Xie Wanwan didn't want to lie to Axu. They had been looking out for each other for over a year and were already friends.

“Ah Xu, Xie Tingzhi is my father. I don’t want to lie to you, but I want to sneak into the Xie family mansion. Only you can help me.”

Hearing Xie Wanwan say that only he could help her, A Xu felt a surge of joy.

Although her father was a bad person, he had seen through Wanwan's character.

As the old saying goes, even crooked bamboo can produce good shoots, and Xie Wanwan is a perfect example of this.

"I should have known better, Miss Xie. What are you doing back at the Xie residence?"

"I've come back to find something that's very important to me."

"Okay! I'll go in with you."

Xie Wanwan knew the layout of the Xie residence by heart. A Xu threw a hook rope, wrapped his arm around Xie Wanwan's waist, and with a swift movement, they scaled the Xie residence's wall in just a few moments.

This was the first time Xie Wanwan had done something like this. She jumped off the wall without daring to open her eyes, and when her feet landed, her arms were still wrapped around A Xu's neck.

"Miss Xie..."

Xie Wanwan snapped out of her daze and immediately stopped. For the sake of revenge and to clear the Xie family's name, she disregarded the taboo of men and women not touching each other.

"This is the Xie family's stables. I'd like to go see my father's room. This way."

The lingering fragrance still lingered in his arms. Ah Xu paused for a moment, then stood guard behind Xie Wanwan.

After the Xie family mansion was ransacked, no one took it seriously, and the entire courtyard appeared desolate.

There was no one guarding the mansion. The two groped their way to the main courtyard and immediately noticed that the seal on Xie Tingzhi's door had been torn open.

Moreover, the door was very clean, clearly indicating that people frequently came and went; compared to other parts of the Xie residence, there was no dust here.

Someone has been here!

Ah Xu whispered to Xie Wanwan, "I thought there was a seal and we'd have to climb in through the window. It seems someone beat us to it."

The more this was the case, the more certain Xie Wanwan became that her father was innocent; otherwise, who would dare to break the seal and enter her father's room?

"not good!"

Xie Wanwan felt a pang of anxiety. There was a secret room in her father's room, and she wondered if it had been discovered.

The moment the two opened the door and entered, the scene in the room was completely different from what she remembered.

All the valuables have been taken away, leaving only some common books.

But not only were the books scattered and messy, the entire floorboards in the room were pried up, and the two of them made a loose sound when they stepped on them.

Ah Xu squatted down, brought the candle flame close to the floor, and with a slight pull of his hand, the floorboards were pulled out.

After opening four or five wooden planks, they discovered that the soil underneath had been turned over.

"This is like digging three feet into the ground; it's the first time I've ever seen someone ransack a house like this."

Ah Xu may be slow to react, but he's not stupid. The Xie family has been raided for over a year, yet there are still so many guards.

Given the broken seals and the situation beneath the floorboards, what exactly are these people looking for in the Xie residence?

"A locked room!"

Xie Wanwan ran to the pillar base and touched the carved landscape patterns on it.

When her father was alive, he told her that there was a secret room here, and that the secret room would open if she pressed this spot.

Sure enough, as soon as Xie Wanwan pressed down, the door to the secret room opened, and a bookcase slid open a crack, allowing one person to enter at a time.

"Ah Xu, come inside with me."

Xie Wanwan wondered if anyone had ever been inside this secret room.

The structure is still intact, but it's very likely that someone has dug a tunnel into it.

"good!"

Ah Xu held a candle in his right hand and took Xie Wanwan's wrist with his left, walking inside step by step, glancing around as they went.

Inside, there's a staircase leading to a basement.

After descending about ten steps, you'll reach a secret room. There's a hole in the wall of the room.

Someone dug a tunnel in from the outside. The rooms inside are similar to the ones outside, and they've all been ransacked.

"Miss Xie, what are you looking for? There's nothing decent here except some rotten books."

Xie Wanwan was looking for clues. The fact that the Xie mansion had been ransacked like this meant that her father must have something in his possession that the enemy feared.

"I don't know either!"

Xie Wanwan's words were ambiguous. She took out another candle from her body, lit it, and began searching through the books and papers in the secret room.

However, Xie Wanwan's words left Axu completely confused. He didn't even know what Xie Wanwan was looking for, so how could he help her?

To avoid being discovered, when Ah Xu saw her flipping through the books, he could only tidy up the papers on the ground and place them in front of her to make it easier for her to find what she was looking for.

Extremely disappointed, she stood up and stepped on something. By the candlelight, she saw that it was a painting.

The scroll was half-open, covered in dirty footprints.

Xie Wanwan leaned down and brought the candlelight close to the painting; there was nothing particularly special about it.

It was just a picture of drinking wine under a peach blossom grove, but Xie Wanwan immediately put it on the table after seeing the signature.

The signature read Zhang Tian, ​​a man Xie Wanwan had heard of; he was a good friend of her father.

I heard my father say that his daughter was the same age as him and they were good friends, so they agreed to bury the Daughter's Red wine they had prepared for her under the peach tree.

We'll bring it out and drink it together when the two girls get married in the future.

So this painting was a gift from Zhang Tian to his father, so that he would not forget the promise they made to each other.

Xie Wanwan knew the place where the wine was buried; it was under a peach grove in the west of the city.

"Ah Xu, I think I've found it. Let's go back."

Xie Wanwan rolled up the painting again. Uncle Quan said that her father did it to help a friend, a friend that even Uncle Quan didn't know.

Then there was only this one. This was a friend that my father had met while he was away. He had even saved my father's life. That year, both of them had just gotten married, and their wives were pregnant at the same time. They shared the same interests and hobbies, so they felt like old friends at first sight.

"good!"

Ah Xu saw that she had just picked up an ordinary scroll and didn't ask any questions.

After leaving the room, the two blew out the candles and were met by a guard who was patrolling.

"Who is it? Where is it? Is it a person or a ghost?"

Ah Xu quickly grabbed Xie Wanwan and hid behind a pile of haystacks.

He held Xie Wanwan in his arms, using his body to shield her.

"Don't be afraid, I'm here..."

As Ah Xu spoke, his hand was already gripping the sword at his waist.

"Um!"

Xie Wanwan nodded. Ah Xu was highly skilled in martial arts, and she never lacked a sense of security when she was by his side.

The guard's footsteps grew closer, but thankfully only one person entered this time, so dealing with him wouldn't be difficult.

"Who? Who's behind the haystack? Come out now, or I'll shoot an arrow."

Many people have died in the Xie family mansion, and the guards are afraid of ghosts. But if someone were to enter in the middle of the night and their superiors found out, that would be more terrifying than a ghost.

Ah Xu drew his sword and turned around. Before he could even begin, the guard fell to the ground, his bow and arrows dropping to the floor.