"Li Xue, she harmed you, and you still want to save her?" Ye Qianlong looked at the seriously injured Su Yuting, his clear eyes filled with cold light.
Shen Lixue smiled slightly: "I'm not saving her. This secret room is complicated and we don't know how to get out. We need her to lead the way!"
Ye Qianlong frowned: "She just lied to you, won't she tell the truth?"
Shen Lixue smiled, her gaze towards Su Yuting filled with a strange light: "Don't worry, if we end up in a secret room with hidden weapons, we'll use her as a human shield!"
Aside
(*^__^*) Hehe... More exciting content to come in the next chapter...
Chapter 116: Su Zha's reputation is ruined, and he's thrown into jail.
Shen Lixue wore Ye Qianlong's outer garment, the hem of which trailed to the ground like a long, flowing dress, lightly sweeping across the smooth floor as she walked.
The corridor was chillingly cold, with a thin layer of ice covering the stone walls, emanating a faint chill. Shen Lixue subtly glanced around; the corridor floor was clean, and the ice was thin, indicating that someone regularly came in to clean it…
"Li Xue, we've reached the end!" Ye Qianlong stopped, but didn't let go of Su Yuting's clothes. Her slender body dragged a clear line across the ground like a rag. Her back ached from the hard ground, but she was powerless to resist. She glared fiercely at Shen Li Xue and Ye Qianlong.
"I'll open the mechanism!" Shen Lixue grabbed the iron ring next to the door and pulled hard. The stone door opened slowly with a bang, and a blast of cold air rushed out. She frowned tightly: "It's an ice chamber again, not the exit."
With her slender hand, she turned the iron ring and closed the stone door. Shen Lixue returned along the same path, with Ye Qianlong dragging Su Yuting close behind her, heading towards the next fork in the road.
There were six forks in the road, and the length of each corridor varied. Shen Lixue and Ye Qianlong moved extremely fast and completed all the forks in a short time without finding an exit.
"Why are there so many ice chambers?" Yoru Chitaki muttered to himself in confusion.
“The Duke of Wen’s mansion has many concubines and mistresses. When summer comes, they all need to cool down. It’s unknown whether there is enough ice in these ice rooms!” Shen Lixue raised her eyebrows and looked at the airtight forks and corridors. Could it be that the secret room door can only be opened from the outside?
Despite her serious injuries, Su Yuting suddenly sneered, "You two shouldn't waste your energy, there's no way out here!"
Shen Lixue smiled coldly: "If you stay with us, and we freeze or starve to death, you won't fare much better!"
Su Yuting's face instantly darkened. She glared at Shen Lixue with hatred, gritting her teeth: "You brought me here to take me hostage!"
"As expected of Qingyan's number one talented woman, she understands immediately!" Shen Lixue smiled slightly, her smile bright and dazzling. She, Ye Qianlong, and Su Yuting fell into the ice chamber in full view of everyone. Duke Wen, considering his daughter, would definitely send someone to find them. Taking Su Yuting as a hostage was to prevent Duke Wen or Ruan from playing any tricks.
"Shen Lixue, I'll kill you!" Su Yuting's anger flared up, and her slender body sprang up, slamming into Shen Lixue.
Shen Lixue stood quietly, neither dodging nor avoiding, while Ye Qianlong, expressionless, flung the frenzied Su Yuting against the solid wall.
"Bang!" Su Yuting slammed into the wall and bounced back, falling heavily to the ground. At that moment, a small door on the smooth wall opened gently. The door was about 80 or 90 centimeters wide and about two meters high, much smaller than the ice chamber door. No cold air emanated from inside, and the light was dim. It didn't seem like an exit. Shen Lixue raised an eyebrow. Where did the small door lead to? What was behind the door? She took light steps and slowly walked inside.
Su Yuting was thrown hard, aggravating her injuries. Her bones felt like they were falling apart, and she was in excruciating pain. Her chest was churning with blood and qi. She forced herself not to vomit blood and looked up at the small door. Her beautiful eyes were full of doubt. There was a small door here. How come she never knew about it?
Her collar tightened, and Su Yuting's back hit the cold ground, a burning pain spreading throughout her back. Ye Qianlong then grabbed her by the collar and dragged her into the small doorway.
As the small door slowly closed, Duke Wen, Dongfang Heng, Nangong Xiao, Lin Yan, and the Prefect of Shuntian Prefecture walked over, led by their servants.
"There are six forks in the road and six ice chambers. Miss, the princess should have fallen into the first one!" the servant explained humbly, hurrying towards the ice chamber. Duke Wen, Nangong Xiao, Lin Yan and the others stepped through the small door and walked quickly forward.
