Chapter 8 Empty the Hou Mansion

One of the men in black spoke up, "Princess Consort, don't be afraid, we are your men."

Yun Zhaoxue raised an eyebrow slightly. Afraid?

She's grown up and still doesn't know how to write the word "fear".

"Are you guards of the Prince's residence?"

"Yes! Your subordinate is ordered to protect the safety of the Prince's residence and the Crown Princess."

"Oh, I sense you're here to kill me too?"

Zhu Feng and Zhui Ying exchanged a glance, then lowered their eyes to conceal the murderous intent within.

She eloped with a man outside the palace, colluded with a prince, and framed the royal family.

She deserves to die. If she hadn't been pregnant with the prince's child, they would have killed her long ago to eliminate any future trouble.

But admitting it is impossible.

"Your Highness is overthinking it. You are pregnant with the young prince, so why would I kill you?"

Yun Zhaoxue concluded, "If she wasn't pregnant, she would have been killed."

"Your subordinate wouldn't dare!"

The two men said no more, knowing that too much talk would lead to mistakes. They picked up the two corpses from the ground and headed towards the door.

Yun Zhaoxue put the gun away. "Wait, leave their tokens with me."

Zhu Feng asked, "Princess Consort, they are assassins hired by the Lady of Yunyang Marquis from the Assassin's Pavilion. What do you need their tokens for?"

"Can't I be curious? Why all the nonsense?"

"Yes!" Shadow Chaser took out a token from the assassin's waist and placed it on the table.

Yun Zhaoxue picked up the token and, by the candlelight, saw that the three words 'Assassin's Pavilion' were clearly printed on it.

He took out a set of night clothes from the wardrobe, put them on, and left the palace, avoiding the sight of the guards and secret agents.

We walked through two streets to reach the Marquis's residence.

Climbing over the wall and landing gently, I found the Marquis's storeroom based on the original owner's memories. There were two servants sitting at the door, dozing off.

Yun Zhaoxue approached without noticing, picked up two pebbles from the ground and threw them, knocking the two dozing servants unconscious.

Use a hammer to break the lock and quietly open the door to enter the house.

There is also an iron gate inside.

This was no problem for him either. He took out a master key wire from his storage space, inserted it, turned it a few times, and opened the lock.

He took out a flashlight and lit it up. This was the outer warehouse, filled with all kinds of grains, piles of rice and flour, and various easy-to-store fruits and vegetables.

Although they're not worth much, they're all valuable treasures on the road to exile, so collect them all!

There was another door next to it, leading to the inner storeroom where valuable items such as gold, silver, and jewelry were stored.

Opening the iron gate reveals another stone gate constructed with a mechanism.

So mysterious?

There must be something good in there.

I found a protruding rock nearby and tried to turn it, but it didn't budge.

It also included a mechanism.

Quickly search the original owner's memories.

The original owner moved her dowry back to the mansion and met with Madam Wang to open it.

First, turn half a circle, then turn one circle, turn back half a circle, then turn two circles.

With a loud "boom," the stone gate slowly rose.

It was pitch black inside, so I took out a tinderbox and lit the kerosene lamp hanging on the wall.

It's seven or eight hundred square meters, and it's filled with all sorts of boxes.

She casually opened a large box, and the gold ingots emitted a dazzling golden light that almost blinded her titanium alloy eyes.

Then, opening the pile next to it revealed silver ingots.

The third pile contained gold, silver, and jewelry.

The fourth pile was of silk and satin.

Fairy patterned silk, Yue silk, square patterned silk, white flower silk, lotus silk, etc.

Large floral gauze, single-thread gauze, dark floral gauze, peacock gauze, chrysanthemum gauze, etc.

Yun brocade, Suzhou brocade, Sichuan brocade, etc.

Among them, Shu brocade is the most famous. It uses warp and weft brocade techniques, has bright colors and intricate patterns. It was a tribute to the royal family. Ordinary officials would make handkerchiefs or skirts from the gifts they received from nobles in the palace and wear them to banquets to show off to the wives and daughters of officials.

A noble family with no real power possessed a box each of Yun brocade, Suzhou brocade, and Shu brocade.

These were all part of the original owner's mother's dowry and rewards given by the emperor to the Zhenbei Prince's Mansion for winning a battle.

The item was returned to its rightful owner.

Collect, collect, collect!!!

The fifth pile consists of calligraphy and paintings, which are hung on the wall or piled in boxes.

It's hanging on the wall, looks quite valuable, I'll buy it!

The sixth pile contains jade and porcelain, including a Hetian jade mountain, a jadeite carved screen, a chicken-blood stone seal, a Xiuyan jade paperweight, and a crystal dragon-shaped wine vessel...

Ru ware celadon cup, enamel-painted Western clock, gilt-silver inlaid Boshan censer, mother-of-pearl inlaid lacquerware dressing case, Ge ware crackle-patterned brush washer...

After finishing packing up the storeroom, I went to the study.

The original owner had lived in the Marquis's mansion for fifteen years and knew every blade of grass and tree in it like the back of her hand.

Avoiding the patrolling guards, they arrived at the accounting office, pried open the lock, and went inside.

Inside were rows of shelves filled with various salt permits, tea tickets, land deeds, pawnshop items, and money exchange receipts...

The calligraphy and paintings on the wall, the porcelain on the table—everything was put away, not even the shelves were spared.

After collecting everything, I shone a flashlight around to see if there were any left. I discovered a square hidden compartment where I had placed the calligraphy and paintings.

