A Section of Hollow Wood chapter 1

This is not a dream. It’s more real than the “Dream of Nanke.” It really happened and then really shattered. When it shatters, you have to watch carefully…

A man named Tom, who lived in a rural area outside of Chicago, took advantage of the slack farming season and invited six other men from the village to go to the city to find work. The seven of them rode their bicycles in a grand procession into Chicago. Each of them had a small wooden sign hanging on the front of their bikes, which read “Carpenter,” “Mason,” or “Laborer,” and there were tools like saws and trowels behind their bikes.

They set off at dawn and arrived in the city when it was fully light. It seemed they were in luck today. As soon as they parked their bikes, a city – dweller waved at them. Tom was very excited and quickly greeted him with a big smile.

The city – dweller asked them, “Do you do house demolition?”

Tom and his friends quickly replied, “Yes, yes, yes. As long as you pay us, whether it’s house demolition or construction, we’ll make you satisfied!”

The city – dweller nodded and said, “Fifty dollars a day, no meals provided. Is that okay?”

Tom and the others nodded in satisfaction and then followed the city – dweller to an old street in Chicago. The city – dweller pointed to several old houses with white walls and black – tiled roofs and said to them, “These houses date back to the 19th century. There might be antiques inside. If you damage them, you can’t afford to compensate. You have to be very careful!”

Tom and his friends quickly nodded in agreement and then got to work. The city – dweller watched them from the side. When the roof tiles were all removed and only a few bare beams were left, the city – dweller still hadn’t found any signs of the treasures. He looked disappointedly at the pile of tiles and kept shaking his head. Just then, it was lunchtime. The city – dweller said he was going home for lunch and told Tom and the others to take a break. He would come back in the afternoon.

Tom and his friends didn’t go out to buy food. They just ate some cold food they had brought from home and then climbed onto the beams, ready to remove them.

Just like the local custom, there were red and green silk ribbons tied to both ends of the beams. After Tom pulled the ribbons off, he noticed something strange about the wood below. He tried to break it with his hands, and to his surprise, he found that this section of the wood was hollow, and there was a long red silk cloth bag hidden inside!

Tom’s heart started pounding. There was a treasure! At this time, everyone stopped what they were doing and stared at him intently. Tom carefully took out the cloth bag. It was so heavy! He unwrapped the cloth bag layer by layer. There was a red piece of paper inside, with some small, neat handwriting on it. The general meaning was that in order to ensure the prosperity of the family, twenty – two gold bars were specially sealed. It also hoped that future generations would not forget the kindness of their ancestors. Under the red paper, there was a pile of shiny gold bars! When they counted, there were really twenty – two of them. Tom’s hands and feet started to tremble, and he almost fell off.

“Tom! Everyone who sees it should get a share!” someone below shouted. Tom took off his coat and wrapped the gold bars in it. He then restored the wood to its original state and climbed down the ladder. He whispered, “It’s not a good time to divide them now. Twenty – two bars for seven people. Let’s talk about it when we get home!”

These words made everyone realize what they should do. They quickly got on their bikes and fled like the wind. Who would still want to work when they had gold? Tom pedaled so hard on the way that his legs ached. He was worried that the city – dweller would catch up with them.

That night, the seven of them hid in Tom’s kitchen, ready to divide the gold. Tom took out the gold bars for everyone to see. Each gold bar was about an inch long, with words like “Pure Gold” and “Top – Grade” engraved on it, and there was also a half – body portrait of a former president on the front. Everyone couldn’t believe what they were seeing, so they imitated what they had seen on TV and bit the gold bars hard, leaving pits on them.

“It’s real. It leaves a mark when you bite it!” everyone said one after another. Tom then found a scale and weighed one of the gold bars. It was exactly one pound! It seemed to be real gold!