He started by killing his abusive father, and from then on, he embarked on the road to wealth.

Chapter 144 Looting the Imperial Tombs

Flowing beads?

Meng Fuqing thought for a moment and felt that he must be referring to mercury.

She called the white wolf to her side, picked up a piece of gold and examined it. She found that the weight and purity of the gold were incorrect. She examined several other pieces, and they were all the same.

"If the tomb chamber is fake and the burial objects are all fake, then the person in the coffin must also be fake, right?"

“It’s more likely a trap. How could an emperor tolerate someone overshadowing him after death?” Xie Jin walked toward the coffin.

Meng Fuqing nodded casually, his eyes gleaming with desire as he looked at the rather exquisite burial objects.

Even if it's fake, it's from the previous dynasty, and its value might have increased by now. Meng Fuqing walked around the entire tomb chamber, putting everything he could into his spatial storage, determined not to leave empty-handed.

With her mission accomplished, she turned around with satisfaction and immediately saw Xie Jin standing by the coffin with his arms crossed, looking at her.

Meng Fuqing paused, realizing it was a habit he'd developed during the apocalypse—hoarding anything useful—but he'd completely forgotten that Xie Jin was still there.

"What? Even the fake Young Master Xie wants a piece of the pie?"

Xie Jin wasn't thinking about that. He was thinking about how Meng Fuqing had lived a very hard life in Mengjia Village and hadn't seen many rare and exotic objects, so he liked even fake ones.

His usually cold eyes softened slightly. "If Miss Meng likes it, that's good."

Meng Fuqing sensed that Xie Jin was acting strangely, but she didn't intend to waste any more time.

She walked to the coffin and put the entire coffin into her spatial storage.

Once the coffin disappeared, only a dark gap remained where it had been placed.

Meng Fuqing reminded him, "Wait a little while before going down."

After saying that, she looked around the entire fake tomb chamber and asked, "Why are there no mechanisms?"

Xie Jin: ...

He said helplessly, "You've already taken the coffin, so the mechanisms inside are no longer functional."

Meng Fuqing hesitated. Such a large tomb chamber, and only one mechanism?

However, she didn't say it aloud, because good omen might not come true, but bad omen might; it's best to avoid prophecies.

The white wolf seemed a little uncomfortable, whimpered softly, and lay down at Meng Fuqing's feet without moving.

Xie Jin glanced at the white wolf at Meng Fuqing's feet and belatedly realized that something was wrong.

"Meng Fuqing, are you feeling unwell anywhere?"

Meng Fuqing looked at him, shook her head, and suddenly noticed something. She took the torch and moved closer to Xie Jin.

It has to be said that this face has a unique impact when you get close to it, but Meng Fuqing has no time to appreciate it and her gaze is fixed on Xie Jin's lips.

Even the dim firelight couldn't hide Xie Jin's pale lips.

She quickly looked towards the tomb entrance, only to find that the tomb chamber door was not closed.

Finally, her gaze fell on the dark opening beneath the coffin.

Is there poison gas inside?

The thought flashed through her mind, and Meng Fuqing quickly led Xie Jin away from the gap. She found that the white wolf was still lying on the ground, slacking off, and kicked the white wolf along the way.

After leading the man and the wolf away from the breach, Meng Fuqing frowned and asked Xie Jin, "Are you alright?"

Xie Jin leaned against Meng Fuqing as if he had no strength left, and mumbled, "Meng Fuqing, don't think I'm heavy. I carry antidote with me, but I don't have the strength right now."

Meng Fuqing didn't push him away, but asked, "Where did you put it?"

"Waist area".

She fumbled around and found a small medicine bottle. Meng Fuqing poured out a pill and put it into Xie Jin's mouth. Then she helped him sit down on the ground and fed the white wolf another pill.

After doing all this, she couldn't help but sigh in her heart that this imperial tomb was really difficult to enter, and she wondered how long the poisonous gas would last. Thinking this, she also took an antidote pill.

The pills were very effective at detoxifying, and the man and the wolf soon regained consciousness.

Meng Fuqing took out a mask made by Shan Qiyu from her spatial storage and handed it to Xie Jin.

The middle layer of this mask is a modern mask taken from space. Although it is thick, it is not conspicuous and has a better filtration effect.

