Chapter 135 Search for the Heavenly Decree
"What!"
Zhou Jiming frowned.
Why would the people from the Heavenly Net Order come?
Immediately, he thought of Shao Yanzhe and his group, and quickly looked up at the servants, saying, "Don't let them in! I'll be right there!"
The servant immediately looked troubled: "Your Highness, the people from Tianluo Zhao have already forced their way in. I saw that things were not going well, so I ran over to tell you this in advance, so that you could be prepared."
"Alright, I understand. You can go now. Once you've dealt with the people from Tianluo Zhao, I will reward you handsomely."
"Thank you, Your Highness. I will take my leave now!"
The servant left with a look of joy on his face.
Zhou Jiming quickly closed the door again and returned to his room.
"What happened?" Shao Yanzhe asked, his injured arm being bandaged by Wen Yanqing.
Zhou Jiming quickly explained the situation: "The people from Tianluo Zhao have come looking for us."
Shao Yanzhe frowned. He had already cleaned up the bloodstains on the path they had walked on. Even if the situation at Songyuezhai was discovered, no one would come looking for them anytime soon.
By the time the people from the Heavenly Net Imperial Court found the list of participants in the Songyuezhai Poetry Gathering, they would probably have already left Kyoto.
"What should we do then?" The scholars who were also bandaging their wounds stood up, their faces filled with terror.
"Don't panic," Wen Yanqing quickly reassured them.
She looked at Shao Yanzhe and asked, "Are we going out?"
Shao Yanzhe slowly shook his head: "If we are captured by the people of Tianluozhao, we will probably be silenced. We absolutely cannot let them find us."
"Then, then, are we going to hide?" A scholar stammered nervously.
"But I've heard that the people of Tianluo Zhao are very powerful; they've never failed to find anything they want."
"Yes, I've heard that too. If any one of us gets found, the rest of us probably won't escape either."
Shao Yanzhe thought for a moment, then looked at Zhou Jiming and said, "Brother Zhou, do you know if there is a hidden basement here?"
Zhou Jiming thought carefully, then shook his head and said, "No."
The crowd couldn't help but feel somewhat disappointed.
Perhaps it was the growing intimidation emanating from the imperial edict that had long been accumulating over the capital that made these scholars increasingly fearful.
"Isn't that the end?" A scholar's legs gave way and he fell to the ground. He muttered to himself with a blank look in his eyes, "If I had known that I would have tried to escape with all my might, but I was still caught by the Heavenly Decree, I would have been better off not escaping at all. At least I could have left with a whole body."
"What are you saying? Are you blaming us? If we had known you thought that way, we wouldn't have bothered to save you."
"Yes, I'm sorry, no, I didn't mean to blame you."
“Alright, now is not the time to argue. Let’s find a place to hide first,” Shao Yanzhe said.
Then, he looked at Xuan Yao, who was leaning against the window, and thought for a moment before asking, "Can you lead us out of here?"
"Meow!"
Xuan Yao instantly perked up. Since he couldn't go out with the two-legged beasts, he had explored the entire mansion out of boredom.
It can be said that the person most familiar with the Zhou family was not the servants, but Xuan Yao.
He jumped out of the window, then went into the yard and turned to look at them.
"Walk!"
Shao Yanzhe made a quick decision, pushed open the door and walked out, followed closely by Wen Yanqing and the other three.
The remaining scholars looked at each other in bewilderment.
"Should we really trust a cat?"
"Alright, enough nonsense, we're running out of time. Even if you don't trust a cat, don't you trust Brother Shao?"
The scholars quickly followed.
Shao Yanzhe followed Xuan Yao through the winding corridors and finally arrived at the most secluded courtyard in the Zhou residence.
"here it is……?"
“This is an abandoned courtyard, located in a very remote area, and no one has ever lived here,” Zhou Jiming explained.
Shao Yanzhe nodded and followed Xuan Yao to the back of the courtyard, his feet crunching on the withered branches and leaves.
Finally, Xuan Yao stopped beside a dry well.
"You mean, we should hide in this well?"
Shao Yanzhe already had the answer in his heart, but he still asked.
"Meow!" Xuan Yao nodded seriously.
Shao Yanzhe walked over quickly, reached out and held the edge of the well to look down, but did not see any reflection from the water.
"This is a dry well!"
"Let's go down!"
After he finished speaking, he jumped in first, and Xuan Yao followed immediately.
The remaining people exchanged glances, their faces showing hesitation.
Just then, they heard a commotion and knew that the people from Tianluozhao had come to search the area.
Thinking of the consequences of being caught by the Heavenly Decree, they no longer hesitated and immediately jumped into the dry well.
After everyone had jumped into the dry well, Zhou Jiming glanced around and, finding no flaws, returned the way he came, heading towards the source of the noise.
"What's going on? Who are you? How dare you trespass on my residence! You wait, tomorrow I will go to see His Majesty and have him teach you a lesson!"
Zhou Jiming, looking furious, stood in front of the group of Tianluo Zhao searching for them, blocking their path from continuing the search.
"We are on the orders of the Grand Secretary to search for fugitives. Please do not stop us, Prince Zhou."
The leader was one of the deputy commanders of Tianluozhao, with a mustache under his nose. He was very tough and did not back down because of Zhou Jiming's identity.
"A fugitive? How could there be a fugitive in my residence?"
