Chapter 6: Gathering All the Lu Family’s Assets into the Space

It seemed Grandfather had never revealed what was hidden beneath this house. Not speaking of it was wise—telling would only incite panic. Previously, Lu Jianwei was unaware, and without the ability to activate her spatial powers, even knowing would have been useless. Now, she was determined to transfer all the Lu family’s assets elsewhere. After all, who could tell when the third round of liquidation might arrive? The Zhu family was watching the Lu family closely, and she had no idea who else stood behind them. All she knew was that wealth drew greed.

That night, she stayed in the study, waiting until everyone in the house was asleep. Only then did she follow the route shown on the system panel to open the passageway leading underground. Despite all she had seen in her life, she couldn't help but be shocked. The basement stretched across the entire footprint of the Lu estate, with ceilings at least five meters high. It was packed wall-to-wall with boxes. Opening any of them revealed either gold bars, jewels, antiques and paintings, or rare medicinal herbs perfectly preserved—countless treasures.

She understood fully why Grandfather hadn’t donated all this wealth: it wasn’t reluctance, but fear. It was simply too vast. Outsiders would never see this as the accumulation of generations; they would only interpret it as evidence of exploitation.

With a thought, Lu Jianwei transferred all the boxes to the manor, finding a vacant spot in the underground parking garage to place them. The basement was empty now, but leaving it barren wasn’t ideal. She decided to transform it into a shelter—so if it was ever discovered, it would not arouse suspicion that it had once been a treasure vault.

Once everything was in order, Lu Jianwei returned to her room, locked the door, and entered her spatial domain again. The Rose Manor had fully functional water and electricity; she happily took a bath and changed into her favorite pajamas. Like a ghost, she wandered through the main building, retrieved a box of her beloved blackcurrant milk from the cold storage, took a plate of blackcurrants from the fruit cabinet, and headed to the study.

The study was just as she had left it. Lu Jianwei sat at the desk and clicked the mouse; to her delight, the computer screen lit up. She quickly logged into her account—her bank cards were all there, every zero untouched. However, all the social media icons had vanished, leaving only the shopping mall app. She tried placing an order: an iced shaken raspberry blackcurrant tea.

About half an hour later, delivery arrived.

In the past, the manor had plenty of staff, and Lu Jianwei rarely needed to lift a finger. Now, she was the only one in the entire estate. Was she supposed to cross the entire courtyard and forecourt just to fetch her delivery from the gate?

“If only the delivery could come to me automatically,” she thought.

With a flicker of her mind, the still frosty iced shaken raspberry blackcurrant tea appeared at her side. She took a sip—icy and refreshing, utterly blissful. It was July; the weather in Haicheng was damp and hot, and there was no air conditioning in this era. Day and night felt like a steam bath.

Now, hiding in her room in the Rose Manor, with constant temperature and humidity, sipping iced tea, no chores to do—if not for the looming countdown on her life, this would be a life of gods.

Lu Jianwei went ahead and placed another order in the mall, buying a selection of goods with a sixties flair: three raw wood beds, six tung oil chests, three wooden cabinets, ten cotton quilts, five sets of garishly patterned bedding, and a pile of clothes and headscarves favored by middle-aged and elderly folks.

She planned to stash these items in the Lu family’s basement, along with water and food, disguising the space as a shelter to mislead any prying eyes. If the basement was empty, no one could claim they’d moved assets—after all, nothing had left the house, and those watching the Lu family would know it best.

As for the treasures beneath the red-brick building, she intended to find a way to retrieve them. And those things Zhu Xinfang had taken? She’d find a way to reclaim them, too. The persecution the Zhu family inflicted on the Lu family would have to be repaid in kind.

Kindness invites exploitation. If the Lu family kept enduring and tolerating, more wolves would inevitably circle.

After a sleepless night, Lu Jianwei rose early. Aunt He had already prepared breakfast, and the family was waiting for her.

