Hearing the emperor's furious questioning, the mother and daughter hid in a corner and chuckled happily.
The thought of their grandfather (father) being poisoned fueled their uncontrollable hatred.
Seeing the culprit so enraged that he lost control is incredibly satisfying.
Seeing bad people get their comeuppance is the best kind of karmic retribution for good people like them.
The mother and daughter did not intend to directly attack the emperor. They both understood the principle that "a country cannot be without a ruler for a day." If the monarch suddenly disappeared, no country could withstand the internal and external troubles.
In the end, the most unfortunate ones will not be the royal family, but the ordinary people at the bottom of society.
They didn't want their momentary anger to cause widespread suffering; if that happened, they would feel guilty to death, even without being scolded by Shen Zhiheng.
The two were quite familiar with the palace, if not completely at ease, and headed straight for the private treasury.
There are too many people in the harem, and it's still broad daylight. The chances of being discovered are too high. Let's go to a less crowded place first.
When she arrived at the private treasury, Shen Xingmian realized that she had underestimated the emperor's vigilance. There were at least twenty, if not fifty, guards here.
There were patrols walking around, and others standing still at the entrance. There was also a ring of bells around the warehouse entrance, so anyone who went in would definitely be bumped into.
As soon as the bell rings, the guards immediately draw their swords.
The mother and daughter hid in the shadows and watched from a distance for a while, just in time to see the bell being rang by the strong wind.
The guards drew their swords as quickly as the dogs in Pavlov's experiments; they reacted with lightning speed, and as soon as they heard the wind chimes ring, they attacked without caring whether anyone was around.
However, this was not a problem for Shen Xingmian. Even if she was discovered, as long as the guard did not have the key, she could simply walk through the wall and they would be unable to do anything to her.
I'm just worried that there might be traps or mechanisms inside.
Logically speaking, this is a storeroom for living people, not a royal mausoleum or underground palace for the dead to rest in, so it's necessary to kill any tomb raiders who enter.
Warehouses generally don't have overly elaborate mechanisms.
But what if... this warehouse has become a trap to lure you in?
The tighter the apparent defenses, the more careless those who manage to get in will become, and then...
hiss--
The more I thought about it, the colder my back felt.
Judging from the situation at hand, Shen Xingmian couldn't tell whether she was overthinking things or had accidentally guessed the truth.
For a moment I hesitated and couldn't make up my mind.
She eventually told her mother about her guess. After hearing it, Shen Yunting immediately began to observe the surrounding situation even more carefully.
Then they discovered that, apart from the few guards near the bell who were very tense, the other patrolmen were actually in a very relaxed state.
She picked up a pebble, secretly exerted her strength, and shot it as a hidden weapon.
Sure enough, apart from the few guards who continued to draw their swords, the others continued their patrols and didn't even bother to go over and check.
Shen Yunting was quite surprised by her daughter's keen intuition, and then gestured for her to leave first.
The two nimbly and swiftly left the entrance to the private vault, only then breathing a sigh of relief as they began to discuss the matter.
"Hey, I have to say, that emperor is really cunning. He moved all the treasures away and left a trap for us!"
Although they themselves were quite cunning, Shen Xingmian still nodded vigorously in agreement with her mother's words.
"No matter what, we can't leave empty-handed. We still have to go to the harem. But since there are traps here, Mother, do you think the imperial kitchen might have poisoned it too? What about the medicines from the Imperial Hospital...?"
Shen Yunting thought for a moment and hesitated, "It can't be that bad, can it? They don't know when we'll come back, or even if we'll come back at all. Poisoning them would be more of a threat to themselves, wouldn't it?"
Shen Xingmian nodded: "That's true. If we accidentally eat our own people to death, wouldn't that be a double loss?"
Shen Yunting nodded in approval.
Shen Xingmian raised an eyebrow at her mother: "So... are we going or not?"
"Let's go! We might as well go."
The two hit it off immediately and headed towards the Imperial Hospital. Luckily, there weren't many people on duty there. Shen Yunting was in charge of drawing people away, while Shen Xingmian went in to happily collect the loot.
The only place in the space that can keep things fresh is the warehouse, so she usually keeps her things there, but now the warehouse is almost full.
She decided to move the gold, silver, and other items that didn't require much preservation outside, which would give her a lot more space.
Medicinal herbs can be left outside without any problem, but some special seeds and foods must be stored in the warehouse.
She never imagined that her large warehouse, which used to be so spacious, would one day be filled with treasures.
It's simply amazing.
She must be so rich! Hahaha.
After packing up, the mother and daughter met near the imperial kitchen. The palace needed to purchase fresh fruits and vegetables every day, but it had plenty of rice, flour, and cooking oil in stock.
The food that was taken away last time hasn't been touched much yet, because I haven't had many opportunities to cook.
I didn't expect you to be back to restock so soon, hehe.
I thought there wouldn't be many people in the afternoon, but there were quite a few people coming and going, seemingly preparing food. Could it be some kind of banquet?
Those who do nothing but eat and do no productive work are parasites on society. What a load of food they have!
Following the same method, Shen Xingmian cleaned up the imperial kitchen completely. Just as he finished, he heard a commotion outside. It seemed that the Imperial Hospital had discovered the theft.
Shen Xingmian immediately rushed to the inner palace and found her mother anxiously waiting for her at the location where she had previously infiltrated.
The two headed straight for the imperial concubine's palace, and as soon as they sneaked in, they heard a man's voice.
Shen Xingmian was a little puzzled. The emperor was just smashing things in the Hall of Diligent Governance, but now he was able to chat calmly with the Consort.
She seems to be in pretty good emotional shape.
But upon closer listening, they realized something was wrong; it wasn't the emperor's voice at all!
Shen Xingmian immediately perked up. Could it be that the emperor's most beloved concubine was cheating on him?
As they listened further, their expressions gradually became serious.
What they were talking about inside was something incredibly important, something they had never expected.
“Brother, the discovery of such a large iron mine is a tremendous achievement. The Emperor will surely reward our family handsomely.”
The concubine's charming, smiling voice drifted over, making Shen Xingmian feel as if her bones were melting.
If she were a man, she probably wouldn't even understand what he was saying right now; her whole soul would be completely captivated.
But the man's voice that followed instantly brought her back to her senses—
“We already have such a large iron mine, do we really need his little reward?” my silly sister.
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