Xu Weiguo had an underground warehouse at the Lin family’s old residence.
Inside were all the treasures he had secretly embezzled from the Lin family, including the deed to the old house, all locked away in his private storage.
Xu Weiguo had been racking his brains over how to convince Xu Ruyan to hand over her dowry to his personal stash.
When he heard her speak up on her own, he froze for a moment, then broke into a delighted grin, sneering inwardly.
This fool Xu Ruyan—just when he was getting sleepy, she delivered a pillow. Walking right into her own death!
“No problem, Ruyan. You leave your dowry with Dad for now, rest assured, nothing will go missing!”
Xu Weiguo hastily patted his chest, eagerly helping out, carrying the trunks one by one into the warehouse.
The underground warehouse wasn’t convenient for Zhou Shuang to see.
He was sensible enough, knowing that haste makes waste. He said his goodbyes and left, only promising to return another day.
Xu Ruyan crossed her arms, watching coldly as Xu Weiguo and Xu Yingying exhausted themselves hauling the trunks inside, and watched him tuck the warehouse key carefully into his pocket. Her eyes flickered.
Xu Weiguo was panting, drenched in sweat. He had just finished moving the trunks when he saw a pair of black leather shoes appear before him.
Xu Ruyan smiled at him, extending her hand: “Dad, I’ve retrieved my dowry. Now, the bankbooks—time to hand them over, right?”
Xu Weiguo froze, having forgotten about that. He immediately balked: “Ruyan, why don’t you let Dad hold onto the bankbooks? Whenever you need money, I’ll give it to you.”
“That won’t do.”
Xu Ruyan let out a soft sigh, feigning helplessness: “I’m married now, so the bankbooks should naturally be in my own hands.”
“If you won’t give them to me, I’ll go find Zhou Shuang and have him move the dowry to his house instead!”
Xu Ruyan made as if to leave.
Xu Yingying hastily grabbed her, soothing her: “Ruyan, your father means no harm. He’s just worried.”
“If you really want the bankbooks, then take them.”
Xu Yingying subtly signaled Xu Weiguo with her eyes.
They had worked so hard to trick Xu Ruyan into retrieving the dowry—they couldn’t afford any mistakes at this critical moment!
Besides, even if the bankbooks ended up in her hands, once Xu Ruyan went to the countryside, she couldn’t take them with her.
It was only temporary custody on her end, so it didn’t matter.
Xu Weiguo quickly came to the same realization. He immediately put on a smiling face: “Your Aunt Xu is right. Ruyan, wait here, I’ll go get the bankbooks.”
“Not just mine—bring yours and Aunt Xu’s too.”
Xu Ruyan lifted her chin, stating it as if it were only natural: “I just got my marriage certificate. You and Aunt Xu should show some token of support, otherwise it won’t look right.”
“Oh, and doesn’t my sister have savings too? She should show her support as well. Bring all of them over!”
“Xu Ruyan!”
Xu Weiguo’s face instantly darkened, grinding his teeth in fury: “Don’t push it!”
Xu Yingying’s heart ached too.
But thinking of that generous dowry in the warehouse, she gritted her teeth and forced a smile: “Fine, if Ruyan wants them, let her have them. It’s not like we can’t afford it.”
Xu Yingying kept signaling Xu Weiguo with her eyes.
There was no need to argue with a bitch who was about to be sent to the countryside. What mattered most right now was keeping Xu Ruyan pacified.
Xu Weiguo suppressed his rage, smiling without sincerity, his voice sounding like it was squeezed through his teeth: “Fine, Ruyan, wait here. Dad will go get the bankbooks.”
Xu Weiguo quickly returned with the bankbooks.
Between the three of them, plus Xu Ruyan’s own, there were four in total, amounting to nearly three hundred fifty thousand yuan.
Xu Ruyan took the bankbooks with a beaming smile, watching Xu Weiguo’s face turn an ugly shade of liver-red with fury, watching him and Xu Yingying wince in pain. Her mood was unprecedentedly elated.
