Liu Tián Qǔ had come across people that were greedy and never satisfied before. She'd come across people that were worth hundreds of millions of dollars. However, they were unhappy with that. So they began to do any and everything, legal and illegal, to reach the tier of a billionaire. After reaching a billionaire, they would then strive to become a multi-billionaire. After achieving that, they set their eyes on the next tier. Sadly they remained unsatisfied.
Liu Tián Qǔ found nothing wrong with being successful and ambitious. However, taking the lives of others to fulfill your ambitions in Liu Tián Qǔ's opinion was a line that should never be crossed.
Liu Tián Qǔ stood in the center of an attached treasury room that was attached to the courtyard. After searching the courtyard for over twenty minutes, they still were unable to located Big Madam Chen's wealth. Liu Tián Qǔ had spotted the attached room after they exited the courtyard and pointed it out to the Manager. Manager Kuo had broken the lock to the attached room using a gardening tool.
However, Liu Tián Qǔ did not feel excitement over finding the wealth of Big Madam Chen. Instead, she felt a deep sense of disgust and loathing towards Big Madam Chen while looking at the treasures that filled the attached treasury room.
Liu Tián Qǔ was so mired in the revulsion she felt towards Big Madam Chen that the shouts of joy and excitement of Manager Kuo didn't even register.
It was clear to Liu Tián Qǔ the type of person Big Madam Chen was. Instead of using her wealth to help her family or sharing her wealth with her family. The greedy woman who was never satisfied hid it all away for her own viewing pleasure. Liu Tián Qǔ wondered how many lives were sacrificed to obtain the treasure that was hidden away in the attached treasure room.
Although the Chen family was very wealthy, the amount of wealth that Big Madam Chen hid away in her treasury was far too much. The Chen family did not possess this level of wealth. So this amount of wealth should not be in Big Madam Chen's possession.
Even if Liu Tián Qǔ was to calculate the worth of the grapes, durian, fruits, and expensive teas in the tea garden, as well as the many bribes and extortions the Chen family practiced. That did not account for the vast amount of wealth in the treasure room. The amount of wealth that Big Madam Chen accumulated could have only be gotten through ill-gotten gains.
The room wasn't enormous. However, it wasn't exactly a small room either. The room was stuffed full of priceless folding screens, wall screens, tapestries, vases, ceramics. There were even priceless and rare weapons, devices, and gadgets. There were trunks full of gold coins, silver coins, and even copper coins. There were trunks of precious priceless and rare stones and gems. There were trunks full of certificates of gold and silver certificates of various denominations. There were trunks full of pendants, hair accessories, and precious ornaments for both men and women. There were rings, necklaces, bangles, bracelets, and jewelry of all kinds, shapes, and sizes. The jewels were made of rare jade, gold, silver, pearls, priceless stones, and gems.
It was no wonder why the Chen Family almost rip the whole Garden Residence apart. The greedy woman knew her family well, so she made sure to hide her treasure well. Liu Tián Qǔ felt dirty from just looking at all of the treasure of Big Madam Chen's knowing that many lives were lost to obtain it.
For some bizarre reason that even Liu Tián Qǔ couldn't quite understand, Liu Tián Qǔ felt a wave of deep anger, and an overwhelming sorrow whelm up in her. Liu Tián Qǔ's eyes grew wet with unshed tears. Unable to contain her emotions, Liu Tián Qǔ turned on her heels and stalked out of the treasure room.
She left an overjoyed Manager Kuo flitting from trunk to trunk, admiring the treasures of the late Big Madam Chen.
Exiting the treasure room, Liu Tián Qǔ stood in front of the treasure room in a fury. She felt like this only one time before. That was in her previous life when she met another person who was like Big Madam Chen. This person was like a money-hungry ghost who was never satisfied, and many were sacrificed on the altar of his greed.
However, since that person never bothered her or her family. She didn't bother him, but she had refused to do business with that person. She had even taken a lost before because she refused to do business with him.
