It must be that he overheard Chu Yuan and Dugu Jue's conversation.

After a moment's thought, Chu Yuan crouched down behind the bushes next to his head. "I can save you, but if what you just said was a lie..."

The palace maid was stabbed in the back. The injury wasn't serious, but she had lost too much blood and was already half-conscious.

Upon hearing this, she softly raised a fingertip and weakly traced it across her neck.

The meaning was clear: if he dared to lie, Chu Yuan would slit his throat.

Chu Yuan and Xia He exchanged a glance, and their tacit understanding became apparent. Almost simultaneously, as the patrolling assassins moved to the other side, one of them grabbed one of the palace servants' arms and quickly dragged her behind the bushes into the assassins' blind spot.

A group of people heard a faint "whoosh" sound, turned around abruptly, but saw nothing.

All that remained was the scorching heat of wind blowing through the leaves and rain pounding on the banana leaves.

Yes, I don't know when, but the scorching sun suddenly turned to rain, and the smell of blood filled my nostrils.

Beside the dead body, blood flowed silently through the cracks in the bluestone slabs, converging at the lowest point, meandering and shocking to the eye.

But Chu Yuan couldn't care less about that now. She took half a recovery pill from her sleeve and gave it to the palace servant. After waiting for about a minute, he regained about 50-60% of his strength. "Thank you, Your Highness, for your kindness. I will never forget it."

He didn't ask what Chu Yuan had given him to eat; nobles naturally had plenty of miraculous medicines in their hands.

Xia He didn't ask any questions; she believed everything Chu Yuan did.

As for the two wet nurses, they would still be in shock if it weren't for the rain.

Chu Yuan nodded. "Enough of what we have to say. We need to move behind the artificial hill right now. The chances of us being discovered here are too high!"

"Alright." Yuanbao struggled to sit up. A few drops of blood foam on his excessively pale face added a touch of evil to his delicate features. "The secret passage that I mentioned just now has its entrance right behind the artificial hill."

Chu Yuan and Xia He exchanged another glance. What were they waiting for? Let's go!

So, she helped Yuanbao up, and Xiahe, a step behind, pulled the two wet nurses up from the ground. The group of five crouched down and moved slowly along the bushes, trying not to be discovered by the assassins.

When they reached the edge of the artificial hill, they had to be careful because there was a gap in the bushes. They took advantage of the patrolling assassins walking away with their backs turned to them and quickly ran behind the artificial hill one by one.

The whole process was thrilling and dangerous, needless to say. Everyone's heart was in their throats, and if they weren't careful, they would be doomed.

Fortunately, all five of them managed to hide behind the artificial hill.

The two wet nurses' faces were wet with rain, sweat, and tears, making it impossible to tell them apart.

Yuanbao and Xiahe are slightly better, but not by much.

Chu Yuan was the only one who remained calm. Even after reaching the safer artificial hill, she did not let her guard down and kept checking the outside situation through the small holes between the hills.

Perhaps influenced by her composure, everyone gradually became less nervous.

The two wet nurses were deeply impressed by Chu Yuan's courage in the face of danger and grateful that she hadn't abandoned them and run away alone at the crucial moment.

The two shook hands and secretly resolved to take good care of the little prince from now on!

—If the young prince can survive.

Like the two wet nurses, Yuanbao stared intently at Chu Yuan, feeling that she was nothing short of a savior who had fallen from the sky—beautiful and kind-hearted. He immediately leaned forward to guide her, saying, "Your Highness, please follow me. The entrance to the secret passage is this way."

Before Chu Yuan could ask, he continued, "This servant discovered this secret passage when helping Master find a lost hairpin. It must have been built in the dynasty before the previous one, but it was abandoned. It's filled with thick dust and has a strong musty smell."

At the highest and densest point of the artificial hill, there is a door about half a person's height hidden by vines, which is indeed difficult to find if you don't dig it out.

Yuanbao opened it with practiced ease and stood aside waiting for everyone to enter.

Sure enough, a strong musty smell wafted over, and it was so dark that you couldn't see any light at all.

Chu Yuan hesitated slightly.

Seeing this, Yuanbao lowered his voice and said, "Your Majesty, don't be afraid. I know where there are lights. We can go in and find a tinderbox to light them later."

The current situation leaves Chu Yuan no room for hesitation.

Anyway, whether he sticks his neck out or not, he'll get stabbed anyway. Outside there are dozens of vicious, ruthless assassins who kill without blinking an eye, but once inside the secret passage, he'll be just one person at most, making him much easier to deal with.

Thinking this, Chu Yuan bent down and stepped inside first.

Xia He and the two wet nurses followed in turn.

Finally, there's the gold ingot.

Because it was so dark, everyone naturally didn't wander around after entering. They took a step back and, with Chu Yuan at the head, stood cautiously by the stone wall.

Having grown up in the palace, Yuanbao had seen a lot and could tell that people didn't completely trust him. He wasn't angry, though. Following what he had just said, he fumbled around in the dark and found a tinderbox, then lit two oil lamps by the passage for Chu Yuan and the others.

Although it was still dim and unclear, as faint as a few fireflies flying in the night, it at least dispelled some of the darkness.

Yuanbao bowed respectfully, even though it hurt his back wound, he did it anyway, it was a habit he had developed over the years. "To be honest, Your Highness, I am not a good person. Because life in the palace is hard, after discovering this secret passage, I secretly collect orders once a month to help those palace servants who have received rewards from their masters but urgently need money to leave the palace to sell their things, in order to earn some insider fees."

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