Chapter 144 Hand it over!

Memories from over a decade ago are already blurred, and besides, such scandals involving the families of court officials would be suppressed by the court even if someone reported them.

When Madam Yuan learned of this, it was merely because Yuan Shijie had taken advantage of his mother's position to build a secret room in his home.

Therefore, she didn't know much.

Wei Jingchen could only hope that he could find something in the dark room to prove the identities of these young masters.

Lu Xinnian arrived at the east wing, where the courtyard looked even more luxurious than his father's main courtyard!

He even built a rockery in the middle of the yard!

As soon as Lu Xinnian walked in, her attention was drawn to the artificial hill.

Xu Yiyan noticed she was staring intently at the artificial hill, so he stepped forward and mustered his courage to ask, "Yuan Shijie is trying to hide this from his father..."

Building a dark room in one's own yard provides a very good excuse to repair the garden.

Lu Xinnian nodded: "That's what I think too."

The two of them tacitly circled the artificial hill, trying to find something nearby that might be a trigger.

Xu Yiyan's understanding of the secret chambers and mechanisms comes from the content of books, and he is not proficient in them.

Clearly, Yuan Shijie had spent a lot of money to have the secret room in the east wing renovated.

Xu Yiyan searched around but couldn't find the entrance location mentioned in the book.

However, news came first from Lu Xinnian's side.

"Young Master Xu, come over here quickly and take a look!"

Xu Yiyan walked over quickly and looked at the artificial mountain that was connected as one, but he couldn't see anything strange about it.

"Do you know that forty years ago in the Great Zhou Dynasty, there was a sect that was most skilled in mechanical arts and was called the Ning Sect?"

Xu Yiyan nodded and said, "I once saw some records in the attic of my house."

The above only records their preference for using a static approach to deal with all changes, and the mechanisms they set up.

They prefer to use an integrated approach, making it difficult for people to discover the secrets of their mechanisms.

However, the Ning School's records in the book are not extensive; it is said that twenty years ago...

The Ning School has vanished from the martial arts world. Does Miss Lu mean that this entire artificial mountain is part of a trap?

Xu Yiyan was quite surprised. Could a secret technique of a sect that had long been lost actually appear in this small An County?

Lu Xinnian said mysteriously, "Whether it's true or not, you'll know once you verify it!"

She turned to the officer and said, "Could you please fetch a bucket of oil, sir?"

The officer asked with some surprise, "Any kind of oil will do?"

"Yes. Any kind of oil will do."

After the officials left the east wing, Lu Xinnian explained to Xu Yiyan, "The Ning faction's organization has a unique characteristic..."

They like to coat their mechanisms with a special material made by their sect. Simply pour a layer of oil on top, and the oil stain that stays on top indicates the location of the mechanism!

Upon hearing this, Xu Yiyan quickly cupped his hands and said, "I have learned a great deal!"

The official returned quickly with a bucket of oil and asked, "What do we do now?"

Lu Xinnian pointed at the artificial hill: "Splash it on the artificial hill."

The officers followed her instructions and poured the oil on it.

Sure enough, the marks that Lu Xinnian had mentioned appeared on one of the boulders.

Xu Yiyan had always loved these kinds of mechanical devices, and was immediately overjoyed: "It really exists!"

"Come on, get a few people to come and lend a hand, let's turn that boulder!"

Xu Yiyan hurriedly stepped forward and, together with several officials, began to twist the boulder.

"Boom!"

The boulder was moved in another direction, revealing the entrance to the dark chamber below.

"I'll go down and take a look. You all go and tell Young Master Wei that the secret room in the east wing has been found!"

Lu Xinnian walked down into the dark room. Xu Yiyan felt uneasy but opened his mouth, unsure of what to say.

Seeing that she had already gone downstairs, Xu Yiyan hurriedly took out a tinderbox from his pocket and followed her downstairs.

As soon as the two of them stepped down, the huge rock above suddenly slammed shut again with a loud rumble!

Xu Yiyan was startled and quickly walked back.

What's going on?

He pressed his hand against the boulder and found it didn't budge.

"Does it close automatically when someone comes in?"

Lu Xinnian shook her head solemnly.

"If it closes when someone comes in, then there must be a mechanism to kill the person who enters."

But the fact that we are perfectly fine now proves that it was the people above who closed the stone."

"What? But those officials... wait, the officials who just brought back the oil drums, have you seen them?"

Xu Yiyan suddenly felt that something was wrong.

"Didn't the official who went to fetch the oil drum return a little too quickly?"

“You’re right. In a normal mansion, even if you prepare a large barrel of oil in the kitchen, it wouldn’t take this long to go back and forth!”

Neither of them suspected the officials of wrongdoing, so they overlooked the person dressed as an official.

The officials returned with what they wanted, and naturally they wouldn't notice anything unusual about their speed.

Above the dark chamber, several officers watched the two of them walk down. After exchanging a glance, they quickly joined forces to close the boulder together.

"What do we do? We don't have time to destroy what's down there!"

One of them said with some concern.

"That guy surnamed Lu seems to be an expert in mechanisms, come with me quickly!"

The other person quickly walked towards the house.

The others followed closely behind, only to discover that there was another mechanism inside the house.

The assassin opened the wardrobe, took out everything inside, and used a dagger to secure the wooden board.

"Click!"

The mechanism on the wooden panel was activated, revealing a small, dark entrance to a hidden room behind the wardrobe.

"Take the kerosene!"

The group quickly walked down from the entrance.

In the dark room, Lu Xinnian did not sit idly by and wait for her fate.

"Quick, they're trying to kill us to cover their tracks! There must be some evidence here!"

She snatched the tinder from Xu Yiyan's hand and hurried downstairs.

This dark room was different from the dark room where she had been imprisoned before; it was not painted with any special pigments.

She lit the candle on the wall with a tinderbox, instantly illuminating the entire dark room.

Upon seeing the dark room clearly, the two couldn't help but gasp.

"Hiss! What kind of strange torture instruments are these?"

Xu Yiyan had never seen such a strange torture device before, let alone Lu Xinnian.

"Quickly check if there are any hidden compartments or anything like that."

Before they could be surprised, Lu Xinnian continued speaking while tapping and banging in the dark room.

Lu Xinnian was familiar with various mechanisms and quickly found a hidden compartment.

"Click!"

Open the hidden compartment, and inside is a wooden box wrapped in oiled paper.

Before she could speak, she quickly unwrapped the oil paper, opened the wooden box, and inside were several notebooks.

"try to find……"

Just as he was about to speak, a wall in the dark room suddenly loosened.

Startled, she quickly stuffed the notebook into her bosom.

The next moment, a door opened in the wall!

Several assassins dressed as government officials came out and their eyes narrowed when they saw the brightly lit dark room.

"Boss, look!"

One of them pointed at Lu Xinnian and shouted.

Everyone looked over and discovered that Lu Xinnian was holding a wooden box that she hadn't had time to hide!

"Whoosh!"

The assassin drew his dagger and said coldly, "Hand over the item now!"