Gu Yanzhou moved quickly.
Using his connections in the military and coordinating with the local troops through the military district, he temporarily relocated the Shen family Shen Zhiwei’s parents and eldest brother Shen Jianguo to a small, detached house on the outskirts of the city.
This had originally been the residence of a retired cadre who had moved south. It was now vacant and managed by the local armed forces department, ensuring both security and privacy.
Shen Jianguo helped their still-pale mother out of the car, with Shen Guodong following closely behind.
Gu Yanzhou’s arrangements were indeed thorough.
“Teacher Wang isn’t in good health, and Teacher Shen needs rest. It’s safer for you to stay here temporarily,” he said steadily.
She glanced at Gu Yanzhou.
The sharp lines of his suit under the sunset made him look increasingly handsome. Gu Yanzhou seemed to notice and slightly tilted his head.
Their eyes met.
His face quickly turned red again. “You… you said you wanted to go back for a bit, so I helped settle your… your parents.”
Outside, the moonlight was dim, barely penetrating the room.
She leaned against the door and thought of the jade bracelet on her wrist. According to her plan, there was still a large area behind the Spiritual Spring Space, which should be enough to store the items from the house.
She focused her mind.
With a thought, the small, mist-filled space appeared clearly before her. She stayed still, eyes locked on the sofa inside the house.
“How do I do this? There’s probably a secret incantation or something.”
“Sofa! Go in! Quilt! Go in!”
The sofa in front of her didn’t move an inch. No way… she hadn’t imagined it, had she?
She leaned against the cabinet, her hand unintentionally brushing the sofa.
It worked!
The sofa suddenly appeared in the Spiritual Spring Space. It seemed that only objects she physically touched could be transferred.
Shen Zhiwei couldn’t hide her excitement and took a deep breath.
It was time!
She began transferring the items from the house. Her father’s small, crooked desk with technical drafts, the thick foreign-language dictionaries and handwritten notes full of annotations all of her father’s decades of work disappeared from reality and were securely placed in the space.
These were her father’s lifeblood, the very things Chen Weidong and Li Man coveted.
Next, she gathered the family’s treasures: under the bed was a metal box containing their savings and ration coupons over 200 yuan in cash, some grain coupons, oil coupons, and several thin but valuable industrial vouchers.
All of it vanished into the space.
At the bottom of the wardrobe, in an old cloth bag, were a set of solid gold dragon-and-phoenix bracelets and rings, along with ancestral paintings and calligraphy. In her previous life, Li Jianye had taken all of these.
Now, they too were safely in the space.
Her gaze swept over the empty room. This place had held her parents’ entire lives and was now completely cleared out.
Standing there, Shen Zhiwei felt… strangely light.
It was as if a heavy burden had been lifted, yet many unknown challenges still awaited her.
In her previous life, she had guarded Chen Weidong’s home, only for her family to end up ruined.
This time, she had emptied her own home, yet it felt safe and secure.
She smiled. “Li Man, Chen Weidong, and all your lackeys… want to ransack the house? Want to steal my father’s hard work? Dream on.”
The next morning, just as dawn was breaking,
“Open the door! Revolutionary Committee inspection! Shen Guodong, open up!” Li Jianye’s voice still carried the lingering anger of the night before.
He was smug, holding the committee’s official order in his hand. Behind him were several burly workers, ready to ransack the house and seize technical documents.
Su Wan walked out of the house at a leisurely pace.
She carried an enamel mug in her hand and sipped water casually. “The documents are out. Go ahead and inventory the house.”
When the door opened, everyone froze.
The house was completely empty.
Li Jianye’s smile froze on his face.
In the living room, all the tables and chairs were gone; even the wall calendar had disappeared. In the study, the bookshelves were empty, not a single pen left behind. In the bedroom, the beddings had all been moved out, and the wardrobe doors stood wide open, not a single thread remaining.
“What… what’s going on?!” Li Jianye widened his eyes and turned to the watching neighbors. “Did anyone see the Shen family moving stuff?”
The neighbors looked at each other and shook their heads.
“No, I didn’t see anything. The lights were on all night.”
“Could they have emptied the whole house in just one night? Not even a teacup left.”
“My god, did they get ransacked?”
“Doesn’t look like it! Even during a ransacking, it wouldn’t be this clean no dishes or utensils left?”
Li Jianye and Vice Director Wang Qiang of the Revolutionary Committee looked like they’d been slapped dozens of times, their faces red and pale in turns.
They had spent the entire previous night imagining every possible argument and debate, even planning a preemptive raid.
But the one thing they hadn’t anticipated was that the family would completely empty the house.
After all, the Revolutionary Committee was only a street away from the tube building. With such a commotion, nobody had noticed.
“Who did this! Who on earth did this!” Li Jianye trembled with rage.
“The blueprints! Shen Guodong’s research materials! Li Man clearly said those things were hidden at home for future use… where did you put them?”
Li Man said?
Her eyes narrowed sharply. How could Li Man have known the blueprints were at home? Her collusion with Chen Weidong was only for Shen Guodong’s money.
So it was the blueprints they were after?
Wang Qiang realized Li Jianye had misspoken and glared at him. Then, keeping a serious expression, he looked at the seemingly frail and harmless Shen Zhiwei.
“Comrade Shen, what’s going on here? Did you transfer Shen Guodong’s important technical files?”
“These are national property! Don’t you know that’s a crime?”
Faced with the accusation,
Shen Zhiwei slowly lifted her head, her expression calm and unflustered.
“Vice Director Wang, please choose your words carefully. Which of your eyes saw me touch this so-called national property?”
“My committee humiliated your father publicly yesterday. They threatened him at the door with red paint, ransacked the house! He was so frightened he fell ill and is bedridden!”
“As his daughter, I was concerned for my parents and moved them to a quieter place to recover. What’s wrong with that?”
She stepped forward. “As for my father’s research? Those are his notes, insights, and personal research accumulated over decades of work. They belong to him personally.”
“Procedurally, they were never part of the factory. On what basis can you claim they are national property? And on what basis can you accuse me of transferring them?”
Li Jianye was rendered speechless by Shen Zhiwei’s rapid-fire rebuttal.
Especially since the research materials in the institute could not be clearly defined.
“Fine! You may have a sharp tongue, but I’ve got official red-letter documents. This tube building belongs to the factory you won’t deny that, right?”
“If you don’t admit it, I’ll report to the police and claim you’re trying to take factory property for yourselves! Let’s see what the police say!”
“I’ll make you regret it! Let’s see if your mouth can stay so bold once you’re arrested.”