The shopkeeper stood on the steps, a greasy rag flying in his hand as he flicked it about. His eyelids drooped, refusing to give the government officials even a sideways glance.
"Never mind the guest suites; even the mouse nests in the woodshed are fully booked. Gentlemen, please move along."
Xu Youde refused to believe his bad luck. Clinging to a final shred of hope, he ran to three more inns in quick succession.
The Yue Lai Inn—full.
The Fortune Pavilion—full.
Even a roadside flophouse that charged ten copper coins a night and had more fleas than guests changed its tune the moment they heard the new arrival was the County Magistrate. The proprietor slammed the door shut with a resounding bang and hung up a ragged wooden sign: "Family celebration, closed for three days."
By now, the sky had turned completely dark.
Lanterns flickered to life along the streets. In the dim, yellowish glow, prying eyes hid behind every window.
The tea houses and wine shops were crowded with silhouettes. Their gazes peered down through the window lattices, filled with undisguised mockery and schadenfreude.
Everyone was waiting for the show—waiting to see if this County Magistrate, who had arrived with a fortune in tow, would be forced to take his delicate young daughter to sleep under a bridge tonight.
Xu Youde slumped onto the curb. Looking at the crates of fine silks and valuables with nowhere to go, he lost all his strength and slid down against the wall, looking utterly defeated.
"Daughter... maybe... maybe we should go beg the Great Families? Even if we have to give them some silver, at least we’d have a place to stay."
His voice trembled; he was truly terrified by the cold shoulder Jiangning City had given them.
Xu Qinghuan stood in the middle of the long street. Facing the immense malice the city radiated toward her, the corners of her lips curled into a faint arc. Her expression held a hint of amusement, as if she were watching a play.
Beg?
Sorry, but the word "beg" didn't exist in the dictionary of a "pay-to-win" player.
If a problem could be solved with money, was it even a problem? No, that was just a tutorial mission!
"Beg them? That’s giving them too much credit."
Xu Qinghuan let out a soft sneer. She spun around to face the middleman from the broker’s agency who had been shivering beside them, wanting to flee but not daring to.
He was a "tool" she had picked up off the street earlier for five taels of silver.
"Tell me, is there a mansion in Jiangning that is ridiculously large, vacant, and that no one dares to buy?"
The broker trembled at her imposing aura and stammered, "There... there is. In the west of the city, there is the Liu Estate. It was the private property of the wealthiest man of the previous dynasty. It covers a hundred acres, complete with pavilions, terraces, and towers. It’s just that..."
"That’s the one," Xu Qinghuan interrupted, not even blinking.
"No... that won't do!" The broker’s face turned pale, his legs shaking like leaves in the wind. "It’s a notorious haunted house! Three previous owners have died there! They say you can hear ghosts wailing and howling at night. Even the night watchmen don't dare pass its gates! And..."
The broker swallowed hard, glancing furtively around before lowering his voice. "Because no one will buy it and no one maintains it, the price is still sky-high—thirty thousand taels of silver! It’s a dead asset. Whoever buys it is cursed!"
Thirty thousand taels.
In this era, that was a sum ordinary families couldn't even dream of.
The townspeople watching the commotion and the spies from the Great Families blended into the crowd all pricked up their ears. Their lips carried mocking sneers, waiting for the Magistrate’s daughter to retreat in the face of such difficulty.
"Thirty thousand taels?"
Xu Qinghuan’s brow furrowed deeply, and her voice suddenly jumped an octave, dripping with clear dissatisfaction and disdain. "Why is it so cheap? Are you looking down on me?"
The street fell deathly silent. Even the moan of the wind catching the eaves could be heard clearly.
Even the two black donkeys munching grass by the entrance of a hall stopped chewing, staring with wide eyes at the scene.
Cheap?
Thirty thousand taels for a haunted house and she thinks it’s cheap? Has this woman lost her mind?
"I want a mansion worthy of my status! Not some roadside scrap!"
Xu Qinghuan kicked the large redwood crate filled with silver beside her.
With a "clatter," the lid popped open.
A chest full of glittering white silver ingots reflected the cold, enticing light of the setting sun, making everyone’s eyes ache.
"I’ll pay forty thousand taels."
The young woman’s voice was crisp and arrogant, carrying a reckless energy that treated gold like dirt as it echoed down the street.
"Cash, upfront. We close the deal now."
"I have only one requirement: have the place cleaned before tonight. I’m moving in."
The broker’s legs gave out, and he hit the ground with a "thud," his eyes nearly popping out of his head.
Forty thousand taels!
He couldn't earn that much commission in this lifetime, or the next eight! Was this the God of Wealth descending to earth?
"What are you standing there for?"
Xu Qinghuan grabbed a fifty-tael silver ingot and tossed it like a pebble to the stunned broker. "That’s the deposit. Go get people! I don't care if they are beggars, rogues, or laborers from the docks—as long as they have hands and feet, send them to the Liu Estate to clean!"