Duke Wen glanced at the Shuntian Prefect and Lin Yan, who were following closely behind, and frowned slightly. Yu Ting was suspected of being the culprit behind the series of disfigurement cases. He had to find a way to find her before these people and find out the truth...
When Dongfang Heng reached the small door, his heart suddenly skipped a beat. He gently covered his chest with his jade-like fingers, and a few doubts flashed in his sharp eyes. He had suffered a serious heart injury and had never experienced a rapid heartbeat before. What had just happened?
"Prince An, are you feeling unwell?" Lin Yan turned back, looking at Dongfang Heng's pale face with great concern.
"It's nothing!" Dongfang Heng shook his head, took a few tentative steps away from the small door, his heartbeat returned to normal, but he felt as if something was missing, empty inside.
Ru Yu's fingers gripped the clothes tightly against his chest, and Dongfang Heng's handsome eyebrows furrowed. How could he have such a feeling?
"Didn't you say Yuting was in that ice room? Where is she?" Wen Guogong's angry voice suddenly came from directly in front.
The servant replied tremblingly, "Master, it seems that Miss was unharmed and left this ice room to go elsewhere!"
"Then what are you standing there for? Go find someone!" Duke Wen shouted again, his voice carrying far through the silent corridor.
"Yes, yes, yes!" the servant replied tremblingly, and quickly ran into a side road to look for the person.
Dongfang Heng frowned, his deep gaze fixed on the small door, lost in thought.
Inside the small door was a corridor more than ten meters long. Stepping out of the corridor, the view suddenly opened up, with dazzling luminous pearls inlaid in golden lamps, radiating a soft glow, magnificent and splendid.
In the center of the room was a set of mahogany tables and chairs, complete with a teapot and teacups. To the left, near the wall, was a small soft bed with a sky-blue canopy, creating a dreamlike atmosphere. Next to it was a dressing table. To the right, against the wall, was a small table with a seven-stringed zither on it, and directly in front of it was a bookshelf filled with books.
Su Yuting's fierce eyes narrowed slightly. She had lived in the Duke of Wen's mansion for fourteen years and had never known that there was a fresh and elegant secret room there, which looked just like a woman's boudoir.
Shen Lixue walked around the room, carefully examining each piece of furniture, but couldn't see anything special. She leisurely stopped in front of the bookshelf, casually picked out a few books and flipped through them: "Admonitions for Women," "The Great Learning," "The Analects," and some poetry collections.
The secret chamber is located underground, where it is never exposed to sunlight and is connected to the ice chamber, so it is somewhat damp. The pages of the sheet music and poetry collection are yellowed, especially the poetry collection, which has a somewhat tattered cover, perhaps because it is frequently read.
Shen Lixue gently opened the first page of the poetry collection, and the three elegant characters of Ruan Chuqing came into view. Shen Lixue was stunned. She remembered that the Duchess of Wen was named Ruan Chuqing. Could these be her novels?
As she carefully examined the books and musical scores, she noticed that the first page of almost all of them bore Ruan Chuqing's name. Combined with the elaborate layout of her boudoir, Shen Lixue realized that this was the boudoir of the Duchess of Wen before her marriage. After getting married, she placed the original boudoir in a secret room to commemorate her girlhood. Her thoughts were truly peculiar and unconventional.
Shen Lixue smiled and put the books back in their places one by one. Suddenly, her little hand touched something and a scroll fell to the ground, opening with a rustling sound, revealing a beautiful painting.
A rainbow arches across the azure sky, green bamboo grows on the green mountains, a small boat floats on the green water, white butterflies flutter on the green grass, creating a warm halo, a beautiful woman stands on the boat, holding a pretty oil-paper umbrella and moving slowly forward, a gentle breeze blows, the lake surface ripples, like a splashed ink painting of misty rain in Jiangnan!
It's truly a heart-stirring picture of the sky clearing after the rain.
Shen Lixue exclaimed in admiration, her gaze falling upon the inscription at the very top:
Willows are green, river is calm, I hear my lover singing on the river. The sun rises in the east, rain falls in the west, it seems there is no sunshine, yet there is sunshine.
The painting technique is fluid, the poetry is moving, and the two are combined perfectly. The calligraphy is also vigorous and powerful, and the painting is magnificent. The artist of this painting has extremely high attainments in both poetry and painting.
Shen Lixue's gaze fell on the signature, and she was suddenly stunned. She closed her eyes and looked closely. The red name seal was stamped neatly, and it was none other than the War King Dongfang Shuo!