She did not regret killing anyone. If given another chance, she would still make the same choice. She only wanted to live peacefully; if she did not kill, then she would be the one who died.
A bold plan formed in her mind.
Zhou Qingling exited the storage space, and an intense smell of blood immediately rushed into the room. She covered her nose and mouth.
She looked around. The room, though simply furnished, was exquisitely arranged. It was divided into two sections: the inner area for resting, and the outer area for receiving guests, much like the layout seen in historical dramas.
Zhou Qingling carefully moved to the door and listened intently to the sounds outside.
After a while, confirming there was no one outside, she gently opened the door. The courtyard was not very large. On the left was a small artificial rockery with a pond, where water flowed at the bottom.
In the center was a winding path, and on the right were planted flowers and trees, giving the place an elegant atmosphere.
She tiptoed into the courtyard and found the main gate closed, with people talking outside.
Zhou Qingling approached and pressed her ear against the wall to eavesdrop. It was two gatekeeping servants engaging in vulgar talk.
“That Miss Ruyan’s skills are really something.”
“You’ve been with her?”
“Sigh! Speaking of it makes my heart ache—I spent five taels of silver on her. But the experience was truly unforgettable.” the man said, still reminiscing.
After a while, the same servant spoke again. “What does the girl Second Master brought back today look like?”
“I didn’t see her. Qiao Liu went with Second Master.”
“I think she won’t last more than two days. I wonder if we’ll get a chance to benefit from her then.”
The two men exchanged lewd grins.
After listening for a while and finding no useful information, Zhou Qingling quietly returned to the room.
She first collected all valuable ornaments and expensive items into her storage space. Not taking free valuables would be foolish.
She also found the man’s money pouch and, without even looking inside, directly stored it away.
At this point, she calmed down instead. At that moment, she noticed something unusual about the bed.
Earlier, she had pulled off the bedding, leaving only the bare wooden planks. Normally, a bed in a wealthy household should be a single solid board, yet this one had a clearly uneven seam in the middle.
Zhou Qingling knocked on it. The sound from the center differed from the rest of the bed.
She tried to pry it open with force, but it did not move at all. There must have been a mechanism. Wherever there were mechanisms in ancient settings, there were usually treasures.
For now, she was safe.
She began searching for the mechanism and eventually found a carved floral pattern that protruded slightly differently from the rest.
Zhou Qingling rotated it once, and with a “click.” the bed board opened.
It revealed a secret chamber. Such a hidden place must contain valuable items.
She waited a moment to let it ventilate first, then took a candle from the candlestick and entered.
It was said that ancient secret rooms often had traps. She first took several sweet potatoes from her storage space and threw them onto the ground, then tossed a few toward the walls on all four sides. After confirming there was no danger, she cautiously entered.
The size of the secret chamber was similar to the courtyard. Everything inside was visible at a glance. Only about one-fifth of the space was filled, making it appear quite empty.
Against the wall were stacks of sacks. Zhou Qingling cut one open. It was grain—at least seven to eight thousand jin in total.
In the center stood rows of wooden shelves. She opened one box, revealing silver ingots—bright, dazzling, and tempting.
The wooden boxes were not as exaggerated as in dramas; they were larger than jewelry boxes. Each silver ingot weighed fifty taels. One box contained twenty pieces—that was one thousand taels per box.
She continued opening them. Five boxes were filled with silver.
Another box contained gold. One held silver banknotes. The last contained jade ornaments, gold hairpins, and similar valuables.
Zhou Qingling quickly glanced over them and directly stored everything into her storage space. As the saying went: misfortune often hides within fortune, and fortune often lies within misfortune.
Fortune and misfortune coexisted. No matter when, one should never give up easily.
When one thought everything was hopeless, something unexpected might appear.
Did discovering these treasures count as a “sudden clearing after the storm”?
Otherwise, as an ordinary village girl, she would never have seen so much money in her entire life, let alone possessed it.
Yet now, all of it belonged to her. The day had been full of extreme ups and downs—truly thrilling.
There were also books and paintings on the shelves. In no time, everything inside the hidden chamber had been transferred into her storage space.
The storage space was now completely packed, leaving only a narrow passage. Without delay, she quickly returned to the room.
She had previously stored a lot of flour in her storage space. She scattered it across the floor and kept striking it repeatedly, causing the flour to become suspended in the air.
As the saying went, transmigration did not automatically increase intelligence, but it did increase life experience and survival awareness.
In her past life, she knew that gas stations and flour mills prohibited phone calls and open flames.
She remembered that flour could explode if three conditions were met:
First, the room had to be sealed.
Second, there had to be an open flame.
Third, the concentration of suspended flour particles had to reach a certain level.
After completing everything, she knocked over the candlestick and threw flammable books and paintings onto the floor. Although it pained her slightly, survival came first—there was no time for hesitation.
She then retreated to the gate and hid inside her storage space, waiting for the fire to spread.
Soon, black smoke rose from the room. The servants outside finally noticed something wrong and shouted a few times for “Second Master.”
Seeing no response, they hurriedly opened the gate and were immediately shocked, shouting: “Fire! Fire!”
They ran off to call for help.
Zhou Qingling had been waiting for this moment. She immediately exited her storage space and fled along with the chaos.
Soon, the people from the estate rushed out after hearing the alarm, carrying water buckets to extinguish the fire.
Zhou Qingling seized the opportunity and ran toward the main gate. She did not feel greedy and did not search other parts of the estate for more treasures. Discovering these already counted as unexpected fortune; greed would only lead to disaster.
With most people occupied with the fire, her escape went smoothly. Thirty meters… ten meters…
When she opened the gate, she immediately sprinted.
She had escaped. She had finally escaped.
Whether from fear or wind, her entire body trembled uncontrollably. Her legs moved mechanically as she ran.
Not long after, a loud “boom” sounded behind her. None of that had anything to do with her anymore.
Zhou Qingling simply ran with all her strength. Even though the explosion might harm innocent people, she could not afford to care. Those servants had followed their master and likely committed wrongdoing as well—they were not entirely innocent. She tried to justify herself inwardly.
She did not know how long she ran. She felt as though blood foam might come out of her mouth. Only when she could no longer run did she finally stop.
At some point, rain had begun to fall, like mist. Her clothes were already soaked through, though she had not even noticed.
Zhou Qingling wiped water from her face and looked around.
The moon flickered in and out of the clouds.
This was a mountainous area. The fields were not continuous like those in the north but divided into separate plots. Corn grew in the fields, its stalks taller than her.
Occasional breezes passed through, creating rustling sounds.
There was no light around. The quiet fields felt unusually eerie.
She had not felt fear while running, but now that she had stopped and looked at the path ahead, she suddenly thought of a horror film she had watched in childhood: “The Village Teacher.”
She swallowed hard, feeling a chill down her neck, as if someone stood behind her. She shivered uncontrollably, silently repeating to herself: “Believe in science… believe in science…”
Just as she was about to enter her storage space, a large hand suddenly appeared behind her.