Xu Lin's first punch landed on Mother Xu's vocal cords, silencing her screams before they could pierce anyone's ears.
The second punch hit Mother Xu's ample bosom, causing her pupils to contract and dilate in pain, as if she were about to ascend to heaven.
Then came the third punch, the fourth—Xu Lin delivered twenty-eight punches in one breath, sending Mother Xu rolling across the floor in agony before she finally stopped.
Xu Lin stood up and kicked Mother Xu, saying coldly, "I want braised pork. Go cook."
Mother Xu: …Just kill me and be done with it!
Curled up in pain, Mother Xu dared not whimper. She could only watch with resentment as Xu Lin entered the main hall.
The thought that the man and the old woman in the main hall hadn't come out to help her chilled Mother Xu to the bone.
Those two cowards had actually just watched her get beaten. They were utterly worthless.
Wiping her tears, Mother Xu sucked in cold air as she climbed to her feet, hobbling into the kitchen.
She stood there for a moment to recover, then hurriedly rummaged through the cupboard for meat.
She had no idea how that little wretch had such a keen nose—how did she know they'd bought pork belly?
Xu Lin entered the main hall and found that Old Mrs. Xu and Father Xu had each retreated to their own rooms, their doors shut tight without even a crack left open.
Ha. Xu Lin rolled her eyes. She hadn't expected these people to be scared after just one beating. She actually wished they'd provoke her a few more times.
Tsk. How boring.
Xu Lin returned to Xu Nuan's room and began inspecting the place.
Xu Nuan's room was perfectly normal—no holes dug in the walls, no hidden chambers beneath the floor.
The cabinets and desk had no secret compartments. Xu Nuan's private savings totaled just over eight yuan.
Xu Lin unceremoniously pocketed it into her Spatial Dimension. Eight yuan was still money—in her previous life, she'd died without ever having saved eight yuan.
Tossing herself onto the bed, Xu Lin pondered the conversation she'd overheard in the courtyard.
That old hag had mentioned getting some kind of medicine. What medicine was she planning to get?
In her previous life, her combat ability had been weak. Father Xu had come home from work and directly broken her leg with a stick—there had been no business with medicine.
After lunch, the children went to school, the adults went to work, and Old Mrs. Xu also shuffled out the door on her bound feet.
When Xu Lin was finally the only one left in the house, she made her move.
The Xu family's main house had three rooms. The middle was the main hall, flanked by the east and west bedrooms—occupied by Old Mrs. Xu and by Father and Mother Xu respectively.
The east wing had two rooms, housing Xu Kun and Xu Nuan, the siblings.
Against the west wall stood a kitchen and a storage room. The four bedrooms were divided among the four masters of the Xu household.
Xu Lin normally had to curl up in a corner of the main hall to rest. To avoid embarrassment, she had to roll up her bedding during the day so outsiders wouldn't discover her situation.
As for why she wasn't allowed to sleep in the kitchen or the storage room, Xu Lin herself had no idea.
She first went to Father and Mother Xu's door. It was locked, but that didn't stump Xu Lin—she took a sewing needle and had it open in no time.
The room was furnished with rosewood furniture, which Xu Lin knew would be worth a fortune decades later.
She had no mood to admire it. She swiftly began searching, and as she did, her eyes lit up.
She actually found a hidden entrance beneath their bed. Inside the secret chamber were five large chests and one small box.
Xu Lin didn't rush to see what was inside. Instead, she waved her hand and stored them all into her Warehouse, then continued searching.
Soon, she discovered a neat stack of bills hidden in a compartment within the cabinet—all ten-yuan notes, Da Tuanjie.
Xu Lin quickly counted them: a full five hundred yuan. Without a second thought, she swept them into her Spatial Dimension.
All mine, all mine!
On top of the cabinet sat a small iron box containing over three hundred yuan and a roll of ration tickets.
Then she found two hundred in a shoebox, eight hundred tucked inside a coat's inner pocket, and several letters hidden in a hole in the wall.
Curious, Xu Lin opened the letters to read them. Her face darkened like still water. She truly hadn't expected Father Xu to be colluding with foreign forces.
And it wasn't ordinary collusion—he was selling intelligence.
If this were ever exposed… Cold sweat broke out on Xu Lin's back. In any era, spies and traitors came to no good end.
The key issue was that one person's crime affected three generations.
Xu Lin had no intention of being dragged down by Father Xu.
She never would have guessed it—that respectable-looking Father Xu was doing such despicable things behind the scenes.
It seemed the family's wealth had little to do with the fake daughter, and the child-swapping might not be so simple either.
But this discovery didn't make Xu Lin feel any better. If anything, it made her angrier.
No. She needed to sever ties with this family as soon as possible. She couldn't let the Xu family drag her down.
After finishing with Father Xu's room, Xu Lin moved on to Old Mrs. Xu's room. The old woman had a sharp tongue and dressed neatly, but her room was filthy.
It was as messy as a pigsty. Xu Lin carefully searched through it.
She found over a hundred yuan inside the pillow, and in a hollowed-out bed leg, she discovered a hidden compartment containing a gold ring and a pair of gold earrings.
Beneath the cabinet, she found a hole about a foot square with a biscuit tin buried inside.
Within it were a pair of high-quality jade bracelets, two jade pendants, five Gold Bars (Xiao Huangyu), and over a dozen silver dollars.
Xu Lin gleefully swept everything into her Spatial Dimension.
As for whether the Xu family would discover the theft, Xu Lin wasn't the least bit worried. Even if they did, so what? Would they dare report it to the police?
In the afternoon, Xu Lin searched every corner of the courtyard, and even dug up ten large chests at the base of the wall.
Aside from that, there was nothing else to be found, but even so, Xu Lin was delighted.
She had originally been thinking about whether to go to the black market to sell some grain for money, but now—why sell anything? She'd keep it all for herself to build with.
Before the Xu family returned, Xu Lin went back to her room, slipped into the Spatial Dimension's warehouse, and gleefully opened her treasure troves.
She first opened those fifteen large chests and found that three were filled with books, calligraphy, and paintings, while five were packed with porcelain.
The porcelain included plates, bowls, teapots, vases, and more—the oldest pieces dating back to the Tang Dynasty, and the most recent to the Qing Dynasty.
There was also one chest filled with Gold ingots (large), one with silver ingots, one with silver dollars, and two chests of gemstone jewelry.
The jewelry even came in complete sets, clearly worth a fortune. Who knew where the Xu family had gotten it all?
Just these items alone would be enough for Xu Lin to live comfortably without lifting a finger. Remembering there was still one small chest unopened, she hurriedly brought it over.
When she opened it, she found it was packed entirely with US dollars. She counted them—a full twenty-three thousand two hundred dollars.
Holy crap, holy crap!
Xu Lin pressed a hand to her chest. She really had been too naive. She never imagined the Xu family was hiding so much wealth—no wonder they never ran out of fine rice and white flour.
Anyone would be the same with resources like that.
Xu Lin took a deep breath, about to make something delicious to celebrate, when the courtyard gate was pushed open. She immediately slipped out of the Spatial Dimension.
Old Mrs. Xu, clutching her pocket, crept cautiously to Xu Lin's window and peered inside.
Suddenly, a pair of pitch-black pupils appeared right before her eyes. Startled, Old Mrs. Xu let out a yelp and plopped down onto the ground.
Xu Lin, looking down from above with narrowed peach-blossom eyes, stared coldly and eerily at Old Mrs. Xu, making her sweat profusely.
"You—you—" Old Mrs. Xu clutched her chest, cursing inwardly. That little wretch was trying to scare her to death!