After putting on their masks, the two decided not to wait any longer and returned to the edge of the gap. Meng Fuqing put the torch in to test it; the fire was a little smaller, but it didn't go out.

By the light of the fire, the two were able to roughly estimate how high they were from the ground.

Xie Jin took out a rope from his spatial storage and tied the white wolf to a stone pillar. Then, he led Meng Fuqing and jumped down through the gap.

Upon landing, they relit the extinguished torches and discovered that the real main burial chamber was much larger than the fake one, with two smaller chambers nearby containing various burial objects.

Having taken the antidote pill beforehand, Meng Fuqing felt no discomfort after jumping down. She looked at Xie Jin.

Noticing her gaze, Xie Jin said, "Don't worry."

Meng Fuqing asked him, "Is what you're looking for in the coffin or among the burial goods? Should we look for it first?"

Xie Jin leaned against a stone pillar and said, "Miss Meng, why don't you put all your valuables into your spatial storage? Once you've done it once, I'll know what's inside."

Meng Fuqing felt that Xie Jin was being far too generous and couldn't help but ask, "Won't you feel bad if I take it all?"

She knew Xie Jin came from a wealthy family, but since the entire Xie family was exiled, their wealth should have been confiscated. Yet, she wasn't tempted at all by the dazzling array of gold and silver treasures; she was practically a saint.

"As I said at the beginning, this is a gift of thanks to Miss Meng. After all, if you hadn't led the way, how could I have gotten in?"

"That's a good idea, but don't worry, if you hadn't mentioned the imperial tombs nearby, I wouldn't have been able to make this discovery. Let's keep things separate; I get 60% and you get 40%. That's settled then."

Even without Meng Fuqing, Xie Jin could still bring people here to find medicine; it would just be more time-consuming and laborious.

Moreover, their relationship was already ambiguous due to Xie Jin's actions, and accepting these gifts would only make things more complicated.

What is rightfully hers, she will take; what is not rightfully hers, she will not take.

Behind her, Xie Jin's eyes deepened. After a moment of contemplation, he walked toward the emperor's coffin while chatting with Meng Fuqing.

"To be honest, I know a lot about your family, but you probably don't know much about mine."

Meng Fuqing hesitated for a moment about whether to listen, but then thought that to be fair, she should listen. So she packed her things while keeping an eye on Xie Jin.

Unexpectedly, the first sentence almost made her drop the glass cup in her hand—"My mother's surname was Pei, and she was the only daughter of the Pei family, the richest family in Great Yan."

Meng Fuqing: ...

Indeed, some people are born to inspire envy, jealousy, and hatred.

“When my maternal grandfather married off his daughter, he gave half of his family fortune as dowry for my mother to take to the Xie family. Three years ago, my parents died under suspicious circumstances during the war. After my parents passed away, only my sister and I remained in the third branch of the Xie family.”

Xie Jin took out a dark green bead from the coffin with a handkerchief, wiped it back and forth until the bead became clear and transparent again, and then put it into his purse.

"I was fourteen years old that year. I was poisoned and murdered. I was worried that my younger sister, who had been weak since childhood, would also be harmed. So I had to come up with a plan to fake my sister's death and then secretly send her to my maternal grandfather's house."

The Pei family is no longer the wealthiest family in Great Yan. The current emperor, mindful of the great contributions my parents made in the past, has not implicated my maternal grandfather's family. My sister has a new status in the Pei family. Since the Pei family has few descendants, my maternal grandfather intends to pass the family fortune to my sister.

Meng Fuqing found it strange, "The emperor spared your maternal family, so why didn't he spare you as well? Is it just because your surname is Xie?"

"Of course, I have a reason to die."

The shadow in Xie Jin's eyes vanished in an instant, and he turned to Meng Fuqing and said, "So Miss Meng doesn't need to worry too much about me."

Meng Fuqing didn't ask any further questions, only saying, "That's true, your mother's dowry was also confiscated, right? It's not bad to see you living off your sister."

Xie Jin: ...

With nothing else to do, Xie Jin took out the contents of the two small tomb chambers and placed them in front of Meng Fuqing. Before long, the two of them had swept everything out of the tomb chambers.

Just then, the two suddenly heard a wolf howl overhead. They exchanged a glance, and Xie Jin skillfully carried Meng Fuqing up.