As long as they were unhappy, she was happy!
“Alright, the bankbooks stay with me. I’m tired, heading upstairs now.”
Xu Ruyan waved her hand, tucked the bankbooks into her clothes, and went upstairs without looking back, paying no mind to Xu Weiguo’s expression.
His chest heaved with rage, his eyes glaring venomously at Xu Ruyan’s retreating back. It took him a long while before he finally gritted his teeth in hatred.
“Bitch! Just as vile as her dead mother! They both deserve to die!”
Xu Yingying sneered as well, comforting him: “Alright, don’t get so angry. That dead girl is heading to the countryside in a couple of days anyway.”
“Once she’s gone, all this property will be ours again. When we head to Hong Kong later, we won’t have to put up with her anymore.”
Xu Yingying thought of how Xu Ruyan would soon be sent to the desolate, barren northwest for re-education, likely never able to return to the city for the rest of her life. She couldn’t help but feel smug and delighted.
She exchanged a glance with Xu Weiguo, both seeing the shrewd calculation and mockery in each other’s eyes.
When night fell.
The Lin family’s old residence was quiet in the dead of night.
Xu Ruyan crept to the warehouse door, a meaningful smile curling at the corners of her lips.
She pulled a piece of wire from her clothes and fiddled with the lock on the warehouse door.
A soft “click” sounded.
The lock was open!
Xu Ruyan narrowed her eyes.
Back when she was sent to the countryside, she had learned plenty of survival skills from the villagers. Who would have thought they’d come in handy here?
Wasn’t that a boomerang effect?
Xu Ruyan gently closed the warehouse door behind her, looked at the rows of locked trunks filling the room, and pried them open one by one, sweeping all the assets inside into her Spatial Dimension.
Just the crates of small yellow croakers alone numbered nearly ten large crates.
As for the rest, there were all kinds of jewelry and ornaments, antiques and calligraphy, precious medicinal herbs, treasured books, property deeds, grain and fine wine, and various certificates and bills…
Xu Ruyan didn’t have time to examine them closely. She huffed and puffed as she filled the crates with discarded bricks from the Spatial Dimension, then locked them back up.
After she had emptied the entire warehouse, Xu Ruyan’s eyes darted around, and suddenly an idea struck her.
She took out a flammable knockout powder from the Spatial Dimension, covered her mouth and nose, lit it, and fanned the smoke into the room where Xu Weiguo and his family of three were sleeping.
The dosage Xu Ruyan used was heavy enough to knock out an ox.
By the time her deadbeat father’s family woke up again, she would have already moved all the family assets into the Spatial Dimension, and no one would ever find them!
This time, Xu Ruyan had no reservations. She simply searched every room in the old mansion one by one.
Whenever she saw something valuable—from vases and furniture at the top, to inlaid jade, and even the valuable bricks and tiles on the roof—she waved her hand and swept it all into the Spatial Dimension.
After she had stripped the old mansion of nearly everything, Xu Ruyan finally came to the room of her deadbeat father’s family.
They were sleeping as soundly as pigs. She took all the clothes, jewelry, and cosmetics from the room, leaving not even a single strand of hair behind!
The last thing Xu Ruyan took was Xu Yunhua’s household registration booklet.
By the time she finished all this, dawn was just beginning to break.
Xu Ruyan hurriedly tidied herself up, slung a military-green canvas bag over her shoulder, ate breakfast outside, and timed her arrival to when the neighborhood committee office opened, then knocked on the office door.
“Come in.”
A crisp, capable female voice came from inside.
“Comrade, hello. I want to respond to the nation’s call and voluntarily apply to go to the countryside as an educated youth, to support rural construction.”
Xu Ruyan slapped Xu Yunhua’s household registration booklet onto the table and said with a smile: “Sign me up for the far northwest, the most remote and impoverished villages—wherever is the poorest, that’s where I’ll go!”