“My goodness! As expected of the national treasury—there are so many treasures here.”
Hehe… now they’re all mine.
The treasury wasn’t just filled with copper coins, gold and silver ingots, and porcelain.
There were also huge stores of grain, rice, wheat, beans, and other food supplies.
There were tribute goods from all over the country as well: silk, cloth, furs, tea, salt, spices, medicinal herbs, and precious woods like nanmu and red sandalwood.
There were all kinds of rare treasures too.
Jewelry, jade, ivory, rhinoceros horns—everything imaginable.
There were even military supplies: swords, spears, bows, arrows, armor, warhorses, cowhide, and tents.
In short, the treasury contained practically everything, and all of it was valuable or useful.
Shen Qingyao grinned so widely that her cheeks almost hurt.
There was simply too much!
She wouldn’t even dare dream of this.
“Hahaha! I’m rich! I’m rich!” Shen Qingyao laughed happily.
Without the slightest hesitation, she waved her hand and collected everything.
She didn’t even leave a single grain of rice for that scumbag emperor.
Since the bastard refused to act like a human being, he couldn’t blame her for taking revenge on behalf of the original owner and leaving him with nothing.
This time, she couldn’t store everything in the basement.
The basement was already getting too small.
So she placed everything inside another villa instead.
The rooms, the basement, and even the courtyard between the villas were packed to the brim.
After leaving the treasury, Shen Qingyao headed for the Bureau of Clothing.
The warehouse there contained every kind of ready-made garment and every type of fabric imaginable.
There were threads of every color and thickness, along with needles of every size and length.
She had no intention of leaving any of it behind.
There were enough clothes here for her to wear for a lifetime.
Although they were all made exclusively for the imperial family, they should look different enough after a few alterations.
Without another thought, Shen Qingyao waved her hand and swept everything into her space.
Whether she could wear them or not didn’t matter.
She wasn’t leaving them so much as a single thread.
The Bureau of Clothing’s warehouse was emptied completely.
Every bolt of cloth and every garment displayed inside and outside was collected.
Anything she could see was taken.
Not just the fabrics—even the looms and the shelves holding the cloth disappeared.
Once she’d finished looting the Bureau of Clothing, Shen Qingyao went to the Imperial Study and cleaned it out as well.
She left behind nothing but an empty room.
She didn’t leave immediately.
After all, many studies had hidden passages.
Who knew if the Imperial Study had one too?
She reached out and knocked on the floor where the cabinets had originally stood, checking every section from left to right.
Halfway through, she suddenly heard a hollow sound coming from one part of the wall.
Her eyes lit up.
“Oh ho… found it.”
Now all she had to do was locate the hidden switch.
Her eyes swept back and forth across the wall like searchlights, but she found nothing.
Unwilling to give up, she lowered her head and carefully tapped the floor with the tip of her foot, examining every inch.
At last, heaven rewarded her persistence.
She finally found the mechanism.
It was a slightly raised stone tucked away in the farthest corner.
She lifted her foot and stomped on it hard.
Afraid there might be hidden traps, she instantly leaped backward like a startled rabbit.
Fortunately, no hidden weapons flew out.
Instead, a concealed door slowly opened in the wall.
Shen Qingyao cautiously leaned her head inside.
It was pitch black.
There was no telling whether there were traps waiting inside.
She paced back and forth at the entrance a couple of times, unable to make up her mind.
What if she got hurt?
Then she suddenly remembered—
She had her space.
Even if there were hidden weapons, they couldn’t hurt her.
At worst, she could instantly retreat into her space.
“That’s right. That’s the way.”
She nodded in satisfaction.
She had almost forgotten.
With a wave of her hand, a flashlight appeared.
She switched it on and shined it into the passage.
It led underground.
She took a stone out of her space and tossed it down the stairs.
The stone bounced down the steps with loud clattering sounds.
It rolled all the way to the bottom, but no traps were triggered.
Looks like she had worried for nothing.
The emperor’s secret chamber was hidden so well that outsiders would rarely discover it.
