Just as Liu Qingyu was about to reach her mother’s room, she heard the commotion outside. Curious, she walked to the courtyard gate and opened it to see what was happening.
She saw the maids and servants of the Liu Residence hurrying past, all wearing expressions as if the sky were about to collapse.
“What happened?” Liu Qingyu stopped a kind-looking maid and asked.
The maid quickly bowed and replied, “Second Miss, the Imperial Guards have just surrounded our residence. I heard that all three masters of the Liu family have been thrown into prison. When the Old Madam heard the news, she fainted on the spot.
But those guards won’t allow anyone to leave the residence to fetch a doctor. The whole manor is in complete chaos now. This servant still has things to do, so I’ll take my leave first.”
Watching the maid hurry away, Liu Qingyu frowned.
Has the plot advanced ahead of schedule? In the novel, the residence wasn’t supposed to be surrounded by the Imperial Guards until the day after the three masters were imprisoned.
It seemed her plans had to be moved forward as well.
Changing direction, Liu Qingyu returned to her room and immediately put on the Invisibility Cloak, intending to empty out the treasury while the Liu Residence was in chaos.
As expected of an item from the System Store—no sooner had she put on the cloak than she vanished from the room.
Relying on the original host’s memories, Liu Qingyu quickly found the Liu family’s treasury. At that moment, two men were standing outside, chatting.
“Brother Wang, the manor’s already in chaos. Shouldn’t we take this chance to make a little profit?” one of them said with a lewd grin.
Brother Wang had been thinking the same thing. Hearing this, he smiled and said, “The treasury uses a special lock that can only be opened with a special key. We won’t get anything from here.
Why don’t we go check out the Second Madam’s private storeroom instead? Aside from the Old Madam’s courtyard, that’s probably the richest place in the residence.”
The two immediately set off, leaving the treasury without a second glance.
Only after they had gone did Liu Qingyu take out the thin wire known as the “Master Key” from her space.
Half-believing, half-doubtful, she inserted the wire into the lock. To her surprise, the wire slowly changed shape and eventually became a key.
Liu Qingyu gently turned it.
Click.
The lock opened.
Pushing the door open, she entered the Liu family’s treasury. The sight of countless gold, silver, and jewels made her eyes light up.
Just looking at all these treasures, she refused to believe that the late Old Master Liu had been an honest official.
But now, all of it belonged to her!
She first stored away the neatly stacked chests of silver. She remembered that the novel had mentioned the Old Madam’s peculiar hobby.
In this era, most people exchanged their silver for banknotes because they were easier to store and carry.
However, Old Madam Liu loved counting her gold and silver ingots every night before happily going to sleep.
The novel had even mentioned that during exile, what she missed most was the treasure in her storeroom.
But now, all of it conveniently benefited Liu Qingyu.
After all, no matter the circumstances, real gold and silver were always hard currency.
After collecting the gold, silver, and jewelry, Liu Qingyu moved on to the next area.
There, various medicinal ingredients were stored—ginseng, lingzhi mushrooms, deer antlers, cordyceps, saffron, and more, all packed in exquisite boxes.
With a wave of her hand, she swept everything into her space, not even leaving behind the empty boxes.
Old Madam Liu, you’re truly a wonderful person!
Besides those practical items, the treasury also contained various pieces of solid wooden furniture. Unfortunately, Liu Qingyu couldn’t tell what kind of precious wood they were made of.
Thinking of the empty thatched cottage inside her space, she collected all the furniture as well, saving herself the expense of buying furnishings later.
She couldn’t help but sigh again.
Old Madam Liu really is a good person!
After completely looting the treasury, Liu Qingyu looked at her now well-stocked space and nodded in satisfaction.
This should be enough.
Seeing that the Invisibility Cloak still had an hour of usage remaining, she blinked her pretty almond-shaped eyes.
She decided to collect some food from the kitchen first and then check out the private storeroom that the two servants had mentioned.
After restoring the treasury door to its original state, she headed to the kitchen.
The kitchen was bustling with activity, and Liu Qingyu even spotted her own maid complaining to others about how poor and stingy the eldest branch of the family was.
Using her nimble movements, Liu Qingyu swiftly weaved through the crowd.
When she found a place where dishes were being stored, she stopped.
With a wave of her hand, an entire table of food vanished.
Taking advantage of everyone’s distraction, she also collected some steamed buns and other staple foods.
“Eh? M-My dishes?!”
The cook turned around and found the table completely empty, as if it were mocking her stupidity.
Before leaving, Liu Qingyu also stomped hard on that maid’s foot.
A disloyal servant who forgot her master’s kindness deserved to be sold off again.
Recalling what the kitchen helpers had said earlier, Liu Qingyu headed toward the Liu family’s granary.
There was no one guarding it, so she didn’t even need the Master Key. She simply fiddled with the lock and entered openly.
Looking at the sacks of freshly harvested grain, the corners of her lips curled upward.
What perfect timing. Whatever I need just appears.
After collecting the grain, she also took quite a bit of the wine stored there.
Her father loved a good drink.
Having finished all this, Liu Qingyu finally felt somewhat reassured. Leaving the granary, she headed toward the Second Branch’s courtyard.
As expected of Old Madam Liu’s biological son, the Second Branch’s courtyard was large and beautifully decorated.
But at this moment, it was filled with curses and sounds of fighting.
“You little hussies! The family is in trouble, and instead of thinking about getting through it together, you’re trying to steal the family’s property! Believe it or not, I’ll have Madam sell every one of you!”
A plump old servant woman shouted angrily at two maids who were fighting over their mistress’s jewelry.
Unexpectedly, the maids who normally treated her with utmost respect didn’t even spare her a glance.
As they continued grabbing jewelry, they retorted:
“Old Su, stop acting so high and mighty. We all know exactly what kind of person you are. I just saw you hide a big gold bracelet up your sleeve.
Instead of worrying about us, you’d better grab more valuables yourself. The masters can barely save themselves now. Who knows what will happen to servants like us in the end?”
Old Su seemed persuaded. She opened her mouth, but said nothing.
However, before she could join the scramble herself, she was robbed.
Liu Qingyu watched the same two servants who had been guarding the treasury suddenly pounce on Old Su and tear open her sleeve.
Clatter!
A crisp metallic sound rang out.
It turned out that Old Su hadn’t only hidden a gold bracelet—she had stolen quite a few other things as well.
Truly, the crow perched upon the pig—each one blacker than the other.
Avoiding the people rushing over to snatch the valuables, Liu Qingyu entered the female lead Liu Jinyao’s room.
Having only recently transmigrated, there had been too many things to think about. It was only now, upon entering the room, that she suddenly remembered something—
The female lead’s cheat item: the jade pendant.
At this point, Liu Jinyao hadn’t yet bound it to herself.
In that case… why shouldn’t she seize it first?
Liu Qingyu remembered that in the novel, the jade pendant had been among a pile of random items the heroine casually picked up during the confiscation of the family property.
She had hidden those things inside her clothes, which was why the officials carrying out the confiscation hadn’t discovered them.
Later, during exile, she accidentally cut her finger on a crack in the jade pendant and discovered that it contained a pocket dimension. The former owner of that space had apparently been a cultivator.
He had left behind many recipes with special effects, allowing her to open a restaurant after arriving in exile.
However…
Liu Qingyu looked around at Liu Jinyao’s room, which had obviously already been thoroughly ransacked.
Could she still find that jade pendant?