Today was Monday, and all leadership teams had their weekly meetings in the morning.
Jiang Si timed it perfectly and called Section Chief Zhou’s office right on schedule.
Section Chief Zhou had just sat down for less than five minutes when the call came in. Assuming Jiang Si was following up on her employment paperwork, he said,
"Secretary Wang’s meeting hasn’t ended yet. I’ll have them send the files over in the afternoon—what? No need to send them?"
What was going on?
Section Chief Zhou thought he must have misheard.
Jiang Si hummed in confirmation. "I’m sorry for the trouble, Section Chief Zhou. It’s hard to explain over the phone. Could you give me your home address? I’ll come by after work to explain in detail."
At the time, Section Chief Zhou found it odd but didn’t think much of it. During lunch at home, he mentioned it to his wife.
His wife, sharp as ever, immediately said,
"What’s so strange about it? She definitely doesn’t want to give up that job, but her family’s forcing her to! I bet she didn’t volunteer to go to the countryside either. Haven’t you heard how many families in our compound are fighting over this 'sent-down' business lately?"
Then, curiosity getting the better of her, she asked,
"Did she say what she plans to do about the job?"
"What else can she do? Keep working, of course," Section Chief Zhou replied.
Their cotton mill was a massive enterprise with tens of thousands of employees, and its benefits were among the best in Hu City. Anyone would be proud to work there.
"Not necessarily!"
His wife wasn’t convinced. "Think about it—if she wanted to keep the job, she could’ve just said so over the phone. Why bother coming to our house tonight? And her stepmother’s already forcing her to transfer the position. Once something’s in that woman’s hands, do you really think she’d let go of it?"
She might not understand women in general, but she sure understood stepmothers.
No woman in this world would ever love another woman’s child—especially one her husband had with someone else!
"So she must be planning to sell the job secretly, not letting her stepmother profit from it!"
The more she spoke, the more convinced she became, and a flicker of hope rose in her heart.
Their youngest still hadn’t secured a job. As a graduate of the class of '68, rumors said this batch might face a blanket policy unlike the '66 and '67 graduates.
The official assignment policy hadn’t been announced yet, but what if the worst happened?
She couldn’t afford to gamble on that "what if."
If that girl really was planning to sell the position, she’d fight tooth and nail to secure it for her child.
With that thought, Section Chief Zhou’s wife couldn’t sit still.
"Hey, we’re eating! What are you rummaging around for?"
She pulled out the family savings book and two meat ration coupons.
Throwing over her shoulder, "No point explaining to you—you wouldn’t get it anyway," she hurried out the door.
Meanwhile, after hanging up, Jiang Si got busy.
That morning, she’d glanced at the calendar before leaving. According to it, today was an auspicious day—perfect for moving.
Well, more like emptying the house!
Her first stop was the basement storage room.
Everyone assumed the Jiang family’s valuables would be hidden in the study or bedrooms—even the original owner of this body had thought so.
But the truth was, while her scumbag father’s bedroom did have a small hidden compartment, it was just a decoy.
The real treasures were buried in the underground vault beneath the storage room.
The only question was—had everything already been moved out?
The storage room was packed, and it took Jiang Si over ten minutes to find the hidden switch under an inconspicuous brick.
Technically, this "vault" was just the basement’s second level, fully equipped with plumbing, electricity, and heating.
Luck was on her side. Though most of the antique furniture, calligraphy, porcelain, and jade had been cleared out, plenty remained.
Probably Shen Xiuwen’s doing—never put all your eggs in one basket.
A quick count: twenty-four crates in total.
Since it was still early, and curiosity got the better of her, Jiang Si decided to open them one by one.
The first crate nearly blinded her.
It was packed with "big yellow fish"—gold bars weighing ten taels (old measurement) each, approximately 312.5 grams per bar.
At a glance, there were hundreds inside.
The second crate had two layers, mostly jewelry belonging to Jiang Si’s late mother and the original owner.
