Phoenix Descends: Queen of a Thousand Pets

The rain was continuously pouring down as if to wash away the sins of the whole world. The paper money got wet and washed away even before it was thrown into the air. Without any drums or music, the funeral procession of more than ten people walked sadly and slowly through the streets under the heavy rain.

"Is that the young lady from the Lin family in front of the funeral procession?" a foreign looking guest from one of the tea houses overlooking the street asked.

"Yes, she is. That young lady is really pitiful." answered the waiter working for the tea house.

"In what way is she pitiful?" asked the foreign looking guest, trying to know more about the young lady of the Lin family.

Seeing that the foreign guest was asking more about the Lin family's recent circumstances, the waiter talk started to tell the story and said, "The Lin family was originally a wealthy family in our Wu County. The second master of the Lin family was even more amazing. He started a shipping business a few years ago and made a lot of money. Unfortunately, before the New Year, the ship he was in was said to be rushing back to celebrate the New Year with his family, but tit was done before the boat was fully repaired in Haikou. As a result, when they encountered a storm, the ship capsized then sank. The second master and the fifth master of the Lin family both died. Only Mrs. Lin and a young lady were left in the family. The young lady of the Lin family was originally betrothed to the third young master of the Wu family. Ah, guest, do you know the Wu family?"

"Yes, it is the Wu family with three tanhuas (ranked third place in the imperial examination) and three cabinet ministers serving within the last five generations in their family." the guest confirmed.

The waiter continued, "Our Wu County was originally the ancestral home of the Wu family. Although the young lady of the Lin family was betrothed to a son from a side branch of the Wu family, he is still part of one of the best families in Wu County, and the third young master, her fiance has passed the imperial examination and has a bright future.

After the Lin family's ship sank and hundreds of people died, the head of the Lin family which the eldest master asked the gods for guidance and was told that the young lady of the Lin family has a destiny in which she was doomed to die and would kill all her relatives, so the Wu family broke off the engagement.

The eldest master of the Lin family opened the ancestral hall and expelled the young lady from the family, and all the property of the second house was taken back by the family as well. The young lady was tough and did not let these things get to her. She went to the government office to apply for a female household and brought Mrs. Lin out of the family with her. Unfortunately, Mrs. Lin has passed away now, and this young lady Lin is now an orphan."

"A star of destiny? Hmph!" a young man wearing blue sitting by the window on the second floor of the teahouse sneered. He looked toward the young man across the table where he is and said, "This good-for-nothing Wu is really daring. In order to curry favor with the Wang family, he even schemed to get rid of the engagement."

The young man's face was hidden in the shadow of the window frame, and his expression was indistinguishable. He heard everything the waiter said downstairs but he has already changed the subject. He then simply watched the figure of the woman in white mourning clothes slowly disappearing in the rain.

The man sitting near the window asked, "How much of the Lin family's property was swallowed up?"

"It's quite a lot," the young man in blue said after drinking a cup of tea. He continued, "Not to mention the cash, there are four large seagoing ships, more than fifty shops, and more than ten large manors with a total of thousands of hectares of fertile land."

"When Lin Jiashen got into trouble, didn't he say that there were five large ships in the fleet returning?" the man near the window inquired.

The young man in blue immediately answred, "Yes, only the ship that Lin Jiashen and his son was on had an accident while the other four ships arrived safely. I heard that his brother, Lin Jiacheng sold all the cargo on the ship for hundreds of thousands of taels. After Lin Jiashen died, no one in the Lin family dared to sail, so they sold the remaining ships and the slaves working in them to the Guangzhou merchants.The young lady of the Lin family exchanged the farm from her mother's dowry for the last ship where her father and brother died. The farm had hundreds of hectares of fertile land, but she actually exchanged it for a broken ship. This young lady is really something."

The man near the window commented, "Even if she doesn't voluntary give the farm ir exchange something for it, she won't be able to keep it. I'm afraid that the whole Wu County is controlled by Lin Jiacheng and the Wu family."

"Should we lend a hand?" the young man in blue asked with a sly smile.

"The Wu family has received such a large sum of money. If you have free time, you can stay here." As soon as the young man near the window said this, the young man in blue's face suddenly became gloomy. "I understand." the young man in blue chuckled.

The young lady from the Lin family was just an orphan, how could she compete in the fight for the throne? It was said that after she left home, she worshipped the tablets of her father and brother, changed her name, sold all that was left her mother's little dowry. She is set to leave Wu County as soon as she buried her mother.