Chapter 002

Chapter 002

The second concubine of the Lu family was once a famous Peking opera performer, the third concubine was the adopted daughter of a powerful underworld figure, and the fourth concubine was a renowned heiress from a prominent family who barely managed to protect her vast fortune after her relatives tried to swindle her. All of them were quite wealthy.

Lu Father himself was extremely rich and handsome, with a refined and elegant demeanor that easily won the hearts of women.

These three concubines were all very fertile, and as the outside world would say, they gave birth like sows. This resulted in Lu Mingzhu having sixteen half-siblings, but only ten survived, with six having died prematurely.

Including Lu Mingzhu, Lu Father had eleven living children.

Among the sisters, Lu Mingzhu was the youngest, ranking eighth, and was called Miss Eight.

Except for the married sisters who no longer lived in the Lu family residence, each person's room was luxurious, not inferior to that of the legitimate daughter, and even more expensive due to Lu Father's favor.

Just on the second floor, Lu Mingzhu found numerous pieces of jewelry, gold bars, cash, silver dollars, foreign watches, and other items. Among the gold items, there were more than ten large and small gold bars (colloquially known as "big yellow fish" and "small yellow fish") and over twenty gold bracelets, hairpins, and chains, along with large antique pieces that had been left behind.

Not everyone was as tidy as Lu Father and the old madam when it came to cleaning up their rooms; the second concubine hadn't even removed the buttons from her clothes.

Lu Mingzhu found a pair of scissors and cut off the valuable buttons when suddenly she heard footsteps. Looking up, she asked, "Pingan, what brings you here?"

"I heard some noise upstairs, so I came to check," said Lu Pingan, whose room was directly below the second concubine's bedroom.

Lu Mingzhu nodded, her eyes gleaming as she pointed to the gold and silver items that hadn't been put into her portable space yet, saying to him, "I found some leftovers. Take a sheet and wrap them up; we can exchange them for money."

Lu Pingan obediently followed her instructions.

"Niece, are we short of money?" he asked Lu Mingzhu.

Lu Mingzhu smiled, "Not really. The old man left me some gold bars and silver dollars, but who doesn't love extra cash, right? Later, we'll go to the third and fourth floors, and whatever we find will be ours."

Lu Pingan agreed and joined her in the search. They rummaged carefully due to his presence, as Lu Mingzhu couldn't use the metal detector with him around. They worked until late into the night before heading back to the first floor, each carrying several heavy packages to rest.

The packages were placed in Lu Mingzhu's room, where she did the final inventory.

They had gathered a total of 55.67 million in cash, which included 10 million left by Lu Father for Lu Mingzhu and the cash from the study. Only 5.34 million belonged to the old madam. The rest came from the second, third, and fourth branches. The main reason for the smaller amount of cash was the devaluation of banknotes, as they preferred gold bars and silver dollars.

Truly a wealthy family, everyone had money.

As Lu Mingzhu examined the items belonging to the original owner, she noticed something strange.

The gold and silver left to the original owner by Madame Lu were surprisingly few: only 23 large gold bars, 50 small gold bars, and 5,000 silver dollars, along with four small boxes of jewelry containing a total of 81 high-quality pieces. Although each piece was a masterpiece, there was no gold among them, only a 5-carat diamond ring, and jewelry made of pearls, gemstones, jade, and Hetian jade.

This didn't match the status of Madame Lu as the head wife of the household.

In the Republic of China period, although jade was favored by the upper class, diamonds brought in by foreign merchants were more popular.

The jewelry box did not contain the numerous high-end pieces that the original owner remembered seeing Madame Lu wear, like a lavish necklace featuring 200 carats of diamonds. The centerpiece was an 88-carat emerald-cut diamond, with each accompanying diamond weighing at least 2 carats. This exquisite piece was designed and crafted by the renowned jeweler Cartier.

The necklace was a fiftieth birthday gift from Lu Father to Madame Lu and caused a huge sensation in the bustling foreign quarter.

The original owner, as a child, had been particularly fond of this necklace, leaving a deep impression.

In her memory, Madame Lu came from a wealthy background, had a rich dowry, was skilled in foreign languages, excelled in singing and dancing, and had operated her own textile factory, flour mill, and clothing store before the liberation. She had cooperated with foreigners and traded penicillin and various weapons, often accompanying Lu Father to social occasions for business deals. The amount of money she handled was like mountains of gold and silver, and the wealth she obtained from various pre-liberation business deals and private properties amounted to half of the Lu family's fortune. How could she have left only this much wealth?

Yet, these were indeed all the wealth that Madame Lu personally handed over to the original owner before her death, saying it was for her dowry.

But where had the real fortune gone?

They can't just vanish into thin air, right?

Mrs. Lu had never been the type of virtuous wife who handed over her private savings to her husband for management.

After thinking for a while, Lu Mingzhu gave up and decided not to dwell on it.

After all, the original body's savings were several times more than the dowry her mother had left her. Under the lamplight, she carefully counted a total of 23,685 silver dollars, 55 large gold bars, 254 small gold bars, over 300 pieces of jewelry, and more than 100 antique paintings and calligraphy works.