Liu Tián Qǔ began to pace back and forth in front of the treasure room. She felt the sudden urge to scream. Her face was flushed red, and she was breathing heavy. Liu Tián Qǔ eyes had turned red with unshed tears, as she stalked back and forth with her fist clenched at her sides. She really wanted to scream her fury. She was so mad. However, she didn't want to make Manager Kuo feel uncomfortable taking what she considered ill-gotten gains.
To Liu Tián Qǔ the contents of the treasury room maybe ill-gotten gains. However, Manager Kuo's family was one of those who were sacrificed. She dare not make him feel uneasy, taking what was rightfully due to him and his family. She dared not.
Liu Tián Qǔ tried her best to calm down. She walked over and leaned against the wall of the treasure room near the opened door of the treasure room and waited for Manager Kuo. Liu Tián Qǔ didn't bother to take note or estimate the amount of treasure and jewels in the treasure room. Liu Tián Qǔ knew she would never spend any of the money in the treasure for her own personal use.
She might take the weapons, gadgets, and devices if they proved useful to her survival. Everything else would probably be auctioned off and the proceeds used for something meaningful.
Liu Tián Qǔ didn't expect to have such an extreme adverse reaction to Big Madam Chen's treasure room. Liu Tián Qǔ's conscience wasn't exactly unsullied, innocent, and pure. There was much she had done in her past life that she wasn't proud of. However, there was one thing she could say with a clean conscience. She had never taken an innocent life just to increase her wealth.
The wealth of the Chen Family didn't exceed beyond two million gold if that at all. However, what she saw in Big Madam Chen's treasure room surpassed that by so much that Liu Tián Qǔ didn't even know where to began calculating. She was only just now becoming aware of the value of gold in the Tolling Lands. So, where did Big Madam Chen get all of her treasure from? Who and how many where killed and sacrificed on the altar of her greed? When Liu Tián Qǔ looked at Big Madam Chen's treasures, all she could see was the loss of life.
Leaning against the wall of the treasure room, it was there the idea began taking form that would, later on, help herald great change in the Tolling Lands. In Liu Tián Qǔ previous life, she volunteered and donated to many charities.
From what she was told, in the times of famine or shortages of food, the emperor gave food to the people. Liu Tián Qǔ had yet to travel the Tolling Lands, but from what she saw in the Imperial City. There were no soup kitchens for the homeless or destitute people. There were no scholarships to sponsor the more impoverished people who wanted to better their lives. The Four Families once did much for the impoverished and needy people, however after they were gone no one else bothered to continue.
Many ideas began brewing in Liu Tián Qǔ's brain and began to take form. She decided to use Big Madam Chen's ill-gotten gains to pilot programs to help her slaves and the more unfortunate people in the Imperial City.
A short while later, Manager Kuo came out carrying a tall narrow rectangular wooden money box. The Manager walked over to Liu Tián Qǔ and opened the money box for her to inspect.
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"Young Master Liu, I carefully counted out five hundred gold certificates. Each certificate is a gold certificate of one thousand gold. That would bring me to the equivalence of five hundred thousand gold." Manager Kuo bowed and said while holding out the open wooden box for her inspection.
Liu Tián Qǔ could clearly see there was a lot of room in the box. It was clear the Manager removed a lot of gold certificates from the money box.
Liu Tián Qǔ looked up at the manager and said, "Manager Kuo, I am feeling very generous right now. Go a refill your money box with all the certificates you removed from the box. Stuff as many certificates as you can in the box, there are many priceless and rare treasures in the treasure room. I would feel too stingy if you only walked away with five hundred gold."
The Manager gawked at the Young Lord in complete shock before he swiftly turned and ran back into the treasure room carrying the money box. The truth was that although Liu Tián Qǔ purchased Liu Garden Residence and therefore owned Liu Garden Residence and all of its contents.