I walked over and knocked twice. "Knock knock!!"

Hollow?

Find a small shovel in the space and pry it open; inside are two ledgers.

False accounts?

The handwriting is entirely that of Wang Shi and the steward.

Did the two collude to falsify accounts and empty the Marquis's mansion?

With this ledger, Wang was unable to defend himself.

Arrive at the main courtyard.

First, go to your scumbag father's room. He's sleeping soundly with a young and beautiful concubine in his arms.

He was so tired from collecting things that he didn't have the strength to chop people up, so he used silver needles to pierce their acupoints, knocking them unconscious, and then dragged them to the ground.

Antique porcelain, calligraphy and paintings, tables, chairs, teapots, clothes from wardrobes, bed curtains, and bed frames were all taken away.

They took down all the clothes hanging on the rack, leaving them only an undergarment.

They arrived at the old lady's courtyard again.

The second largest courtyard of the Marquis's residence.

There are two coral tree bonsai in the yard, as well as various rare and exotic plants.

A coral tree is worth several hundred taels of silver, and rare herbs range from a few taels to tens or hundreds of taels. This old woman really knows how to enjoy life; she's putting them all into her storage space.

They entered the house, knocked the person unconscious, and stored everything inside, including the items in the side hall, in their spatial storage. Then they went to Wang's courtyard.

Take away all the expensive calligraphy, paintings, porcelain, valuable items on the dressing table, and clothes from the wardrobe, leaving her with some cheap, worthless things, and frame her.

But none of them seem to be cheap.

They ransacked the room of the wicked old woman in the side hall, replacing it with the worthless gifts that Wang had given them.

He then slipped the Assassin's Guild's token and an account book under Wang's pillow.

Next, it was the turn of the young masters and ladies of the Marquis's mansion to have their rooms.

Yun Jiaoyue truly lives up to her reputation as the beloved female lead.

The furnishings in the boudoir of a noblewoman were even more extravagant than those of a princess or a county princess.

A carved rosewood canopy bed, a huanghuali dressing table inlaid with mother-of-pearl, a gilded phoenix mirror, a mica screen painted with ladies and flowers and birds, a brocade couch, a kesi (silk tapestry) hanging screen with flowers and birds, a crimson gauze palace lantern adorned with luminous pearls, and embroidered gold-thread curtains...

The dressing table was filled with various hairpins, head ornaments, and jewelry.

Filigree and jewel-inlaid gold phoenix hairpin, kingfisher feather and pearl headdress, mutton fat jade bracelet, jadeite earrings, and blood-red coral bead string.

Generally, the first-class maids who served the master were all taken in, while the second, third, and fourth-class maids were not taken in.

They were all ordinary workers, and without any bonuses, they only received two taels of silver a month. They were so poor that she wanted to give them some money.

Why make things difficult for other working people? I'm too lazy to accept it.

He threw another ledger into the steward's room.

The steward was the son of Wang's wet nurse; the two had grown up together and were close.

Marquis Yunyang was a womanizer by nature, frequently visiting brothels and taking several concubines a year. Despite having so many young and beautiful women, he disliked Lady Wang because she was old and faded, and wouldn't even touch her.

Wang was in charge of the backyard and the shops in the Marquis's mansion. She was often seen with the steward, and they had long been having an affair.

A wicked thought suddenly popped into my head.

She knocked the housekeeper unconscious and threw him into Wang's room, then fed them both some veterinary medicine.

The two, still half-asleep, quickly tore at their clothes, feeling hot, and embraced each other tightly, like dry tinder igniting a raging fire.

They kissed, tore each other's clothes, their movements practiced as if they had done it a thousand times.

Yun Zhaoxue used a stick to hook the clothes on the ground and threw them to the door, hung them on the eaves, and under the windows, so that the maids would see them as soon as they woke up the next day.

Wang's father was a former prime minister, her brother-in-law is the current prime minister, and her niece is the crown princess; her family background is powerful.

They also had a daughter who was famous throughout the capital, and the Marquis's family hoped that she would marry into the royal family and continue the family's glory.

With Wang's affair with the housekeeper exposed, it's estimated that Yun Xiuwen won't divorce her yet.

She needs to find someone to fight her. In the original book, the concubine in her scumbag father's room is named Chen Yurou.

This Chen Yuru is also a ruthless person. She was originally the daughter of an official, but her family was convicted of a crime, her property was confiscated, and the female relatives were sent to the Jiaofangsi (a government-run entertainment district), where she met the Marquis of Yunyang.

She orchestrated a pregnancy to make the Marquis of Yunyang completely devoted to her. He used his connections to remove her from her lowly status and, disregarding societal norms, elevated her to the position of concubine.

During that time, Wang was so angry that she moved to the estate. She returned with a three-month pregnant belly, worried that her concubine's son would threaten her position. So she poisoned Chen Yuru, killing her seven-month-old son and damaging her health, making it difficult for her to conceive again.

Chen Yuru's only hope was shattered, and she fought the Wang family to the death.

Thinking of this.

She then gave her scumbag father and Chen Yuru aphrodisiacs to help them conceive.

Let them fight it out; she loves watching the drama unfold. Let them fight amongst themselves, and they won't have time to bother her.

After clearing the backyard, we went to the main hall in the front yard to collect all the antique porcelain, calligraphy and paintings, tables, chairs, and teacups!

Then throw the other token into the main hall.

Before dawn, he slipped back to the palace for a nap.