The phoenix jade pendant was crystal-clear and lustrous, its texture smooth and warm. It was shaped like a phoenix spreading its wings, ready to take flight. The lines of its tail feathers were as fine as silk, and beneath its claws, auspicious clouds shimmered faintly, as if it concealed boundless spiritual energy.
With a slight turn of her wrist, she stored the phoenix jade pendant in her stasis space. Suddenly, a faint tremor arose from the depths of her soul. Li Luoyu’s bones crackled softly, but after a moment, she ignored the discomfort. Extending her spiritual sense to cover the entire courtyard, she began scanning Jiang Chi’er’s room inch by inch.
Judging by the standards of this era, aside from the ordinary bed, cabinets, tables, and chairs, there were quite a few valuable items in the room—unsurprising, considering her father was the deputy head of the Committee.
On the dressing table sat a box of jade bangles, jade hairpins, agate, and beaded jewelry—each piece quite valuable. In a small drawer were two watches. Li Luoyu picked them up to inspect: one was a Shanghai brand, the other a foreign Rolex. There was also a bankbook with 3,200 yuan, 320.5 yuan in loose cash, and various ration coupons. Beneath the bed, inside a hidden compartment, she found a small sandalwood box. Opening it, she discovered ten small gold bars.
Aside from these, the rest—wooden furniture, the female lead’s clothes, and bedding—were nothing special. Li Luoyu had no interest in them and left them behind.
Her next stop was her cousin-aunt’s study. The layout was simple: three bookshelves, a desk and chair set, two leather sofas, and a tea table.
Her cousin-aunt’s husband was slumped over a heavily marked map of the capital and an unfinished letter, with a fountain pen still stuck diagonally in the page.
Li Luoyu picked up the letter and read it carefully. Its general meaning was that the goods were ready and stored in an abandoned house, and they would meet at the usual place…
“Oh ho!”
Smuggling cultural relics, huh?
She then examined the map—clearly a “treasure map.” One, two… all the way to seven locations. Seven hiding spots in total, all in abandoned houses on the outskirts of the capital.
Well, that worked out nicely for her.
Sweeping the area with her spiritual sense, she quickly found a hidden room behind the bookshelf. Inside were neatly stacked square boxes: ten boxes of small gold bars, each containing 500 bars of 320 grams each; two boxes of large-denomination cash; and in a safe in the corner, some loose cash and a bankbook worth 20,000 yuan. Without hesitation, Li Luoyu took everything, planning to sort through it later.
Interestingly, she also found a box of account books, a radio used for transmitting messages, and over ten letters from various sources—two of which were from the United States.
Li Luoyu let out a cold laugh. In both her past and present lives, she despised traitors most of all—especially those connected to the United States. That was an even greater crime!
She had initially wanted to deal with him personally, but upon reflection, handing both the evidence and the man over to the authorities would maximize their value. So she refrained from acting.
With nothing else of value left, she turned to leave. Before going, she casually stripped the cousin-aunt’s husband of his money, ration coupons, and watch. The watch was a Shanghai brand—worth over a hundred yuan on resale.
She returned to her cousin-aunt’s room and conducted another thorough search, collecting valuable jewelry, watches, cash, ration coupons, bankbooks, and even the household registration booklet. Interestingly, her cousin-aunt also kept an account book—this one recording human trafficking.
“Well, well!”
What a family.
It was hard to imagine what kind of mindset the author of that novel had to create such bizarre protagonists and relatives.
After sweeping up the kitchen’s rice, flour, grain, oil, and vegetables, the valuable ornaments in the living room, and ten more boxes of gold bars hidden beneath the stone table in the courtyard, Li Luoyu finally left.
When she returned home, she discovered that her grandfather hadn’t come back yet. Most likely, he had already been taken in for isolation and investigation.
“Sigh… if only I’d arrived a night earlier. If I’d taken out the female lead sooner, those people wouldn’t have received the report letters.”
Though somewhat regretful, Li Luoyu quickly turned her thoughts to how to handle what came next.
By tomorrow morning, those people would probably receive orders to conduct a thorough investigation and come to search her house. She might as well collect all valuables now to prevent them from being destroyed or looted.
Her grandfather’s room was a suite, with a bathroom, study, and bedroom.
She started with the study, sweeping everything into her space—the bookshelves, books, documents, even the worthless ornaments, along with his collection of tea, liquor, military medals, a bankbook containing 6,000 yuan, 2,000 yuan in cash, and even the wrinkled map on the wall. She also took the two letters Jiang Chi’er had secretly planted there the previous night.
In the bedroom, she took a palm-sized wooden box hidden beneath her grandfather’s bed.
Her uncle’s room was just as she expected: aside from faded bedding neatly arranged on the bed and a few sets of clothes, it was empty. Nothing worth taking.
She slowly pushed open her parents’ room. On the dressing table were her mother’s jewelry—jade bracelets, gold-inlaid jade earrings, a diamond-studded watch—along with clothes, hats, and letters written to her father.
There were also her father’s books, clothes, and his cherished watch. On the inside of the watch was engraved: “A gift from wife Zhi, 1962.7.18.”
Inside the desk was a kraft paper envelope containing her parents’ marriage certificate, love poems her father had written to her mother, and a wedding photograph.
Li Luoyu suddenly felt her eyes burn, on the verge of tears.
In her previous life, she had been an orphan, never knowing what her parents looked like. Even after transmigrating, she still had no parents. But looking at their photo, she thought—if she had parents, they would probably look like this.
Composing herself, she stored everything visible in the room into her space.
The living room contained only ordinary wooden furniture—no television, no fan—so there was no need to take anything.
Aunt Zhang was still around, so she decided to leave the kitchen items for now.
Finally, she turned to her own room. The original owner had quite a few clothes and leather shoes, a radio, and two watches. One was a Shanghai brand she had bought herself—its strap worn from frequent use. The other was a Patek Philippe, its diamond-studded dial still dazzling. It had been a gift from her father three years ago on her fifteenth birthday, brought back from Shanghai, and it had caused quite a stir in the entire alley.
There was also a bankbook with 23,230 yuan, most of it the martyr’s compensation her parents had received from the state, which the original owner had deposited into her own account.
Thinking of the three bankbooks she had found at the Jiang household, she figured she’d have to visit the bank tomorrow and withdraw everything.
After a thorough sweep, everything in the room—except for a single quilt on the bed—was stored away in her space.