Liu Tián Qǔ felt that the treasure in Big Madam Chen's treasure room belong more to Manager Kuo and his family then it did to her. The manager lost many family members to Big Madam Chen's greed. Why should she begrudge the Manager a measly box full gold certificates when there were plenty of boxes of gold certificates in the treasure room?
It was only a short time later an ecstatic Manager Kuo came running out with only what looked to be two bracelets.
"Young Master Liu! Young Master Liu, I've decided to make a trade. Instead, I will take these transporters?" Liu Tián Qǔ looked at the two bracelets that Manager Kuo held out in confusion.
Looking up at Manager Kuo in confusion, Liu Tián Qǔ asked, "Transporters?"
"Yes, Young Master. These are high tier transporters. These are more than ten times better than the transporter my grandfather has. I took one for my grandfather and one for me. Transporters of this tier are extraordinarily expensive and rare. If my grandfather decides to assist you, this will make his job easier and more then twice as fast. There is more than ten times as much room in these transporters than there is in the low tier transporters. Also, now that I have a transporter, even if my grandfather chose not to help you, I can help you transport the grove and tea garden. These transporters should vastly cut down the amount of time it would take to transport the trees." The Manager was bubbling in enthusiasm, excitement, and joy. However, Liu Tián Qǔ felt lost and confused.
A bracelet that was being called a transporter? Earlier when Manager Kuo was talking about Earth Movers transporting trees. For some reason, Liu Tián Qǔ was under the impression that everything was done manually. That was why she felt so dubious about Manager Kuo's grandfather transferring the grove and tea garden to the top of the hill within three days. However, it looks like she grossly misunderstood something here.
Liu Tián Qǔ quickly asked the Manager, "Manager Kuo, please explain the functions of a transporter for me?"
The manager was looking down at the transporters in his hand in disbelief, joy, and excitement. However, at Liu Tián Qǔ's question, the manager's head snapped up immediately. Manager Kuo looked at Liu Tián Qǔ and sighed inwardly as he thought, 'Ah, I forgot Young Master Liu is uneducated in certain things. Looks like he doesn't know what a transporter is either.'
Outwardly the managers smiled and said, "Transporters were created by Earth Movers for Earth Movers. However, many people have found it useful for other things and use them for other purposes as well, but the ones they use are low tier transporters. In fact, even most Earth Movers use low tier transporters. High tier transporters are not easy to make, so they are very rare and extremely hard to come by."
Liu Tián Qǔ attentive listen to Manger Kuo as the manager explained the functions of a transporter.
"Transporters were designed to hold the trees that were put in stasis to be transported to a different location. The high tier transporters have more space making it possible to carry more. The lower tier transporters have less space."
"When people realized that pretty much anything can be transported using a transporter. People also being using transporters in other fields for many other uses and to transport other things. Transporters also began to be used to store things although they were not created for that purpose," to Liu Tián Qǔ a transporter pretty much sounded like a spatial bracelet. The dumbfounded Liu Tián Qǔ stood there, stunned for several moments. This world also had spatial rings and bracelets? Why didn't Wang Fèn Yǒng tell her?
Liu Tián Qǔ quickly thought back. However, she didn't recall seeing a bracelet on Wang Fèn Yǒng wrist. However, she remembered seeing several of the same bracelets on the peddler's wrist. 'Don't tell me that peddler was hiding away more good stuff! I thought I almost cleaned him out! It looks like I was too naive!' Inwardly Liu Tián Qǔ began to wail and lament at all the rare and priceless things the peddler must've carried away.
Then she remembered that she had spent up all the available funds she had. Slightly mollified, she thought, 'Maybe the peddler knew that I didn't have much money left, so he didn't take out any more good stuff.' Inwardly she felt so sad and gloomy.
