Chapter 27: Objectophilia

Returning to the inn, Lin Dong headed straight to the back yard. By the stone table in the back yard, Yun Lan sat quietly, elegant and serene, as if no matter what happened in the world, it couldn’t stir even the slightest ripple in her heart. On the table, the silver rabbit had its long silver-white ears upright, gnawing frantically at a carrot. When it saw Lin Dong arrive, it stared at him with its red eyes.
“Well…” Lin Dong sat down across from Yun Lan with a smile, took out the blue jade ring as his loot, and handed it to her. “I heard there are only two ways to erase the ownership mark from a storage spirit ring: either a high-level spirit array master modifies the array on it, or someone stronger than the original owner. It seems I don’t meet either requirement.”
Yun Lan didn’t take the ring, her tone calm and unchanged. “After all, Fu Zizhou is my friend. Aren’t you afraid I’ll stand up for him?”
Lin Dong kept his right hand outstretched in front of Yun Lan, still smiling as he teased, “If you make a mistake, you must be brave enough to admit it. I don’t even think highly of Fu Zizhou—how can you still consider him a friend? Hurry up and make amends…”
Yun Lan smiled faintly, but her voice remained flat. “This is stolen property.”
“Wrong. This is earned,” Lin Dong said bluntly. “I spent a tael or two on travel expenses, two wooden plaques, half a piece of ink stick, and a sheet of rice paper. Not to mention things like sticks, silver needles, and rope that can be reused. Adding up the wages of six people, the profit from getting a storage spirit ring isn’t that high.”
“You’re really good at calculating…”
Yun Lan lifted her delicate wrist slightly, her green-like jade fingers grasping the ring. She closed her eyes slightly, and a faint glow entered the ring. Slowly, a drop of bright red liquid rose from it.
“Done!”
Yun Lan placed the ring back in Lin Dong’s palm.
“So fast?”
Lin Dong clicked his tongue. In total, maybe half a minute?
“Thanks. I’ll take it back and examine it carefully. If there’s anything good, I’ll share it with you,” Lin Dong said with a smile as he stood up.
Yun Lan shook her head. “I don’t want stolen things.”
“Earned!”
Lin Dong retorted firmly but didn’t insist further. He strode back to his room. After closing the door, he quickly put the ring on his finger, then sent a trace of spiritual energy from his dantian along his meridians toward the ring.
Instantly, a small space about ten cubic feet appeared in his mind, with four red-painted wooden boxes neatly arranged inside. With a thought, all four boxes were moved into the room.

He opened the first wooden box, which contained neatly stacked clothes. Opening the second, it shone with a silver glow—inside were dazzling silver ingots, with a rough estimate suggesting at least a thousand taels. On top of the ingots were over a dozen silver bills: twelve worth a hundred taels and one worth a thousand taels.

Lin Dong’s face lit up with joy. He had expected Fu Zizhou to carry at most a few hundred taels of silver, but to his surprise, he had three to four thousand taels on him. Just this box alone was a huge profit.

He quickly opened the third wooden box, which held bound ancient books—titles like “Records of Eternity,” “The Art of War in Dreams,” “History of the Han Dynasty,” and more. Soon, Lin Dong turned his attention to the last box. After unlocking it and lifting the lid, he was stunned. Inside were bras and underwear of various colors—red, blue, white… a dazzling array.

A fetishist? Lin Dong marveled. Fu Zizhou was talented and good-looking, with an even better family background. Aside from his arrogance, Lin Dong had thought he had no flaws, but it turned out he had a fetish.

He picked up a purple bra; it felt smooth and delicate to the touch, indicating its exceptional quality. Looking up, he saw a vibrant peony flower embroidered on the front. When he flipped it over, his eyes widened slightly. There were elegant characters written on the back—“Princess Lengyue, Liu Muqing, July 3rd, Year 39 of Qianwei.”

A princess’s bra? Lin Dong was stunned. Fu Zizhou was truly skilled—he could even steal a princess’s bra. Maybe it wasn’t stolen after all; perhaps he got it as a favor after completing some task.

He quickly picked up another one and flipped it over. Sure enough, there were characters written on the back—“Fang Lingshan, daughter of Minister Fang, June 25th, Year 38 of Qianwei.” The others also had various identities, with the lowest being the daughter of a fifth-rank official in one of the six ministries.

What a huge bargain. Just the inscriptions on these bras could be used as powerful leverage. Whether stolen or obtained as a favor, if word got out, these women’s reputations would be severely damaged, and their fathers would be furious.

Compared to a confession letter for not paying for prostitution, the threat posed by these bras was ten to a hundred times greater for Fu Zizhou.

He closed the box and immediately put it in his mobile counter. After some thought, he placed everything inside except for the thirteen silver bills.

Next was the Spirit Ring. With its mobile counter, it naturally didn’t catch Lin Dong’s interest. Tian Hao and Lin Shuang were too young; giving it to them would only bring disadvantages without any benefits. It was more profitable to sell it for silver. A Spirit Ring with ten cubic spaces could fetch at least three to five thousand taels of silver. The gains were substantial, but they were still just external possessions. Lin Dong calmed himself down, sat cross-legged on the wooden bed, focused his mind, and once his thoughts were clear, spiritual energy flowed from his dantian and rapidly circulated through his meridians. Just after forty-one cycles, there was a knock at the door. When he opened it, Wang Liuze stood outside, looking excited. “Boss, Liu Shun has already taken Fu Zizhou, who has two broken legs, and they ran naked for two whole streets before Fu Zizhou noticed the gold ingots in his hair.” Lin Dong smiled, took out thirteen silver bills and the Spirit Ring, and handed them to Wang Liuze. “Sell the Spirit Ring. Remember to take it to Autumn Wind City. No antique shop in Xilan City would dare to buy a Spirit Ring worth three to five thousand taels of silver.” Wang Liuze was stunned. It took him a while before he frantically shook his head, stepping back as if he’d seen something terrifying. “Boss, this thing is too valuable. If it gets lost on the way, I can’t afford to compensate!” “What ambition…” After shoving the silver bills and the Spirit Ring into Wang Liuze’s hands, Lin Dong said, “I’m busy cultivating every day. I don’t have time to go to Autumn Wind City. Besides the Spirit Ring and two thousand two hundred taels of silver, there’s also about a thousand taels in cash. I came up with the plan to deal with Fu Zizhou, and you did the work. We’ll split the profits equally. After selling the Spirit Ring, the silver goes to you. Use these silver bills to help pay for the new inn and the old beggar.” “E-evenly?” Wang Liuze swallowed hard. He wanted to refuse, to say he only contributed a little effort, but he couldn’t bring himself to say it. Three to five thousand taels of silver could make him a wealthy man in the countryside, or allow him to live a comfortable life even in Xilan City. Seeing Wang Liuze’s hesitation, Lin Dong didn’t want to argue further and simply said, “Alright, go back to your work! I still need to cultivate.” Wang Liuze hesitated for a moment before nodding firmly.