Chapter Thirty-Eight: Mountain Stream Water Curtain

As the group emerged from the dark, artificial mountain cave, Ye Yiqing finally let out a quiet sigh of relief. She had been desperately trying to catch up with Mu Lian and Meng Yuan so as not to hold them back. They hadn't gone far when Ye Xun and the others came to meet them, allowing Ye Yiqing to change into men's clothes and wipe off her makeup.

Meng Yuan glanced at Ye Yiqing, who had finished changing, and chuckled to Mu Lian, "I must say, our Lord Ye is truly handsome. He looks tall and dashing as a woman, and handsome and charming as a man. He really is one of the top noble young masters in the capital..."

After changing out of her dancer's dress, Mu Lian looked at the same style of red gauze dress and couldn't help but smile, recalling the man's dance she had seen under the moonlight. He certainly lived up to his reputation as a top scholar, coming up with the idea of ​​using horseback riding movements in his dance, and he actually managed to fool everyone.

The group boarded the carriage. Mu Lian pulled out a map hidden in her sleeve, removed a black hairpin from her hair, and marked it. This cave was quite secluded; the sound of flowing water could be faintly heard, and the steam was warm, suggesting there might be a hot spring below. Examining the map more closely, Mu Lian discovered an underground river that followed the mountain's contours, winding its way into the depths of the valley.

Perhaps there is something strange in the mountains.

A thought struck her. Mu Lian whispered to Meng Yuan, "You escort Lord Ye back first, I'll arrive later..." After saying that, she gracefully jumped out of the carriage.

"Sigh..." Ye Yuqing wanted to ask Mu Lian where she was going, but the man had already ridden away. Ye Yuqing glanced at Meng Yuan, who was now disguised as the head of the Judicial Office, and sighed, "I already knew. You don't need to pretend in front of me anymore. This mask is too heavy to wear..."

Okay. Meng Yuan rolled her eyes and removed the silver mask from her face.

The next second, the dignified Lord Ye swiftly took the mask into his hands, his slender fingertips still caressing its surface. It seemed that having the mask in his hand allowed him to reminisce about someone—of course, about the mask's true owner.

Meng Yuan pursed her lips and turned her face towards the outside of the carriage. Ye Yuqing gently stroked the mask, and indeed felt much more at ease. Perhaps it was because she had been with that person these past few days; now that person had left, she suddenly felt empty inside. Having this mask in her hand was better than having none at all.

Meanwhile, after alighting from the carriage, Mu Lian donned a human skin mask and changed into the uniform of a palace guard that Meng Yuan had previously worn, instantly transforming into a messenger. The human skin mask belonged to the imperial guards who had been murdered, and naturally depicted a man.

Following the jungle to the underground river, and then upstream along its course, Mu Lian climbed a mountain peak. The mountain was bluish-brown, the rocks slightly yellow, and the vegetation sparse. Looking down from halfway up the mountain, Liu Zhang's private residence came into view. It occupied a vast area, with towering buildings and an imposing presence, resembling a hidden paradise nestled in the mountains.

According to the intelligence gathered by Ah Liu and his team, Liu Zhang had definitely embezzled a considerable amount. However, their previous investigation of the private residence had yielded little evidence, and they had failed to gain access to Liu Zhang's study, resulting in a failed attempt. Although they now knew that the Prince of Ruyang intended to conspire with Liu Zhang in a rebellion, they could not act rashly without concrete evidence.

Having hidden in the artificial mountain cave for some time last night, it was now broad daylight. Mu Lian shielded the sky with her hand, gazing at the location of the mountain stream, then lightly rose and leaped away. In a few bounds, she arrived at the stream. As expected, behind the mountain spring waterfall, there was a cave entrance, and the cascading water before her acted as a curtain.

What a masterpiece of craftsmanship!

Mu Lian held her breath, lightly touched the ground with her toes, and leaped through the curtain of water into the cave, her clothes remaining dry. The cave was dry, with a cool breeze blowing in her face, indicating that there was more to this cave than met the eye. To avoid alerting the enemy, Mu Lian did not light a candle, relying entirely on her eyesight to proceed.

Thinking about the layout of the underground prison in Luocheng government offices, Mu Lian followed the mountain wall and found a stone staircase. Sure enough, the layout of this cave was very similar to that underground prison, suggesting that it was designed by the same person.

Quietly descending the stone steps, winding and turning several times, I could faintly hear the clamor of voices rising from below. Sometimes it was the cracking of a whip, sometimes the groans of someone being punished, accompanied by the sound of rocks falling—it was quite noisy.

Judging from the sounds, there were quite a few people. Mu Lian paused, then crouched down on a high platform, peering down by the candlelight. What she saw was astonishing. It was a large pit, filled with laborers of all ages, from teenagers to elderly men in their sixties and seventies, all drenched in sweat, ragged clothes, and dark complexions, yet none daring to stop, relentlessly swinging their shovels. Beside the pit, soldiers wielding whips patrolled, supervising the work.

What are they digging for? Mu Lian recalled what she had seen when she climbed this mountain and instantly became alert. It turned out there was iron ore hidden in this mountain! Looking closer, she could see a faint, scorching heat emanating from the area where the cart had been pushed, and occasionally she could hear the clanging sounds of blacksmithing. Could they be secretly forging weapons?

Mu Lian suddenly recalled that a few years ago, several districts and counties under Luocheng were experiencing frequent outbreaks of epidemics. At that time, Liu Zhang reported to the court that all villages were sealed off to prevent the spread of the epidemic, but as a result, the people in several villages died one after another. At that time, the epidemic was raging, and the people of the capital were in a state of panic. The Empress could only allocate funds for Liu Zhang to provide disaster relief.

Unexpectedly, that old scoundrel Liu Zhang had a backup plan. In his memorials, he claimed that a certain village had suffered a devastating epidemic, and even erected monuments at the village entrances to commemorate the victims, putting on a show of decency. Secretly, however, he drove these people to these dark, sunless mines, where they toiled until they died. The unsuspecting people of Luocheng even hailed Liu Zhang as a rare "upright official," which is utterly despicable.

Closing her eyes to suppress her turbulent thoughts, Mu Lian quietly descended the platform. The cave was dimly lit, and Mu Lian leaped down from the side of the platform unnoticed. Then, silently, she knocked out and dragged away a soldier resting in a corner, putting him to sleep and hiding him. Donning his hat and waist tag, and picking up a whip from the ground, Mu Lian then quietly blended into the supervisory team.

Upon closer inspection, the scene was even more horrifying. A person was already lying at the bottom of the pit, and the overseer was shouting and cursing in the Luoyang dialect, but the person still did not regain consciousness. He then turned around and signaled to the soldiers next to him to go down and arrest the person.

"Don't touch my brother, don't touch my brother..." Suddenly, a boy with a childish voice threw himself on the person at the bottom of the pit, letting the whip lash down on his head and face.

An old man beside him wiped away tears, trying to pull the boy up amidst the whip's whip, his voice trembling as he said, "Child, we can't keep them. We've already buried four or five today..."

"No, don't..." The boy, his eyes red, struggled and threw himself onto the young man at the bottom of the pit. His parents were dead, his sister was dead, and his brother was now his only family.

"Arrest them..." The leading officer, sitting calmly by the pit, spat and shouted fiercely, "Or bury them both together..."

"Yes." Mu Lian hurriedly stepped forward, pulled the boy up, tightened his grip, and restrained him.