Then suddenly, Liu Tián Qǔ began to inwardly curse the Emperor for coming late. 'Had he sent my reward and the proceeds from the sale of the mountain earlier, then maybe I could have gotten a lot more good stuff from the peddler.' The fickle Liu Tián Qǔ forgot all about the fact the she send the Emperor a verbal slap for treating her like a beggar and sending money she never asked for.
Finally, Liu Tián Qǔ outwardly signed and asked, "Do they come in the form of rings?"
"As far as I know, the shamans have been successful in making transporter necklaces and bracelets. For many years they have been trying unsuccessfully make transporter rings." Manager Kuo answer.
"How many more transporters are left?" Liu Tián Qǔ asked the manager.
The manager shook his head and said, "I got so excited, I didn't remember to count. However, there seem to be quite a few of them in a jewelry box. Come, let me show you where I found them."
Following Manager Kuo back into the treasure room, Liu Tián Qǔ asked, "Would your uncle find any use for a transporter as a craftsman?"
"Most definitely, they do have to transport building supplies, equipment, and thing of the like. Having one could save him the trouble of having to go through all that work of manually transporting things using a wagon." Manager Kuo confirmed as he led Liu Tián Qǔ through the treasure room to the area where he found the transporters.
"Here it is," Manager Kuo said as he picked up a beautiful wooden jewelry box with intricate, beautiful carvings on the exterior of the box.
Opening the box, Manager Kuo held the box out and said, "See, there are quite a bit in here, and they all appear to be top tier transporters."
"Good," Liu Tián Qǔ said as she accepted the jewelry box from the manager.
After accepting the box, Liu Tián Qǔ removed a transporter and handed it to Manager Kuo while saying, "This transporter is for your uncle. Go and retrieve the money box full gold certificates I promised you. The gold will be the compensation owed to you and your family. Consider these bracelets my gift and personal thanks to you and your family. Whether your grandfather and uncle accept my job offer or not is irrelevant. If it weren't for the sacrifices of your family and the wisdom of your grandfather, this moment would not be possible."
Liu Tián Qǔ looked at the shocked Manager Kuo, who appeared completely speechless. "Convey a message to your grandfather and uncle. Please tell them Young Master Liu said that he is young and in need of guidance right now. It is my hope they can come and assist me. However, if they can't or is unwilling, I understand."
Manager Kuo's brain felt fried. He stood there with his eyes bulging out of his head, gawking at the Young Lord as if he was having difficulties comprehending what was going on. Tears suddenly gushed out of the eyes of the Manager, and he collapsed amongst all the treasures of the late Big Madam Chen.
For the past fifteen years of his life, all Manager Kuo and his family experienced of life was loss. Everywhere they went, people only tried to take from them. All the friends they had when they were wealthy avoided the Kuo Family or outright mocked them since the Kuo family had fallen on hard times. Some even found pleasure in the fall of the Kuo Family.
No one extended them a lifeline. Instead of helping, many even went out of their way to keep the Kuo family down or to cause them to fall further. Truthfully Manager Kuo wasn't expecting much from Young Master Liu. He honestly thought the Young Master would only give him a bit of gold to compensate him and send him on his way.
Deep respect, gratitude, and admiration grew in the heart of Manager Kuo as he cried out all his pent up emotions that built up in him for over fifteen years.
Liu Tián Qǔ knelt amongst all the treasures where Manager Kuo collapsed and patted the sobbing disheveled Manager on the back as he cried. She honestly didn't know what to say to console him. Although Liu Tián Qǔ listened to his story and understood his plight, Liu Tián Qǔ never walked in his shoes nor felt his pain.
In Liu Tián Qǔ's past life, her family came close to a calamity. Fortunately, her Lu family in the 21 Century was able to find a detour on the road. Therefore, Liu Tián Qǔ and her family never had to walk on the road the Kuo Family had to trod on.
So instead of saying lame platitudes, Liu Tián Qǔ said nothing at all and silently pat the weeping Manager on the back and lent him a bit of moral support.