As dusk fell, two figures appeared in the carved window lattices of Liu's room. The accountant bent over and handed her an oilcloth bag. Liu twisted a corner and saw the copper key blank inside. The gold and jade armor inlaid with gold gleamed coldly in the candlelight. "Is the locksmith reliable?"

"Don't worry, madam," the accountant rubbed his hands. "West City Locksmith Wang owes you twenty taels of silver. Even if he forged the lock of the throne, he wouldn't dare tell anyone."

Liu finally hummed with satisfaction, her nails scraping against the key blank. The humiliation of being blocked outside the storeroom by Chen Weiwan during the day still burned fiercely. She touched the new jade bracelet on her wrist—she had pawned her dowry to pay for the key. If she couldn't get the storeroom key, sooner or later that little bitch would scheme against her and leave her with nothing.

"Go, tell Old Wang, the gatekeeper, not to hang around the west wing after midnight." Liu slipped the key blank into the secret compartment of her dressing table. "Also, ask Lu'e to find my nightgown."

After the accountant left, Liu traced her eyebrows in front of the bronze mirror, only to see dark circles under her eyes and a twitching mouth from anxiety. She slammed her eyebrow pencil down on the table. Shen Weiwan had become a completely different person since her rebirth. First, she'd rubbed her hands with cereals, then set up a feng shui ritual trap in the warehouse. Now, she was probably already preparing a key for her.

"Hmph, no matter how clever you are, you're still a motherless girl." Liu smiled grimly at the mirror and fished out an oil-paper bag from the bottom of the dressing table. "This little chili powder can't cure you?"

Meanwhile, Shen Weiwan was pouring mustard into the porcelain jar Chuntao had handed her. The yellow-green sauce, mixed with the red chili flakes, stirred up a pungent mist in the white porcelain jar. Chuntao covered her nose and stepped back. "Miss, this smell is enough to choke me, isn't it?"

"She'll choke to death." Shen Weiwan poked the mixture in the jar with a bamboo chopstick. In her previous life, she had witnessed Liu use the same method to deal with the old housekeeper who refused to hand over the account books. Now it was just a matter of "reciprocity." She handed the porcelain jar to Chuntao, "Go to the storeroom later and fill the keyhole with this stuff, then seal it with a layer of wax."

Chun Tao's hands trembled as she took the porcelain jar: "Miss, if Liu finds out..."

"She can't find it." Shen Weiwan shook the copper key in her hand. It was the spare key to the storeroom that the old housekeeper had sent during the day. "Liu thought she could do whatever she wanted with the key, but she didn't know that I had already tampered with the keyhole. Oh, right," she suddenly remembered something, "go to the kitchen and get two rotten eggs. There will be a good show tonight."

The midnight bell rang, and Liu, wrapped in a black nightgown, crept outside the storeroom. The moon was dark and windy, and only the moss in the corners of the wall shone a ghostly green in the dim light. She fished out the brass key from her bosom, her palms sweaty. Just as she was about to insert it into the keyhole, she heard a cat meow behind her.

"Damn beast!" Liu's hand trembled with fear, and the key fell on the bluestone slab. She squatted down to pick it up, cursing, but she didn't see Chuntao covering her mouth and laughing in the dark - the cat was the tabby cat that Shen Weiwan brought from the servants' room, with a reflective red rope tied around its neck.

Finally finding the key, Liu took a deep breath and aligned it with the lock. As her fingertips touched the cool copper lock, a strong, acrid smell suddenly assaulted her nose, more pungent than aged vinegar. She sneezed loudly, tears and snot covering her face. The key clanked to the ground.

"What is that?" Liu rubbed her red eyes, feeling a burning pain as if a red-hot charcoal was stuck in her nostrils. Reluctantly, she bent down to pick up the key, not noticing that the wax seeping from the keyhole was flowing down the key onto the back of her hand.

"A-choo! A-choo—" Sneeze after sneeze followed, Liu's tears flowing like a river. Her smudged makeup made her look like a clown. She covered her nose and backed away, but she bumped into the pile of debris behind her. With a crash, half a basket of rotten vegetable leaves fell on her head.

"Who?!" The patrolling servants rushed over with torches in hand and saw a dark figure squatting at the door of the warehouse, sneezing, holding a shiny object in his hand. The leading servant shouted: "There's a thief!"

Liu opened her mouth to explain, but another sneeze choked her, leaving her speechless. The servants rushed forward, carrying poles and wooden clubs raining down like raindrops. Though the blows were light, they still sent her fleeing in panic. In the chaos, someone kicked over the swill bucket in the corner, and the foul water poured down her collar, nearly making her faint.

"Stop hitting me! It's me!" Liu finally managed to utter a few words, but her voice was distorted by her coughing, making her sound like someone weeping at a funeral in the middle of the night. The servants, holding torches, approached and were stunned when they saw the painted face clearly. Wasn't this the usually arrogant Madam Liu?

"Madam?" The leading servant dropped his carrying pole in fear. "Why are you dressed like this here..."

Liu wanted nothing more than to find a crack in the ground to crawl into. Rotten vegetable leaves clung to her hair, her clothes were soaked in rancid water, and she clutched the wax-stained key in her hand. Snot mixed with chili powder oozed from her nostrils. She glared at the servant fiercely, but the burning sensation kept her eyes closed, and she could only manage an expression uglier than tears.

At that moment, Shen Weiwan came running over in a plain white nightgown, holding a glass lamp. The light illuminated Liu's miserable appearance. She covered her mouth with a cry of "Ouch," but a sly glint flashed in her eyes: "Aunt? Are you...getting up in the middle of the night to catch mice?"

Liu was speechless, feeling the pungent smell in her nose getting stronger, and tears streaming down her face like beads from a broken string. Shen Weiwan pretended to be concerned and walked forward, but accidentally knocked the key out of her hand as she approached: "Ah, what is this? Auntie, what are you doing with the warehouse key?"

The key rolled to the side of the torch, the wax on the copper blank clearly visible in the flames. The old butler had arrived at some point and picked up the key, squinting into the firelight. "This key... seems to be a new one?"

My dear, there is more to this chapter. Please click on the next page to continue reading. It will be even more exciting later!