“Let’s go, we’re setting off now,” Shen Wenhe said, taking one last look around the courtyard he had lived in for twenty years.
Since everything had been arranged in advance, their move the next day went smoothly without any complications. They relocated to the manor without a hitch.
The manor was indeed quite far from the city—it took nearly two hours by carriage to get there.
Bai Nianqing estimated it was at least several dozen kilometers away.
“Finally, we’re here. Traveling these days is such an ordeal; the jolting nearly rattled my bones to pieces,” Bai Nianqing exclaimed as she jumped down from the carriage.
The roads in ancient times were far from ideal. While the main official roads were somewhat tolerable, the rural paths were simply indescribable.
“This place is a bit far from the city, but if anything were to happen, it would be easier to flee into the mountains. We’ll stay here for now, and if things improve in the future, we can move back to the city. We do have a house in the city, but the reason we moved here now is because Father left something in the manor’s underground cellar. Also, I wanted to put some distance between us and the Shen family—I don’t want to see them again,” Shen Wenhe explained.
“Father left something? What is it?” Bai Nianqing had long known that wealthy families always prepared multiple escape routes. As the saying goes, “a cunning rabbit has three burrows”—this was precisely the reasoning.
“Yes, this must be one of Father’s contingency plans. He said there’s grain in the underground cellar and gold and silver in the secret chamber. He also advised me to exchange banknotes for gold and silver if I had the chance, as they would be more useful than banknotes if anything were to happen in the future. If there’s plenty of grain in the cellar, we won’t need to buy any,” Shen Wenhe said, supporting Bai Nianqing as they walked into the courtyard.
Though it was called a manor, it was actually a small two-courtyard residence. The fields surrounding the manor belonged to the Shen family but were rented out to tenants.
“Sister, sister, are we going to live here from now on?” Four-year-old Bai Nianchen ran up and grabbed the hem of Bai Nianqing’s clothes.
“Yes, we’ll live here from now on. Are you happy, Chenchen? Once we’re settled, I’ll find a tutor to teach you how to read. Look over there—there are big mountains. When I have time, I’ll take you hiking.”
Bai Nianqing chatted with her younger brother as they walked.
Inside the manor, the steward was already waiting for them.
“Fourth Young Master, Fourth Young Mistress, you’ve arrived? This is the key to the underground cellar. The master instructed me to give it to you. He said the manor has been transferred to you, Fourth Young Master, and we are to relocate to the manor at Bali Village,” the steward said, bowing respectfully.
Shen Wenhe nodded and took the key. “Very well, you may go.”
“Understood, Fourth Young Master. I’ve already had the rooms cleaned. If there’s nothing else, I’ll take my leave now. My family has already gone ahead, and I need to join them,” the steward replied. His family were trusted aides of Shen Wenhe, specifically assigned to guard the grain in the underground cellar. Now that the manor had been given to Shen Wenhe, it was only natural for the steward’s family to leave.
After speaking, the steward departed.
“What’s going on? What does your father mean by this?” Bai Nianqing was puzzled by the situation and how readily the steward had left.
“The steward is Father’s trusted aide. He was originally here to guard the supplies. Now that the manor has been given to us, Father would naturally take his people away. This is for the best—since the manor is ours, it wouldn’t be appropriate for his people to remain here.”
“And if we really have to flee famine like in your dream, having too many people around wouldn’t be good either,” Shen Wenhe explained.
Bai Nianqing nodded. She didn’t understand these matters and had no opinions about them.
“Since your father has given everything to you, why don’t we go store them away first?” Bai Nianqing felt nowhere was safer than her Dimension, hence her suggestion.
“Maybe we should do it tomorrow instead. You must be tired after the long carriage ride,” Shen Wenhe expressed concern for Bai Nianqing’s health.
“It’s fine. Let’s go, I’ll feel more at ease after storing them away,” Bai Nianqing insisted.
Seeing her determination, Shen Wenhe didn’t argue further, only instructing Xiaochun to take Nianchen inside first.
“Xiaochun, please take Nianchen inside first. Your mistress and I have some matters to attend to,” Shen Wenhe turned and instructed.
“Yes, young master,” Xiaochun replied and came over to take Nianchen’s hand.
Nianchen was accustomed to being cared for by Xiaochun, and having heard that his brother-in-law and sister needed to handle some business, he followed Xiaochun without fussing.
“Let’s go. My father said the Underground cellar is beneath the woodshed,” Shen Wenhe said, supporting Bai Nianqing as they walked toward the backyard.
“This is the place,” Shen Wenhe stepped forward and began moving the firewood in the woodshed to one side.
Bai Nianqing wanted to help, but Shen Wenhe refused: “No need, my dear. Just wait here by the side.”
Fortunately, there wasn’t much firewood in the shed – it was mainly for appearance.
After Shen Wenhe moved all the firewood from the east side to the west, the entrance to the Underground cellar was revealed on the ground.
However, the opening was covered by a wooden board.
Shen Wenhe removed the board to reveal an iron plate beneath. This time, simply moving it aside wasn’t enough, as the iron plate was secured with a large lock.
Shen Wenhe took out the key the steward had given him earlier, unlocked it, and moved the iron plate aside, revealing descending steps.
Perhaps because people went down frequently, or maybe there was another ventilation opening, the air in the Underground cellar wasn’t unpleasant.
With Shen Wenhe leading and Bai Nianqing following, they carefully descended the steps into the cellar.
The Underground cellar was quite spacious, about two hundred square meters, neatly filled with sacks.
Bai Nianqing quickly estimated there were about over a hundred large sacks.
Each sack weighed approximately two hundred jin, so over a hundred sacks amounted to more than twenty thousand jin.
Shen Wenhe took out an iron probe and stabbed it hard into a sack. When he pulled it out, grains from the sack were caught in the probe’s groove.
Shen Wenhe tested four different sacks in various locations, confirming the grains were mainly rice and wheat, with a small portion being corn.
“My dear, all the grains are here. You can store them away now,” Shen Wenhe said after checking, letting Bai Nianqing collect everything.
Without speaking, Bai Nianqing stepped forward, placed her hand on a sack, and with a thought, the sack disappeared.
Though he had seen it several times already, Shen Wenhe was still amazed watching the sacks vanish before his eyes.
“My dear, are you perhaps a celestial maiden from heaven? How else could you possess such divine abilities?”
“I wonder what good deeds I performed in my previous life to deserve having you as my wife in this lifetime,” Shen Wenhe said.
“Maybe I really was a celestial maiden in my previous life. You’d better treat me well. If you ever mistreat me or take concubines like others do, I’ll return to heaven where you’ll never find me again,” Bai Nianqing said while continuing to store away the sacks.
“My lady, rest assured, I will definitely treat you well. You must not leave me,” Shen Wenhe hurriedly promised.
“Hmph, it better be so. After all, all your assets are in my hands. If you ever wrong me, I’ll leave you penniless. Let’s see if any woman out there would still want you then.”