The more Qiao Zhenzhu thought about it, the more excited she became. Smiling brightly, she pushed herself up from the ground.
The moment everyone saw her stand up, the crowd erupted again.
“So she finally decided to get up?”
“She realized nobody was paying attention to her act anymore!”
“Who knew her skin was this thick? She already embarrassed herself this badly and still has the nerve to stand up?”
Qiao Zhenzhu ignored all the gossip around her. She didn’t even spare a glance for her scumbag father and the others before turning and walking away.
She had no interest in wasting words—or time—on these people.
She needed to get home and start collecting everything!
Watching Qiao Zhenzhu leave, Wang Sinian unconsciously frowned, unease rising in her heart.
What was going on?
Qiao Zhenzhu was already more than eight months pregnant. After suffering such humiliation, shouldn’t she have gone into premature labor from anger and ended up with both mother and child dead?
But now she looked perfectly fine.
Wang Sinian suddenly felt that things were slipping out of her control, and it made her restless.
“Dad,” Wang Sinian said to Wang Tiancheng, “Sister is still pregnant, and she just fainted earlier. Is it really safe for her to leave alone? Maybe you should go check on her?”
Wang Anquan’s face darkened. “Check on what? She looks perfectly fine to me!”
Chen Wan gently patted Wang Anquan’s hand. “Don’t be angry anymore. Zhenzhu probably didn’t really do something like trying to steal her younger sister’s fiancé. Once today is over, we can go home and talk to her properly.”
Wang Anquan snorted heavily. “Stop bringing her up. She’s utterly disgraceful! Hurry and continue. Sinian and Chenggong’s wedding is more important!”
Whether it was the Qiao family or the Xie family, both had once been among the most prestigious families in Shanghai.
And since the two families were joining through marriage, all the guests attending were once influential figures in Shanghai society.
Why “once”?
Because their glorious era had already passed. Now, all of them had to keep their heads down and survive quietly.
They had already become the subject of gossip earlier. If anything else went wrong with the wedding, they would truly lose all face.
Although Wang Sinian still felt uneasy about Qiao Zhenzhu, a wedding only happened once in a lifetime. She didn’t want it to end carelessly, so after adjusting her emotions, she continued the interrupted ceremony.
Soon, music once again filled the banquet hall.
Everyone wore polite smiles on their faces, as if nothing had happened at all.
After leaving the Shanghai Grand Hotel, Qiao Zhenzhu hailed a tricycle taxi and rode it back to the Qiao residence.
While sitting in the tricycle, she opened the bundle she carried with her.
When the original owner returned to Shanghai this time, she had only brought a change of clothes, some money, and ration coupons.
Aside from that, there was also the deed and property certificate for the small Western-style villa the Qiao family currently lived in.
After the original owner was born, her mother had transferred both the deed and ownership papers into her name.
Back then, in order to reassure her before marriage, her scumbag father had personally handed these documents to her and told her that no matter where she married, this place would always be her home.
This time, the original owner had brought them back intending to use them as leverage to force her father to agree to her divorce.
But now?
They could serve an entirely different purpose.
Qiao Zhenzhu had already prepared the fare in advance. As soon as the tricycle stopped, she handed over the money with a smile and thanked the driver.
The wheels of history were already turning, and soon they would come crushing forward.
At a time like this, the Qiao and Xie families arranging a marriage alliance was probably their way of trying to support one another.
Though this was the world of a novel, the broader historical backdrop remained the same. The course of events would likely unfold just as she remembered.
Before long, the political movement would begin.
Since it was destined to happen sooner or later, she might as well be the one to start things off.
A strange gleam flashed through Qiao Zhenzhu’s eyes as the corners of her lips curled upward.
Step by step, she walked to the gates of the Qiao residence and used her ability to unlock the heavy iron lock.
Families like the Qiao family had not yet been purged, but they were already under constant surveillance.
Those watchful eyes hung above the family like a blade, forcing them to behave with extreme caution.
The Qiao family once had maids, a butler, gardeners, drivers, and chefs.
Now, all of them were gone.
Everyone in the household had gone to the hotel for the wedding banquet, leaving the villa completely empty.
Which made things extremely convenient for Qiao Zhenzhu.
She walked up to the villa entrance and, just as before, used her ability to unlock the door.
The moment she entered, she shut the door behind her and immediately began her grand looting spree.
The political crackdown had not started yet. Although the Qiao family had dismissed all their servants, they still couldn’t give up their luxurious lifestyle.
Supporting her heavily pregnant belly, Qiao Zhenzhu slowly walked forward.
The famous calligraphy and paintings hanging on the walls—collected!
The precious hardwood furniture—collected!
The antique porcelain, jade ornaments, and decorative treasures displayed on the shelves—collected!
Even the genuine wool carpet in the reception room disappeared into her spatial storage.
Her spatial ability was maxed out. Her storage space measured one thousand meters in length, width, and height.
Forget this little villa—even a hundred more villas of the same size would fit easily.
And her spatial ability wasn’t just huge—it had other functions too.
With a single thought, she could instantly store everything within a hundred-meter radius into her space without even touching it.
If someone had been watching from a third-person perspective, they would have seen Qiao Zhenzhu slowly walking through the house while the objects around her vanished one after another in the strangest way imaginable.
After emptying the living room, she headed for the master bedroom.
The room was enormous, complete with a private bathroom and walk-in closet.
The bed inside was a thousand-workmanship canopy bed made from rare Hainan huanghuali wood—an incredibly valuable treasure.
Though it was already over one or two hundred years old, it still looked brand new.
Give it another twenty or thirty years, and it would easily sell at auction for tens of millions.
Even though her scumbag father and stepmother had slept on it, Qiao Zhenzhu still stored it away without hesitation.
The silk bedding on the bed wasn’t something she planned to use herself, but it might prove useful someday, so she packed that away too.
The matching huanghuali dressing table and chairs were equally valuable.
Not to mention the jewelry stored inside the vanity drawers.
Gold and gemstones, pearls and jade, even kingfisher feather jewelry.
Most of these pieces had been passed down through generations of the Qiao family.
Qiao Zhenzhu only glanced through them briefly before sweeping everything into her space.
Time was limited—she would inspect them properly later.
Then she entered the walk-in closet.
The closet alone was over twenty square meters in size. Golden-thread nanmu wardrobes lined all four walls, and a matching nanmu sofa sat in the middle.
Every wardrobe was filled with clothes, shoes, and handbags made from luxurious fabrics.
All of them had been custom-tailored by master craftsmen using only the finest materials—items impossible to buy on the market.
Qiao Zhenzhu certainly didn’t plan to wear them herself.
But in twenty or thirty years, these vintage clothes, shoes, and bags could be rented or sold to film studios for an enormous profit.
By the time she walked back out of the closet, only bare walls remained.
The bathroom contained an enormous imported bathtub with a unique design and an outrageous price tag.
Unfortunately, her scumbag father and stepmother had already used it.
Still, a pity was a pity—but money was money.
Everything she collected could eventually be sold for cash.
After thoroughly cleaning out the master bedroom, Qiao Zhenzhu headed to the study.
Her scumbag father didn’t enjoy reading, yet the study contained countless books, many of them rare editions.
These, too, had all been passed down through generations.
Once the political movement began, not only would these books be destroyed—they would also become “evidence of crimes.”
Without hesitation, Qiao Zhenzhu first stored away the large rosewood desk, then swept the books and bookshelves into her space as well.
Only after the bookshelves disappeared did she discover that there was actually a hidden door concealed within the wall of the study!