A hint of surprise flashed in Sheng Yunrong's eyes. She turned to Xiang Zhu and said, "Xiang Zhu, we finally found the answer. This tunnel really contains the Sheng family's secret treasure."

Xiang Zhu also seemed excited: "Miss, let's open the stone door and see what's inside."

Sheng Yunrong walked forward and pushed the stone door open. The stone door slowly opened, revealing a spacious secret room. The secret room was filled with many precious cultural relics and ancient books, as well as some rare treasures they had never seen before.

Under the faint blue glow of the night pearl in the secret room, Sheng Yunrong's fingertips stroked the mottled patterns on the stone wall.

The bronze lamp suddenly ignited without wind, reflecting the dense beads of sweat on her temples: "This Nine Palaces Star Map is exactly the same as the fragment in the secret compartment of my grandfather's study."

When she inserted the jade pendant into the groove of the stone plate, Xiang Zhu suddenly grabbed her sleeve and said, "Miss, be careful!"

Before he finished his words, three poisoned crossbow arrows brushed past Pei Jinxiao's black clothes and penetrated into the stone wall.

The man climbed down from the beam, the silver-scaled soft sword on his waist glowing coldly: "Miss Sheng is very courageous, but it's a pity that this mechanism requires two keys." The half tiger talisman in his palm fit perfectly with the jade pendant. When the stone door burst open, Sheng Yunrong smelled the faint fragrance of agarwood on his body.

The crystal coffin deep in the secret room made Xiang Zhu exclaim in surprise.

The woman in the coffin had eyes and eyebrows that were 70% similar to Sheng Yunrong, and the blood jade pendant around her neck was engraved with the word "Zhao".

"So my great-aunt faked her death..." Sheng Yunrong trembled as she picked up the sheepskin scroll for burial. Pei Jinxiao suddenly grabbed her waist and retreated quickly. Dozens of men in black broke in through the window. The leader had bloodshot eyes behind his mask: "Hand over the military tokens of the previous dynasty, and I'll leave you with your bodies intact!"

Amidst the flashing swords and shadows, Xiang Zhu crouched behind a stone pillar, holding the classics. Sheng Yunrong drew out the soft sword wrapped around her waist to block the hidden weapon, but saw Pei Jinxiao's sword tip lift off the enemy's mask.

"Second uncle?" Sheng Yunrong staggered back as she looked at the face that looked like her father.

The man swung the chain with a grim smile: "I didn't burn you and your daughter to death back then, but today..."

Before he could finish his words, the tip of Pei Jinxiao's sword was instantly against his throat, and Sheng Yunrong suddenly tore open the interlayer of the crystal coffin.

Gold powder fell all over the sky, and the man in black wailed and covered his eyes. "This is the soul-leaving powder developed by my great-aunt." She stuffed the antidote into Pei Jinxiao's palm, and when her fingertips touched, he held it tightly: "Come with me."

Under the eaves where heavy rain was pouring, Pei Jinxiao wiped the blood from her cheek: "Twelve years ago, you gave me maltose to protect me from the enemy. Now it's my turn to repay you." He unbuttoned his shirt to reveal the hideous scar on his chest. Sheng Yunrong heard Xiang Zhu's exclamation through her tearful eyes.

At the end of the opened parchment scroll, written in small cinnabar calligraphy was "The military talisman turns into jade, and the good marriage is predestined by heaven."

Three months later, the Sheng Mansion was filled with red silk. Pei Jinxiao tied the blood jade around the bride's neck: "Madam, can you see clearly? Your husband is not after your Sheng family's secret treasures."

Sheng Yunrong smiled and put the tiger talisman into his palm: "Then my husband, please keep this betrothal gift."

Apricot blossoms were flying outside the window, and Xiang Zhu quietly stuffed the note "Marry Pei Sheng and protect the country together" into the pigeon's leg ring.

In the bridal chamber lit by red candles, Sheng Yunrong's fingertips caressed the warm lines of blood jade. Suddenly, there was a slight sound of tiles outside the window. Pei Jinxiao raised his hand to extinguish the candle, and when he embraced her and rolled into the brocade quilt, three bone-piercing nails were deeply nailed into the bedpost.

"It seems that the remnants of my second uncle have not given up yet." Sheng Yunrong pulled down the pearl curtain of the phoenix crown, and her black hair fell like a waterfall on her crimson wedding dress. Pei Jinxiao pressed the tiger talisman into her palm, and the smile on his lips was wrapped in the smell of blood: "Madam, are you willing to play a play with me?"

He suddenly raised his voice and said, "Since you are here for the military token, why don't you show up?"

The carved wooden door shattered with a loud bang, and the masked man approached with two knives. Sheng Yunrong pretended to panic and retreated, but the golden bell in her sleeve had already triggered the mechanism. When the blade was about to strike Pei Jinxiao's back, she pulled the silk thread violently, and the iron cage that fell from the beam trapped the assassin inside.

"Miss, be careful on your right!" Xiang Zhu rushed in holding the blood-stained account book, and the silver hairpin in his hair was broken in half. More than a dozen men in black rushed out from the darkness, and the leader pointed his sword directly at the parchment scroll taken out of the crystal coffin: "Hand over the previous dynasty's defense map!"

