Chapter 8, Section 008: The Young Master is Back

Upon learning that there was a hidden compartment in the wardrobe, Ye Baoling's first thought was whether Ye Huaizhang had hidden the ugly jade pendant in the third son's house inside.

Just to be on the safe side, she first locked the door to the walk-in closet.

Only then did she return to the wardrobe, squat down, and pull open the slot at the bottom of the wardrobe.

After the slot is released, push the bottom of the wardrobe back panel with a little force, and sure enough, the wardrobe back panel opens inward like a door.

It was pitch black inside, and you couldn't see anything.

Ye Baoling took all the clothes out of the wardrobe, and by the light from outside, it could be seen that the inside was a completely enclosed square space.

The space is not large, a little over one meter long and wide, and three meters high.

To her disappointment, the room was completely empty; there wasn't even a piece of cloth, let alone the ugly king's jade pendant.

If it's not used to hide anything, then what's the point of this square space?

Several ideas were swirling in her mind...

After lunch, she asked Chen Guilan to get a flashlight. During her afternoon nap, Ye Baoling went to the Four Directions Space again.

The walls inside the space were covered with the same wainscoting panels as the outside. She knocked around the perimeter but couldn't tell if there were any holes behind the panels.

However, it is certain that, apart from the wardrobe wall, the sounds from the other three walls are basically the same.

According to her observation, the south-facing exterior wall of these three walls is a corridor, while the other two walls, facing north and west, are adjacent to Ye Huaizhang's study.

Could this square space be a passageway to Ye Huaizhang's study?

Why is the passageway inside the wardrobe?

This is clearly not an ordinary passageway.

Could there be a secret room containing a safe between this square space and the study?

Could the ugly king's jade be hidden in the secret chamber inside?

This possibility cannot be ruled out.

Ye Baoling carefully examined the north and west walls, but unfortunately, she found no switches.

After staying in this small space for a while, she felt a little suffocated and had to give up for the time being.

She closed the back panel and went back to her bedroom.

Lying in bed, she couldn't help but wonder if her behavior just now resembled that of a thief.

No way! She and Ye Huaizhang got their marriage certificate openly and honestly.

After denying it, she felt guilty; she really did feel like a thief.

Ye Baoling spent the next three days mostly in the bridal chamber.

She had no interest in the low-quality, low-definition TV dramas of that era, nor did she want to read books, so she discussed with Chen Yulan about learning self-defense martial arts from her.

The original owner was too weak; he would be out of breath after even the slightest exertion.

Chen Yulan was also a straightforward girl who couldn't lie: "Cousin, you really need to exercise more. I'll teach you Chen Family Boxing; it's good for self-defense and also for fitness."

Ye Baoling gritted her teeth, "Learn!"

If she fails to complete the mission and the system gives her 365 ways to die, she might be able to struggle a bit more if she knows some kung fu.

"Then you should get up at least at five o'clock every day, practice the basics for two hours in the morning, and practice for another two hours before going to bed at night."

This was a bit of asking for trouble. Ye Baoling, who had just been full of ambition, wanted to back down: "I can't get up."

"I'm calling you."

"Isn't that a bit too complicated?"

"It's no trouble at all, it's all my duty."

"Let me think about it some more."

"Don't hesitate any longer, I'll wake you up tomorrow morning."

Sure enough, the alarm clock rang at 5:00 a.m. the next morning.

Ye Baoling, looking pained, tried to burrow under the covers, but was eventually pulled up by the dutiful Chen Yulan.

Standing on the balcony, Ye Baoling stretched.

The balcony faces the garden, and the air before dawn carries a damp, cool mist. Stretching and getting some exercise feels so good.

The Ye family has three branches, and their houses are connected along half a street, with gardens forming a continuous area separated by iron fences. They share a large garden and each has its own independent small garden, connected by small gates. To visit someone's house, one simply passes through the large garden and rings the doorbell at the entrance of the other's small garden.

Ye Baoling was practicing her horse stance when she caught a glimpse of a figure flashing through the garden. Upon closer inspection, she realized that someone had entered the small garden of the third son's family from the large garden.

Who is this: a light-colored robe, long hair?

Chen Yulan followed her gaze and saw the person's back disappear into the small building behind.

“I know who it is.”

Ye Baoling was surprised that Chen Yulan had such a sharp eye: "Who is it?"

"Ye Huaizhang's aunt. She was there at lunch and dinner yesterday. I think her height and hair look just like hers."

Ye Baoling always ate her meals indoors by herself; she never went downstairs, so she wasn't as familiar with the people in the third branch of the family as Chen Yulan.

“These rich people don’t sleep in, they get up so early.” Ye Baoling muttered, then added, “Maybe they’re too old to sleep.”

Chen Yulan nodded with a smile, "It should be."

After taking a shower and having breakfast, Ye Baoling took a nap.

She woke up before lunchtime and took out the red envelopes she received on her wedding day to count them. There were three red envelopes, and the total amount was 30,000 yuan short of 3 yuan.

