Chapter 2: Strike First, Empty the Warehouse

Exile was inevitable. Li Mumu knew she had arrived too late to change her fate; all she could do was make the days on the exile road more bearable.

To endure exile comfortably, one must have ample provisions.

Fortunately, this was her specialty—she had thrived in the apocalypse thanks to her spatial pocket.

In the blink of an eye, she confirmed that her portable space and the supplies she had stored before the apocalypse had come through with her.

Gu Yuru had her carried into the room, looking at her with aching tenderness. “My dear child, lie still and don’t move. I’ll fetch a doctor for you.”

Taking a deep breath, Li Mumu said, “Baozhu, watch over the young lady carefully.”

Baozhu nodded repeatedly in front of Gu Yuru but slipped away to laze around as soon as Gu Yuru left, confident that a fool wouldn’t report her.

Baozhu was astute in reading people and often caused trouble during the exile journey. But now was not the time to deal with her; it was better that she wasn’t watching.

Li Mumu rolled off the bed, her head still dizzy from blood loss. She quickly found hemostatic powder in her space and applied it, stopping the bleeding.

Following her memory, she located the Li family warehouse. The key was with Grandmother Li, but that was no problem; she pulled out two thin iron wires from her space and easily picked the lock.

Upon entering, she was stunned. In just a few years, her worthless father had risen from a country bumpkin to a national general, and the warehouse was filled with treasures beyond count.

Exquisite rarities—taken.

Gold and silver—collected.

Silks and brocades—gathered.

She swiftly packed these items into her space.

On her way out, she didn’t even leave behind the boxes that held the treasures—she emptied everything, leaving it as barren as if a plague of mice had swept through. When cold, these items could even be used to make fires for warmth.

After leaving the warehouse, Li Mumu, burning with resentment toward the Li family, quietly toured the empty rooms and took their valuables.

As she was slipping out of Grandmother Li’s window, she heard a commotion in the distance.

“Sister-in-law is something else—born into a noble family, yet she has no manners and even talks back to Third Brother. Mother, I think she really doesn’t respect you as her grandmother. Back in our village, a girl like her would have been slapped long ago. Siyan is obedient, and judging by her pointed belly, I think she’s having a boy.”

Peeking through the window crack, Li Mumu saw a gaudy woman adorned with five catties of gold and silver jewelry—likely her original body’s little aunt, Li Rong—supporting an elderly woman who must be Grandmother Li.

This mother and daughter had always treated the original body’s mother and siblings coldly, and for the mentally disabled original body, they alternated between beating and scolding. They even considered abandoning her intentionally. If not for her mother’s tearful plea to her father’s family and a three-day-and-night search that turned the capital upside down to rescue her from human traffickers, who knows where she’d be now?

Grandmother Li snorted coldly. “Don’t think just because she’s a duke’s daughter that I care. When your Third Brother receives his reward and surpasses her father, I’ll have him divorce her. Siyan is the daughter-in-law I chose at first sight. If not for—”

Li Mumu clenched her fists tightly. The whole family knew about her worthless father’s affair, except for the original body’s mother and siblings.

“Madam, the imperial edict… the imperial edict has arrived! Hurry and receive it!”

Grandmother Li’s face lit up with joy, so excited she nearly dashed out barefoot, pulling her daughter along.

Li Mumu took a deep breath and dared not delay, hurrying to her maternal grandfather’s house.

But before that, she made a stop at the kitchen, grabbing the pots, pans, poultry, fish, vegetables, radishes, and even the blood swallows’ nests that the old lady and Li Rong had snatched from her mother—what a waste to leave them behind. She took everything.

Thanks to the original body often being bullied by cousins from her uncles’ households and forced to crawl through dog holes, Li Mumu easily found her way out the same way.

The imperial edict had already reached the Li family; next was her maternal grandfather’s. She needed to pack up his belongings quickly to make the journey more comfortable.

Time was tight, so she didn’t bother greeting her maternal grandfather’s family. She slipped through the dog hole into the Gu household, hiding from sight as she headed straight for the warehouse.

The Gu family’s possessions were not scant compared to the Lis’, but as a duke’s family with generations of noble status, they should have had far more. Li Mumu recalled that when her mother married, although her maternal grandfather disapproved of the son-in-law, he had emptied his coffers to ensure his daughter’s marriage was grand.

It was likely that many of the Gu family’s valuables were stored in the Li household.

This time, she was careful not to take everything but left a symbolic portion behind.

Though the two estates were close by, the constant back and forth left her breathless from her recent injury. When she returned, the Li household was in chaos—everything smashed beyond recognition, and nearly a hundred family members knelt on the ground. No one seemed to notice her absence.

At the forefront stood a man, face full of fury.

“Where are the valuables?” he nearly roared. “I was ordered to seize the household, but where are Li family’s possessions? Where have you hidden them?”