Lu Qingqing quickly entered the Secret Chamber. Even without checking, she knew what was inside the boxes.
There were gold bars, silver coins, copper coins, gold ingots, silver ingots, jewelry, and other valuables, all neatly arranged and well-preserved in boxes—thirty-seven in total.
There were also antiques and cultural relics—porcelain, calligraphy, paintings, books, and utensils—from various dynasties, filling seventy-three boxes.
In her previous life, one of these antiques had fetched a bid as high as five hundred million yuan, but Lu Qingqing couldn’t bring herself to sell it.
She knew these were cultural heritage and must not be sold; doing so would make her a traitor to the nation.
As for whether these antiques and cultural relics were smuggled out of the country by scumbags after her death, Lu Qingqing had no way of knowing.
Apart from gold, silver, jewelry, antiques, and cultural relics, what Lu Qingqing valued most were the medical books her mother had hidden away.
There were printed editions, handwritten copies, and even ancient medical book fragments her mother had spent a fortune collecting—all rare and invaluable treasures.
In her previous life, Lu Qingqing had founded a pharmaceutical group just by sharing a few medicinal formulas, which spoke volumes about their worth.
Lu Qingqing swiftly emptied the Secret Chamber and erased all traces of her entry before leaving the chamber and the storage room.
Next, Lu Qingqing made her way to the woodshed, where neatly stacked firewood had been tossed into disarray.
With a wave of her hand, she collected the firewood, then opened the hidden chamber beneath the woodshed, which was filled with food supplies.
Having experienced war and famine, the Lu Family had developed a habit of stockpiling rice, flour, grains, and oil.
This chamber wasn’t large—only about twenty to thirty square meters—but it was packed with fifteen bags of rice (each weighing one hundred jin), thirty bags of wheat (each weighing one hundred jin), twenty bags of coarse grains, five barrels of oil, one hundred jin of salt, and some dried vegetables, mushrooms, and other foodstuffs, filling the chamber to the brim.
After collecting the food supplies, Lu Qingqing haphazardly tossed the firewood back into the woodshed and quietly slipped away.
The Lu Family’s residence was a two-story villa, with the front and back yards combined covering over three hundred square meters—and this was considered a modest home for them.
Now, the vast villa stood empty except for Lu Qingqing, her solitary figure moving through its rooms, a sight that seemed almost pitiful.
Lu Qingqing silently walked through every corner of the yard, discreetly storing valuable items into her Spatial Dimension.
The Spatial Dimension now held over a dozen gold bars, more than thirty pieces of jewelry, and twenty-one gemstones the size of pigeon eggs.
There was also over twenty thousand yuan in cash and various vouchers.
These were the Lu Family’s scattered hidden stashes, kept as a contingency in case of emergencies, where the money could serve unexpected purposes.
If these items were seized by the Red Committee, it might somewhat diminish their malicious intentions and prevent them from acting too ruthlessly.
If they weren’t seized, they would become the family’s survival funds for the future—a win-win situation either way.
After ensuring nothing was overlooked, Lu Qingqing quietly approached the villa entrance to survey her surroundings.
Soon, she noticed someone keeping watch. Pretending not to notice, she was about to turn back into the yard when she caught sight of Wei Guangming running over, drenched in sweat, from the corner of her eye.
Lu Qingqing frowned delicately. How had she never noticed in her previous life just how good this scumbag was at pretending?
The Lu Family had bicycles, yet he insisted on running over, working himself into a sweat. Even a trash bag wasn’t as good at pretending as he was.
“Qingqing, Qingqing, I’m back,” Wei Guangming gasped heavily as he approached, putting on a show of near-exhaustion.
Lu Qingqing rolled her eyes inwardly, suppressing her disgust, and asked with feigned concern, “Why are you here? Do you have news about my family? Are they alright?”
"Their situation is very bad. You know that place is like a den of wolves—how many people who go in there come out unscathed?"
After speaking, Wei Guangming gasped for breath again, as if the person who had just rattled off that long string of words wasn’t him.
"What happened to them? Hurry up and tell me!"
Under Lu Qingqing’s anxious urging, Wei Guangming felt he had caught his breath long enough and continued.
"I heard Grandfather Lu was beaten so badly he couldn’t get up. It seems the injuries are severe, and Uncle Lu and Aunt Lu aren’t doing well either."
At this point, Wei Guangming carefully observed Lu Qingqing’s expression. Seeing tears well up in her eyes from worry, he secretly smirked.
"Your three older brothers are fine, but your two sisters-in-law… sigh, if I hadn’t arrived in time, I’m afraid they would have suffered terrible fates."
Lu Qingqing’s eyelids twitched as she listened, a surge of murderous intent rising in her heart. In her past life, one of her sisters-in-law had drowned inexplicably in a river, while the other was raped by the farm director and later hanged herself. Both died young and tragically.
In this life, she would protect them. Anyone who dared lay a hand on them would face her ruthless retaliation.
"Guangming, thank you," Lu Qingqing said through gritted teeth.
If she didn’t know it was his family who had reported hers, she might have truly believed Wei Guangming was a good person.
Wei family, just wait. I will never let you off in this lifetime.
"Hey, what’s between us? We grew up together as childhood friends. It’s too formal for you to thank me. Besides, our families even had intentions of arranging a marriage. If your family hadn’t run into this trouble, we might have been celebrating our engagement soon."
After speaking, Wei Guangming gave an embarrassed laugh, wearing a shy expression that only infuriated Lu Qingqing even more.
As for the engagement, it was the Wei family who had been eagerly pushing for it. Given the tense situation, the Wei family’s poor peasant background gave them an advantage, which was why they were even considered. The Lu family had never explicitly agreed to an engagement.
In her past life, if Lu Qingqing hadn’t been caught off guard and betrayed by relatives and friends she had long trusted, leaving her helpless, she would never have been so easily deceived by Wei Guangming, let alone chosen to marry him.
Thinking of her past life, Lu Qingqing wished she could travel back and slap her gullible, naive former self.
"Wei Guangming, right now I only want to save my family. I don’t care about anything else. Don’t bring up the engagement again."
Lu Qingqing’s face turned cold. She didn’t want to hear those disgusting words or look at Wei Guangming’s despicable face.
Perhaps because Lu Qingqing’s resistance was too obvious, the smile vanished from Wei Guangming’s face, and a flicker of anger flashed in his eyes.
After a moment, Wei Guangming let out a cold laugh and said calmly, "Prepare some things for your family. I’ll take you to see them tonight."
"Alright," Lu Qingqing agreed without hesitation. In her past life, there had been no opportunity to meet her family—only sending items. Whether those items ever reached them, she couldn’t be sure, as everything had been handled by Wei Guangming.
Lu Qingqing lowered her gaze, wondering what had changed this time. Why was there now an arrangement for a meeting?
"Then get ready. I’ll come pick you up tonight." After speaking, Wei Guangming wiped the sweat from his brow. "I have other matters to attend to, so I’ll take my leave."
Lu Qingqing hummed in acknowledgment, watching Wei Guangming leave before frowning and closing the gate.
In her previous life, Wei Guangming had also come, offering many words of comfort and painting grand promises, only leaving with his belongings after dark.
Could it be that her clear refusal to discuss the marriage arrangement had angered Wei Guangming into leaving?
Hah, then he would have plenty to be angry about in the future.
Lu Qingqing clenched her fists, her eyes gleaming with murderous intent—not only would he have plenty to be angry about, but he would also have plenty to suffer!