This...
Qi Yue furrowed her brows. These items weren't obtained from raiding a household?
Suppressing the doubts in her heart, she opened the booklet.
It listed military officer ranks in ascending order.
The last page had newly added content—Capital City Imperial City Division's Senior Military Advisor!
Wasn't this the title of her vile second uncle, Qi Fengzhang?
Her mind was struck by a bolt of lightning, and Qi Yue began to understand.
The current Emperor was selling official titles!!!
If she wasn't mistaken, once she selected a title, the shopkeeper would lead her to choose an item.
And surely, those items were ones seized from others, and their prices would be outrageously frightening.
As a result, the Emperor would satisfy his own desires, and those in the food chain would grow fat, all while deceiving the people of the world!!
To confirm her suspicions, Qi Yue deliberately pointed at the words "Imperial City Division's Senior Military Advisor."
Seeing this, the shopkeeper clapped his hands with excitement.
"Good, good, the warrior indeed has an eye for quality! You've picked the best treasure here on your first try."
What followed was as she had suspected.
The shopkeeper led her into a room filled with many boxes, and he took one out and placed it in front of her.
It was just a small Jade Ruyi.
At this moment, it was placed inside a box lined with yellow brocade, with a piece of paper attached that read—Imperial City Division's Senior Military Advisor, gold 200,000 taels!
Qi Yue almost swore out loud!
How could this shabby Jade Ruyi be worth gold 200,000 taels?
If this wasn't selling official positions, what was?
The shopkeeper thought Qi Yue was delighted and hastily served up a barrage of flattery.
"Warrior, look at this treasure, clear and translucent, symbolizing a bright future and smooth sailing for you!"
"With this treasure, you're sure to rise to great heights!"
Qi Yue cursed inwardly but kept a cautious expression on her face.
"Shopkeeper, there won't be any problems with this, right? If I'm not wrong, the person before who had this gold worth 200,000 taels ended up in a disaster?"
The shopkeeper dismissively waved his hand, looking incredibly arrogant.
"Warrior, rest assured, that person's disaster was his own doing. As long as you don't provoke those one shouldn't, you'll always be safe and sound!"
Qi Yue quickly grasped the meaning of his words.
Those who bought official positions were all marked, our own people wouldn't harm our own, everyone just needed to live in peace, exploiting the common folk was all that mattered.
But the person who had taken action against Qi Fengzhang was Dai Yuan, no, it might even be the person behind him.
Although the Emperor loved gold, he wouldn't bother with such matters; who could it be?
Thinking of the Lin Family from Shuangmu Forest, whom no one even dared to mention, Qi Yue had a vague answer in her heart.
The round-faced maid who had tried to kill her also mentioned the Lin Family's Noble Consort in the palace.
This Noble Consort was the daughter of the Grand Tutor of Lin.
Qi Yue had long heard that the Lin Family father and daughter were extremely ruthless—one dominated the inner court, the other the imperial court, plunging the Beiyuan Kingdom into chaos and corruption.
Suppressing the indignation in her heart, Qi Yue cheerfully said, "Since the shopkeeper says so, I'm reassured. Actually, 200,000 gold isn't much for me..."
She lowered her voice and said, "I won't hide it from you, I'm looking to secure a job closer to the top."
Upon hearing this, the shopkeeper's eyes went round, and his voice trembled a bit—it was a deal worth over a million in gold, and he could earn a few hundred!
"Warrior, such magnanimity! My master loves people with such courage."
Seizing the chance, Qi Yue asked, "May I know who your master is?"
The shopkeeper's demeanor turned strict, and his face instantly filled with a respectful smile.
"The Lin Family of our nation is my master."
Seeing Qi Yue's surprised face, the shopkeeper became even more complacent.
"Do you know about the brave warriors from the Ducal Mansion of An? Not even their household is worthy of stepping on one of my master's toes!"
Qi Yue no longer wished to listen to any more of this talk.
The damned Emperor favored his corrupt officials and forgot about her, the orphan of the former Great General who defended the nation. Why should she be courteous then?
She would plunder the gold from his Treasure Pavilion!!!
Doesn't the damned Emperor like to collect?
Let him collect loneliness!
Crack!
Qi Yue struck the shopkeeper on the head with her fist, knocking him out cold.
After collecting all the items in the inner chambers, aside from some silver notes, she didn't find any heaps of gold or silver.
She guessed that the truly valuable items must be hidden somewhere, most likely in the backyard.
After brief contemplation, Qi Yue took out a small bottle of alcohol from her space, poured it on the wooden cabinets, and in an instant, the entire second floor of the Treasure Pavilion was ablaze. She then slipped through the back door into the backyard.
Soon, after the fire on the second floor had been extinguished, four or five people headed towards the backyard.
The one leading them clearly had some insight, but all of this was part of Qi Yue's plan.
He was listening to the reports about the second-floor situation while twirling his beard around his finger.
After a moment, his expression suddenly changed, "This is bad, we have unfriendly visitors! Follow me to the lower levels and check, if anything goes wrong with those items, all our heads will roll!"
"Yes!"
Qi Yue, hiding behind the rocks, heard everything clearly and became even more certain that the gold amassed from the Emperor's sale of offices was hidden here.
While considering how to get her hands on the treasure, she saw a tall man hurrying over.
An idea flashed in her eyes.
Taking the opportunity as he approached, she knocked him out and dragged him over.
This man was sturdy and his clothes fitted her perfectly.
When she emerged from behind the fake mountain, she had transformed into one of the employees of the Treasure Pavilion.
Following those people, she also entered a pavilion.
The pavilion was just for show. The leader moved the table in the center, stamped his foot twice on the floor, and a staircase leading down appeared.
What followed went very smoothly.
The leader, still shaken from the fire earlier, was intent on checking the items in storage and didn't notice the stranger who had infiltrated their group.
As soon as they reached the storage, Qi Yue was stunned by the sight before her.
The storage was enormous, spanning over a hundred square meters.
Stacks of gold and silver piled up higher than her height filled the room!
Shelves around the walls were filled with animal statues cast in gold.
There were snakes, tigers, lions, wolves, rabbits…, a menagerie of all shapes and colors.
Qi Yue even wondered if the Emperor had watched too much of the animal world?
Seeing the treasures untouched, the leader breathed a sigh of relief and patted his chest, "Thank goodness, our lives are spared."
As soon as his words fell, Qi Yue hit him with a club.
Then, the other four men were taken down by her as well.
Qi Yue quickly gathered all the gold and silver into her space.
At that moment, she didn't even have time to rejoice. Having collected so much gold, she began to feel a flutter of panic.
She had the sneaking suspicion that she had just punched a hole in the sky, and if the Emperor found out she had emptied the treasury, her life would be over in a matter of minutes.
Indeed, as soon as she left the storage, she saw a troop of soldiers heading straight for the pavilion in the backyard.
The cries for capturing the thief were also sounding all around.
Qi Yue couldn't avoid them in time and quickly hid behind a pillar, slipping into her space.
After sitting on a chair in the clinic courtyard for a while, she became restless.
If she didn't return soon, the officials who came to confiscate her property would assume she had fled. Once the Imperial Court began hunting her for fleeing, she would be in big trouble!
What to do?