The top layer held:
- 10 pairs of dragon-and-phoenix gold bracelets
- 4 sets of gold filigree hair ornaments inlaid with gems
- 8 gold necklaces
- 12 auspicious lock pendants
- 30 gold pendants of various designs
The bottom layer contained:
- 4 emerald bead necklaces
- 6 emerald solitaire rings
- 2 emerald-and-diamond brooches
- 2 diamond necklaces
- 1 pink diamond ring (~10 carats)
- 1 blue diamond ring (~10 carats)
Something felt off—had some jewelry already been taken?
The third crate was more gold, but in the form of figurines: golden toads, Buddhas, pixius, zodiac animals, and the like.
When she opened the fourth crate, Jiang Si fell silent.
…More gold?
She held up one of the ingots—it was nearly the size of her fist!
And there were dozens more just like it.
Finally, the fifth crate broke the pattern: raw jadeite.
Not much, but the color and translucency suggested it was top-grade imperial green jade.
Crates six and seven were filled with cash—one with U.S. dollars, the other with Hong Kong Dollars.
At the time, foreign currency was tightly controlled in the country. Outside official channels, USD and HKD only circulated in underground banks or black markets in major cities, often at 2-3 times the official exchange rate.
Just these two crates represented hundreds of thousands spent.
Jiang Si had merged with the original owner’s memories and knew the Jiang family was wealthy—but not this wealthy.
This was the 1960s! Hundreds of thousands back then was unimaginable.
Old-money families operated on a scale ordinary people couldn’t fathom.
The eighth crate must’ve belonged to her scumbag father:
- 2 Rolex men’s watches
- 1 gold pocket watch set with diamonds
- 4 jade thumb rings
- 1 pair of gold-threaded dragon-pattern jade pendants
- 5 strings of agarwood prayer beads
- Several diamond tie clips and sapphire cufflinks
- A complete set of jade snuff bottles
The next few crates held rare medicinal ingredients.
Beyond the usual ginseng, deer antler, lingzhi, shark fin, bird’s nest, saffron, ambergris, cordyceps, aged donkey-hide gelatin, and natural musk, Jiang Si spotted many herbs that would later become banned or nearly extinct.
Items like tiger bone, bear bile, dragon's blood resin, rhinoceros horn, snow leopard bone, natural bezoar, hawksbill turtle shell, and saiga antelope horn...
If not for the labels on each box indicating the corresponding traditional Chinese medicine names and their effects, she would have had no idea what was inside.
The last few crates contained finished medicinal products.
Just like the previous batches of raw herbs, these medicines had their core ingredients, usage, and functions clearly listed on the inventory.
Jiang Si skimmed through and noticed many familiar names—medicines that would become well-known in later generations.
For instance, Angong Niuhuang Wan (Bezoar Resurrection Pills), Yunnan Baiyao (Yunnan White Medicine), Pian Zi Huang (Pien Tze Huang), Niuhuang Qingxin Wan (Bezoar Heart-Clearing Pills), Wuji Baifeng Wan (Black Chicken White Phoenix Pills), and Huoxiang Zhengqi Wan (Agastache Qi-Regulating Pills).
Of course, there were also some she had never heard of, like the Shaolin Temple’s secret remedy Qili San (Seven-Li Powder), Kang Gutong Wan (Anti-Bone Pain Pills), Suhexiang Wan (Storax Pills), Diankuang Longhu Wan (Madness-Dragon-Tiger Pills), Zixue Dan (Purple Snow Elixir), and Dingkun Dan (Firming the Womb Pills).
By this point, Jiang Si couldn’t help but admire—her scumbag father had clearly gone to great lengths preparing for his move to Hong Kong.
She wondered if he’d be driven mad with rage when he returned to find all his meticulously gathered treasures vanished without a trace.
Then again, Jiang Si doubted he’d even live to see that moment.
After all, she had no interest in dragging things out with his family. She was determined to end this—quickly and decisively.