Pei Jinxiao threw the wedding cup with his backhand, splashing the amber wine into the assassin's eyes. Sheng Yunrong took the opportunity to throw out the soft sword wrapped around her waist, and the nine jade bells on the sword tassel jingled.

Amid the flashing of swords and sabers, she saw the old wound on Pei Jinxiao's back burst open, and blood spread out dark patterns on his black brocade clothes.

"Next!" Xiang Zhu suddenly threw the parchment scroll towards the candlestick. As the assassins scrambled for it, Sheng Yunrong swung her sword to cut off the gilded lamp stand, and the flames instantly engulfed the blueprint. "You!" The assassin leader's eyes were bloodshot, but Pei Jinxiao's soft sword pierced his right shoulder.

In the courtyard where heavy rain was falling, Sheng Yunrong tore open the hem of her wedding dress to bandage Pei Jinxiao. His pale fingertips stroked the flower ornament between her eyebrows: "Remember the time when we took shelter from the rain in Ci'an Temple? You also pulled the hem of your skirt to bandage my wound like this."

When Xiang Zhu came over with the lantern, he saw the tip of the young lady's ear was red as blood. The little maid held back her smile and handed over the medicine bottle: "It's time to change the medicine for the arrow wound on your back." But she suddenly exclaimed: "The tattoo on the assassin's arm... is the Northern Di warrior!"

Three days later, in the dungeon of Sheng Mansion, Sheng Yunrong stared at the unconscious man on the rack and suddenly splashed the medicine on his face. Under the wound, the deep outline of his original body was revealed.

"Sure enough, he changed his appearance." She sneered, "The Third Prince of Beidi is very cunning."

Pei Jinxiao played with the bloodstained silver-scale sword: "Three months ago, the food supplies at the border were robbed. Was it you and my second uncle who worked together?" The man spat out blood foam: "Do you think you won? The women of the Sheng family have been fed the heart-eating poison..."

"Are you talking about this?" Xiang Zhu came in with a bamboo cage, and the poisonous insects in the cage were thrashing anxiously in the glass bottle. The little maid shook the porcelain bottle in her hand proudly: "Miss, you have improved the Soul-Separating Powder with the recipe in your great-aunt's notebook. I'm afraid your poisonous mother will not survive this night."

Sheng Yunrong suddenly snatched Pei Jinxiao's sword, a cold light flashed, and the Beidi man's right ear fell to the ground.

"This sword is for the wet nurse you burned to death twelve years ago." She put the bloody blade to his heart and said, "Tell me, where is the antidote for the heart-eating poison?"

"In... in the second master's study..." Before the man finished speaking, Pei Jinxiao had already cut his throat. "You!" Sheng Yunrong turned around in shock and anger, but he grabbed her wrist: "The northern barbarians are good at deceiving, and the dungeon is damp. Madam should go back and drink the calming soup."

In the moonlit courtyard, Xiang Zhu watched her young lady feed the antidote to the unconscious Madam Sheng, and suddenly whispered, "In fact, I lied that day. There is no antidote in my great-aunt's notes." She took out half a burnt maltose, "It was General Pei who read through ancient books all night, and his ten fingers were stained purple by the herbs."

Sheng Yunrong's fingertips trembled, and ripples appeared in the medicine bowl. She walked through the corridor with her skirt lifted, and saw a swaying figure on the window paper of the study. Pei Jinxiao was sleeping at the desk, holding the bloody defense map in his palm, and the candle tears condensed into dark red amber on his black sleeves.

"Fool." She gently draped the cloak over his shoulders, but he pulled her into his arms.

Pei Jinxiao rested his chin on her head and murmured, "The maltose you gave me back then was too sweet. I have remembered it for twelve years."

Sheng Yunrong touched the scar on his heart: "Then I will spend the rest of my life slowly paying it back..."

Ten days later, the victory report from the border arrived in the capital along with the apricot blossoms. Xiang Zhu tiptoed to put the victory report into the secret compartment behind the plaque, and turned around to see the young lady dancing with a sword in the courtyard.

Pei Jinxiao leaned against the apricot tree and threw the wine bag over: "This sword technique lacks a killer move."

"Grandfather said that the last move of Sheng family swordsmanship..." Sheng Yunrong spun around and stabbed, but the tip of the sword was caught by his two fingers, "It should be broken like this." Pei Jinxiao took the opportunity to trap her between the tree trunks, and the falling flower rain blurred the overlapping figures.

Xiang Zhu blushed and retreated to the Moon Gate. Suddenly, she heard the jingling of her jewelry behind her. Madam Sheng stood for a long time, holding the crystal coffin. The blood jade pendant on her neck reflected the skylight: "Aunt Zhao, the Sheng family that you risked your life to protect back then is now protected by a brighter star."

On the spring equinox of the following year, Sheng Yunrong gave birth to twins in a secret room.

When Pei Jinxiao melted the tiger talisman into a life lock, he suddenly saw cinnabar seeping out of the stone wall. Brushing away the dust, the four ancient seal characters "山河永固" were exactly the same as the handwriting on the sheepskin scroll. From the window came the voice of Xiang Zhu teaching a child to recognize words: "Pei... Sheng... these two words should be placed closely together..."

【End of the book】