Chapter 211: Gao San’s Legacy

Looking at the inexplicably excited big dog, Li Xian was a bit puzzled.

"Hey, silly dog. What's got you so worked up?"

"Woof!"

The big dog barked excitedly and, before Li Xian could react, felt a tremendous force in his hand. He watched as the dog slipped its leash and leapt through a ventilation hole in the roof of the grass hut.

"Damn it! It's a miracle that this dog wasn't put down and is now being used as a police dog!"

In Li Xian's impression, all police dogs were those that were exceptionally disciplined, staying still like a mountain next to their owner and aggressive like fire. But this particular dog, which was aimless and a bit neurotic, was nothing like the police dogs he knew.

He even began to question the dog's pedigree.

Could it be... a mix between a German Shepherd and a Husky?

The door of the grass hut was locked, and the windows were barred with wooden planks from the inside. Li Xian couldn't see what was happening inside, only hearing rustling noises and clattering sounds. Soon enough, the big dog emerged from the ventilation hole, looking quite frustrated and with its head lowered.

However, with the light from the small building shining in, Li Xian could clearly see that the dog had something in its mouth!

The big dog, without trying to hide it from Li Xian, chewed the item in its mouth until it was thoroughly mangled. One piece of it fell to the ground.

Seeing the fragment, Li Xian quickly grabbed it before the dog could get to it.

When he examined the texture and the carvings on the piece, his eyes widened.

The piece resembled an ivory brush, and the carving on it was remarkably similar to the ivory brush Gao San had given him.

No, it looked like it was part of a set!

At that moment, a large group of people came bustling over. Li Xian hurriedly pocketed the fragment and walked over with the dog.

Leading the crowd were Xiao Ji and other police officers. Among them was a man with his pants sagging around his hips, his hands bound behind his back, and his pants belt tightly secured. He was being escorted with his head lowered.

Seeing Li Xian with the dog, Xiao Ji waved at him, "Hey! Mr. Li, we've caught the person!"

As he spoke, Xiao Ji pulled up Zhao Erxiao's hair, and Li Xian saw a man with a red, burned face covered in oil, blinking rapidly.

Looking at the man who still had a fierce expression despite his disheveled appearance, Li Xian briefly glanced and then shifted his gaze.

For him, this was nothing special, and certainly not worth ten thousand yuan.

He had no interest.

Xiao Ji and the others took Zhao Erxiao to the small building for on-site identification. Zhao Erxiao confessed to killing Gao San and kidnapping Yang Shuzhen. Thus, the kidnapping case, which had occurred less than forty-eight hours ago, and the recent burglary and murder, were both resolved.

---

The next day, the news of Zhao Erxiao's capture and Gao San's death created a sensation throughout Bangye.

Zhao Erxiao's capture meant that the ten thousand yuan reward was no longer a concern. After searching for a day, the people of Bangye quickly moved on to their regular lives. However, Gao San's death immediately became the headline of Bangye's gossip.

Everyone knew Gao San was wealthy, but the specifics of his wealth and how he acquired it were subject to many versions.

Some said Gao San owned a factory in another city where he repaired and resold scrap for profit. Others claimed he was in the scrap business but actually dealt in smuggling, making a large sum from trading color TVs and radios in recent years.

As for how much money he had, estimates varied: some said around one million, others said seven to eight million, and there were those who, based on his luxury red Santana with five eights in the license plate and his lavish spending on women, guessed he must have had at least ten million.

Rumors suggested that Gao San had dozens of safes at home, all filled with bundles of cash.

Since Gao San had no wife, the distribution of his inheritance became a hot topic.

Li Xian was also quite interested in this matter.

The handling of Gao San's estate didn't keep people waiting long and soon became a lively affair.

Gao San had five brothers, who, when the family was poor before Gao San's success, fought bitterly over trivial things like pots and pans. After their parents passed away, they fought even more fiercely over property and land, showing no familial affection.

Thus, even when Gao San became wealthy, he lived a life of excess and never helped his brothers.

The brothers knew they had been excessive in the past and, coupled with Gao San's refusal to acknowledge family ties, they dared not entertain any ill thoughts.

But now that Gao San was dead and without any immediate family, the inheritance issue was seized by the five brothers.

On the second day after Gao San's death, the five brothers fought fiercely in the hospital's morgue over the small building and Gao San's possible vast fortune.

