The world is in chaos
Previously, Sun Fang would never have believed that Wu Qi would use poison.
How could a frail woman know how to use poison?
But at this moment, he was being completely manipulated by Wu Qi and had to reconsider whether Wu Qi would use poison. After thinking it over, he realized that he was wrong.
Whether Wu Qi can use poison or not is no longer important; what matters is whether he believes it or not, or whether he wants to die.
If you want to die, it doesn't matter whether the tea is poisoned or not; you can just die anyway.
But he didn't want to die.
Holding the celadon teacup in his hand, Sun Fang had no choice but to believe that the tea he had just drunk was poisoned, because he dared not gamble with his own life.
“Speak,” he said, “what do you want to know?”
"Where is Zhao Lang's secret chamber?" Wu Qi asked. "Of course you can lie, but if I can't find the secret chamber in the direction you gave me, or if I accidentally get caught by Zhao Lang, then I'm sorry, you won't survive either."
"Only I can cure the poison I administered."
Sun Fang put down his teacup, remained silent for a moment, and then said, "In Zhao Lang's study, on the left cabinet, there is a jade horse that turns half a circle to the left."
"Thank you. If I come back alive tomorrow, you'll be saved." After saying that, Wu Qi pulled Yi Shen away from the Sun residence without looking back.
As night deepened, the two arrived at the Zhao residence.
With Li Xi now in charge of the Zhao family, Zhao Lang dared not cause any trouble openly, but who knew what might happen behind the scenes? Unable to create any trouble at this moment, Wu Qi reluctantly found a veil to cover her face, fearing that Zhao Lang might seize the opportunity to cause trouble if he learned of her faked death.
The Zhao mansion was too large, so Wu Qi returned to his old ways and kidnapped and threatened a guard. However, the guard was too easily frightened. After trembling and revealing the location of Zhao Lang's study, he actually wet himself in fear.
I was genuinely terrified.
Wu Qi glanced at the guard and said with a troubled expression, "How did you become a guard in the Zhao family?!"
She was just expressing her feelings and didn't expect the guard to answer, but her dagger was still pressed against the guard's neck. The guard swallowed hard and said honestly, "Selection, but too many people have died in the Zhao family. I thought it was my turn today."
He was a pitiful man. Wu Qi sheathed his dagger, and Yi Shen knocked the guard unconscious, placing him in the bushes. Following the directions given by the guard, the two arrived at Zhao Lang's study.
There was no plaque hanging above Zhao Lang's study. From a distance, his study did not look much different from other women's residences, except that the door was closed a little more tightly and there were a few more guards standing on both sides.
Wu Qi really doesn't want to fight today.
She concealed herself in the bushes, weighed the stone in her hand, aimed at a tree next to the study, and suddenly threw the stone, hitting a bird's nest accurately.
The bird's nest fell to the ground.
"Who goes there!" a guard asked.
Only a few birdsongs responded to him; the suddenly homeless birds flapped their wings and flew about erratically.
The guards looked at each other, and the one in the lead nodded slightly and said, "Go and see." About half of them went to check what was going on.
Wu Qi and Yi Shen had already leaped onto the roof. Taking advantage of the commotion, Wu Qi quietly opened the door, silently chanting, "Don't make a sound when opening the door, don't make a sound!"
The door opened silently.
The two slipped into the house.
As Wu Qi closed the door, she saw several guards squatting on the ground checking the bird nests. She silently repeated to herself, "I don't want to fight, I don't want to fight. When you close the door, please don't make any noise, please don't make any noise!"
Fortunately, the door closed without making a sound.
Wu Qi stood in Zhao Lang's study, letting out a sigh of relief. She was about to take Yi Shen's hand when he beat her to it. Yi Shen grasped her hand and leaned down to whisper in her ear.
They were so close, so close that Wu Qi felt as if Yi Shen was holding her earlobe in his mouth.
Yi Shen asked in a breathy voice, "Can you speak?"
Wu Qi nodded.
Yi Shen asked again, "I want to hold your hand."
Wu Qi smiled and shook their clasped hands.
Yi Shen rarely says what he wants, so when he so bluntly says he wants to hold hands, Wu Qi naturally won't refuse.
Besides, she rarely refused Yi Shen.
Wu Qi tilted his head slightly and said, "Why can't Young Master Yi hold hands if he wants to?"
Yi Shen gripped Wu Qi's hand tightly, and following the moonlight, they walked to the cabinet on the left. Just as Sun Fang had said, there was a red jade carving of a fine horse on the third shelf from top to bottom.
He reached out and touched the statue, but it didn't budge.
Wu Qi stood still, staring at the statue.
She wasn't sure if she could trust Sun Fang. What if, as Sun Fang said, she turned the horse statue half a circle to the left, and instead of a secret room, she was met with a hidden arrow?
"I'm not afraid," Yi Shen said.
He carried a soft sword at his waist to protect her.
Wu Qi took a deep breath and poked the red jade horse statue, saying, "Don't make a sound."
Now that things have come to this, if opening the secret room makes a loud "bang" or the walls move, alerting the guards outside, then getting into the secret room will be as difficult as ascending to heaven.
Yi Shen smiled faintly and followed her, saying, "Yes, don't make a sound."
