Chapter 35: Damn it, I've put up with you long enough

Lin Xiaodou’s signature four-step heist: blink, knock out with a single blow, collect the loot, and make a clean getaway.

By the time the male lead, Zhang Tianjun, slowly regained consciousness, the row of heavy trucks was already empty. On the side of the truck, a few bold words were scrawled: “I’m back again!”

Zhang Tianjun’s face flushed a deep purple with rage. He threw his head back and roared to the sky, “Aaaah! If I ever catch you, I’ll tear you to pieces, a thousand times over!”

His followers exchanged uneasy glances, each looking worse than the last. The goods lost in the little forest a while ago amounted to a minor loss, but the warehouse heist in the outskirts just a few days back had cost their boss at least a hundred thousand. As for today’s batch—this was their painstaking effort over several months, meant to be shipped overseas for a fortune. Not only had the boss staked most of his fortune, but many of them had also invested heavily. Now it was all gone, stolen with nothing left behind. That thief must hold a grudge against their boss, targeting his goods specifically! Yet, if it weren’t for their boss, perhaps none of this would have happened, nor would the losses have been so severe. As the thought crossed their minds, many among them began to feel a simmering resentment toward Zhang Tianjun.

...

Lin Xiaodou sprinted all the way home. The dark of night could not dampen her feverish excitement. She’d been so focused on gathering everything earlier, she hadn’t even checked what treasures she’d managed to snatch. Now, she couldn’t wait to get home and take inventory.

Once inside with the door securely locked, Lin Xiaodou slipped into her space—the magical sanctuary only she could access. There, over a hundred crates awaited her inspection. She began opening them one by one: gold ingots, silver, jewels, paintings, antiques, stamps, relics—an endless array of treasures! Seeing them piled into miniature mountains, Lin Xiaodou’s joy was boundless. These valuables alone would be worth at least tens of billions in the future!

That male lead really was a perfect mark—so generous, such a good person! O(∩_∩)O Haha~

While checking the crates, Lin Xiaodou discovered two that were different from the rest. One was stuffed with large-denomination bills of this era, a full fifty thousand! The other was packed with various bonds and tickets, over two hundred in all—likely what the male lead had intended to use in his deals. This was an unexpected windfall!

Lin Xiaodou had previously worried her space only stored supplies, not cash. Now, she no longer had to worry—the down payment for a house was secured!

She spent two hours in her space, carefully sorting everything. Now, she possessed not only billions in goods, but also a hundred acres of prime farmland teeming with grain, vegetables, and fruit. The gold, silver, paintings, and antiques looted from the male lead alone were worth over a hundred billion. Adding the three hundred she’d made selling her job, the fourteen hundred she’d squeezed from Old Lin’s family, and the fifty thousand from this haul, she now had over fifty-one thousand in cash and more than two hundred tickets.

She also held the deeds to a princely courtyard house, swindled from Wu Ya, worth at least a billion in the future. When the time came to leave the Lin family, she’d empty their coffers and make off with their hidden medicinal treasures—a tidy sum in itself.

Altogether, these assets would last at least a hundred lifetimes, if not five hundred.

Lounging in her creaky rocking chair, Lin Xiaodou daydreamed of a life as a landlady, collecting rent and enjoying the simple pleasures. She was, at heart, a person of modest ambition. Even after becoming rich overnight, she couldn’t resist picking up whatever windfalls came her way. Poverty had left its mark—her views on money were ingrained, unchangeable.

...

Even after only a few hours’ sleep, Lin Xiaodou woke up the next morning refreshed and full of energy. She set out early, skipping breakfast, and made her way to the street office, where she dropped a letter into the mailbox. It was an anonymous tip, reporting the male lead for abusing his public position and profiting from state property.

After last night’s devastating blow, his career would never recover. She had to strike while the iron was hot—obliterate him in one move. With the fake heiress left without her greatest supporter, Lin Xiaodou could better carry out her plans.

She had worried, as she robbed the male lead, about the consequences. In such a morally skewed novel, the protagonist’s halo was blindingly strong; no matter his crimes, he always managed to escape unscathed. It meant the world’s rules favored him—a child of fate, impossibly lucky. Lin Xiaodou wondered if fate would punish her for meddling. But after several successful heists, fate remained silent.

She realized then: the rules had changed. Fate would no longer help the male lead. Or perhaps, her arrival had disrupted the order entirely. In that case, why hesitate? She would bury the male lead so deeply in the mud that he would never rise again!

...

The authorities acted quickly.

The day after Lin Xiaodou mailed the letter, the male lead was taken away. His father, the general manager of the department store, was also suspended and placed under investigation.

When Lin Xuefei heard the news, she broke down in tears. Lin Zhengmin nearly lost his mind. The Lin family’s fortunes had been in decline for years, and the golden son-in-law who was supposed to restore their glory was gone, just like that! Desperate to distance himself, he even published a notice in the newspaper declaring that his daughter and Zhang Tianjun had broken up.

Wu Ya was even more furious, making a scene at home. She slapped Lin Xuefei hard across the face. “It’s all your fault! You’re a curse on this family! If it weren’t for you, that wretched Lin Xiaodou would never have entered our home and brought us this chaos. If it weren’t for you, we wouldn’t have been dragged down by Zhang Tianjun’s family and become the laughingstock of the city!”

“Why is it all my fault?” Lin Xuefei clutched her swollen cheek and glared back, eyes blazing. “When Tianjun was doing well, you groveled at his feet like a dog. And you think you’re any better? You’re just a gold-digger!”

Her usually gentle daughter’s rebellious retort stunned both Lin Zhengmin and Wu Ya into silence.

Lin Xuefei, emotionally charged, had blurted out her true feelings before she realized it. Regret set in immediately, and she could only hide her face and sob. “Just because I’m not your real daughter, does that mean I deserve to be bullied? Boohoo!”

With that, Lin Xuefei stormed off to her room to cry. Lin Zhengmin rubbed his temples, sighing, “She’s just a child, try to go easy on her.”

Wu Ya rolled her eyes fiercely. “Seventeen and still a child? She’s nothing but an ungrateful wretch!”

The couple quarreled, parting on bad terms.

That night, as Lin Xiaodou slept soundly in her space, a disturbance outside roused her. She quickly exited her sanctuary and lay in bed, feigning sleep.

A shadow crept into her room, rummaging through every corner.

“Damn brat, where on earth did you hide the household register and property deeds? They’re nowhere to be found,” Wu Ya muttered, never suspecting that what she sought was in another dimension altogether.

Frustrated after a long and fruitless search, Wu Ya raised her hand and brought it down on Lin Xiaodou’s head. “Useless girl, you sleep so soundly! I’ll teach you a lesson!”

But before the words had faded, Lin Xiaodou sprang up and landed a punch squarely on Wu Ya’s face.

“Damn it, I’ve put up with you long enough! You dare try a sneak attack on me in the middle of the night?!”