She paused, surveying the greedy eyes surrounding her, and dropped the final bombshell:
"Everyone gets one tael of silver for the night! Paid on the spot! No limit on the number of people!"
The words were like a drop of boiling oil falling into a vat of water. The roar of the crowd exploded!
One tael of silver!
That was a fortune that a common laborer couldn't save in two months of backbreaking work!
What family bans? What threats from the Canal Gang? In the face of a shiny white tael of silver, it was all utter nonsense!
"I’ll go! I’m strong! I can carry three hundred pounds!"
"My Lady! I have a broom! I’m going right now! My whole family is going!"
"Me too! I’m not afraid of ghosts! Being a 'poor ghost' is much scarier than a dead one!"
The crowd that had been waiting for a laugh turned into a frenzied tide rushing for wages.
Shop assistants dropped their rags, tea house waiters ditched their kettles, and even a few family servants sent to spy felt their feet itch as they stared at the silver. They were dying to rip off their uniforms and join the fray to get a piece of the action.
...
Half an hour later.
The Liu Estate—a "ghost house" abandoned for ten whole years—was ablaze with light, as bright as day.
Thousands of people held torches, brooms, rags, and buckets, working with feverish energy throughout the gardens. The sounds of shouting and scrubbing reached the heavens.
What yin energy? What ghostly wailing?
In the face of thousands of red-eyed people desperate for silver, even a real ghost would have packed its bags and fled overnight. This was the literal definition of "overwhelming human vitality."
Xu Qinghuan sat on the freshly polished railing of a water pavilion, holding a cup of hot tea and leisurely blowing on the steam.
Opposite her, Xu Youde clutched his beloved purple sandalwood commode lid, his jaw hanging so low it nearly touched his chest. He looked like a man who had lost his soul.
"Father, do you see?"
Xu Qinghuan pointed at the commoners below, who were working with such gusto they were nearly fighting over a cleaning rag. Her mocking smile deepened.
"In Jiangning, the rules of the Great Families are significant. But there is one thing even bigger than their rules."
"And that is money."
“As long as you pay enough, you can make the devil grind the mill—or better yet, make the mill grind the devil.”
Xu Youde clutched the toilet lid tightly to his chest, gazing at the sea of lanterns illuminating the garden. Suddenly, the gloomy city of Jiangning didn’t seem so terrifying anymore.
His daughter wasn't here to act like a typical official.
She had come with a heavy purse to burn spirit money at the graves of these self-righteous aristocratic clans!
***
The Xu Estate, East City.
A crisp shatter echoed through the hall.
A priceless, top-tier blue-and-white porcelain cup lay in fragments on the floor.
Old Master Xu’s hand, clutching a string of jade walnuts, trembled slightly. The veins on the back of his hand bulged, a clear sign of his mounting fury.
“Forty thousand taels… for a haunted mansion?”
“Has that Xu girl gone mad? Or does she simply have so much money she’s looking for ways to burn it?”
The middle-aged steward standing nearby kept his head bowed low, hardly daring to breathe. “Old Master, we blockaded every inn in the city, hoping to force them to sleep in the streets and humiliate them, to break their spirit. Who would have thought… now the commoners are saying the new County Magistrate is the God of Wealth descended to earth. They say her righteousness is so potent she can suppress a haunted house, and that she’s the lucky star of Jiangning.”
“Suppress it?”
Old Master Xu let out a cold sneer. His clouded eyes narrowed, casting a gaze so dark it sent chills down one's spine. The jade walnuts in his hand creaked under the pressure.
“Now that she’s moved in, she shouldn’t expect to come out in one piece.”
“Go, send word to the Canal Gang. Tomorrow, it’s time to collect that ‘transit fee.’ I want to see if her well of silver truly never runs dry!”
***
Deep of night.
The inner reaches of Liu Garden.
The boisterous crowds had long since dispersed. The commoners, beaming with joy after receiving their silver, had cleaned the garden so thoroughly that even the dust in the cracks of the floorboards had been scrubbed away.
In the backyard, by a withered well that had been abandoned for years.
An elderly servant, tasked with clearing the last of the silt, was preparing to haul up his bucket and head home for the night.
The moonlight slanted into the depths of the well.
Beneath what should have been dry silt, something reflected a sharp, golden glint that didn't belong in such a place.
The old servant rubbed his eyes, thinking his old age was playing tricks on him.
Girding his loins, he reached down to touch it.
His fingertips brushed against something cold from the depths of the well—hard, heavy, and sharply angled.
It wasn't a stone.
That weight… could it be… a gold bar?!
*Click.*
At that moment, a faint but distinct sound of a mechanical trigger echoed from deep within the well.
It wasn't the wind.
It was the sound of some slumbering colossus being awakened.
