Chapter 84 We seem to have an invitation
In the carriage of the Prince Regent's Palace, the atmosphere was so oppressive that it felt like water was dripping out.
Xiao Yu sat in the corner with his eyes closed, exuding a cold aura of "Strangers keep away, acquaintances keep away".
Ajiu sat opposite him, holding a bag of snacks brought from the palace in his arms, nibbling them in small bites, and from time to time secretly glanced up at the expression of "Brother Xiongxiong".
As for Chu Xuanyi, he had been covering his mouth with his sleeves since he got in the car. His shoulders were shaking violently, and he looked like a gourd with internal injuries.
Finally, he couldn't hold it in anymore.
"Puff—hahahaha! I can't take it anymore, I can't take it anymore!" Chu Xuanyi slammed the wall of the carriage, laughing so hard that he fell backwards. "Pink... pink little flowers! Hahahaha! Xiao Yu, Xiao Yu, I only realized today that you are such a... delicate person!"
Xiao Yu suddenly opened his eyes, his gaze like a knife, shooting straight at him.
Chu Xuanyi was not afraid at all. Instead, he laughed even harder: "And there's osmanthus cake! You deserve an osmanthus cake princess! Warm and fragrant! It's over. From now on, I won't be able to look directly at osmanthus cake! Hahahaha!"
"Chu, Xuan, Yi." Xiao Yu spoke each word, the sound squeezed out from between his teeth.
"Brother Xiongxiong," Jiu finished the snack in his hand, licked his fingers, and asked innocently, "Why is the adult laughing like a crowing rooster?"
"Puff—cough cough cough!" Chu Xuanyi was choked by his own saliva, his laughter stopped abruptly, and he coughed loudly.
Xiao Yu looked at him coldly, and said with a thin mouth: "If you say one more word, next month's salary will be donated to the dredging project of the moat in the west of the city."
Chu Xuanyi's coughing stopped instantly.
He straightened his robe, sat upright, and his face regained the dignity and seriousness that a national teacher should have, as if the person who laughed so hard just now was not him at all.
"Ahem," he cleared his throat and quickly changed the subject. "Let's get down to business. I've looked up all the files on the Lin family. Ten years ago, after the Lin family was wiped out, all their assets, including that ancestral land, were seized by the government. It later changed hands several times before being bought by a wealthy businessman named Huang on what is now Yuquan Mountain, who built a villa there."
His expression grew serious. "I suspect that the wealthy businessman surnamed Huang is most likely a member of the Wugut Tribe. They bought that piece of land to guard the 'Netherworld Grass' and to exploit the resentment of the Lin family's former site to practice evil magic."
Xiao Yu's face also darkened.
"Our next target is that villa."
"I'm afraid it won't be that easy," Chu Xuanyi frowned. "It's a private compound now. We don't have a pretext to bring people in to search. And after what happened at Black Wind Mountain, they must have been alerted, so their defenses will be even tighter."
Inside the car, he fell into deep thought again.
"Um...I know how to get in."
A weak voice sounded.
Xiao Yu and Chu Xuanyi turned their heads at the same time and looked at Ajiu who was holding a bundle of snacks.
Ah Jiu felt a little nervous under their gazes. He shrank his neck and whispered, "Uncle Huang is having his fiftieth birthday next month. He's sent invitations to many families in Beijing, inviting everyone to his villa to eat... eat birthday peaches."
As she spoke, she swallowed her saliva, obviously thinking about food.
"How do you know?" Chu Xuanyi asked in surprise.
Ah Jiu pointed to her small bag and said, "I was at the Empress Dowager's today and heard those beautifully dressed aunts say that Uncle Huang's birthday party was even more grand than the ones in the palace!"
Xiao Yu and Chu Xuanyi looked at each other and saw a great opportunity in each other's eyes.
A birthday party.
One that allows them to openly step into that dangerous place—
invitation.
In the study of the Prince Regent's Palace.
Xiao Yu and Chu Xuanyi, two of the most brilliant minds in the Great Qi Dynasty, were staring at the spread-out map of the suburbs of Beijing, and the place circled in cinnabar on the map, called "Huang Family Villa".
Everything is ready, only the invitation is missing.
"This is going to be difficult." Chu Xuanyi stroked his chin, his brows knitted into a knot. "That Fatty Huang, even if he wants to be pretentious and curry favor with the rich and powerful, there's no way he'll send an invitation to the Regent's Palace."
Xiao Yu didn't say anything, his slender fingers tapped lightly on the table, making a dull sound.
Break in by force? The noise would be too loud and might alert the enemy. If they were to go all out and destroy the Nether Grass, it would be more trouble than gain.
"Could it be possible... that we steal one?" Chu Xuanyi suggested whimsically, but then rejected it himself, "No, no, it would undermine the dignity of the Imperial Master... The dignity of the Prince is more important."
Xiao Yu finally gave him a cold look.
“Crack.”
A crisp sound broke the deadlock.
They both looked down and saw Ah Jiu sitting cross-legged on the carpet, concentrating intently on a piece of walnut biscuit. Her mouth was stuffed full, like a hamster with a store of food for the winter.
"Ajiu," Xiao Yu suddenly said, "You said you heard those noble ladies say that in the palace?"
"Yeah!" Ah Jiu nodded vigorously, finally swallowing what she had in her mouth. She took a sip of water and said in a baby voice, "They say that Uncle Huang is very rich. His villa is built to look like a palace. He spent several thousand taels of silver just on setting up the stage for his birthday party! So many people have received invitations!"
Chu Xuanyi's eyes lit up: "They all received it? Then can't we just borrow one from them?"
Xiao Yu glanced at him calmly and asked, "Do you think it's appropriate to take the wife of the Minister of Personnel or the Minister of Rites into a dangerous place?"
Chu Xuanyi: "..."
It seemed inappropriate. Those delicate ladies would probably scream for a long time if they saw a cockroach, let alone a monster from the Wugu tribe.
The study became quiet again.
"Alas," Chu Xuanyi sighed and slumped in his chair. "This won't work, and that won't work. Do we really have to climb over the wall to get in?"
When he thought about how, at his old age, he still had to imitate those thieves and sneak into houses at night, he felt a dull pain in his waist.
At this moment, Ajiu, who had been searching for something in his small bag, suddenly raised a little hand.
"Um... Xiong Xiong brother, sir..."
She spoke weakly, holding a large red piece of paper with gold foil in her hand, which was still stained with a little bit of walnut crisp crumbs.
"Is this... the invitation you mentioned?"
Xiao Yu and Chu Xuanyi's eyes were instantly drawn to the red invitation as if drawn by a magnet.
I saw that the invitation was extremely exquisitely made, with a red background and gold letters, and a big "Shou" character written in a flamboyant style.
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