Chapter 29 A Young Man's Heart I am His Highness's man, who dares to stop me? ...
Yu'er was pulled into Yuan Yan's arms with great force.
Deep down, he resisted intimacy, his hands gently pushing against Yuan Yan's arm. But because he was too weak, his movements sounded like arousal.
Instead of creating distance, she ended up in Yuan Yan's arms, feeling his warmth even through the thin fabric of his clothes.
"No, it's not necessary..."
Thinking of the feeling of sitting on pins and needles with Yuan Yan at the banquet, Yu'er almost instinctively jumped.
It ran out of her arms as if it had been burned.
“Your Highness, I misspoke just now… I am still feeling a bit unwell, let’s talk about it another day.”
After leaving Yuan Yan, Yu'er managed to calm herself down and tried to justify her actions.
"Oh..." Yuan Yan drawled, "That's a real pity. Tell me when your beauty is better. I'll definitely spend some quality time with her to make up for the loss of these past few days."
Why are you still trying to get close to her? If it weren't for this shipment of grain, who would be here pretending to be friendly with her?
Once he gets the item, he'll run away without looking back... Yu'er vowed again through gritted teeth.
However unwilling she was, Yu'er still had to hold Yuan Yan in her arms.
"I knew it! Your Highness loves me the most! Once I recover, I will serve Your Highness well."
He spoke sweetly, but in his heart he was secretly plotting against Yuan Yan.
...
After finally managing to escape from Yuan Yan's room, Yu'er was already slightly sweaty and felt weak; she had truly been through a lot.
No one had ever made him suffer so many losses in such a short period of time.
There's an old saying that young men hold grudges the most. Just wait, he'll get his revenge sooner or later.
*
Cao Jinjin had been in the position of Grand Canal Transport Attendant for many years and had amassed a considerable fortune, owning a total of six or seven residences.
However, according to the information Yuan Yan obtained, Cao Jinjin recently acquired a beautiful young maid and placed her in the largest private residence, where he has been resting for several days in a row.
"Go check that room first." Upon hearing this, Yuan Yan's lips curled into a smile as he gave the order.
Originally, she wasn't sure where Cao Jinjin, that cunning fellow with multiple burrows, would hide the things. But now, after hearing the description, Yuan Yan was six or seven tenths certain that Cao Jinjin had most likely hidden the secret account in that house.
[Host, Cao Jinjin owns so many houses, how can you be so sure she put the things there? What if it wasn't... After this search, she'll definitely be more vigilant!] the system worried.
“No, you don’t understand people’s hearts,” Yuan Yan said confidently.
"This house was the first one Cao Jinjin bought after he became rich, so it has special significance for her."
“All of Cao Jinjin’s most beloved calligraphy, paintings, antiques, and even her favorite concubines are hidden in this house, which is heavily guarded. Even her husband and daughters don’t know that this place is the safest place in Cao Jinjin’s mind. Where else would she hide her things if not here?” Yuan Yan said.
As night deepened, Yuan Yan and the guards who had been waiting outside finally sneaked in and began searching the house.
"This official Cao's house is really big." He must have embezzled a lot.
Yu Liu felt a headache coming on at the thought of having to search so many places later.
"Don't bother looking at those places. First, find the study and carefully check for hidden compartments, secret layers, and false walls... then look for the others." Yuan Yan narrowed down the search and decided on the order of priority.
The guards sprang into action, meticulously searching every brick and tile in Cao Jinjin's study, and found several empty bricks and a dark room.
Yuan Yan even took matters into his own hands and pulled out several land deeds from the scrolls of calligraphy and paintings in Cao Jinjin's study.
Xue Lang presented the items the guards had found, which were mostly gold and silver deeds. Although valuable, they weren't the account books they wanted.
"Your Highness, none of these are it."
Just then, Yu Liu came to report, "Your Highness, we've checked the Buddhist hall and the side rooms, but found nothing."
Yuan Yan pondered for a moment; Cao Jinjin was even more cunning than she had anticipated.
"Continue to investigate outwards; don't overlook any place."
As time ticked by, and most of the houses in the mansion had been searched without finding any accounts, everyone present grew increasingly anxious.
"Your Highness, could it be in another residence?" Xue Lang even suspected that Cao Jinjin had hidden the secret accounts elsewhere and wanted to ask Yuan Yan to search elsewhere.
However, Yuan Yan had a strong intuition and a premonition that the thing must be here.
If she were Cao Jinjin, where would she hide the things?
Yuan Yan looked around, and when he saw the artificial hill and winding pond outside, a flash of inspiration struck him.
“You’re wrong. There’s one more place in this house that we haven’t searched.”
Yu Liu: "Where is Your Highness referring to?"
Following Yuan Yan's gaze, she looked at Qu Chi and was immediately taken aback.
Xue Lang also realized, "Does Your Highness think that Attendant Cao might have hidden something in the pond?"
One of the guards said, "But this place is all water; wouldn't the account books just disappear if we put them down here...?"
Yuan Yan: "That's not necessarily true."
Despite their disbelief, the guards began the search and rescue operation at His Highness's request.
A moment later, someone emerged from the water with a look of astonishment.
"Your Highness, there really is something down there!"
A heavy iron box was retrieved. The guards pried open the lock and found it lined with thick oiled paper.
As the layers were opened, several volumes of account books were revealed!
The guards were all astonished: "We've found the account books!"
Yu Liu was no exception; looking at the account books she had finally found, she couldn't help but sigh.
"Your Highness had misunderstood, but I never expected the account books to actually be in the pond... Who would have thought of such a place?"
Yuan Yan: "Perhaps Cao Jinjin anticipated this, which is why he deliberately placed the account books in such a place that ordinary people would hardly imagine."
"Your Highness is wise. If it weren't for Your Highness's insistence, we probably wouldn't have found it," Xue Lang said sincerely.
The group took the account books with them, filled the iron box with stones and sank it back into the pool, then returned to the government office, avoiding eye contact, just as they had come.
However, when Yuan Yan returned to the courtyard, a servant came to report.
"Your Highness, Young Master Yu has come to deliver soup and insists on personally serving it to you. He has been here for quite some time now. Would Your Highness like to see him?"
Yu'er noticed that Yuan Yan hadn't appeared in the courtyard all night, and since he was still nowhere to be seen so late, she couldn't help but feel a little suspicious.
So he immediately grabbed a bowl of soup and made an excuse to come and investigate.
"Get out of the way! I just wanted to bring His Highness a bowl of calming soup. Why are you clueless captives blocking my way?"
"I am His Highness's favorite servant. If you offend me, His Highness will surely punish you severely." Yu'er, accompanied by her male servants, scolded the guards at the door, Qiao Man.
The guards lowered their heads, not daring to look at him: "We dare not."
However, despite saying that, they still didn't move aside.
Without Yuan Yan's order, the guards would not let anyone in, even if that person was the prince's favorite servant these days.
The guards' unmoved attitude infuriated Yu'er.
"Fine, fine, you won't let me in, huh... then I'll go in myself!"
As Yu'er spoke, she was about to ignore the obstruction and rush straight in.
Although the guards wanted to stop him, they were afraid of hurting His Highness's beloved servant if they were too violent.
Just as the two sides were clashing and the guards were caught in a dilemma, Yuan Yan's voice suddenly came from inside the room.
"Let him in."
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