She took out 3 yuan from her wallet, making up 30,000 yuan, and then put it into an envelope.

I'll store it another day.

This is considered an unexpected windfall.

She had just finished counting the money when Yang Pinxian came to see her and asked for her bank account information.

Ye Baoling, who had already been supported by her grandmother, could only politely decline, "You've already given me what I asked for. There's really no need to give me any more money."

You must give it to her; it's not that she can't accept it.

She believed that if the other party was sincere enough, Yang Pinxian would find a way to give her the money.

Faced with a girl of "such high moral character," Yang Pinxian did not dare to force her. She said somewhat embarrassedly, "Your grandmother raised you too well, which makes us seem very mercenary."

No, not exactly.

Ye Baoling had a polite smile on her face.

Yang Pinxian did not disappoint Ye Baoling's expectations: "I'll have someone open an account for you at Minhua Bank, and your monthly allowance will be deposited into that account. Although you don't want it, we have this responsibility during your marriage with Huaizhang."

Refusing again would be a bit deliberate, so Ye Baoling nodded slightly in thanks, "Thank you, Mom."

Yang Pinxian was very happy to hear the word "Mom". "I should be saying thank you."

After chatting for a while, Ye Baoling quietly inquired, "Whose room is next door?"

Yang Pinxian: "Is that on the right? That's Huaizhang's study. There are many books in it. If you want to read, I'll have someone get you the key later."

"OK."

Not long after, the butler brought the key to the study next door and opened the door for Ye Baoling.

The study is not small, it is very square, with floor-to-ceiling windows and bookshelves on two walls. The corner on the south side next to the corridor does not have the protruding wall that Ye Baoling had imagined, which was disguised as a pillar.

In other words, the four-sided space does not protrude into the study.

There's only one possibility—there's another secret room of equal width on the north side of the four-sided space, with the walls straightened so that it's completely undetectable.

Ye Baoling didn't want to look at them too closely; she just randomly picked two novels from the bookshelf and took them back to her bedroom.

While Chen Yulan was taking a nap at noon, she locked the door and went to the four-square space of the dressing room again.

This time, she had a clear goal and headed straight for the wall facing north.

However, the north wall panel is very sturdy and cannot be pushed or pried open. The surrounding area is flat and does not look like there is a switch.

Could this small, square-shaped secret room really be just a completely independent hiding place?

However, space doesn't just disappear for no reason. Logically speaking, it's impossible to build a solid wall more than a meter wide and three or four meters long on the north side. There must be a secret room on the north side.

So the two secret chambers, one in the north and one in the south, are not connected to each other?

She sat cross-legged and shone her flashlight back and forth to examine the wainscoting. She noticed that about 2 meters above the south wainscoting, there were two pieces of wood that were horizontally spliced ​​together, and their color was slightly lighter than the rest.

The difference is so subtle that you can't tell the color difference at all unless you compare them carefully.

Could it be that the south-facing wall panel is used to activate the north-facing switch?

Immediately, she stood on tiptoe, holding a flashlight in one hand and feeling around on the two pieces of wood with the other.

Pressing hard on the left side has no effect, and pressing on the right side also has no effect.

I wanted to pry it open like I did with the card slot before, but there was no groove to use as a point of leverage.

Pressing down on both planks at the same time, or one in front of the other, does not work.

Standing in the center of the small, secluded room, Ye Baoling was sweating profusely.

She looked at the south wall, then at the north wall; the way the wainscoting panels were pieced together was exactly the same on both sides.

On the north wall, corresponding to the light-colored wooden block on the south wall, there are two horizontal wooden blocks of the same size in the same position. However, the color of these two pieces of wood is the same as the surrounding wood, so they are not noticeable at all.

If you gently tap the horizontal wooden block on the north wall, the sound is dull and indistinguishable.

Pressing the two wooden blocks hard had no effect.

Just when she was about to give up, she tried pressing down on the two horizontal wooden planks on the north wall with both hands at the same time...

Clang!

A muffled thud came from behind the wall.

The north-facing wall panel slowly opened inwards.

Shining the flashlight in that direction, to the north was a long, narrow, secret room that resembled a corridor.

really!

Her guess was correct.

It turned out that the wall paneling was tightly attached to a brick wall that was half a palm's width thick, which explained why the sound when tapped was no different from the other panels.

The brick wall opened inwards, and Ye Baoling walked in, feeling both excited and nervous.

There was a faint scent of camphor wood inside, and three walls were made of floor-to-ceiling bookshelves filled with books and small ornaments.

She looked around and found that they were all old books from decades ago, mostly English law books. The most recent one was published in 1956, and before that, there were ancient books from the mid-19th century.

This doesn't seem to be a book from Ye Huaizhang's collection.

English legal books...

If she remembered correctly, Ye Huaizhang's great-grandfather was a lawyer.

Was it his great-grandfather's secret chamber?

It seems that this secret room has existed for at least several decades.

