Chapter 81
Mu Yulu pondered for a moment, then looked toward the kitchen at the deepest part of the backyard of the Mu residence.
They really did find the ledger in the dog hole, which meant that her previous line of thought was correct. Continuing to recall along this line of thought, she quickly remembered another unusual thing about Mu Yugang.
She was the only person in the Mu family who was interested in the kitchen stove. In her previous life, she had enthusiastically studied cooking for a period of time in order to please Mu Qinhan, and once she even accidentally blew up the kitchen.
Given Mu Yugang's temper, hanging her up and beating her would be considered lenient, but that time he not only didn't beat her, but also went to her yard to check on her little kitchen.
After inspecting the place, he pointed out, "Your little kitchen is missing some utensils, making cooking inconvenient. I'll talk to Aunt Wang and have her send someone to get you everything you need. From now on, you can cook in your own yard. Cook whatever you want, and you won't have to worry about blowing up the kitchen anymore."
At the time, Mu Yulu thought Mu Yugang was in a good mood and was overflowing with love, which awakened some of his fatherly love for her. Now, looking back on his actions, they seem very suspicious.
Mu Qinhan put his arm around Mu Yulu's waist and carried her at an extremely fast speed through several moon gates, arriving at the large kitchen deep inside the mansion.
The stove was cold, and the pots and pans were piled up in the dim light, forming a blurry outline. A huge chimney stood in the corner of the room.
With Mu Yulu in tow, Mu Qinhan climbed through the window into the kitchen and silently approached the stove.
The stove was filled with a thick layer of ashes, but Mu Qinhan didn't mind. He squatted down in front of the stove as before and bent down to put his hand into the ashes.
After another round of groping and tapping, his fingers struck the inner wall of the stove, producing a dull "thump-thump" sound.
The sound wasn't loud, but it was exceptionally clear in the empty kitchen late at night. Mu Yulu, feeling guilty, peered out the window, afraid that a patrolling guard would pass by and catch her and Mu Qinhan red-handed.
Fortunately, Mu Qinhan stopped what he was doing not long after. He approached a certain spot on the bottom of the stove, paused for a moment, adjusted his posture, and tapped it a few more times.
His movements were extremely patient, listening intently to the subtle differences in the feedback of each tap. At this moment, the tapping sound from the inner wall of the stove did indeed have a very slight difference; it was no longer a completely solid muffled sound, but rather carried a slight, barely perceptible hollow echo.
Mu Qinhan's expression changed, a sneer appearing on his serious face. He changed his hand gesture, pressing his knuckles against the inner wall and beginning to rotate them continuously.
A slight turning of a mechanism was heard, and the inner wall of the stove began to indent and rotate, revealing a hidden compartment no more than an inch deep.
The inner wall of the hidden compartment was smooth, indicating that it was frequently opened. Inside lay a roll of an object tightly wrapped in oilcloth.
Mu Qinhan quickly took it out, untied the oilcloth, and a fish skin map was revealed inside.
Opening the map, by the dim light filtering through the window, one could barely make out the lines drawn with cinnabar and ink, depicting mountains, rivers, and passes, with several glaring red dots marking the precise locations of granaries, including the water sources upstream of the rivers.
In addition, several lines of small characters are marked in the blank space beside the map: East Pass of the City, the garrison changing of duty time, 3:45 PM; the duty password for the capital camp, changed to "cold crow" in the second year of Yuanshuo, changed to "falling snow" in the third year of Yuanshuo, and so on...
The more Mu Yulu looked, the more alarmed she became. There was a military defense map of the capital hidden in the kitchen stove of the Mu residence, with the rotation time and duty password of the garrison and the capital camp clearly marked.
Mu Qinhan rolled up the map again and placed it together with the account book in his arms. He turned to look at Mu Yulu's expression and said softly, "This military deployment map is not yet fully completed and is still being updated. It is indeed unexpected that it is not handed over to a trusted military official but hidden in the Mu residence."
He then said to Mu Yulu, "There's one last thing left. They accepted huge bribes and also bribed many ministers. They must have a list of those people."
Mu Qinhan's sharp gaze swept over her, and she involuntarily swallowed: "But I really didn't expect this, I've never been exposed to these things before..."
Mu Qinhan reached out and held her shoulder. "You know him best. Think back, was there anything else unusual about him in the manor?"
Mu Yulu thought for a long time, then shook her head in despair, "I know him, but I haven't had much contact with him, and I know absolutely nothing about these things. Besides, he has such a violent temper; I usually avoid him like the plague..."
She paused for a moment, then looked up at Mu Qinhan again: "You just said... there's one last thing left?"
Mu Qinhan nodded: "What came to mind?"
Mu Yulu pondered and said, "My father has a bad temper and can be quite cruel sometimes. He hates all kinds of small animals, but he keeps a bird in his study. He takes very good care of that bird and has a very large cage made for it. I once saw that cage and wondered why he would make such a big cage for such a small bird. At that time, I thought he was just showing off his money."
