Lin Ran navigated her way to the Shen residence, staying hidden and out of sight the entire time.
Upon seeing the white funeral banners hanging on the gate, her nose stung, and tears immediately surged forth. Her mother and maternal grandfather would never again hold up jewelry and coax her with endearments. She truly had no one left to love her.
Lin Ran sniffled and took a moment to compose herself before knocking on the door.
“Little Miss? Why have you come back?”
Housekeeper Shen was surprised to see Lin Ran appearing so late at night and quickly ushered her inside. Housekeeper Shen was her grandfather’s confidant, so Lin Ran did not hide anything from him; she told him everything about how the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion had plotted against her tonight.
As expected, Housekeeper Shen was furious.
“The Dingyuan Marquis has gone too far!”
“The Old Master and the Young Mistress have only just passed, and he actually treats the Little Miss like this!”
“He is truly heartless and ungrateful!”
“Has he forgotten the oath he swore to the Shen family when he begged to marry the Young Mistress?”
“No, even if the Old Master is gone, the Shen family is still here. This old slave will risk his life to seek justice for the Little Miss!”
Seeing that Housekeeper Shen was about to rush to the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion to fight, Lin Ran quickly held him back. It took a great deal of persuasion to finally calm him down. She then explained that she wanted to leave as soon as possible and asked him to help her dispose of all the Shen family’s shops tomorrow and hoard a batch of supplies.
The Shen family had been in business for generations, so more than half of the shops in the entire Imperial City belonged to them, not to mention those in other prefectures. She was in a hurry, so she could only sell them as a package deal; conveniently, the stock in the shops could be kept for her own use.
Lin Ran’s plan was sound, but Housekeeper Shen was still indignant.
“It is clearly the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion that is acting inhumanely, yet in the end, they are forcing the Little Miss to flee to a distant land. This old slave cannot swallow this anger!”
Lin Ran persuaded him for a while longer. Fortunately, Housekeeper Shen also realized that times had changed and immediately set out to make arrangements. Lin Ran told him to categorize all the various shops, villas, manors, and fields to be sold as a package deal. The price could be low, but they would only accept gold, silver, or jade ornaments—no banknotes.
Not only that, Lin Ran also took out the two million taels in banknotes she had collected from the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion and asked Housekeeper Shen to exchange them for gold. Luckily, the Shen family had their own money exchange, making the process very convenient.
Taking advantage of this time, Lin Ran collected all of the Shen family’s warehouses into her space. Each warehouse was about the size of an acre, filled with sandalwood and mahogany boxes. The sandalwood boxes contained jewelry, jade, antiques, paintings, and precious medicinal herbs, while the mahogany boxes were filled entirely with gold.
And this was just one of the Shen family’s warehouses. The wealth accumulated by the Shen family over generations was countless; the Shen residence alone couldn’t hold it all. Lin Ran knew there were three more such warehouses in the Shen family’s villas. She planned to collect those tomorrow!
Early the next morning, Lin Ran had Housekeeper Shen give orders for the five Shen family restaurants to close starting today. However, each restaurant was to prepare a hundred banquets today for her to use that evening. She also instructed the Shen family pharmacy to have the pharmacists prepare more medicinal pills and defensive powders—most importantly, knockout drugs and aphrodisiacs, which she would need tonight.
Housekeeper Shen hesitated, wanting to ask what the Little Miss intended to do with them, but seeing Lin Ran’s determined expression, he could only follow her orders. After arranging these matters, Lin Ran immediately headed to the Shen family villas.
She estimated that the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion was currently in chaos, not only because of Zhu Chengcai but also the warehouse theft; they probably wouldn’t have the time to bother with her for now!
Lin Ran visited three villas in a row, emptying the warehouses completely and even collecting all the furniture. The storage room in her space could no longer hold everything, so she had to stack them in the open space in front of the bamboo house.
By the time she returned to the Shen residence in the afternoon, she asked Housekeeper Shen to gather all the Shen family servants. She returned their indentured labor contracts to them and gave each person a hundred taels as severance pay, telling them to pack their bags and leave the capital immediately.
Housekeeper Shen was an old hand who had been by her grandfather’s side and had watched her mother grow up, so Lin Ran gave him ten thousand taels of silver. Originally, Housekeeper Shen adamantly refused to leave, wanting to continue serving Lin Ran, but he couldn’t sway her. In the end, he could only leave with tears in his eyes, looking back at every step.
Once everyone had left and darkness fell, Lin Ran continued her operations. Holding the keys to all the shops, she began collecting supplies one by one.
Grain and oil shop—collected!
General store—collected!
Jewelry pavilion—collected!
Clothing boutique—collected!
Cosmetic shop—collected!
Incense and candle shop—collected!
Salt shop—collected!
Pharmacy—collected!
Restaurant—collected!
Bookstore—collected!
Fabric store—collected!
Pleasure boat—collected!
Teahouse—collected!
Horse market—collected!
…
All these shops had been sold today, and someone would come to take them over in a couple of days. After emptying more than half the street, Lin Ran quietly made her way to the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion.
It was currently dinner time at the mansion, and no one took Lin Ran’s return seriously. Just as she had guessed, those people were currently overwhelmed and couldn’t spare a thought for her.
Using the excuse of going to the kitchen to find food, Lin Ran added the newly collected knockout drug into the water vat, then leisurely went to have her dinner. After finishing, she similarly returned the contracts to her personal maid and the confidants left by her mother, giving them relocation money and telling them to leave quickly.
By then, the effects of the knockout drug had kicked in, and most of the people in the mansion were unconscious; the few remaining were nothing to fear. Only then did Lin Ran begin her move.
She went through the courtyards one by one, emptying them so thoroughly that she didn’t even leave a stool behind. After finishing with the back courtyards, she also collected Aunt Zhu’s son and daughter. By the way, where was Aunt Zhu?
Lin Ran found her “good father” and Aunt Zhu in the front courtyard. They were currently unconscious beside Zhu Chengcai’s bed.
And Zhu Chengcai had already breathed his last! It seemed he had only just died; weren’t Aunt Zhu’s tears still on her face?
Lin Ran collected her father and Aunt Zhu into her space and then continued gathering items. She even emptied the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion’s granary. Once she was certain that the entire mansion had been turned into an empty shell, Lin Ran finally left.
Taking one last look at the plaque of the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion, she felt that she might never return in this lifetime!
After feeding the four of them aphrodisiacs, Lin Ran dumped them into a beggar’s den. She imagined that tomorrow’s scene would surely be spectacular! Unfortunately, it wouldn’t be convenient for her to come and enjoy it!
As she was leaving, she took one last look at her “good father.”
Father, do not blame your daughter for being heartless; she learned it all from you!
The next morning, after Housekeeper Shen and the others had all left with their bundles, Lin Ran completely emptied the entire Shen residence, not even forgetting the plaque. She gently stroked the plaque; as long as she was there, the Shen residence would always exist!
Finally, dressed in men’s clothing, Lin Ran drove a carriage slowly out of the city gates. Along the way, she could still hear the commoners discussing the Dingyuan Marquis Mansion.
“Have you heard? The Dingyuan Marquis was found fooling around with his concubine and illegitimate children in a beggar’s den in the south of the city!”
“I saw it with my own eyes! A whole group of them… it was truly filthy!”
“Exactly, I never expected the Dingyuan Marquis to have such a penchant!”
“If you ask me, it’s because the Marchioness passed away and there was no one left to watch him that he would engage in such disgusting behavior!”
“…”