Besides the silver Four Heavenly Kings and Eighteen Arhats, there is also a half-foot-tall white jade Guanyin statue in the center of the bookshelf.

English legal texts, Chinese Buddhist statues...

It has a hint of something strangely eerie about it.

What is this secret room used for?

A meditation room? It's too small and cramped; there's not even a chair. It doesn't seem like it.

A Buddhist shrine? There are no incense burners or prayer cushions, and it doesn't seem like one.

Is it simply a locked room?

What are they hiding?

Are there any rare, unique documents among these English books?

Thinking about it carefully, it has nothing to do with her.

She moved the book aside to look at it. The wainscoting here wasn't made of wood, but of black and white copper sheets, which looked rather strange. When she tapped on each one, they were all solid.

They searched carefully, looking up and down, but found no trace of the ugly king's jade pendant.

Perhaps Ye Huaizhang had no idea there was a secret room inside.

After all, there are wardrobes in the walk-in closet, walls of unknown thickness, and closets and bookshelves in the study between his bedroom and study.

Without careful measurement, it is difficult to discover the existence of the secret room.

Could it be that the surviving members of the third branch of the family don't know there's a secret room here?

So it seems that the fact that she was led here by a pearl on her very first day of staying at Chengheju was quite a stroke of luck?

Calculate.

Ye Baoling sighed, disappointed. She looked up at the jade Guanyin in front of her, put her hands together, and said devoutly, "Great Guanyin Bodhisattva, our meeting is fate. Please bless me, Ye Baoling, to successfully obtain the other two Ugly King Jade Pendants, okay?"

She looked at the jade Guanyin, then changed to a kind tone and replied, "Okay."

"Once I collect all three pieces of the Ugly King Jade, no, as long as I collect the second piece, I will definitely offer you the best food and drink. Please bless me, may good fortune come from heaven, and may I find the second piece of the Ugly King Jade as soon as possible."

Ye Baoling smiled slightly and agreed again on behalf of Guanyin Bodhisattva: "Okay."

“It’s a deal.” Ye Baoling bowed.

The air in the enclosed room was somewhat stuffy. Looking at the time, it was almost two o'clock. Chen Yulan would be coming upstairs soon after her afternoon nap, so Ye Baoling quickly left.

*

Another day passed without incident.

Early in the morning, Ye Baoling finished her training and took a hot shower.

When their three-day stay was over, they packed their things and prepared to go back home.

The maid brought breakfast at exactly eight o'clock, accompanied by Old Madam Guan.

Ye Baoling greeted her with a smile, "Good morning, Grandma."

She had a sweet tongue, and Old Madam Guan liked her very much. "Good morning. How have you been sleeping these past few days?"

"She slept quite well."

After the maid left, Old Madam Guan sat down and had breakfast with her.

Ye Baoling's breakfast consisted of crab meat crystal buns with chicken and mushroom soup, while the old lady's breakfast was a very light and healthy red rice porridge, broccoli, and fried egg.

“On the day of the wedding, your grandfather came to our house and asked the bride what her last name was. We were so scared that we almost gave ourselves away. I told him that it wasn’t a real wedding and that the bride was just trying to help us.”

Ye Baoling ate her crystal bun and said with a smile, "Of course I meant well."

"I know. You just pity this old woman. In the future, if anyone asks, we'll just say your surname is Gu."

"OK."

Anyway, the original owner spent even more time at the Gu family's house.

“I had a dream last night. I dreamt that someone rang the doorbell early in the morning. Strangely enough, I was the one who opened the door. When I opened the door, Huai Zhang was standing there.” Grandma Guan’s eyes shone. “He was all dirty and disheveled. I was so excited that I hugged him and cried. Then I woke up crying.”

Having been kidnapped and missing for a month, the chances of Ye Huaizhang returning are extremely slim. Ye Baoling couldn't bear to tell the truth, but she didn't know how to comfort him.

The old lady sighed, "If only it weren't a dream."

"What if my dream comes true?"

Grandma Guan finally smiled: "I hope so. You'll be going back soon, won't you? I really hate to see you go."

Ye Baoling: "My dad needs to see me, I have to go back."

Grandma Guan understood.

As we ate and chatted, we suddenly heard hurried footsteps outside.

Knock knock knock! Knock knock knock!

After urgent knocking, a voice called out, "Grandma! Grandma!"

Chen Yulan ran to open the door, and standing outside was the butler, Uncle Guang.

"Grandma, the eldest young master called back."

"What?" Old Madam Guan stood up, her hands trembling. "Is it Huaizhang?"

"The eldest young master called back," Uncle Guang said excitedly, speaking very quickly. "He has already bought a plane ticket to England and will be home the day after tomorrow."

Five words flashed through Ye Baoling's mind: Ye Huaizhang is alive?

A note from the author:

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Ye Huaizhang: Surprised? Unexpected? [Let me see]

Ye Baoling: I got a little fright [eye roll]