A man in his fifties, dressed in gray short attire, walked over.
"Old woman, what's this…?"
Hearing this, the nanny didn't even look up, happily clutching the silver.
"This is the silver the old madam gave to that wretched girl—a full five hundred taels in banknotes and another hundred taels in silver ingots. So biased."
The man’s face showed hesitation. "You’re keeping all of it?"
Hearing this, Nanny Li shot him a glare. "Of course. That dead girl won’t last more than a few days anyway. Better to let us benefit. We’ll use it to find a fertile wife for our son later."
Hugging the silver tightly, she puckered her lips and planted two loud kisses on it, her wrinkled face beaming like a chrysanthemum.
"Oh my, so much silver! With our monthly allowance, we could never save this much in several lifetimes."
The man was also delighted. "You always have a way, old woman."
The Senior Maids and head nannies in the Marquis Manor received a monthly allowance of two taels. He managed over a dozen people and earned five taels—already considered extremely respectable.
For an ordinary farming family, scrimping and saving all year, their entire annual expenses wouldn’t exceed two taels.
Hehehe, they’d struck it rich. In a few days, he’d sneak some to his mistress—she had just given him a plump baby boy.
Jiang Wanyue waited until Nanny Li and the man had fallen asleep before tiptoeing in and pushing the door open.
Her figure slipped like a ghost under the bed, reaching the innermost part. She removed a few bricks to reveal the banknotes and silver Nanny Li had just hidden.
Well, well—an unexpected windfall.
Inside were also quite a few gold bracelets, gold nuggets, over a dozen silver hairpins…
These were all ill-gotten gains. Nanny Li didn’t dare deposit them in a bank, so she had hidden them here secretly.
Before leaving, Jiang Wanyue gave a wicked smile, waved her hand, and took away the room’s tables, chairs, benches, wardrobe, teapot—even dismantling and carrying off the main door.
The Marquis Manor was heavily guarded, but fortunately, she had her space to hide in. Following her memory, she arrived at the old madam’s courtyard. She took a few grapes from her space and replaced the original ones.
Then she turned and left.
"Who’s there?"
A sharp gaze shot over. Jiang Wanyue didn’t look back and directly entered her space.
Immediately afterward, a sword-bearing guard came over to investigate.
His companion yawned. "I say, you’re too cautious. The Marquis Manor is heavily guarded. Unless a thief has a death wish, who would dare sneak in so late at night?"
The guard warily scanned the surroundings. Only after confirming no one was there did he turn away suspiciously.
Just now, he thought he had seen a figure.
Jiang Wanyue wasn’t in a hurry to come out. Sure enough, the sword-bearing guard doubled back.
Only after finding truly no one did he leave reassured.
She had wanted to stay longer, but her space wasn’t cooperative—she was directly thrown out.
Following the route from memory, she proceeded cautiously all the way and finally returned to her room, letting out a long sigh of relief.
It seemed people in ancient times couldn’t be underestimated—there were plenty with extraordinary skills.
Thinking of the earlier close call, she couldn’t help but curse, "Damn useless space, almost exposed me."
It turned out the duration she could stay in the space was limited—ten minutes, and she was kicked out directly.
Luckily, that sword-bearing guard had already left by then.
Jiang Wanyue wasn’t afraid of confronting him, but it was better to avoid trouble. She didn’t want to be treated as a monster.
Since she had come to ancient times, she had to abide by the survival rules of this era.
Back in her room, she slept soundly.
No fear of being killed in her sleep, no worry of sudden Zombie attacks, and no anxiety about having no food to eat tomorrow.
It was simply wonderful.
Whew, thank heavens for taking pity on how hard she had it during the apocalypse and sending her straight into a retirement lifestyle in ancient times.
It wasn’t until the sun was high in the sky that she slowly opened her eyes and stretched lazily.
It really had been a long time since she’d slept so soundly.
Bliss!
Just as she was about to drift back to sleep, she overheard the hushed whispers of maids passing by outside.
"Have you heard? Nanny Li’s room was burgled last night."
Another maid covered her mouth and snickered: "They say even the door was taken off its hinges, hehehe. Serves her right, always skimming from our monthly allowances."
"Exactly, exactly. The Marquis Manor is so big, and nothing else was stolen—only her place was hit. It must’ve been done by someone with a grudge against Nanny Li."
"She’s always been so sharp-tongued and mean, offending so many people. If I ever find out who did it, I’d thank them properly."
As they spoke, one maid nudged the other forward.
"Hurry, hurry, we need to go serve the old madam. If we’re late, we’ll be punished."
Passing by Jiang Wanyue’s room, they couldn’t help but pause for a moment, shuddering uneasily.
"Concubine Jiang hasn’t made a sound for two days… Could she be… dead?"
"Let’s hurry up and leave. We don’t want to catch any bad luck."
Jiang Wanyue rolled her eyes and went back to sleep.
Not long after, the door creaked open, and a little maid with twin buns tied with red silk ribbons slipped in again.
Seeing the state of the room, her jaw dropped in surprise.
"Concubine, your… your place was robbed too?"
Only then did Jiang Wanyue remember—she had planned to leave today, so last night she had stashed everything in her space.
She replied in a lazy tone,
"Let them steal. It’s not like there was anything valuable anyway."
But the little maid wept bitterly.
Jiang Wanyue pulled the bundle out from under the covers: "Don’t cry, the bundle is still here."
Taohua finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Concubine, I stole a big meat bun from the kitchen for you."
As she spoke, her eyes were fixed on the bun, and she kept swallowing her saliva.
She was just a maid servant in the kitchen, not allowed to eat such things, but she managed to sneak some now and then.
"Thank you. Let’s split it."
Jiang Wanyue didn’t stand on ceremony. She broke off half and wolfed it down.
Ah, it was delicious.
"Oh, and this is for you. Make sure to hide it well."
The little maid looked at the bundle being pushed toward her—the same one she had brought yesterday—and was puzzled.
"Concubine, I don’t need money in the Marquis Manor. This is for you."
"The old madam sent someone with money for me yesterday. You take this; you’ll need it for many things in the future."
Taohua seemed half-convinced: "Really?"
"Of course. The bundle from the old madam is still right over there."
Taohua brightened up: "Then… then I’ll take it back."
She was also short on money—her family had sent word yesterday asking for more.
But she didn’t notice that the bundle now contained many more pieces of broken silver.
As soon as Taohua left, two sturdy-looking nannies barged into the room, their faces fierce and menacing.
"Tsk, shameless little harlot. Even this couldn’t finish you off. You’re just dirtying the grounds of the Marquis Manor. Come on, let’s throw her out."
"But… the old madam hasn’t given the order yet," the nanny beside her hesitated.
"What’s there to fear? This little harlot should’ve been beaten to death, buried alive, or drowned. The old madam spared her, but that doesn’t mean we have to."
"Throw her out."
Jiang Wanyue listened quietly to the two nannies’ words, a bottle of anti-wolf spray already in her hand.
There was no other way—this body of hers was just too weak to fight against nannies as strong as oxen.
They didn't use guns because the two women weren't usually bad people; this time, it was probably just about venting frustration.
Cursing under their breath, the two discussed briefly before finding a door plank, placing her on it, and carrying her out through the back door.