“What’s going on here? Could it be that someone else has already come in and looted this place?” William Carter looked around in disappointment, starting to search again in hopes of finding even a single leftover treasure.

“Your Majesty, you must know, you are already the fifteenth emperor on the throne. Before you, aside from the founding emperor, at least thirteen emperors have been in here.” The Queen blinked her clear, large eyes as she spoke.

“You mean to say those dog emperors already took all the valuable treasures?” William Carter widened his eyes and cursed angrily.

“Dog, dog... uh.” The Queen’s face turned a bit pale. Covering her mouth, her apricot eyes opened wide as she said, “Your Majesty, how can you speak of your ancestors like that? Well, there were always some emperors who couldn’t help but love, um, luxury.”

“Hmph, a bunch who didn’t follow the ancestral teachings, who should have left some treasures for their descendants, but instead took everything the ancestors left behind.” William Carter grumbled indignantly, “Ancestors, huh...” But then he noticed there were still quite a few luminous pearls on the wall, each the size of a pigeon egg.

He drew his dagger, stuck it into the wall, and pried off the luminous pearls one by one. Playing with them in his hand, he found they were indeed fine, round, and lustrous, emitting a gentle glow. He laughed, “Luckily, they didn’t think of these, or even these pearls wouldn’t have been spared. The Queen, tell me, how much do you think this luminous pearl is worth?”

The Queen had already been startled by his actions. Hearing him speak, she snapped back to her senses with a shiver. She hurriedly grabbed William Carter’s hand to stop him from taking more pearls. “Your Majesty, you absolutely mustn’t do this. Taking some valuable treasures is just a bit selfish, but if you touch these luminous pearls, you might destroy the very foundation of this treasury. Your Majesty, even if you don’t think of your descendants, you should consider how the founding emperor’s spirit in heaven would see this.”

How would the founding emperor see him? William Carter was full of disdain. If the founding emperor’s spirit really existed, and saw that his own descendant’s body was now occupied by a soul from another world, who had taken his place as emperor and usurped his country, he would have jumped out long ago to fight him.

“Don’t worry, The Queen. I’m just taking one to play with.” William Carter put the dagger back on his leg guard and started toying with the luminous pearl. After all, this royal treasury was right inside his own Qianqing Palace. He could come in and take things whenever he wanted; next time, he just wouldn’t bring The Queen along. In his heart, he thought, Founding Emperor, don’t blame me. If only your descendants were more capable—now not only are foreign tribes eyeing us, but the whole country is on the verge of collapse. I’m helping you restore the empire.

Seeing William Carter give up on the idea of taking the luminous pearls, The Queen breathed a sigh of relief. “Your Majesty, if you really need money, I still have about a hundred thousand taels of private savings...”

“How could I use The Queen’s money? Let’s not mention this again.” William Carter waved his hand grandly to stop her, of course, now that he had these luminous pearls as a backup, he felt much more confident.

“Your Majesty, just now in the library, I discovered that every emperor would store some rare books there. So the collection is much larger than before.”

“Books? What use are books?” William Carter glared impatiently. “Those dogs—uh, they really know how to do business. They took the valuable treasures and left behind a bunch of useless books.”

“Your Majesty, actually, what I mean is that some rare books and precious calligraphy and paintings are quite valuable.” The Queen patiently explained, “My father loves calligraphy and painting. Whenever he saw something good, he would spend a fortune to buy it. I remember when I was little, he spent ten thousand taels on a painting by Emperor Huizong of the previous dynasty. Afterwards, my mother scolded him for half a year, and my father would avoid her whenever he saw her.” Thinking of these warm family memories, she couldn’t help but smile a little. “I just took a quick look, and there are quite a few valuable antique books and paintings. If Your Majesty really needs money...”

“The Queen, you mean we could sell the paintings and calligraphy at a high price to the State Uncle?” William Carter slapped his forehead as if he’d had a sudden revelation.

“Your Majesty, how could we swindle our own people like that?” The Queen blushed slightly and said with a hint of playful reproach, “I mean, there are many people like my father who love calligraphy and painting. They’d be willing to pay a high price. But you can’t release too many at once, or they’ll lose their value.”

“Then, I’ll trouble The Queen to help pick out the most valuable ones first. I’ll stay by your side.” If he could really make money selling books, there’d be no need to do something as destructive as prying out the luminous pearls.

The Queen didn’t refuse, and gracefully went to the bookshelves. She began picking out the books, paintings, or calligraphy that might be valuable, one by one. As for William Carter, he stood beside her, half understanding, admiring the beauty’s focused expression as she worked. He also helped pack the valuable items into an empty box. According to The Queen, a box full of rare books and paintings could be worth almost as much as a box of jewels. This thought stirred a bit of excitement in William Carter. At last, he would have some seed money. With some startup capital, for someone like him who had traveled from another world, how could he not make money? In all those time-travel novels he’d read, any random idea could make a fortune.