“H-H-H-Holy crap! It’s gold! An entire chest full of gold!”
Su Qingran rubbed her eyes. Right now, she treasured this chest of gold more than anything.
When the apocalypse had arrived, the first thing humanity abandoned was money. Gold soon followed.
The stuff was heavy, bulky, and impossible to eat. Carrying it around was completely useless.
That was why people used to say that during the apocalypse, gold was scattered everywhere.
When Su Qingran had first obtained her space, it had only been a little over fifty square meters. She could only store essential food supplies, so she considered gold a waste of valuable storage space and never kept any.
Later, after finding a Space Stone, her space expanded. By then, however, all the gold had long since disappeared.
That was why, after transmigrating here, she had ended up without a single tael to spend.
Thinking about it brought tears to her eyes.
How was she supposed to know she’d suddenly transmigrate?
A whole chest of gold!
Just one of these gold ingots could probably support an ordinary family for an entire lifetime.
Su Qingran eagerly opened several more chests.
One chest was filled entirely with pearl jewelry. Selling it would bring in a fortune.
Two chests contained bolts of premium-quality cloth.
Another two chests were packed with silver. Compared to the gold chest, however, they seemed far less impressive.
There were also two chests full of copper coins.
Su Qingran wasn’t picky.
She took everything.
The remaining chests contained things like books, paintings, calligraphy, and antiques—every single item was extremely valuable.
“I’m not bragging,” she muttered, “but no wonder Pei Xingzhou started planning all this years ago. Grandpa must have flaunted his wealth a little too much.”
At that moment, Su Qingran made an important life decision.
From now on, she would pretend to be poor.
The poorer she appeared, the less likely people would covet her belongings.
Opening the remaining chests, she found more silver and cloth. Compared to the treasures she’d just collected, however, these looked rather shabby.
Su Qingran guessed these must be Pei Xingzhou’s personal savings—the entire fortune of the Pei family.
No wonder he had his eyes on her dowry.
All of his chests combined weren’t worth as much as a single chest of her silver.
“Pah. What a pauper.”
With all this money in hand, Su Qingran instantly felt secure.
She was completely satisfied with her haul.
Just as she was about to leave, she accidentally brushed against something.
A small box fell out from a hidden compartment.
“Huh? There’s more?”
Muttering to herself, she opened the box.
Inside lay a jade pendant as pure as ice and as flawless as crystal.
“Wow. You can tell at a glance this thing is worth a fortune.”
Her eyes lit up.
As she lifted the pendant, however, she noticed a letter hidden underneath it.
Since it had been concealed in such a secret place, it was probably left behind by the Pingyang Marquis—her grandfather.
Without hesitation, she opened the letter and began reading.
The moment she finished, she couldn’t help but marvel.
The old saying was true: experience came with age.
This letter and jade pendant were her grandfather’s final contingency plan for her.
The letter roughly stated:
If Su Qingran ever decided that Pei Xingzhou was not a suitable husband, she should take the jade pendant and the accompanying identity documents to the Su Family Fortress in Yuzhou. The people there were all members of the Su clan. Once they verified her identity, they would provide her with shelter and protection.
Clearly, the Pingyang Marquis had worried that Pei Xingzhou might one day betray her.
That was why he had secretly left her this escape route.
As for why it had been hidden so carefully, it was probably for Su Qingran’s own protection.
The original Su Qingran had been proud and stubborn by nature.
If she had discovered this letter earlier, she might not have stayed in the Pei Residence for even a single day before immediately leaving the capital for Yuzhou.
But she was only a young woman.
Traveling alone to Yuzhou would have been extremely dangerous.
The realm was currently in turmoil.
Local regions were dissatisfied with the imperial court, the court lacked the power to fully control those regions, and tribes from the frontier lands constantly eyed the Central Plains like hungry wolves.
If the original Su Qingran had left the capital alone, there was no guarantee she would have survived the journey.
In that sense, the escape route left by the Pingyang Marquis was truly a last resort.
Taking out the travel permit, household registration papers, and other identity documents, Su Qingran felt overjoyed.
The capital wasn’t a good place to retire anyway.
And after she killed Pei Xingzhou, leaving the capital would be the safest option.
With these documents, at least she could travel freely beyond the capital’s borders.
After finishing everything, Su Qingran wandered over to a full-length mirror to examine her current appearance.
The moment she looked, she nearly jumped in shock.
The face reflected back at her belonged to a completely ordinary man.
The sort of face that would disappear into a crowd without anyone noticing.
Then she remembered.
She was still wearing a disguise.
Su Qingran immediately peeled off the lifelike mask.
When she finally saw her true reflection, she couldn’t stop herself from blurting out:
“Holy crap.”
Her skin was fair and delicate, as smooth as freshly peeled egg white.
Her bright, expressive eyes seemed capable of speaking on their own.
Her nose was petite and elegantly shaped.
Her cherry-red lips were soft and naturally pink.
This…
This was way too beautiful!
In her previous life, before the apocalypse, Su Qingran had been completely ordinary.
Ordinary appearance.
Ordinary family background.
Ordinary education.
Ordinary job.
After awakening her space ability and plant-based powers, she had become incredibly powerful in the apocalypse and even formed her own team.
Yet no matter how strong she became, her appearance had remained completely average.
The men who tried to flatter her did so only because they wanted protection.
Behind her back, they mocked her as a rough woman who only knew how to kill zombies and was tougher than most men.
Of course, every single person who gossiped about her eventually disappeared at her hands.
No wonder the original owner always dressed in layer after layer of clothing.
With a figure like this, she would look stunning no matter how much she covered herself up.
Su Qingran had never known what the original owner truly looked like because ancient bronze mirrors were too blurry to show much detail.
Seriously, was there something wrong with Pei Xingzhou’s eyes?
How could he look at a beauty like this and think only about her wealth?
Still, it was a pity.
For the time being, this face couldn’t be shown to the world.
That night, Su Qingran slept soundly at an inn.
What she didn’t know was that the entire Pei Residence had descended into chaos.
“My hair! My hair!”
Staring at her reflection in a bronze mirror, Li Qiuju wept uncontrollably, tears streaming down her face.
At the same time, cries echoed continuously from Wen Yuyan’s room.
She reached up and touched her smooth, perfectly bald head.
Over and over, she repeated the same words:
“I don’t want to live anymore…”
By the time Pei Xingzhou returned from court, he had already learned that his mother and cousin were causing another commotion.
His eyes darkened.
The moment he heard that both women’s heads had been completely shaved bald, his first instinct was that Su Qingran had something to do with it.
“Any news of Su Qingran yet?”
As he walked toward Li Qiuju’s courtyard, he questioned a servant.
“No, Young Master. We’ve searched everywhere. Though… someone claimed they saw Miss Su yesterday.”
Pei Xingzhou immediately stopped walking.
“Where?”
“At the marketplace. They said Miss Su bought some steamed buns, then later purchased wheat seedlings.”
“Wheat seedlings?”
A cold smile tugged at the corner of his mouth.
“Su Qingran went to buy wheat seedlings?”
“Yes, Young Master. This servant doesn’t know the details. Based on the descriptions given by the commoners, the young lady they saw should indeed have been Miss Su.”
The moment Pei Xingzhou stepped into Li Qiuju’s courtyard, he heard his mother shouting at the top of her lungs.
“I’m going to kill that little bitch, Su Qingran!”