081 Treasure hunt

"All of you, listen carefully."

"This is not some simple ... thing."

"From today onwards, our life is going to change."

"Our days of begging parents for pocket money are finally over."

"Today, we are going to dig and find a treasure."

Anuchi declared with full confidence. Her hands were on her hips and her head was held high. We were all sitting around her in an arc.

I sighed.

Pichu and Piya looked at each other confusedly.

Doodu was excited as usual.

"Maybe we should ask adults." Arjun was careful as usual.

"No. If we tell them, they will need a share too." Anuchi opposed the idea.

"But..." I decided to join the discussion.

"Kids should keep quiet when adults are talking. Just listen to me. Nothing bad will come from listening to your elders." Anuchi didn't even allow me to complete my sentence.

"Here's is the spot. Now, let's start digging." Anuchi started digging with Mom's garden shovel.

I checked the map to make sure that the location was right. It was between our Elephant rock and a mango tree. The Elephant Rock is just a rock near our house. We usually play on top of it pretending that it is an elephant. So we named it Elephant Rock.

Digging with a shovel is a lot more tiring than you think. Within a few minutes, Anuchi was tired. She passed the shovel to Arjun who started digging half-heartedly.

I and the kids were tasked with moving the mud. Doodu also joined in digging with his paws. In between, I went to Mom and brought bottles of lime juice Mom prepared for us. Then Arjun had the idea of pouring some water to loosen the soil. The idea was good but it made the soil wet and soon we were all covered in mud.

We weren't bothered even a bit by the dirt. We were used to it and it was fun.

"Tong..." After half an hour of hard work, the shovel hit some metal and made a dull sound.

I was shocked.

Although I played along, I never expected us to find anything.

"Treasure!" Anuchi was excited.

We looked at one another.

Then with refreshed vigous, we started making the hole larger.

Slowly, more and more of the object was exposed. It was a metallic handle attached to something made of concrete.

I was baffled. The natural order of things was for Anuchi to mess up and create a disaster. But things weren't going in that direction. I have to say that I was shocked and excited by the unexpected turn of events.

"I will dig too..." I grabbed the shovel and started digging.

"Woowuuwu..." Doodu also started working harder.

We all worked hard removing the mud. Even the usually energetic kids were soon tired.

In between, the security came to see what we were doing. I have mentioned him long ago. He is the one who is going to betray us in the future.[1]

"What are you all digging for?" He asked half-jokingly.

"For Appa's treasure," Pichu answered before

"Treasure?" He asked while looking at the exposed concrete.

I was instantly alarmed.

"No. It is nothing. Don't listen to the kids. They don't know anything. We are just making a big hole for Doodu to poop." Anuchi answered before secretly glaring at Pichu.

He looked at us and the hole suspiciously.

"What did you find." Mom came at the right time. I was sure that she was watching us the whole time. She came now because of the security.

"No. You are not a part of us." Anuchi directly denied Mom. Seeing Mom, the security directly withdrew from the spot.

Mom came to the pit. Despite Anuchi's efforts to stop Mom, she looked into the pit.

"What is it?" She asked again.

"Treasure," Pichu answered innocently.

"You don't get a share." Anuchi rejected Mom again and glared at Pichu.

Mom looked inside the pit and then left without saying anything.

"How are we going to share the treasure?" Arjun once Mom was gone.

"We will divide it into six equal parts. We all get one share." Anuchi explained in simple words.

"But... You are five." Arjun wasn't happy with the way the treasure was divided. I agreed with him. We were five and Arjun was just one person. So this way of dividing was unfavourable for him.

"Okay, listen. This treasure is in our land. Also, I am the one who found it. So it is natural that we get the largest share." Anuchi answered.

"But..."

"Also, everyone worked very hard. Look, even the babies are covered in dirt. So it is natural we share it equally."

"..." Arjun nodded reluctantly.

We continued digging. I jumped into the pit and worked hard to remove the dirt.

A few minutes later, Mom returned.

"How did you find this 'treasure'"? Mom asked.

"From the map," Piya answered.

"Why can't the two of you just shut up and dig?" Anuchi kicked Piya. In response, Piya swung her fist at Anuchi and missed.

"Where did you get the map from?" She asked again.

"Woowuuw wuu." Doodu answered.

I noticed that Mom was struggling to suppress her laughter.

"Why are you asking all this now? I won't give you any part of it." Anuchi wasn't ready to share the treasure with Mom.

"I don't want it. You can keep all of it." Mom answered.

"Really? Don't come begging later."

"No. I won't. But just don't bring the treasure inside the house."

"Why not? Do you know what the treasure is?" Seeing how compromising Mom was made me suspicious.

"Yes. This treasure has all the gold we made for the past few years." Mom answered.

"Gold we made?... Eeeekk..." I was confused for a second. Then I realized what the treasure was and jumped out of the pit screaming.

Making gold was a euphemism we kids use for pooping. The treasure we found was nothing but the septic tank of our house. All the poop from our house ended up in this tank. The map we found was the map that marked the location of the septic tank. The iron handle we found was the handle for the lid of the tank.

The kids didn't understand the situation. So Mom explained it to them. After checking on us earlier, she went and phoned Dad. He told her that it was the location of the septic tank.

"Ohh, my goddess... How am I going to clean up this thing now?" We all looked at the source of sound. It was Arjun's mother. She was looking at her dirt-covered son with a hand on her face.

"Hihihi..." Arjun giggled while scratching his head. He usually acts mature around us. But the moment his mom appeared, he would return to being a seven-year-old kid.

"Did you call me to see this?" She asked our Mom. Mom nodded.

"It was Anu's idea. She is one who talked all about treasure and made me dig. In the end, I didn't get treasure also." Arjun pointed at Anuchi.

"The real treasure is the  friendship we made." Anuchi shared her wisdom while nodding.

I tried my best to not punch her.

The two mothers made us fill the pit we made. Then Arjun's mother took him home. Before they left, Mom asked Arjun to join us for evening snacks. Mom bathed us all. Anuchi also helped her.

After the bath, Mom made us an evening snack named 'Love Letter'. It is a local sweet snack. By then Arjun also joined us.

We all ate snacks and drank milk while chatting.

Although we didn't find the treasure, it was a beautiful day. I had a smile on my face when went to sleep at night. I slept peacefully without knowing that something tremendous was going to happen the next day.

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[1] The securities were hired at the end of chapter 048 (Raggi farm)

I am very excited to see that we have reached 100k reads. Considering the fact that this is not a mainstream genre, I feel that this is a great achievement. Thank you all for your support over the years

Relationship update:

I never realized I could be such a cringy flirt. I feel so stupid for judging all cringy couples for all these years.