Chapter 15: The Empty Treasury

Having family backing was something countless people could only dream of!

Lu Yan’er, Gu Mingchun, and Lin Feiyuan, heirs of aristocratic families, were afraid of being accused of relying on family resources. That was the funniest joke Lin Yaoyao had heard since she transmigrated into this world.

“Yan’er, Third Brother, without family backing, with the talent the three of us have, we couldn’t even get through the gates of Tiandu Academy!”

Lin Feiyuan knew that was true. It was just that no one had ever dared to say it to their faces.

“Senior Brother Gu, Elder Hong took you in as his personal disciple when you were still in the Qi Refining stage. Was that not for the Gu family’s sake?”

A person couldn’t have it both ways. Lin Yaoyao was determined to poke a hole through that thin paper and make them see their real situation.

She handed each of them a piece of paper. On it, she had recorded their situations using SWOT analysis.

Lu Yan’er looked at her chart and nearly burst into tears.

Lin Yaoyao had written in blunt terms:

Strengths: none. None discovered so far.

Weaknesses: poor talent, lazy.

Opportunities: family resources.

Threats: being expelled from Tiandu Academy.

Lin Feiyuan’s chart was hardly any better. It made his blood boil.

Strengths: none. None discovered so far.

Weaknesses: poor talent, foolish nature, dim-witted.

Opportunities: family resources.

Threats: being expelled from Tiandu Academy, or sinking into bad habits and committing crimes.

So this was what his little sister Lin Yaoyao thought of him. Lin Feiyuan’s world collapsed.

‘Foolish nature? Dim-witted? In his sister’s eyes, he was this useless?’

“Yaoyao, you wrote it wrong. I’m not stupid. I’m plenty smart.”

Lin Yaoyao gave a bitter laugh. “Smart, smart. Third Brother is a real genius!”

Gu Mingchun couldn’t hold back his laughter. He had a feeling that Lin Yaoyao’s words seemed to praise Lin Feiyuan, but were actually cursing him.

Lin Feiyuan saw Gu Mingchun laughing and, not understanding why, snatched the chart from his hands.

Strengths: decent talent, meticulous and sharp, strong observational skills.

Weaknesses: too steady, lacking explosive power. Qi Refining Level Five, cultivation at a middling level. No advantageous killing move.

Opportunities: family resources, personal disciple of an elder.

Threats: being killed by an earth-attribute expert.

Lin Feiyuan was not convinced. “Yaoyao, why is my strength ‘none’? Gu Mingchun has so many strengths.”

“Miss Lin’s assessment is quite fair. I will study it carefully when I return.”

Of the three, one was dejected, one refused to face reality and kept hopping around, and one accepted the assessment humbly and reflected on it seriously.

Lin Yaoyao shook her head helplessly. This was the gap between people!

The three were like students who had just received their exam results. Lu Yan’er was the average student, Lin Feiyuan the class slacker, Gu Mingchun the top student. And Lin Yaoyao? She was the homeroom teacher.

“Homeroom teacher” Lin Yaoyao began her wrap-up “lecture.”

“Don’t be too upset after looking at your charts. We need to focus on the opportunities column. As long as we seize the opportunities and make good use of family resources, we can turn defeat into victory.”

Lin Yaoyao shouted a slogan worthy of the college entrance exam: “Today I am proud of my family, tomorrow my family will be proud of me!”

Lin Feiyuan was so stirred by the slogan, so fired up, that he led the chant several times.

“Today I am proud of my family, tomorrow my family will be proud of me!”

“Today I am proud of my family, tomorrow my family will be proud of me!”

“Today I am proud of my family, tomorrow my family will be proud of me!”

The maids in the courtyard couldn’t resist peeking into the room. The Third Young Master was actually going to turn over a new leaf and work hard!

After Lin Yaoyao’s round of “brainwashing,” they all reached a consensus. Using family resources was nothing to be ashamed of. Losing the competition was.

Over the remaining two days, Lin Yaoyao had them do some preparatory work based on the SWOT charts of several potential opponents.

On each chart, she had written some “brilliant ideas,” or rather, “dirty tricks”!

“This way of dealing with Senior Brother Wu is a bit too…”

Lu Yan’er kept shaking her head and secretly sighed with relief. Lin Yaoyao was way too ruthless. Good thing she was her friend.

Gu Mingchun and Lin Feiyuan said nothing and simply got down to it. Whatever Lin Yaoyao told them to do, they did. Even if they didn’t understand, they trusted that she had her reasons.

Lu Yan’er, Gu Mingchun, and Lin Feiyuan once again left Lin Yaoyao’s courtyard with their “tasks.”

When Lin Feiyuan came out of Lin Yaoyao’s place, his attendant Baozi saw how spirited the young master looked. It was as if he had become a different person.

Baozi had served Lin Feiyuan for years and had never seen him this “motivated.” The group of idle rich sons who usually came to drag Lin Feiyuan out drinking had all been turned down by him.

Besides family resources, Lin Yaoyao had another “backer”: the System.

“System, does the shop have anything that makes a person itch all over?”

A gentle voice sounded. “The Itch Talisman in the shop has this function. One hundred points per talisman. Friendly reminder: the host currently has zero points and cannot afford to buy one.”

‘Dog system. But you can trade in treasures for points!’

‘What treasure-hunting system is this? This is clearly a robbery system. What reliable system would take other people’s treasures?’

Lin Yaoyao thought of the Lin family treasury. The Lin family was a thousand-year clan. It definitely had plenty of rare treasures.

A few days ago, when Lin Xuanzhong saw that the engagement between the Lin and Bai families was imminent, he handed the treasury key to Lin Yaoyao and told her to pick out her own dowry.

She had been busy with the academy assessment these days and hadn’t returned the key to the old man yet. Now she could put this “dowry” to good use.

‘Old man, sorry about this. This dowry would be mine sooner or later anyway. Consider it an advance.’

“Dog system, let’s go! To the treasury!”

The Lin family treasury was protected by layers upon layers of barriers. Without the key Lin Xuanzhong had given her, there was no way Lin Yaoyao, at her cultivation level, could have gotten anywhere near it.

The thought of seeing countless rare treasures, precious heavenly materials and earthly treasures, all kinds of miracle pills, and spirit stones piled up like mountains got her a little excited. She suddenly understood how Granny Liu had felt when she first entered the Grand View Garden.

“This…”

Lin Yaoyao was stunned by the sight before her.

The enormous treasury was completely empty. There were only some empty chests, a few spirit stones scattered on the floor, and a handful of treasures you could count on your fingers.

‘Just this little bit? Old Man Lin is playing a joke on me!’

‘No, something’s off!’

Lin Yaoyao examined the place carefully. There really had been many things stored in the treasury before. Judging by the marks left behind, someone had cleared it out not long ago.

Coming to the treasury had been a huge loss. The dowry had vanished into thin air, and she had become a “suspect” herself.

Given Old Man Lin Xuanzhong’s temperament, he probably knew nothing about the treasury.

The Lin family’s daily expenses were supported by their other properties. They normally wouldn’t touch anything stored in the treasury.

Who had emptied the treasury so stealthily, without a sound?

That person had to be one of their own. Lin Feiyuan? The second branch of the Lin family? The Lin family steward? For a moment, Lin Yaoyao couldn’t find a single lead.

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