Zhao Mingyue and Zhang Xiantao lived in the courtyard next to Xingxing. Originally, Prince Cheng wanted to arrange for Zhao Mingyue to live in a courtyard that was a little further away, but Xingxing strongly requested that the courtyard next door be given to Zhao Mingyue.
She was worried about Prince Cheng. If Zhao Mingyue and Zhang Xiantao lived too far apart, Zhao Mingyue might not be able to protect Zhang Xiantao if something happened. If they lived closer, their senior brothers and sisters would be able to detect any commotion next door and help them if something did happen.
“Princess, it seems that the local officials of Anyang Prefecture have already sided with Prince Cheng. It seems that our attempt to rely on the local government’s influence will not work.” Qingyan’s expression was cold. Just now outside the city gate, those officials clearly heard Prince Cheng call out to the princess, but not a single one of them came to pay her respects. This shows that they completely disregard the princess. The local officials only listen to Prince Cheng.
"If all else fails, we'll have to dismiss all the local officials and replace them with a group of capable people. But that's not urgent; we can deal with it later." At least we need to investigate the inside story thoroughly before dealing with those officials; we can't act rashly.
At this moment, Prince Cheng entered the study alone and instructed the two guards outside not to see anyone unless he came out himself. Then he locked the study, walked to the desk, sat down, and pressed his hand on the protruding part of the armrest of the chair.
The table split in the middle, revealing an entrance beneath it that led to a secret underground chamber. He stood up and went down into the passage, and once he was inside, the table returned to its original state, leaving no trace of the secret beneath it.
After descending into the secret chamber through the passage, we passed through several doors and then climbed a flight of stairs. After walking for about 15 minutes, we finally emerged from the secret passage, which turned out to be a passage leading to a forest.
After Prince Cheng exited the secret passage, the door closed automatically, concealed by weeds, leaving no trace. He looked up into the distance, where smoke swirled, and he could vaguely make out a low-key brick house, enveloped by trees and mist.
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