Three hours remained until dawn.
She hurried to the Right Prime Minister's Estate without pause. It was the usual procedure: she deployed the drone first to ensure everyone in the Right Prime Minister's Estate was knocked unconscious, then donned her Invisibility Cloak and strolled through the main gates.
As expected, she located the warehouse immediately based on the markings Old Father Si had provided.
She smashed the lock and pushed the door open. Before her eyes were crates filled with gold bars and ingots, each one shaped like a chubby little doll—utterly adorable and instantly charming. Beyond those, there were shimmering pink pearl necklaces and golden hairpins. As a girl, she found such brilliant, sparkling jewelry truly irresistible; looking at them, she finally understood the fixation of women in palace intrigue and domestic power struggles.
She took a quick look around. Her eyes landed on a jade grape cluster that looked so realistic it was impossible not to love. How could anyone be happy letting such beautiful treasures fall into the hands of an enemy?
She peered deeper. The various pink jewels and ornaments were dazzling. Her favorite was the tourmaline eighteen-bead bracelet. Without a second thought, she swept it all into her Dimension.
Then there were the silks and satins: plain brocade, diamond-patterned brocade, Shu brocade, gold-woven brocade, and more—at least several hundred bolts in total. She swept them all into the Dimension, her mouth curling into a grin she couldn't contain. She had read about heroines in novels doing this and had only been able to watch with envy; now that she was experiencing it herself, she realized how incredibly satisfying it really was. To think that she would never have to worry about money for ten lifetimes, nor would she have to slave away like a beast of burden in the modern world again—she could finally live happily as herself.
She was so elated she nearly jumped for joy.
After emptying the warehouse, she moved on to the granary. Once inside, she found it packed to the brim with all sorts of grains, as well as vast quantities of dried longan, red dates, ginseng, bird's nest, and more—at least a thousand shi in total.
From the granary, she raided the kitchen. To her surprise, it was stocked with all manner of wild game, including the seven delicacies: bear paw, elephant trunk, deer tendon, camel hump, bird's nest, bamboo fungus, and monkey head mushroom. There were also fish maw, fish lips, dried scallops, prawns, pheasant, wild duck breast, hashima, and white fungus. In the modern world, anyone caught eating these would surely be working off their sentence on a sewing machine until it sparked.
Furthermore, she wouldn't let the cellar or the wine vault off the hook. She moved all the fine wines, the ice stored in the cellar, and the sweet potatoes into her Dimension. She didn't leave behind so much as a single grain of rice, a dustpan, a broom, or a wicker basket. She even took the firewood neatly stacked behind the kitchen, and those dozens of jars of pickled vegetables didn't escape her either. With a wave of her hand, she cleared it all. Pots, bowls, basins, and ladles—all gone.
The Right Prime Minister’s study looked grand, and the items inside were all high-quality. She thought about it for a moment and decided to simply take the entire study; it would be better to have it ready to use when they reached the place of exile rather than having to rebuild. As for the floor tiles of the Right Prime Minister's Estate, they looked like white marble, so she swept those up too, leaving nothing but patches of dirt. The garden was full of flowers and plants, which were quite pretty, so she decided to move those as well. Since the northwest was supposed to be a barren wasteland, bringing plants meant they wouldn't have to worry about planting trees later.
And so, every flower, plum tree, peach tree, and osmanthus tree was uprooted and whisked away into Si Jiuyue's Dimension. The roof of the Right Prime Minister's main residence was covered in glazed tiles—a rare treasure. With another wave of her hand, the entire roof vanished, leaving behind only four bare, bald walls.
After finishing with the main gates, Si Jiuyue went through the second, third, and first courtyards, stripping every single one of them bare. Once she was finished, Si Jiuyue entered her Dimension, traded ten taels of silver for a barrel of gasoline, and poured it inside the warehouse.
As the flames began to rise, the people in the Right Prime Minister's Estate began to stir and wake up. As for that old dog, the Right Prime Minister, he was off at a brothel and hadn't returned yet—he was getting off easy.
She felt there was still one thing left undone, so she circled back and set a fire at the Xia Estate. Only then did she feel truly satisfied.
By the time she had finished all of this, the sky was beginning to brighten. She yawned and made her way back home at a leisurely pace. As soon as she returned, her head hit the pillow and she fell fast asleep.
At that moment, Old Father Si had someone check on Si Jiuyue. Upon hearing she was still sleeping, he didn't let anyone wake her, saying only that she should get her rest.
Elsewhere, Old Father Si called Si Beishu, Si Beixing, and their wives to his study. He looked at his two daughters-in-law with a grave expression, feeling deep regret. He sighed and said, "Wife of the second son, wife of the third son, disaster is about to befall our family. You should both think carefully. I will have Beishu and Beixing write up letters of divorce for you. Take the children and leave."
The wives of the Si family had been prepared for this. The entire family hadn't slept a wink the night before.
Madam Fang sighed and said, "No, Father-in-law. Saying such things makes us feel like outsiders. You never treated us as anything less than family. Since I married into the Si family, I am a member of the Si family in life and will be a ghost of the Si family in death."
Madam Fang had lost her husband long ago and had no natal home to return to; she had never intended to leave the Si family. As long as the family was together, it didn't matter to her where they lived or what kind of life they led.
The second son's wife agreed, "Father, I feel the same as my sister-in-law. I was never well-treated at my own home; it was only after coming to the Si family that I felt the warmth of a real home. To ask me to leave the family and my husband now is something I could never do." Madam Qiao began to wipe away tears as she spoke. She felt there might still be a chance for things to turn around, and even if disaster truly were at hand, she was not afraid. She would rather die than be separated from her husband and children.
Madam Lin looked at her husband with unwavering resolve and said, "Father, the thoughts of my sisters-in-law are my own as well. I will not leave the Si family alone. Our family must remain whole; even if we must go down to the underworld, I have no fear."
Old Father Si looked at his two sons and three daughters-in-law, his eyes brimming with tears of gratitude. The children were right—what did it matter if they were sent into exile? As long as the family stood united, he would shoulder whatever came their way.
Old Madam Si sighed. In her twilight years, she hadn't expected to encounter such a situation. She didn't ask for riches or luxury, only for the safety of her descendants; yet, she hadn't realized that the dog of an Emperor wouldn't even grant her that small wish.
They were to be raided tomorrow. Though they didn't know if the news was true, everyone felt that what was meant to happen could not be avoided.
Madam Fang was the first to think about the fact that a home raid would result in all their valuables being confiscated. "Grandmother, I still have some personal property and jewelry. I’ll exchange it all for small silver. The old butler’s son is a reliable man; perhaps we should hand our assets to him first and have him bring them to us after we leave the city."
They had no choice but to plan ahead.
"Father, I have a few pearl necklaces. I’ll go pawn them today and turn everything over to you for safekeeping."
The daughters-in-law did not hold back a single thing.