As they talked, her eyes met Mu Qinhan's, and they both shared the same guess.
He put his arm around Mu Yulu again and led her out of the kitchen window. "Let's go take a look at the study."
The study was also located deep in the inner courtyard, but in another corner of the backyard, far from the kitchen. Therefore, Mu Qinhan led Mu Yulu to use their lightness skills to leap over walls and rooftops to the study.
Mu Yulu closed her eyes nervously.
"Don't be afraid, hold me tight." Mu Qinhan wrapped his arms around her waist, pressing close to her, his tall figure casting a shadow that almost completely enveloped her.
Upon hearing this, Mu Yulu trembled and turned her head away in resistance, creating some distance between herself and Mu Qinhan.
Mu Qinhan naturally noticed her reaction and guessed what she was thinking, but this was not the time to dwell on such things.
He tightened his grip on her waist, then raised his other hand and pulled her head against his chest without a word, carrying her across the rooftops to Mu Yugang's study.
The study's doors and windows were tightly closed, and a patrol team of guards was nearby; from their position, they could already see the lights not far away.
Mu Qinhan drew a dagger and silently used the thin blade to pry open the inner window latch, the movement as light as brushing a feather.
He opened the window, picked up Mu Yulu, and slipped into the room filled with the scent of ink and books under the cover of night.
Moonlight streamed through the carved window, casting crisscrossing shadows on the rosewood desk and the bookshelves lining the walls. Mu Qinhan stood among the bookshelves, gently sniffing the air, and then asked Mu Yulu, "Does your father buy so many books without ever reading them?"
Mu Yulu shrugged again. "Anyway, I've never seen him look at it."
Mu Qinhan fell silent, his sharp gaze sweeping across the bookshelves and desk before finally settling on the enormous birdcage in the corner of the room.
There was indeed a brightly colored bird in the cage. It was not disturbed by Mu Yulu and the other person, but slowly preened its wings with its bright red beak.
Mu Qinhan walked to the cage, his tall figure blocking out the already dim light.
The turquoise bird in the cage immediately stopped moving, tilting its little head and watching him warily.
Mu Qinhan did not reach out directly, but leaned down slightly and carefully searched the inside of the birdcage. Finally, his gaze settled on the bottom of the cage near the corner.
Mu Yugang had indeed crafted this birdcage very exquisitely. The huge cage was decorated with artificial mountains and grass, while the spot where Mu Qinhan's gaze lingered was covered with a layer of clean fine sand, in which some inconspicuous little wax balls were half-hidden.
Mu Qinhan carefully brushed aside the layer of fine sand, his slender fingers moving among the wax balls. Finally, he selected two of them and picked them out.
Mu Yulu stared blankly at Mu Qinhan's actions. "Is the evidence of bribing officials hidden in these wax balls? I thought these were just scented balls to remove odors."
Before she could finish speaking, Mu Qinhan squeezed hard, crushing both wax pills into pieces, revealing two thin, rolled-up pieces of paper inside the hollow wax pills.
Mu Qinhan unfolded the paper and saw that it indeed recorded the names and official positions of the officials who accepted bribes, as well as the time, amount, and items of the bribes.
Since entering the capital, the Third Prince had been channeling benefits to many officials in the court through Mu Yugang, and most of those officials were now part of the Third Prince's faction, providing him with a great deal of support.
After carefully collecting all the evidence, Mu Qinhan retreated to Mu Yulu's side, put his arm around her waist again, and lightly led her out of the open window.
After leaving the study, Mu Qinhan lightly touched the window frame with his toes, used the momentum to leap into the air, and silently carried Mu Yulu onto the roof of the study.
The cold tiles beneath her feet and the steep slope were terrifying. Mu Yulu bit her lower lip tightly to keep from letting out a scream. She gripped Mu Qinhan's clothes tightly at the waist out of fear, while tilting her head to keep her distance. It was so uncomfortable to be flying along with him in this awkward posture. Soon, fine beads of sweat appeared on her forehead.
Instead of returning along the route he came from, Mu Qinhan turned and flew towards the highest roof ridge deep within the mansion.
The wind whistled in her ears, and the scenery beneath her feet rushed past and sank. Mu Yulu mustered her courage and opened her eyes, only to find that Mu Qinhan was leading her toward the tallest library.
As they passed the courtyard where she had once lived, the outline of the library came into view. Mu Yulu frowned and stared at it, her gaze growing increasingly somber.
Everything in the library was as it had been, exactly the same as the night she and Sanzhou Jinse first met. However, the pond next to the courtyard had been filled in by Mu Yugang.
Mu Qinhan looked down at her at this moment, and only when they were almost past the library did he say indifferently, "In the past, we always thought that the evidence would be hidden in the library, and we searched for it several times."
Then he suddenly changed the subject: "I heard that you and Sanzhou Jinse met here?"
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