Chapter 4: Emptying the Great General Residence

Xiyan feigned needing a restroom break to the guards, and once permitted, she quickly made her way to the servants' quarters on the west side of the Ducal Mansion.

Earlier, while she was collecting her belongings, she had overheard a fleeing servant mention that there was an exit leading outside from here, and she planned to escape through this route.

It didn't take much time for Qi Yue to reach the Great General Residence.

The Great General Residence had two storehouses. One was a large storehouse, containing decades' accumulation of gold, silver, and valuable goods from within the residence.

The other was a smaller storehouse, privately owned by her second aunt, Bai Jiahui.

Inside were mostly the original dowries of the owner, along with the fields, shops, and other business earnings left by the Great General after his death.

Qi Yue decided to head to the large storehouse first.

In his time, the renowned Great General Qi Yunzhang had countless military achievements and received innumerable awards, all of which he left for the owner as her dowry.

Yet, when the owner married, she took only one hundred taels of silver with her.

Qi Yue felt angry on behalf of the owner!

The storehouse was secured with a large lock. Qi Yue was initially worried about how to get in, but then she remembered her body's great strength and simply twisted off the lock.

The gold amounted to only fifty thousand taels, but there was more silver — over forty chests, totaling about two hundred thousand taels.

There were also many gold and silver vessels, precious medicinal herbs of varying quality, probably looted by Qi Fengzhang.

After collecting these items, Qi Yue went to Bai Jiahui's residence at Furong Garden.

She was pondering how to draw out the people inside when a flustered young gatekeeper rushed in.

Soon, Bai Jiahui, looking horrified, hurried with a large group of maids and old nurses to the front hall.

Qi Yue knew Dai Yuan had arrived and immediately seized the opportunity to enter Bai Jiahui's smaller storehouse in the backyard.

Eighty-eight dowries were neatly arranged in the room.

Qi Yue casually checked them and found just one cosmetic box filled to the brim with over a hundred gold hairpins.

In other chests, there were countless jade bracelets, jade ornaments, precious gems, and a thick stack of silver notes, all worth two million taels of silver!!!

The most valuable were several cases of pearls.

The largest were as big as a thumb; even the smallest were the size of soybeans, each shining with a white luster as smooth and glowing as jade.

Beiyuan was located in the northern part, and the only place to obtain pearls was the southern bay of Longnan Ridge, making them extremely rare.

Such quality, such large pearls, were only seen in use by those in the palace.

Qi Yue silently admired them. It truly was a dowry befitting a Great General's daughter, so incredibly generous!!!

She took everything without hesitation, storing them away, a deep sense of satisfaction welling within her.

"Qi Yue, do you see? I have avenged you!"

"If you wish for their demise, the road to exile is long indeed!"

Just as she left Bai Jiahui's courtyard, wails that shook the heavens and the earth came from the front courtyard.

"Official sir, could there be a mistake? We would never conspire with rebels!"

"We belong to the Great General Residence, protected and honored by the Emperor as a pillar of the nation! We would never act against the Imperial Court!"

"Official sir, please consider the Great General's contributions and show some leniency!"

"..."

Bai Jiahui kneeled on the ground continuously kowtowing to the soldiers until her forehead bled, only to be kicked away by a soldier's foot.

Hidden behind a pillar, Qi Yue's lips curled in amusement.

"Bai Jiahui, we'll meet again on the road to exile!"

Soon after, two squads of Imperial Guards stormed into the Great General Residence, heading straight for the storehouses. Qi Yue took the opportunity to slip away amidst the chaos.

On her way back, she planned to stop by Tello Street to buy some common items and food for the road.

As she turned onto the street, she overheard several people discussing the matter of the Ducal Mansion.

"The Ducal Mansion is finished, who knows whom they offended?"

"Who else but Shuangmu Forest?"

"Shh... let's not talk about that. To think such a good man as the Marquis just died, it's truly a pity!"

