Chapter 241: The Mutated Giant Mud Eel
No matter how complicated, Qin Hengzhi could no longer remove her from his heart.
A more cheesy description—shouldn’t it be said that unless his heart was removed along with it?
Qin Hengzhi subtly curved the corners of his mouth. Such words naturally couldn’t be spoken aloud. While waiting for the meal to be served, Qin Hengzhi took a kraft paper document bag out of his briefcase.
He said softly, “I got this from the Archives Bureau. It includes part of what you organized, pulled out together with information related to the old gold mine.”
He paused, then lowered his voice to explain to Lu Qiaoge, “The old gold mine is documented, just not comprehensively. Last month’s exploration team came for this too. They’ve been exploring since spring, wandering in the mountains for three months, but they didn’t find it and had to continue heading north.”
This was something Lu Qiaoge truly didn’t know.
But the exploration team’s overall strength level was quite high—how could they not have found it?
Lu Qiaoge carefully recalled the strange aspects of that terrain.
Her senses were sharp. Thinking back now, it was indeed different from other places.
That spot wasn’t on flat ground.
It was under the hillside in the shrubbery.
Behind it was a rocky mountain, so the geographical location should be special.
But since it had been discovered, they would probably conduct exploration around it afterward.
So the Archives Bureau also had secret information.
Since both what should be said and what shouldn’t had been said, there was no need to hide too much.
Qin Hengzhi must know this too.
Moreover, it was already late August. No matter what was in the box in the reed marsh, it should be salvaged as soon as possible.
Lu Qiaoge directly told him in a low voice, “If you believe me, apply for a few sets of diving equipment and properly survey that area in the reed marsh, especially the region level with the big poplar tree on the steps.”
Qin Hengzhi was stunned for a moment.
There was information and data about the dock at Hongxing Lake back then, which could reach Songhe City.
It was what Qiao Ge had organized.
After water transport back then, it could be rerouted from there straight to Donghai City.
It was a transportation line with two waterways.
Qin Hengzhi was silent for a moment, then handed the information to Lu Qiaoge.
Seeing the word “Confidential” stamped in the upper right corner, Lu Qiaoge knew by reason that she wasn’t qualified to look at it.
But since it was given, she would take a look.
Lu Qiaoge opened the document bag and quickly flipped through the information.
Part of it was what she had specially organized, about the dock at Hongxing Lake in the early years, but there was nothing about the old gold mine—though it was here.
Though not very detailed, it had the origin of the gold mine and where the gold went—sure enough, it had all been smuggled to Japan.
But for some reason, it wasn’t done openly later on; it was still done secretly.
But there was one piece of information: the person responsible for the old gold mine was a Japanese nobleman at the time, whose family influence was apparently quite large.
Lu Qiaoge felt this meant they had secretly transported it to their own family—that is, they had appropriated and pocketed it.
So it wasn’t recorded in many documents.
Then all the informed people here were silenced.
But now these were all in the past. Thinking of their outpost in the city, Lu Qiaoge asked, “They definitely have a foothold in the city—has this been found?”
Qin Hengzhi nodded. “It’s been found, but the house was turned into a family courtyard and has already been divided among many families.”
At this time, the dishes Qin Hengzhi ordered were served.
The two also stopped talking.
There was braised silver carp, made from fish caught that day, very fresh.
Refreshing northern-style wide glass noodles, stewed chicken with mushrooms, sweet and sour pork ribs, and a seaweed egg drop soup.
Qin Hengzhi had ordered small portions.
The two didn’t pack up leftovers this time; they ate everything clean.
A date, after all, needed to look like one.
On an early summer evening, the summer heat hadn’t fully dissipated yet, but the riverside window was open, and a breeze carrying moisture blew in, dispersing the lingering food aroma in the private room.
The two didn’t mention the old gold mine or Hongxing Lake.
The small square table in front of them was cleared, leaving only two exquisite teacups with warm jasmine tea inside.
Outside the window, the wide river surface shimmered with fine golden light in the sunset glow. Several barges dragged long trails of black smoke, slowly chugging upstream, emitting a dull “chug chug” sound.
In the distance, the city outline appeared somewhat hazy in the twilight.
Lu Qiaoge looked at the river surface, her voice carrying a lazy satisfaction after the meal: “The fish today was really well cooked—tenderer than what my sister-in-law makes.”
Then she turned her face sideways, the corner of her eye bending into a playful arc. “Especially the fish head— you really don’t like eating it?”
This was cold-water silver carp; the fish head was extremely fresh and delicious.
The chefs at state-run restaurants now were all very skilled, each with a specialty.
Though it was the 1970s, Lu Qiaoge, who came from the apocalypse, found everything tasted so good.
Not to mention that Qin Hengzhi always took her to good places.
Qin Hengzhi smiled and looked at the river surface too. He didn’t take her teasing bait, but instead spoke leisurely about something else: “Just now at the dock side, I saw two kids using canning jars to scoop small fish and small shrimp in the shallow water by the riverside. Their trouser legs were rolled up high, splashing mud spots all over them. It reminded me of when I was little—six years old, the first time I followed Grandfather into the wilderness. The military was stationed in a village at the time.
The village kids took me to catch loach. It was my first time catching loach. I’d read books and knew its form and characteristics, its habits, all the information about it. I’d even seen live ones at home.
But I really didn’t know that a loach pulled from the mud would feel like that in my hand. When the loach struggled desperately in my palm, it actually scared me so much that I sat right down in the muddy water…”
Lu Qiaoge raised an eyebrow.
Very normal—loach was slippery like a little snake before mutation.
Not to mention Qin Hengzhi was only six.
But he recounted his childhood memory in such a gentle voice that Lu Qiaoge softened too.
What should she say?
Her childhood?
It didn’t seem quite suitable.
Lu Qiaoge said slowly, “Catching loach… sounds interesting. I once had a dream where I saw a normally small loach turn into bucket-thick size, nearly thirty meters long, rampaging in a big river like this. Its mouth was huge, able to swallow a person in one bite. Later, someone killed the giant loach, dragged it ashore, built a fire, roasted the meat, and ate it. It was edible, just a bit fishy, but there was plenty to fill you up…”
Qin Hengzhi: …
Could it be chatted about like this?
He raised an eyebrow and said slowly, “Sounds more like a myth story—if you swap loach for dragon.”
Lu Qiaoge nodded quickly in agreement, giggling too.
Qin Hengzhi took Lu Qiaoge’s hand, his gaze gentle. “Let’s go walk by the riverside.”
—
Lu Qiaoge hadn’t expected Hongxing Lake to be under lockdown the next day.
But before the lockdown, Qin Hengzhi had two buckets of fish delivered.
There were big fish and small fish.
