Carrying her basket, she stepped through the entrance once more.
The lookout had changed. This one was somewhat older and looked like a shady character.
It was only after Lin Shuang walked past that he called out to interrogate her.
She thought that would be the end of it and he would let her pass.
Unexpectedly, the man pointed at the thirty eggs in her basket. “Fifty cents. Drop them and get lost.”
Lin Shuang naturally didn’t think she was hearing things.
There were always scum who bullied the weak wherever you went.
“Listen here, grandson! My family’s eggs are big and fresh. Even at the supply and marketing cooperative, the purchase price is eight cents each. You can just hand over five yuan right here.”
The lookout hadn’t expected to run into someone who refused to play along, and his eyes widened into circles.
“What are you staring at? Stare at me again and your grandma will gouge your eyes out.”
Realizing the old woman was not someone to be messed with, the lookout instantly shut his mouth.
“Go, go, go…”
Lin Shuang, however, stopped in her tracks.
She stood to the side without saying a word.
The lookout felt extremely uncomfortable, his eyes darting toward Lin Shuang every now and then, terrified that she might cause trouble.
In truth, he was overthinking it.
She stood there because she seemed to have spotted Shen Linfeng just now.
Why would he come to the black market?
How bizarre!
In the original owner’s memory, he was an ethereal immortal who walked on air and drank dewdrops.
Lin Shuang quickened her pace to follow him.
The old woman who had been moving slowly earlier was suddenly walking as fast as the wind.
The lookout was left gobsmacked.
He must be seeing things!
Just as he was muttering, a shadow fell over him from above.
“Little Cousin-Uncle, do you want to head to the Northwest with me?”
If Lin Shuang had been there, she would have recognized him at a glance as the previous youth, except this time he wasn’t wearing his bamboo hat.
Lin Shuang followed him through a maze of twists and turns.
She finally caught up with him halfway up the mountain.
She mused to herself that this weakling wasn’t as delicate as he looked.
She hadn’t expected this place to hold a hidden world inside.
What a talent!
What kind of normal person would place a tomb right at their doorstep?
Talk about bad luck!
Watching Shen Linfeng part the person-tall grave grass with her own eyes and plunge right in…
She had to believe it now!
Could he be hiding some unspeakable business inside?
Lin Shuang hesitated over whether to follow him in and investigate.
However, it was pitch-black and creepy, not to mention the uncertain dangers lurking within.
If she didn’t follow, having the opportunity right in front of her felt like a huge waste.
*Right, I have my spatial dimension! Even if there’s danger, I can dodge it.*
Lin Shuang suddenly perked up—having a cheat really made all the difference.
Pushing aside the saw-tooth grass, Lin Shuang forged ahead with difficulty.
Worried about stepping on snakes, she didn’t even notice the dense thorns scratching the back of her hands.
Fortunately, her luck held out.
Standing before the fake gravestone, even though she had seen Shen Linfeng enter right through here, Lin Shuang’s scalp still felt a little numb.
“Prosperity, democracy, civility…”
With a push and a slide, a gap opened up.
Lin Shuang let out a breath of relief and hurriedly squeezed inside, only to be scared half to death the moment she found her footing.
“Woo—woo—”
It was eerie beyond belief!
She hadn’t heard a thing just moments ago.
Could she have been discovered?
Lin Shuang immediately ducked into her spatial dimension.
“Cackle—cackle—”
Oh great, both crying and laughing. Thank goodness she didn’t have a heart condition.
The earlier sound was distant and penetrating, like an old person’s voice.
The latter sound, however, sounded like a mischievous child giggling.
Lin Shuang shivered—it was far too terrifying.
Suddenly realizing something, Lin Shuang simply stepped out of her spatial dimension.
Sure enough, she came face-to-face with two pairs of pale blue beads.
Lin Shuang’s whole body relaxed.
It was just owls!
They sure knew how to play the ghost!
Only then did Lin Shuang realize this was a cave, the kind large enough to accommodate several hundred people.
In the dead, heavy silence, she could faintly hear voices talking.
Her tense nerves instantly eased.
Lin Shuang crept inside, stopping behind a folding screen five meters away, then flashed into her spatial dimension.
Shen Linfeng’s voice was very easy to distinguish.
“I’m getting engaged tomorrow night.”
Then she heard a deep, resonant voice of a middle-aged man. “Did you come all this way specifically to invite me?”
“Of course not! You can’t be exposed to the public.”