There wasn’t much need to install traps.
Shen Qingyao carefully walked down the staircase one step at a time.
As she walked, she counted the steps to pass the time.
“One… two… three… four… five… six… thirty-six… thirty-seven… thirty-eight… thirty-nine… forty… one hundred one… one hundred two.”
When she reached the one hundred and second step, she arrived at the secret chamber.
The beam from her flashlight revealed more than twenty large wooden chests.
She walked over and opened one.
It was filled with gold ingots.
She opened another.
Inside were perfectly round pearls, each about the same size.
She didn’t bother opening the rest.
Knowing they were all filled with valuables, she simply waved her hand and stored every chest inside her space.
Sure enough, rich people always kept backup stashes.
They never put all their valuables in one place.
Luckily, she’d remembered that studies often contained secret chambers.
Otherwise, all these treasures would have been left for that scumbag emperor and that vicious woman.
Just thinking about it made her uncomfortable.
Leaving the Imperial Study, she went to the Imperial Household Department.
She cleaned that place out too, leaving absolutely nothing behind.
Then she headed to the Imperial Kitchen.
The Imperial Kitchen was enormous.
It contained enough food to feed ordinary commoners for an entire year.
Rice, flour, grain, cooking oil, meat, eggs, vegetables…
Everything went into her space.
Naturally, she didn’t spare the pots, bowls, ladles, or pans either.
In short, she wasn’t leaving a single thing for that scumbag emperor or his shameless empress.
Looking at the Imperial Kitchen with nothing left except the stoves, Shen Qingyao smiled in satisfaction.
“Hehe… let me think… where haven’t I looted yet?” she muttered softly.
Suddenly, someone came to mind.
It was time to pay that old hag a visit.
According to the original owner’s memories, that old hag had never once treated her kindly.
Every day she forced the original owner to follow endless rules and etiquette.
She was the very definition of a vicious mother-in-law.
That’s right.
The person Shen Qingyao was thinking of was the current Empress Dowager—the scumbag emperor’s mother.
The original owner had suffered terribly under this wicked old woman.
She was forced to kneel at the slightest excuse.
Sometimes, in the middle of winter, she had to kneel outside for two hours wearing only thin clothes.
That old hag was absolutely hateful.
No matter what, she had to make her suffer a little too.
Otherwise, Shen Qingyao wouldn’t feel satisfied.
Since she’d made up her mind, she immediately headed to the Empress Dowager’s palace.
She didn’t go to the Empress Dowager’s bedroom.
Instead, she went directly to the Empress Dowager’s private treasury.
Looking at the rare treasures, luxurious silks, gold, silver, and jewels inside…
She felt that the Empress Dowager actually possessed even more wealth than the empress.
As expected of an old hag.
She certainly knew how to squeeze wealth out of people.
Then again, it made sense.
The old hag was already over fifty years old.
She had served the late emperor as one of his consorts for many years.
Naturally, she had received countless imperial rewards.
With a wave of her hand, everything in the private treasury disappeared into her space.
Looking at the now-empty room, Shen Qingyao was extremely satisfied.
She immediately flashed into the Empress Dowager’s bedroom.
The scene inside startled her so badly that she froze.
She never would have imagined seeing something so shocking.
Good grief!
Her eyes had been polluted.
Her innocent little heart had been corrupted.
She was still just a baby!
The Empress Dowager was lying sideways on the bed wearing nothing but a dudou.
Two men dressed as eunuchs were running their hands all over her body.
The Empress Dowager wore an expression of complete enjoyment.
That old hag really was a hypocrite.
Tsk.
Shameless.
It was hard for Shen Qingyao to believe this was the same person.
In the original owner’s memories, the Empress Dowager always wore a stern face and constantly lectured others about dignity, propriety, and etiquette.
Who would have guessed this was what she was like behind closed doors?
So that’s how it was.
All those rules and manners were only for other people.
The Empress Dowager herself didn’t have to follow them.
Forget it.
Whatever kind of person the old hag was had nothing to do with her.
