excitement, she quickly dug it out.
It was a box about the size of a food delivery container.
The box was wrapped in three layers of burlap sacks, though the outermost layer had rotted away due to time.
Xu Youyou untied the burlap, tossed it aside, and shook the wooden box. There was no sound inside, suggesting the contents weren’t heavy. Seeing the black-painted wooden box was secured with a brass lock, she hesitated for a moment before deciding to break it open.
“Aren’t you worried that the real treasure here is the box or the lock?” the system suddenly commented.
Xu Youyou’s heart skipped a beat, but she had learned a thing or two over the past few weeks. “This is just an ordinary wooden box made by a carpenter. It’s painted, but there aren’t even any carvings. It’s not valuable. The brass lock is the same.”
The system fell silent.
Opening the box, Xu Youyou found it was also carefully packed inside. After removing layers of protective wrappings, she uncovered two items. She put on a fresh pair of gloves before touching them.
The first item was a family genealogy book.
《The Zeng Family Genealogy》.
Xu Youyou opened it and saw the first name listed: Zeng Wendin. Below it was a biography written in classical Chinese.
She immediately recognized the name.
“Zeng Gong! One of the Eight Great Prose Masters of the Tang and Song Dynasties!”
The second item was a single sheet of paper, extremely well-preserved.
“It looks like a letter,” she said.
The handwriting was clear, and after reading it carefully, she realized it was a letter written by Zeng Gong to his younger brother, Zeng Bu. The letter was filled with earnest advice, urging his brother to be diligent in his official duties.
It didn’t read like a letter to a brother—it felt more like guidance from a father to a son.
Out of curiosity, Xu Youyou looked up both men. Zeng Gong was seventeen years older than his brother. Their father had died when Zeng Gong was eighteen, leaving one-year-old Zeng Bu in his care. In a way, he truly was like a father to him.
Xu Youyou was a pragmatist, so she immediately searched for the value of Zeng Gong’s letters online.
“So valuable?!” The first result was “Jushi Tie”, a letter by Zeng Gong.
Her hands trembled with excitement.
“Jushi Tie” was the only surviving calligraphy piece by Zeng Gong. It had been auctioned multiple times, with the most recent sale in 2016 fetching 200 million yuan—a true fortune for a single letter.
Xu Youyou carefully stored the letter in a secure place, then put the box back in the ground, refilled the hole, and restored the woodpile to its original state.
By the time she finished, it was 3 AM.
Outside, the others were dozing off.
The noise of her opening the door startled them awake.
“We’re heading back to the hotel,” she said.
To them, she looked like she had just returned from a mining expedition—covered in dirt, her expensive designer bag completely ruined, clutching a dusty genealogy book in her arms. And yet, her eyes were glowing.
She locked the house before leaving.
That night, she slept until noon.
After lunch, feeling idle, she flipped through the genealogy book.
Although it was Zeng Gong’s genealogy, it primarily recorded the descendants of Zeng Bu’s lineage.
Xu Youyou suddenly asked Xu Fang, “What was the surname of the original owner of that house?”
Xu Fang hesitated before answering, “Zeng. It’s not a common surname.”
Internally, Xu Fang reminded herself to start keeping a notebook to jot down details—so she wouldn’t forget when asked later.
Xu Youyou quickly pieced together a perfectly legitimate explanation for her discovery:
Zeng family property → Inherited by a relative (Qian Datou) → Sold to Xu Youyou → She accidentally found a valuable Zeng Gong letter inside.
With the official property sales contract in hand, everything inside the house legally belonged to her. Even if Qian Datou wanted to make trouble, he had no grounds to stand on.
Besides, she would be taking the letter away in a few days.
For an artifact of this caliber, it had to be auctioned at one of the world’s top auction houses.