"Whether it exists or not, just let us search and we'll know."
The man with the mustache immediately reached out and put his arm around Zhou Jiming's shoulder, restraining him. Then he looked at his subordinates and signaled them to continue.
When Zhou Jiming saw the people from Tianluo Zhao scatter and continue their search, he immediately became anxious.
"Hey! What are you trying to do! Stop right there!"
"Did you hear me! Stop right there!"
He tried to stop him, but the man with the mustache was very strong. He only stretched out one arm, but the arm was like an iron clamp, firmly restraining him.
He could only watch helplessly as the people of Tianluozhao scattered.
He could only pray in his heart that Shao Yanzhe and the others had already hidden themselves away.
"I'm so sorry, Prince Zhou, we were just following orders."
Zhou Jiming rolled his eyes at his mustache: "Hmph! Let me tell you, if anything in my manor is damaged, you'll have to pay for it."
"certainly,"
Soon, the people who went to search Tianluo Zhao returned one after another.
"Reporting to you, sir, we have not found the target."
"Okay, I understand."
The man with the mustache squinted at the person in front of him, his expression somewhat unpleasant.
Zhou Jiming, who was standing nearby, immediately jumped up and asked, "I have already said there are no fugitives in my residence. How could there be fugitives in my residence?"
The man with the mustache didn't look at him; a hint of disdain flashed in his eyes. He looked at the person beside him.
"Take your men and search again, leaving no corner unchecked."
"You!" Zhou Jiming glared angrily at the man with the mustache.
The man with the mustache didn't seem to care. He looked at Zhou Jiming and said, "I'm sorry, Prince Zhou, we are just following orders."
His gaze swept around, and a map of the mansion slowly appeared in his mind.
Suddenly, as if he had thought of something, he abruptly turned his head to look at Zhou Jiming beside him.
Zhou Jiming was startled by his sharp gaze and took a step back.
"What are you doing?!"
"Let me tell you! If you do anything to harm me, His Majesty will punish you!"
The man with the mustache seemed not to hear him; he stared into Zhou Jiming's eyes, putting pressure on him.
“Young Master Zhou, the direction you came from doesn’t seem to be your residence.”
As he spoke, he observed the expression on Zhou Jiming's face and caught a fleeting glimpse of panic.
He couldn't help but curl the corners of his lips, looking at Zhou Jiming and saying, "Go, search carefully."
Zhou Jiming panicked for a moment, but he forced himself to calm down.
"So what? If I can't sleep, I'll go for a run in my own house, is that not allowed?"
"Of course."
He casually scribbled his mustache, somewhat anxiously awaiting his subordinates' report.
"Sir, no."
Upon receiving this report, the man with the mustache's face instantly darkened, and he glanced at Zhou Jiming.
"I already said no, do you believe me now?"
Zhou Jiming looked at the man with the mustache with an innocent expression.
The man with the mustache looked at his subordinate and asked carefully, "Have you searched for the pond, the artificial hill, and the well?"
Zhou Jiming's eyelids twitched.
"Sir, we've searched everything, especially those dry wells."
The man with the mustache took a deep breath, glanced at Zhou Jiming one last time, and left with his men.
Zhou Jiming had someone lock the door before hurriedly walking towards the abandoned courtyard.
Why weren't the people from Tianluozhao able to find Shao Yanzhe and his group when they hid in the dry well?
It's good that it wasn't found in the search, but something's not right.
He came to the dry well and looked down into it. It was pitch black below, and he couldn't see what was going on at first.
At this moment, he finally belatedly realized that something was wrong.
Logically speaking, given the depth of this dry well, it would be impossible for it to hide Shao Yanzhe and his dozen or so people.
There's something wrong with this dry well!
Realizing this, Zhou Jiming decided to go down and check the situation.
He couldn't ask anyone for help, so he could only slowly slide down the rope tied to the dry well into it.
Once he stepped into the dry well, he took out a tinderbox from his pocket.
The dim flames illuminated the bottom of the well, and only then did he realize that the bottom of this dry well was quite spacious.
He scanned the bottom of the well but did not find Shao Yanzhe and the others. He was puzzled. They had clearly hidden at the bottom of the well, so why had they disappeared?
At this moment, Shao Yanzhe and his group, whom Zhou Jiming was concerned about, were not at the bottom of the well, but walking in a somewhat dimly lit passage.
Xuan Yao led the way, Shao Yanzhe followed behind, and the rest of them walked together, their faces full of trepidation.
Finally, after walking for an unknown amount of time, they stopped in front of a stone gate.
Shao Yanzhe glanced at the people behind him, hesitated for a moment, and then asked Xuan Yao, "Is it safe outside?"
“Meow!” Xuan Yao nodded seriously.
"Then open the door!" Shao Yanzhe said.
When they were hiding in the dry well, they noticed that the people from Tianluozhao wanted to search the well, so Xuanyao brought them to this secret passage. He didn't know if the people from Tianluozhao had left or not, but they probably wouldn't be able to show up at the Zhou residence for a while.
Xuan Yao jumped onto the wall and placed its paw on a protruding stone.
The stone door in front of them slowly opened, revealing a somewhat dimly lit room behind it.
"Who!" Suddenly, a voice that was both familiar and unfamiliar rang out warily.
Shao Yanzhe, who was about to leave through the stone gate, suddenly stopped and looked outside with a wary expression.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
