Chapter 291 I've never seen it either.

Li Nanke and Li Mu discussed the matter the whole way.

"I always felt that they were not as simple as they seemed on the surface, and that they might have a backup plan, but I can't think of one right now."

She inexplicably felt that Bai San Niang was acting strangely towards Li Yongfeng and Li Yao.

"But one thing is certain: Bai San Niang has maintained contact with Li Yongfeng all these years, and they should have been corresponding."

Li Mu slapped his thigh.

"That's easy. Since there's communication, let's go to Li Yongfeng's study and look for something."

Li Nanke's eyes lit up.

Huh? How come she didn't think of that?

She smiled and tugged at Li Mu's arm.

"Father is so smart!"

Li Mu affectionately ruffled her hair and said with a smile, "Our Ke'er is so smart. If Daddy were really smart, the family wouldn't be in this situation now."

Li Nanke puffed out his cheeks and shook his head.

"That's not how it is. They're the ones who are so mean. How can you blame Father?"

Li Mu was touched by his daughter's words and ruffled Li Nanke's hair again.

She murmured, "I must have accumulated a lot of good karma in my past life to have such a wonderful daughter as Ke'er."

As the father and daughter talked, the carriage quickly returned to the Marquis of Anping's residence.

Li Mu sent someone to inform Song Yi, then pulled Li Nanke directly to Li Yongfeng's study.

Li Yongfeng and Li Yao were both arrested, and his personal servant was also sent to Bianjing Prefecture.

The servants in the mansion who served him were in a state of panic and were busy looking for a way out.

The huge courtyard was completely deserted, with not a single person on duty.

The study was pitch black. Li Mu took out a tinderbox and lit the lamp, which then illuminated the room.

Two very spacious rooms.

Li Nanke asked, "Father, where do you think he would most likely hide the letters?"

Li Mu stood in the middle, looking around with a sigh.

“When I was a child, this was the place I longed to come to most, but he never allowed me into his study.”

Later, when he became the heir apparent, he would occasionally come in, and arguments would always break out.

To be honest, I'm not familiar with his study at all.

Li Mu smiled bitterly.

Li Nanke didn't want him to recall unhappy memories, so she said, "I'll search with Father slowly."

I'll find a low spot, and Daddy will take care of the high ones, okay?

Li Mu nodded, "Okay."

The father and daughter began a thorough search of the study, turning over everything in the room, from under the desk and around the room to the display shelves and the tatami mat.

They were practically prying open the bluestone slabs on the ground.

Apart from a few meager antiques and collectibles, there was nothing else to be gained.

Li Nanke muttered, "He can't possibly burn every letter he receives, can he?"

Li Mu immediately asserted, "No, he wouldn't bear to burn it."

Li Nanke was so tired that he plopped down on the ground and stared at the bluestone slabs.

"But we've searched everywhere we could think of. Should we pry open the bluestone slab tomorrow?"

Li Mu also felt it was very necessary.

"I'll have someone come and pry it open first thing tomorrow morning."

"It's late. You still need to grow, so you can't stay up late. Go back to sleep."

Li Mu bent down to pull Li Nanke.

Li Nanke covered her neck with her small hand, turned her head wearily, then grasped Li Mu's hand and used his strength to get up.

Unexpectedly, when he lowered his other hand, his elbow accidentally bumped into a small bronze tripod on the bookshelf next to him.

Click!

A soft sound came from behind me, which was particularly clear in the quiet study.

Li Nanke subconsciously turned around and found that the bookshelf behind him had been moved half an inch to the side.

The father and daughter were both stunned.

Between the bookshelf and the plain white wall, a dark slit was visible.

Li Mu released Li Nanke, reached his hand into the gap, and gently touched the wall behind the bookshelf.

To everyone's surprise, the wall plaster began to shake slightly.

Li Mu exclaimed in surprise, "This wall is hollow!"

As he spoke, he pushed hard against the wall.

The wall plaster creaked and then slid inward.

It turned out that the wall plaster was actually a piece of wood.

After the wooden plank slid open, a dark hole was revealed, and a damp smell mixed with dust rushed out.

Li Mu and Li Nanke exchanged a glance.

Li Nanke asked in surprise, "Father, is there a secret room behind us?"

As she spoke, she turned around and went to fetch the candlestick.

Li Mu inserted the candlestick into the cave entrance. The flame flickered in the wind, faintly illuminating a few steps winding downwards.

Li Nanke said excitedly, "Father, shall we go down and take a look?"

Li Mu nodded and held her hand tightly.

"Father is in front, you're behind. If anything goes wrong, run upstairs immediately, understand?"

"Understood, Father."

The father and daughter walked hand in hand down the steps, a dozen or so steps, and soon reached the top.

Below is a small, secret room with only a display shelf and a dozen wooden boxes on the floor.

The box was covered with a red cloth.

On the display shelf were five or six antique items, including a fine paperweight, a jade cong with dragon and phoenix motifs, a bodhi seed bracelet, and a double-sided embroidered screen.

Li Mu glanced at it and frowned slightly.

"He collected so many antiques over the years, how come there are only these few left? Where did the rest go?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Li Nanke murmured, "Father, if you look here, you should know where those antiques went."

Li Mu turned his head and found that Li Nanke had already opened the box at his feet.

The box was full of gold bars, so bright they stung his eyes.

*Smack*

Li Nanke opened another box.

It was a whole box full of gold bars!

They opened another one, and it was still gold bars!

There were fifteen boxes in total, five of which contained gold bars and the other ten were filled with gleaming silver ingots.

Li Mu's hands were shaking so badly he could barely hold the candlestick.

"Didn't they say that the Marquis's mansion had long since declined and was always in debt? How could they have so much gold and silver?"

My God, I've never seen so much gold and silver in my entire life.

Li Nanke nodded earnestly.

"I've never seen it either!"

Li Mu was amused by his daughter's words.

"Silly girl, you're only nine years old, and you've never seen any money before."

Li Nanke wrinkled her nose in dissatisfaction.

Although she was only nine years old, she lived to be eighteen in the dream, which means she was only nine years younger than her father.

"Could this gold and silver be what Li Yongfeng got from selling his antiques and collectibles?"

Li Mu nodded, then shook his head.

"I don't think I could make this much money just by buying and selling antiques and collectibles. Five boxes of gold bars and ten boxes of silver."

That adds up to at least tens of millions of taels, right?

Li Nanke studied divination and business with Huang Sheng for half a year, and gained some basic understanding of business.

"Father is right. If only we could find the account book."

Li Mu bent down and rummaged through one of the boxes, when suddenly his eyes lit up.

He pulled out a thin booklet from under a pile of gold bars.

"Ke'er, look, there really is an account book."

Li Nanke followed his example and felt around in the other boxes as well, and sure enough, she found a thin ledger in each box.

It contains a record of the quantity and origin of this box of gold and silver.

They remembered it in great detail, but Li Nanke and Li Mu found that they couldn't understand it!