After he finished speaking, he turned half a circle to the left of the red jade horse statue.
A moment of silence followed, as if nothing had happened.
There were no sounds of walls or bookshelves moving in the study, nor were there any hidden attacks.
Did Sun Fang lie to them?
Wu Qi looked around, frowned, and pulled Yi Shen to lift up several paintings hanging on the wall in the study, wanting to see if they were a cover. But no matter how many times they turned around, all they could see after lifting the paintings was a cold, hard wall. They couldn't find the entrance to the secret room after going around in circles.
"In the storybooks, the secret rooms are all about pressing or turning something, and then the wall or bookshelf... there's an entrance..." Wu Qi didn't dare to speak loudly, and since he couldn't find the secret room, he complained to Yi Shen, "Why is Zhao Lang's secret room so hard to find! Isn't that going too far!"
Yi Shen said, "Yes, he went too far."
The room was mostly dark, with no lights on, except for a sliver of moonlight shining down behind Yi Shen. He pulled Wu Qi to his side, looked down at him, and a rare smile appeared in his eyes.
"If I find the secret room first, is there a reward?"
Yi Shen was quite different today. First, he directly asked to hold hands, and then he asked him for a reward. These actions were not in line with the pure and innocent behavior of the Third Young Master Yi. Wu Qi accepted them all and granted his every request.
She asked, "What kind of reward does Yi Shen want?"
Yi Shen said, "Kiss me."
Um?
What?
What did Yi Shen say?
Wu Qi was momentarily stunned, then heard Yi Shen say, "Just one kiss is enough."
How wonderful.
Not greedy at all.
A kiss wouldn't be difficult for Wu Qi; she had once lightly kissed Yi Shen's shoulder through his clothes. However, this time, she didn't want to kiss Yi Shen's shoulder, nor did she want to kiss him through his clothes.
Wu Qi tiptoed and kissed Yi Shen on the left cheek. She smiled, continued to tiptoe, and kissed his right cheek as well.
"Kissing is not a transaction; Yi Shen can have as many as he wants."
As long as Yi Shen wants a kiss from her, he will get it, regardless of whether he can find the secret room or not.
Two gentle kisses and a single sentence stirred up a storm in Yi Shen's heart. Tonight, he was unusually childish, wanting to exchange something else for a kiss from her.
But he received two kisses and a sweet word.
Wu Qi always gave him more than he asked for.
All the wild thoughts of my youth have vanished today. The struggles and pain of being alone in the sea of love, and the sleepless nights thinking of her, have all become the steps that led to our meeting today.
He has come this far step by step, receiving two kisses from her and a love confession that is as sweet as the vows of eternal love. Looking back on those difficult days and nights, he feels it was all worth it.
Yi Shen suppressed the turmoil in his heart, took Wu Qi's hand, kissed the back of her hand, and said, "Standing on tiptoe is too tiring. I won't let you stand on tiptoe anymore."
He didn't get to where he is today so that Wu Qi could stand on his tiptoes.
"Thank you, Yi Shen," Wu Qi said with a smile.
The two put aside their business and chatted for a little while in Zhao Lang's study, but ultimately did not forget their business.
Yi Shen said, "The entrance to the secret room is under Zhao Lang's table."
"Under the table?"
Wu Qi crouched down and indeed saw steps extending into the ground under the table. It was dark and unlit, seemingly a path leading to the underworld.
The passage was so narrow that two people could not walk side by side. The person in front faced the unknown, while the person behind faced uncertainty. It was hard to tell whether it was safer to be in front or behind.
"I'll go down first," Yi Shen said. "Take my hand and follow behind me."
It was too dark here, and he was afraid that Wu Qi would fall down the steps.
“Okay,” Wu Qi replied.
Yi Shen walked ahead, without the glass lamp, groping his way down the steps in the dark. Wu Qi held his hand and followed behind him. The two of them followed the steps deeper into the ground, not knowing how long they walked before finally reaching the top.
Suddenly, a few scattered lights appeared before them. The two exchanged a glance and pushed open the door in front of them.
The moment the door opened, the glass lamps inside spontaneously ignited, and bursts of light converged, illuminating the scene inside.
What came into view was a lot of money; gold and silver jewelry were piled up in the corner. One person could probably squander all this money in a lifetime. Just as Zhao Lang said, the Zhao mansion was a "golden house".
Then came the ledgers that filled the wooden shelves. Wu Qi casually flipped through them and sneered, "Zhao Lang only has one life. He got off too easy."
He probably wouldn't have enough lives to pay for it.
Because these ledgers record the fees for buying official positions.
Poor but ambitious and talented people study hard for more than ten years, just to pass the exam for an official position. Little do they know that the official position they yearn for has already been openly priced by those with ulterior motives.
The world is in chaos.
Zhao Lang could not possibly have such great abilities. Being in Pingwu, he could not possibly interfere with the transfer of officials in the capital. It seems that the high-ranking official in the court, whom he has never met, has already reached the point of having absolute power.
He is second only to the emperor, above all others.
How many people in the court hold such a position?
There was a small wooden box hidden under the table. It was clean and dust-free. Wu Qi placed the box on the table and wondered, "Why does Zhao Lang like the space under the table so much?"
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