Under the coordination of the police, the five eventually reached an agreement: they would search Gao San's small building, divide any found assets equally, and then sell the building and transfer Gao San's scrap collection business, splitting the proceeds.

Despite reaching an agreement, the search for Gao San's inheritance turned into a full-blown fight again in the small building.

The conflict arose because, after searching the entire building, they only found one safe and less than one hundred thousand yuan in cash.

After a strenuous effort to open the safe, they found only two gold watches and a savings book with just over seventy thousand yuan.

This did not match their expectations of the inheritance.

The eldest brother suggested tearing down the walls and columns of the small building to see if money was hidden inside. However, the other brothers disagreed, fearing that demolishing the building would devalue it. They agreed that if they had to demolish it, the cost of repairs should be covered by the eldest brother if no money was found.

Determined that his brother could not have had so little inheritance, the eldest brother called in workers to tear down all the walls and columns. The result was predictable—nothing was found.

The workers estimated that repairing the small building would cost fifty thousand yuan, which the eldest brother was unwilling to pay. He insisted on splitting the repair costs among the brothers, using the excuse that the demolition was for finding money.

Consequently, the five brothers ended up in the hospital.

When the brothers emerged, a large sign saying "House for Sale" was hung outside Gao San's small building.

Later, perhaps realizing that the whole of Bangye knew someone had died there, the sign was updated from "House for Sale" to "Big House for Sale."

Li Xian had been quietly observing the commotion among Gao San's brothers over the small building. He had already thoroughly investigated the grass hut.

It turned out that the hut was not under Gao San's name.

According to the neighborhood committee, the hut used to belong to a widowed old man who was later taken to QQHE by his son, and the house was sold. Who bought it was unknown.

The surrounding grass huts had been unoccupied for a long time. The neighborhood committee only knew that the house was used by someone but did not know who.

At that time, the broken-down house had little value. It wasn't like later developments where property owners scrambled to register everything. Old houses were often used as storage, for growing vegetables, or other simple purposes.

It was cheap.

After learning this, Li Xian immediately contacted the neighborhood committee to help find the owners of the surrounding houses. He bought up the entire block of dilapidated grass huts for fourteen thousand yuan, claiming it was for establishing a new black pottery factory.

To the owners of the long-empty grass huts, this money felt like a windfall, and they quickly provided the necessary documents.

With these documents, Li Xian approached Liu Weihai, asking him to resolve the matter with the one remaining unclaimed grass hut.

Liu Weihai readily agreed and contacted the elderly man in QQHE. Upon confirming that the hut had indeed been bought by Gao San, and with Gao San's death, the elderly man was pleased to transfer the property to Li Xian.

With everything settled, Gao San's seventh day of mourning had just concluded.

That evening, Li Xian borrowed the dog from Xiao Ji again. Armed with a sledgehammer, he went to the house.

He forcefully broke the door lock and entered.

"Hmm?"

Once inside, Li Xian frowned.

It seemed there was nothing unusual. The room was clean but very empty. The large kang had two big cabinets on it, clearly untouched for a long time.

Upon inspection, apart from a nest of rats and some food scraps, there was nothing else. The old-fashioned grass hut was simply structured: apart from a large kang, there was a kitchen with just a large pot and an empty cupboard.

Having checked the entire house, Li Xian's gaze fell on the big dog lying on the floor.

"Hey, where did you find the ivory the other day?"

The big dog, having entered the house, lay quietly on the floor and ignored Li Xian—probably still holding a grudge.

What the hell?

Li Xian rolled up his sleeves, thinking, "When you were being troublesome, you managed to eat centuries-old ivory. Now that you're supposed to be well-behaved, you're acting so tame?"

He took out the piece of ivory fragment from Gao San's incident and held it to the dog's mouth.

Seeing this, the dog's eyes immediately lit up, and it

 quickly devoured the small piece.

The fragment was only about the size of a thumb-sized biscuit, and it was clear the dog wasn't satisfied. After swallowing it, it darted straight for the stove!

Seeing this, Li Xian grinned and had a good idea.

"Good place!"

Reaching the stove, Li Xian examined the large pot with ten markings around it and smiled as he lifted the pot.

Under the pot was a large, dark hole. Li Xian clenched his fist in excitement.

Using his flashlight, he estimated the hole to be about a meter tall and jumped down.

Standing at the bottom, Li Xian shone the flashlight around and his mouth fell open in shock!

"Wow! No wonder. Gao San, Huo Si, Liu Wanfan, you should be at the top of the list!"