The maids and eunuchs outside had already been dismissed.
No one was guarding the doors.
Shen Qingyao silently approached the three of them and swung a small hammer.
One hit to each head.
She didn’t use her full strength.
She only knocked them unconscious.
Afterward, she stored the three unconscious people into her space together with everything in the bedroom.
The Empress Dowager’s palace also had a small kitchen.
Shen Qingyao didn’t let that go either.
She packed the whole thing up and took it away.
Leaving such delicious food behind for them would be a complete waste.
There were no other imperial consorts living in the palace now.
There was no point visiting the other palace halls.
Wait.
She had almost forgotten somewhere.
The emperor’s own residence—the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
There had to be good things there.
Shen Qingyao flashed over to the Hall of Mental Cultivation.
It had both a private treasury and a small kitchen.
She visited the treasury first and collected every treasure inside.
She didn’t alert the guards outside at all.
She came silently and left silently.
Then she went to the small kitchen.
All the delicacies inside disappeared into her space.
She didn’t even spare the emperor’s study.
Famous paintings, ancient books, treasured calligraphy…
Everything was taken.
She absolutely refused to leave anything for that dog emperor.
Even the tables and chairs were gone.
There wasn’t much worth taking elsewhere in the palace.
So she headed straight for the empress’s palace.
It was the only place she hadn’t looted yet.
Only half an hour had passed.
She slipped into the bridal chamber.
The scumbag emperor and the shameless woman were already asleep.
That scumbag really wasn’t very impressive.
She glanced at his upper body in disdain.
No chest muscles.
No abs.
There wasn’t even anything worth looking at.
Just like she’d done to the Empress Dowager, she gave each of them a tap on the head with her little hammer.
Then she stored both of them, along with everything inside the bedroom, into her space.
Naturally, she didn’t spare the other rooms in the empress’s palace either.
Everything was packed up and taken away.
Feeling that she’d almost finished, Shen Qingyao patted her hands and prepared to leave the palace.
Then she suddenly remembered one last place.
The Hall of Supreme Harmony, where the emperor held court.
There should be some valuable things there.
She flashed over to the Hall of Supreme Harmony.
Inside, she found only the Dragon Throne and several enormous decorative vases.
There wasn’t much else of value.
She collected the throne and the vases.
Then her eyes suddenly lit up as she stared at the massive supporting pillars.
They appeared to be made entirely of gold.
She truly wanted to pull every single golden pillar out.
But if she did, the entire palace might collapse.
In the end, she reluctantly gave up.
She reached out and lovingly patted one of the golden pillars.
“Sigh… my precious. I really want to take all of you with me, but I can’t.”
With that, she flashed out of the palace.
Standing alone on the empty street, Shen Qingyao looked around in confusion.
Where should she go next?
Looking at the rows of shops with their doors already closed, she suddenly felt a little empty inside.
But it didn’t take long before she knew exactly where to go.
“Prime Minister’s Residence… here I come.”
Looking up at the sparse stars in the night sky, Shen Qingyao murmured to herself.
The original owner had lived a life worse than a servant in the Prime Minister’s Residence.
Since she had inherited the original owner’s body, she would properly avenge her.
She would teach them what heavenly punishment looked like.
Shen Qingyao flashed into the Prime Minister’s Residence.
Only a few lanterns cast faint light across the estate.
The entire residence was silent.
Not a sound could be heard.
She headed first to the manor’s treasury.
After collecting everything inside, she moved to the manor’s kitchen.
The Prime Minister’s kitchen was enormous, almost comparable to the Imperial Kitchen.
It was stocked with every kind of delicacy, along with rice, flour, grain, and cooking oil.
Take it.
Take it all.
She collected everything without the slightest hesitation.
After that, she went to Shen Shuyan’s former courtyard.
She entered Shen Shuyan’s room and found it exquisitely decorated.
Since Shen Shuyan had already married, many of the clothes and jewelry she’d owned before marriage had been left behind.
In that case…
She wouldn’t be polite.
Everything in the room was swept away.