What?

Zhao Xiyan died?

Does that make her a widow now?

If the Zhao Family casts her out, does she no longer have to go into exile?

Several questions popped into Qi Yue's mind, and she quickly lowered her voice to ask.

"When did the Marquis die?"

The person thought she was just there to watch the chaos and followed up with a comment.

"He hasn't died yet, but he will soon."

"I heard that the Marquis and the Duke were carried back, covered in blood. I'm afraid they won't make it to the Place of Exile before they have to hold a funeral."

Upon learning that her father-in-law and husband had already been sent home, the decree from the Emperor also arrived.

The entire Zhao Family was demoted to commoners and exiled to Longnan Ridge, with no chance of being pardoned for life.

While Qi Yue felt a moment of relief, deep concerns also surged within her.

People from Beiyuan had long lived in the north and were accustomed to the distinct seasons there, but Longnan Ridge was thousands of miles away, full of rugged mountains and swarming with snakes and insects. Many areas were plagued with miasma.

And there were essentially only two seasons each year, summer and winter.

Summer was humid and scorching hot, and winter was bleak and bitterly cold.

Most people who came to this place often died because they could not adapt to the local environment.

Even those who were lucky enough to survive would succumb to various strange diseases and die.

Qi Yue became more and more infuriated as she thought about it!

The damn Emperor wanted to ruin the Zhao Family and accidentally dragged her into this mess.

She married into the Ducal Mansion without even eating a meal there, yet she had to follow them into exile!

That was utterly unreasonable!

It seemed that this dog Emperor never considered her, the orphan of the Great General of Beiyuan, when he arranged the marriage!

He probably had long forgotten that there was a Great General Qi Yunzhang in Beiyuan who had died for his country!

For a moment, Qi Yue was at a loss for what to do.

She wanted to give the dog Emperor a harsh lesson, but she lacked the ability to do so!

She could only take things one step at a time. Fortunately, she was a doctor, and now she had her space.

Ill-suited to the local climate? Strange diseases? Humph, she was not afraid of those!

Just as she was about to head back, she suddenly saw Dai Yuan riding his horse into Tello Street, blocking the street entrance with a group of soldiers.

Curious, she took a closer look and noticed another group of soldiers carrying many items into the Treasure Pavilion.

Some of those items looked very familiar to Qi Yue.

Weren't those the things she had specifically left in the storehouse of the General Residence?

She was puzzled.

Weren't seized items supposed to be sent to the state treasury? Why were they here?

Unable to figure it out, Qi Yue decided to go into the Treasure Pavilion herself to investigate.

She quickly went to a secluded area, entered her space, changed into a set of men's clothing, and disguised her face with makeup.

By the time the officials had left, Qi Yue boldly entered the Treasure Pavilion.

The shopkeeper, thinking a big spender had come, eagerly welcomed her to an elegant seating area on the second floor.

"This hero, may I ask if you were referred here by a brother from the Imperial City Division?"

Qi Yue almost failed to control her fist!

Hero? Did she look robust?

She was a sixteen-year-old maiden!

If it weren't for the mountain of gold and silver within the Treasure Pavilion, she would certainly have knocked out the shopkeeper's golden teeth on the spot!

However, from the shopkeeper's words, it seemed that a referral was necessary.

Qi Yue immediately put on an air of profound mystery and slightly nodded her head.

"Mm."

The shopkeeper didn't know what he imagined, but his face immediately bloomed into a large chrysanthemum smile.

"What good timing for the hero. We just received some excellent items today, and they're still fresh and hot!"

What fresh and hot? Do you think they're poop?

Qi Yue suppressed her disgust and calmly waved her hand.

"Let's take a look then!"

The shopkeeper responded with a "Right away" and hurried to the back room.

Amid the sounds of a cabinet opening and closing, the shopkeeper came back beaming, holding a booklet in his hand.

"Hero, I guarantee you will leave satisfied today!"