A giant question mark popped up in Lin Shuang’s mind.
*Hurry up and spill it, I want to listen!*
“Then why are you here?”
“That granddaughter from the Lin family is back.”
Lin Shuang: “…” *Are they talking about me?*
This was strange!
“Isn’t she your fiancée? What? A last-minute change of heart, wanting to swap her out?”
This person actually knew of her existence. In other words, he seemed very familiar with Shen Linfeng.
What was their relationship?
No matter how you looked at it, this was unusual. She had thought she’d catch a big fish tonight!
“The engagement is off! The one I like is Lanlan.”
The middle-aged man didn’t seem surprised at all.
“Then congratulations on finally getting what you wished for!”
When the middle-aged man said this, his tone carried a trace of regret.
Shen Linfeng’s voice, however, suddenly turned cold and vicious.
“Tomorrow night, take some men to wipe out the Lin family. Leave no survivors.”
Lin Shuang’s jaw nearly dropped to the floor.
Didn’t he like Lin Lanlan?
Wiping out her whole family right after getting engaged?
Where were his manners?
Wait, that wasn’t right! In the book, the scumbag father’s family clearly lived long and healthy lives.
Could it be that he wanted *her* dead?
Lin Shuang broke into a cold sweat.
Then she heard the middle-aged man suddenly burst into loud laughter.
“You truly are my flesh and blood!”
“Wanting to hoard all those things in Qin Hongwen’s secret room for yourself?”
“Fine! We’ll do as you say. Just like before, a fifty-fifty split.”
Lin Shuang’s brain went into overdrive. She hadn’t expected such a twist.
She quickly analyzed the difference between the two lifetimes:
In the previous life, Lin Lanlan had obtained the Lin family’s ancestral jade pendant.
It turned out that in her previous life, the scumbag father’s family had survived all because Lin Lanlan had revealed her magical secret early on.
Godfather or whatever—it was probably just a joke in Shen Linfeng’s eyes.
Presumably, Lin Lanlan’s spatial dimension had helped cover for him in many subsequent events, allowing this villain to eventually dominate Hong Kong.
She knew it—in a place like Hong Kong, money alone wasn’t enough to thrive; it might even be a death sentence.
This news was completely mind-boggling for Lin Shuang, who had been raised under the red flag.
Wait, Shen Linfeng wasn’t Father Shen’s biological son?
Did Shen Hongrun know this himself?
Aunt Shan was having an affair with this man? But Aunt Shan didn’t look like that kind of person at all!
It was too late, so Shen Linfeng stayed behind.
Only when snoring sounds drifted from outside did Lin Shuang emerge from her spatial dimension.
To be safe, Lin Shuang covered her nose and mouth, blowing some Knockout Powder over the two inside.
Eldest Uncle-in-law really had great foresight.
Taking down the lantern hanging on the wall, Lin Shuang searched around the area.
She found no trace of a third person here.
The “men” the middle-aged man spoke of bringing along were likely kept elsewhere.
As for wealth, nothing brought more peace of mind than keeping it right by one’s side.
Therefore, Lin Shuang felt there was a high probability that this man’s riches were hidden nearby.
Hard work paid off, and Lin Shuang indeed detected something unusual on a section of the wall.
Following what she had seen in martial arts novels, she actually managed to trigger a hidden mechanism.
Squeezing through an opening no larger than a dog hole, Lin Shuang had no trouble getting inside.
The dozens of large trunks inside opened Lin Shuang’s eyes wide.
Opening one at random, the blinding glitter of gold greeted her eyes.
Opening a few others, they held either antique calligraphy and paintings or fine jewelry.
She hit the jackpot!
Even if she did nothing for the rest of her life, she wouldn’t starve to death lying down.
Forgive her for having such modest ambitions.
With a rapid sweep, the secret room was emptied in an instant.
Restoring the opening back to its original state, she saw the two men were still unconscious.
After some thought, Lin Shuang took away the pile of clothes they had removed.
She also cleared out the wardrobe in the cave, the rice, flour, and oil sitting on the ground, two cans of Ovaltine, a leg of ham… In short, Lin Shuang didn’t leave a single strand of hair behind.
Everything was swept clean.
Upon returning to the foot of the mountain, the black market hadn’t broken up yet.
Lin Shuang adjusted her basket and bustled right back inside.
When the lookout saw the familiar old woman, his eyes twitched uncontrollably.