Her uncle sat at the table reading the newspaper. He was the eldest son of the Zhou family. The Zhou family was in finance, once wealthy, and after reforms, they drew over sixty thousand a year in interest. Uncle stayed on as deputy manager at their shareholding bank.

Her younger brother, Lu Zhizhu, had just finished the college entrance exam with excellent results. But in this era, university admission required political review, and with the family’s background, his chances were slim. He was currently discussing whether to go to the countryside or find work with their aunt.

The Lu family had long been a target. When she returned to the country, Aunt and Uncle had gone to great lengths to secure her a job as a publicity officer at the machinery factory. If they kept her brother in the city, trouble would surely follow.

“Aunt, I still want to go to the countryside. Maybe I can go to the Northeast—they say ‘beat the deer with a stick, scoop up fish with a ladle, wild pheasants fly into the pot,’ and winter lasts half a year, never short on food. Sounds wonderful!”

He’d known for a long time he wouldn’t get into university, so lately Lu Zhizhu had been gathering information on rural assignments.

Uncle folded his newspaper. “Don’t rush. Your aunt and I are still thinking of ways. I’ve spoken to someone at the Youth Office—they won’t press you for now.”

The “Up to the Mountains and Down to the Countryside” movement began in ’55 and, after years of development, was now reaching its peak.

“Try for university. If you can’t get in, I’ll give you my job,” Lu Jianwei said, biting into a piece of steamed bread.

She’d eaten too much at Rose Manor last night and wasn’t hungry now.

Breakfast at the Lu family table was hardly lavish: in these days, a worker’s monthly wage was twenty or thirty yuan, and everything required ration tickets. Each person had a bowl of millet porridge, a boiled egg, slices of bread fried to a golden crisp, and a small dish of pickled vegetables—that was breakfast.

But compared to the commoner’s coarse grain porridge, rough bread, even wild vegetable cakes, the Lu family’s meals were still decent.

“Come on, I don’t want your job. I just want to go to the countryside.” Lu Zhizhu handed his sister a peeled egg and peeled another for her. “You eat this too; I don’t like eggs.”

Lu Jianwei declined, holding her bowl and moving away. “I’m serious. At the Workers’ Club, I’ve started seeing someone—a soldier. If we marry, I’ll have to follow him.”

“What?”

Uncle’s chopsticks dropped his egg into the porridge bowl, Aunt nearly choked on hers.

Lu Zhizhu stared at her in shock, egg in hand. “You’ve started seeing someone? I didn’t even know! You saw him once and now you’re getting married?”

“A great man once said, ‘Dating without the intention of marriage is just playing around.’ I’ve already established a relationship with him, so it’s definitely headed for marriage.”

Aunt was speechless. Uncle asked, “What kind of person is he?”

Lu Jianwei replied, “He’s very good-looking, tall, responsible, upright, being with him is reassuring and never stressful. He’s thoughtful and considerate.”

Aunt said, “Well, we need to meet him, your uncle and I, vet him properly. Such a big thing—you came home yesterday and didn’t even mention it to us.”

“I planned to tell you and Uncle today, otherwise you’d have worried all night and lost sleep. His name is Gu Huaizheng, and he said he would come today for a formal visit.”

Aunt immediately grew anxious, hurriedly arranging tonight’s menu with Aunt He, planning what to buy, and how to prepare the house.

After breakfast, Lu Jianwei went to work at the machinery factory. She rode her bicycle to the gate, where Zhu Xinfang stopped her.

She pulled out the cat’s eye emerald necklace, her eyebrows delicately furrowed and eyes reddened, evoking pity.

“Weiwei, you forced this necklace on your cousin. How can you say it belongs to the Zhu family? Others might not know, but surely Mother knows that this is a Lu family heirloom?”

The cat’s eye emerald sparkled dazzlingly in the sunlight, dazzling all eyes. The crowd gasped in admiration.