She was certainly living like a wealthy young lady.

Of course, not all of the jewelry and antiques were high-quality items; most of them were relatively cheap items on the market, such as a hundred pieces of exquisite gold jewelry, which were worth less than the jadeite and diamonds.

Lu Mingzhu stored the high-quality items and gold bars in her space and left the rest outside to avoid drawing attention.

Especially the four boxes of fine jewelry that Mrs. Lu had given her—those had to be taken away.

Lu Mingzhu slowly exhaled, then selected a dozen choice pieces from the remaining items in the third room and placed them into her space, leaving the rest piled in the corner, including the silver dollars given by Mr. Lu and Mrs. Lu, as well as the silver dollars from the original body's savings.

She planned to sell all of the latter before leaving.

Wait, first let's check if any of these silver dollars are rare items that will go to auction in the future!

Since she was already awake anyway.

The number of silver dollars was so vast that Lu Mingzhu was busy until dawn, finding only 13 rare silver dollars, and those were from her own collection of silver dollars. The box of silver dollars from Mr. Lu was still unopened.

The 30,000 silver coins were neatly rolled up and stacked in the box.

Lu Mingzhu decided to stop and seek help from her godfather instead.

Although the original body was not favored by her grandparents and father in the Lu family, she was born into a prestigious family. From a young age, she had a delicate and refined beauty, with an almost ethereal presence. She was proficient in English, French, German, and Japanese, and could sing, dance, and play the pipa. With a shrewd and capable mother, she was very popular in high society, especially since outsiders didn't know that Mr. Lu didn't value her much.

Now at eighteen, she had three godfathers and seven godmothers!

A considerable portion of the jewelry and antiques came from their usual gifts.

However, in these turbulent times, her godfathers and godmothers had either fled or passed away. Currently, only one godfather remained in Shanghai.

This godfather was surnamed Wang, Wang Xingcai, a prominent capitalist. He had a close relationship with the Lu family. Before liberation, he fled Shanghai for Hong Kong but returned with most of his assets to develop in Shanghai under the persuasion of government envoys. He held a high-ranking position in the government, while his wife and descendants remained in Hong Kong to serve as a bridge for foreign trade.

He was indeed a very astute and capable figure.

Lu Mingzhu wanted to go to Hong Kong, and seeking his help would be the safest option.

The Wang family lived next door to the Lu family. After breakfast, Lu Mingzhu took Lu Pingan directly to their house, just in time to catch Wang Xingcai before he left. She asked the servants to leave the living room and, with a sad expression, said to Wang Xingcai, "Godfather, help me!"

Wang Xingcai was startled, "Mingzhu, what's wrong?"

"My father took the entire family and all our assets abroad. They left yesterday, even taking the trusted servants with them, abandoning me and Pingan. From now on, he won't care about us," Lu Mingzhu said with a sorrowful tone, directly accusing her father, "He must have left because he thinks the situation looks bad. Godfather, I'm scared."

Wang Xingcai knew about Mr. Lu's plan to leave the country but didn't expect him to leave Lu Mingzhu behind.

How could he treat such a wonderful child this way?

Among the dozen or so children in the Lu family, Lu Mingzhu was the most beautiful, with snow-white skin and a striking appearance. She still had a bit of childishness, but when she fully matured, she would be a stunning beauty.

After her fifteenth birthday, she had hundreds of admirers, many from prestigious families.

"Don't be afraid, Mingzhu," Wang Xingcai gently patted his goddaughter's head, his gaze soft, "The turbulent times are behind us. With me here, you don't need to worry about anything—food, clothes, shelter, or transportation. Just wait for the school term to start safely."

Lu Mingzhu shook her head, "I don't want to stay in Shanghai for school."

Wang Xingcai was startled, and then heard her say in a low voice, "Godfather, although my father has various flaws, his instincts have always been on point, and he's always been quick to read the situation. Otherwise, he wouldn't have gotten the whole family out of there. So, I want to go to Hong Kong."

Wang Xingcai pondered for a moment and slowly said, "You are you, and your father is your father. It shouldn't affect you."

"How could it not have an impact? The label of being a capitalist won't just go away," Lu Mingzhu replied. She didn't want to be looked down upon and face years of hardship after the classification of social classes. "As they say, 'What the father does, the son pays for.' If we can't find him later, won't people come after me and Pingan for his debts? Godfather, please help me!"

Hearing this, Lu Pingan, who had been sitting quietly beside her, suddenly opened his eyes wide in surprise.

Wang Xingcai asked Lu Mingzhu, "Are you sure about this?"

Lu Mingzhu nodded firmly, "Absolutely certain."

Wang Xingcai then said, "There's a passenger ship leaving for Hong Kong in three days, run by a Hong Kong-based shipping company that your elder brother co-owns. The safety is guaranteed. I'll have someone send over two tickets. Since no one else knows about your father's departure yet, you should leave quietly. Once you arrive in Hong Kong, go directly to your elder brother."

Lu Mingzhu was overjoyed, "Thank you, Godfather!"

She had always known that he would find a way to help her.