Chapter 29: The Uncle Who Cannot Manage His Life Gives the System a Heartache

In the lounge, Jiang Jing had the same question: "Ask who?"

"Tuantuan!" Jiang Xiaxia tilted her head, her little dark eyes darting around. "He's amazing!"

Her uncle’s superior, a regimental commander—he must be a man of great knowledge and experience, right?

Jiang Jing felt helpless. "A regimental commander is a regimental commander. What is this 'Tuantuan'?"

Jiang Xiaxia huffed, shaking his hand. "Ask Tuantuan! Reward!"

"There are no telephones on the train. How could we ask? Even if we wanted to, we’d have to wait until we get off and find a phone!"

Jiang Jing’s words made Jiang Xiaxia open her eyes wide in bewilderment. Realizing once again that communication in this China was truly inconvenient, she scratched her little yellow hair in frustration. "Is Tuantuan going to welsh on the debt?"

Thinking of how his regimental commander often went to the military district to plead for funds, Jiang Jing’s mouth twitched. "No, he definitely won't welsh on your debt!"

Though, he might not end up giving her cash—he might give her something else instead. Thinking of how the little girl had liked that washbasin and thermos earlier, he decided he would remind the commander to just exchange the reward for items like those.

Jiang Jing figured that since the little girl had only been slightly disappointed when she didn't get the reward for catching the grave robbers earlier, she probably wouldn't have a problem if she discovered the reward wasn't cash later on.

Little did Jiang Jing know that this minor lapse in judgment would later cause his regimental commander to lose significant face before the entire military department—even those high-ranking officials in the capital would come to know of his "heroic deeds."

After calming the little girl down, Jiang Jing led her behind the train security officer into another lounge.

There was a black parcel inside. The security officer looked at Jiang Jing with a grave expression. "Comrade Jiang, we just sent people to patrol the train and discovered this parcel at the woman's seat. Her accomplice fled the moment they realized we were checking. We chased them to the restroom, but the suspect jumped out of the window. In our haste, this was all we managed to seize."

As he spoke, he opened the parcel. Stacks of "Big Unity" banknotes immediately dazzled Jiang Xiaxia’s eyes.

As Jiang Jing frowned, her small hands reached out impulsively. But before she could get far, a larger hand caught her. "Xiaxia, you cannot touch this money!"

"Why?" Jiang Xiaxia looked at Jiang Jing, her clear, black-and-white eyes filled with confusion. "I caught them!"

Jiang Jing raised his hand and tapped her forehead, his expression stern. "Absolutely not! Xiaxia, your thinking is incorrect!"

Jiang Xiaxia didn't understand. In the apocalypse, even when turning over scavenged supplies, one would still receive a portion of the resources if there were no points to be had!

Jiang Jing looked at her and sighed softly. He crouched down to look her in the eye, his expression growing more solemn as he spoke slowly. "Xiaxia, think about it. This money was obtained through evil deeds. It is stolen goods; it never belonged to them in the first place. When we find such loot, we must turn it over to the public security officers. They will trace the origin of the money and ensure the bad guys are punished. Do you understand?"

The "system" didn't know; it just felt cheated and aggrieved. This was the first time it had ever taken action in China without receiving any reward. It cast a greedy glance at the cash, its clever eyes shifting.

Seeing her looking as if she were hatching a scheme, Jiang Jing’s eyelid twitched. "That’s how things were in the past—that’s what Grandma taught me!"

The look of mischief froze instantly. Jiang Xiaxia withdrew her gaze from the money, squatted in the corner of the lounge, and placed her small hands on her knees, looking utterly listless.

The security officer smiled and remarked, "Comrade Jiang, your child is truly obedient!"

Jiang Jing curled his lip. If he hadn't invoked her grandmother, this little girl definitely would have swiped a few bills when he wasn't looking.

"Have you counted it?" Jiang Jing shifted his focus from Xiaxia to the black parcel.

"We have. Five thousand yuan in total!"

That was precisely why the security officer didn't dare handle this alone. Five thousand yuan was a sum that required military assistance to deliver to the police station.

Upon hearing the words "five thousand yuan," Jiang Jing gasped. Even if a family had members working as laborers, they would only earn about five hundred yuan a year. Five thousand yuan—that was an entire year's income for so many families!

Jiang Jing suddenly realized these two grave robbers were likely more than just simple tomb-raiders. "That's so much money!"

He intended to check on the two captured suspects to see if he could find a breakthrough. But as he stepped out, he couldn't help but sigh. "Comrade, could you please go to my seat and bring my mother and my comrade-in-arms here? Someone needs to guard this place!"

Jiang Xiaxia, who had intended to leave with him, refused to move the moment she heard her grandmother was coming. Seeing that the situation required someone to stay, Jiang Jing decided to remain and wait with her.

When Jiang Hua and Wang Lianjun arrived, Jiang Xiaxia trotted over and threw herself into Jiang Hua's arms, crying out aggrievedly, "Grandma!"

Nearby, Jiang Jing was discussing his suspicions about the grave robbers' origins with Wang Lianjun.

Wang Lianjun twitched his mouth and said, half-joking and half-serious, "You two, uncle and niece—this constitution of yours is really—" He didn't even know what to say.

"You guard the money here. I'm going to question those two and see if I can get any information!"

As soon as Jiang Jing finished speaking and turned to leave, he heard the little girl’s soft, sweet voice complaining about him.

"Uncle is bad, won't find Auntie!" Jiang Xiaxia tugged on Jiang Hua’s hand, enunciating clearly. "No freebies, have to spend money!"

Jiang Hua stroked the girl's head and glanced at her youngest son. "What do you mean 'won't find Auntie'?"

Jiang Jing explained vaguely, "I'll explain to you later, Mom! I have—"

Wang Lianjun pulled him aside, glanced at the security officer, and lowered his voice to warn him. "Don't forget, the commander got you medical leave for this trip! But look at you—first catching human traffickers, now grave robbers. Isn't that just telling everyone you're on some other mission?"

Furthermore, his complexion was becoming increasingly rosy; he looked nothing like a man who was injured.

Jiang Jing paused, rubbing his temples with a headache. "Then what should I—"

"When we reach the station, contact the local armed forces department and have them turn it over to the garrison troops in our area!"

Jiang Hua glanced at the closed lounge door. Through the fragments of what the little girl had told her, she knew there was a massive amount of cash inside. It was so large that the security officer didn't dare guard it alone; surely, the local police station in their county couldn't handle it either.

Jiang Jing frowned slightly, but Wang Lianjun was puzzled. "Does it really need the garrison troops? Isn't that a bit too much trouble?"

"Small days, won't find?"

Having finished her tattling, Jiang Xiaxia was no longer aggrieved and finally had the energy to listen to their conversation. Upon hearing this, her clear, black-and-white eyes filled with confusion once again.