Chapter 12: A Monumental Secret

Du Huacheng nearly tumbled and crawled his way to the first floor, hurrying to the two vases in the corner. He reached inside and flipped the hidden switch. The concealed door to the basement slowly opened, and Du Huacheng rushed down in a panic.

Before Yang Yuehe could follow, a cry of shock and fury erupted from below—

"Ah!! Ah…!"

Yang Yuehe had never seen Du Huacheng in such a state. Alarmed, she hurried downstairs after him, only to collapse onto the floor in fright.

The basement was completely empty.

Save for the bed at the far end, nothing remained.

The space, once crammed with boxes, now looked as though nothing had ever existed there; the vast, somber floor was so clean there wasn’t even a single plank left, let alone a box.

Her collar was grabbed and yanked; Du Huacheng’s eyes were bloodshot, bulging as if they might burst, and he glared at Yang Yuehe with burning rage.

"Where are the things?! Where are they?!"

Yang Yuehe trembled all over, terrified.

"I don’t know… It’s not my fault! How would I know!"

Du Huacheng spat, "If not the person you brought into the house who found someone to steal them, then who else could it be!"

"Who else would even know about this basement!"

Yang Yuehe immediately retorted, "Impossible! I never brought Peiyun into the basement! I only took her to the third floor—she doesn’t even know the basement exists!"

"You say she doesn’t know, so she doesn’t? She couldn’t have looked for it? Couldn’t have searched? Now everything in the house is gone—if not her, then who? Me?!"

With that, Du Huacheng flung Yang Yuehe aside, sending her sprawling to the floor, utterly enraged.

Breathing heavily, he declared, "I’m calling the police! I’m going to report this to the authorities!"

Saying so, Du Huacheng stormed out of the basement, his fury making it seem he truly meant to file a report.

Yang Yuehe, ignoring her own pain, scrambled up the stairs and clutched at Du Huacheng.

"We can’t report this! Lao Du! Lao Du!" she cried desperately. "If the authorities find out we’ve been hoarding medicines and buying imported drugs privately, our family will be in serious trouble! Not to mention all those things in the basement… Not a single one could survive scrutiny. We wouldn’t even dare to tell the police what was stolen. Even if the things are recovered, would you dare admit they’re yours?"

A rush of blood surged to Du Huacheng’s head; he staggered, barely able to stand.

Those items could not see the light of day; he dared not call the authorities.

Luxury watches, foreign designer handbags, US dollars and coins from the Harbor City—all things that, if discovered, would have him branded a capitalist and staring down the barrel of a gun.

But was he to simply let it go? Forget about it?

The value of those things together was over a million.

Not to mention the US dollars and Harbor coins, painstakingly exchanged on the black market bit by bit, now impossible to replace, no matter how much money one had.

And without those dollars and coins, how could they flee? Where would they go?

They were utterly trapped.

At that moment, a woman’s voice rang out nearby.

"Dad, what are you two doing?"

Both Du Huacheng and Yang Yuehe turned at once.

They saw Zhong Xiao standing at the main entrance of the Zhong family’s main house, frowning, looking as if she had just woken up, watching them. At her side stood Zhou Yongxin, who had returned with her earlier.

While Du Huacheng and Yang Yuehe had been arguing, Zhou Yongxin had slipped away to Zhong Xiao’s bedroom, hoping to search for her family heirloom. Unexpectedly, Zhong Xiao woke up, and Zhou Yongxin had to abandon her plan.

Then both of them heard Du Huacheng’s furious yelling from the courtyard and came downstairs to see what was happening.

Yang Yuehe, who had been busy consoling Du Huacheng, changed expression the moment she saw Zhong Xiao. Instinct told her that Zhong Xiao was somehow involved in all of this.

She stepped forward and asked, "Xiao, what were you doing at home after we left?"

Zhong Xiao frowned.

"What could I do? I was dizzy and went to sleep."

"Just sleep?" Yang Yuehe pressed.

"What else?" Zhong Xiao replied. "It’s not like I’m unmarried and pregnant. I only took a fall—it’s nothing serious. Can’t I sleep?"

At this, Yang Yuehe’s face went pale.

She persisted, "So while you were sleeping, you didn’t hear any noise? No strange sounds?"

Zhong Xiao, growing impatient, said, "I did."

Du Huacheng’s eyes widened. "Xiao, what did you hear?"

"The machines at the electrochemical plant," Zhong Xiao replied. "For some reason, the machines have been clanging all day. It was so noisy I put in earplugs and went to sleep."

"You slept with earplugs in?" Yang Yuehe asked.

Zhong Xiao’s impatience only grew.

"What are you trying to say?"

Yang Yuehe pursed her lips, saying nothing.

A burglary was one thing, but the items stolen were all large objects. One person couldn’t possibly have moved them alone. Even if Peiyun had found accomplices, carrying those boxes up and down the stairs from the basement would have taken dozens of trips, making plenty of noise.

It was impossible for there to have been no sound at all.

Yet by all appearances, Zhong Xiao seemed entirely unaware of what had happened.

Du Huacheng did not suspect Zhong Xiao in the slightest.

First, Zhong Xiao didn’t even know the house had a basement. Even if she had learned of the medicines on the third floor that day, the basement was something else entirely. He knew his daughter’s nature well—she could never keep a secret, always blurting things out and demanding explanations, just as she’d done earlier regarding Zhou Yongxin and Du Ying’er.

If she’d known about the basement, she would never have been able to pretend otherwise.

Secondly, even if she somehow did know and was putting on an act, how could someone as frail as Zhong Xiao move so many things alone? And the idea that she’d recruited help was even more absurd. Apart from her so-called fiancé—an engagement made when she was a child—she had no relatives left in this world. Who would she get to help her rob her own house?

As for that fiancé, Zhong Xiao had never even met him and always rejected the engagement, which was why she had gotten involved with Zhou Yongxin instead.

Besides, if he remembered correctly, her fiancé was far away in some remote part of Taizhou Island. There was no way he could be involved.

Thinking it through, Du Huacheng came to a firm conclusion—

There was only one possibility: Yang Yuehe’s old acquaintance, the plant worker Li Peiyun, had conspired with outsiders to steal everything from their home!

Du Huacheng’s expression turned savage.

Even if he couldn’t report this openly, he would make sure that woman and her accomplices paid the price!

How dare they steal the fruits of his years of toil!

He would strip their hides for this!

He shot a glare at Yang Yuehe. "Come with me!"

With that, he dragged Yang Yuehe back into the main house.

Zhong Xiao wanted to follow—after all, the real drama was just beginning.

Suddenly, Zhou Yongxin spoke from behind her:

"Xiao, wait a moment. I have something to tell you," she said. "It’s a huge secret."