Luo Ling broke out in goosebumps all over at Lu Qianning's words. "Princess, I'm timid—don't scare me like that."
Lu Qianning rapped her on the forehead and said with exasperation, "You're getting more and more spineless. Think about it—didn't we also see a streak of light darting across one night? It was just too far away to make out clearly. Does any ghost fire burn that brightly?"
She was puzzled. So many people had seen that moving light, and these refugees weren't even from the same group—they and her party had been riding day and night on horseback.
Luo Ling slapped her forehead. "That's right! We saw it too, I think. It was just so brief, and so many days have passed, that I'd completely forgotten."
The two racked their brains for a while but couldn't come up with an explanation, so after resting, they set off again.
Meanwhile, Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan trained their martial arts with unusual diligence and focus that day, earning the admiration of Lu Jinshuang.
She smiled with great satisfaction. "Gifted and this hardworking—truly endearing."
Little did she know, the two girls were training while eagerly waiting for nightfall.
At the Fourth Prince's residence.
The Fourth Prince sat inside the room with a long, sour face. He had specifically arranged for someone to tip off the emperor about Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan striking the grandson of Duke Anguo, but yesterday his father had only confined Lu Jinshuang to her residence for three months—no punishment at all for the two girls.
He had wanted to use this to spite Lu Jinshuang, yet nothing had come of it.
What was house arrest, anyway? Being stuck inside for three months wasn't going to stop her from enjoying herself.
What irritated him even more was that he hadn't received any word from his assassins in ages. He had people watching Lu Jinshuang for that very reason, but Lu Qianning hadn't sent a single message back to the capital—as if she'd vanished from the face of the earth.
The Tenth Prince was even more furious than the Fourth Prince. He knew full well that the deaths of those young wastrels were suspicious, but he couldn't tell their families the truth.
If he revealed that the young men had left the private room that day to help him get rid of two little girls, only to die inexplicably, the officials would hate him forever. He would never admit to something like that.
Regardless of the cause, he held a grudge against Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan—especially since he'd taken a fall and still couldn't get out of bed. The hatred burned in him.
Before they knew it, night had fallen. Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan had dinner early and returned to their courtyard to rest.
They dismissed all the servants and then extinguished every lantern in the courtyard.
When Lu Jinshuang heard about it, she smiled—the girls were being well-behaved, exhausted from training all day, no doubt.
Xi Qingyue hugged Xi Weilan close and slipped out of the residence again, just as silently as before. Last time, it had been to steal the imperial robe; this time, it was to pay a visit to the Fourth Prince's estate.
The Fourth Prince's residence had quite a few guards—several hundred of them posted all over the compound—but they were no match for the two sisters.
Xi Qingyue had brought knockout powder this time, the extra-strong kind.
With a gentle breeze, guards toppled over in droves.
By now, Xi Qingyue had plenty of experience. She led Xi Weilan toward the most likely location for a treasury, and the guards posted there were knocked out too.
She broke open the treasury door and pulled Xi Weilan inside. At the sight of mountains of gold and silver stacked within, both girls grinned wide.
"Big sister, we're rich again!" Xi Weilan ran over to the glittering gold and threw herself on top of it, giggling.
Xi Qingyue was stunned by the contents as well. It held even more than she'd guessed—tens of thousands of taels of gold alone, worth millions in silver.
And beside it, pure white silver stacked to five million taels, not even counting the bank drafts they found.
All in all, the treasury's contents came to nearly twenty million taels. This Fourth Prince was indeed loaded.
Xi Qingyue swept everything inside into her space without hesitation, leaving the treasury a hollow shell—nothing but empty walls.
Afterward, they moved to other parts of the estate, and Xi Qingyue collected anything of value, not leaving a single penny for the Fourth Prince.
When the two arrived at the Fourth Prince's courtyard, they encountered several skilled shadow guards. Xi Qingyue didn't hesitate, flinging out blades of wind—so fast they were like lightning. The figures dropped dead on the spot.
Xi Qingyue approached the Fourth Prince's bed, looking down with a cold smirk at the unconscious prince.
The next moment, a wooden vine appeared out of thin air. Green sap trickled from its tip and flowed into the Fourth Prince's mouth.
Instantly, the unconscious prince's body twitched, his face twisting with pain and contortion.
Xi Qingyue withdrew the vine and pulled Xi Weilan out of the room. They still had much to do tonight—no time to dawdle at one estate.
Exiting the Fourth Prince's gate, Xi Qingyue lifted Xi Weilan into her arms and took to the air, heading for the Tenth Prince's residence.
The Tenth Prince wasn't as wealthy as the Fourth Prince, but Xi Qingyue figured even the poorest prince was richer than a minor official. Stripping his estate bare to decorate her space would do nicely.
This time, she even carted away the rock garden from the courtyard. Every room was emptied completely—even the Tenth Prince's bedroom was left bare. He ended up dumped on the floor, not even a bed left to his name. He was worse off than the Fourth Prince.
She didn't administer the vine's poison to the Tenth Prince, but she grabbed him and slammed him against the ground a few times, rattling him until he was nearly falling apart, then dropped him on the floor.
When the two departed the Tenth Prince's estate, the whole place was so empty even rats wouldn't bother coming to steal.
"Big sister, where are we going now?" Xi Weilan asked curiously as she noticed they weren't heading back toward the princess's residence.
Xi Qingyue smiled. "To Duke Anguo's mansion. They've placed the most spies around the princess's residence and harbor the most hostility toward us. Let's turn them into paupers first."
Xi Weilan nodded firmly, then frowned in confusion. "Big sister, we just bought some things—how did that offend them? We bought plenty of things on the road before, and no one treated us like this."
Xi Qingyue patted her head reassuringly. "It's not our fault. We paid for everything, silver in hand, and we even let the other customers pick first. It's not like we stole from them. They're arrogant and unreasonable. Since they won't be reasonable, we don't have to follow the rules either. Without their silver, they can forget about buying anything in the future."
At that thought, both sisters burst out laughing.
A moment later, Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan arrived at Duke Anguo's mansion.
They knocked out the guards and went straight to the treasury, emptying it of everything without a second thought.
Then they swept through the entire mansion—even grabbing the tables and chairs to store in her space. Later, she could build a traditional-style mansion there for herself.
Xi Qingyue thought: once her powers leveled up, she would put a fine estate into her space, merging the ancient and modern—wherever she wanted to live, she could.
In a single night, the two sisters were busy from one place to the next. Every estate that had schemes against them received a visit, and only the houses themselves were left standing.
The next morning, while the entire capital was thrown into an uproar, Xi Qingyue and Xi Weilan slept like the dead, exhausted past all measure.
