Las bellezas de la dinastía Song

Capítulo 81

Cheng Jue lazily reached out and took it, flipped it over a few times, and then threw it into the hands of the servant behind him. "Since it is a matter agreed upon by the two countries, there is no need to discuss it further. This general does not care. However, there is one thing: my Great Wei treasure has been moved to the Crown Prince's palace. I hope that the Crown Prince will cherish it."

The "treasure" refers to two things: firstly, the exquisite jade pendant, a national treasure of the Great Wei Kingdom; and secondly, the beautiful Princess Weiyun before him. Cheng Jue brought it up specifically, partly because the king and he himself genuinely cared, and partly because he had seen Weiyun's worries and, thinking of himself, felt even more pity for her. He truly hoped that Weiyun could find the happiness she desired here.

Yuwen Ke's expression remained unchanged, only calmly saying, "General Cheng, rest assured, the Great Treasure is of utmost value, and I, Tianxing, will cherish it."

Cheng Jue nodded and gave Wei Yun a deep look. "In that case, Cheng Jue and the King look forward to it."

Wei Yun gently gripped the handkerchief, but a slight smile appeared on her lips.

Chapter 169: The Secret of Zhongfang Garden

"Qingyan, something terrible has happened! The man who was locked in the woodshed has escaped."

As soon as I returned to Zhongfang Garden, Ziru rushed over in a panic, grabbing my sleeve and whispering.

Huh? I was taken aback.

"Wasn't Kim Jong-un supposed to have people watching over him? How could he have escaped?" I wondered.

No matter how much Jin San questioned that sinister man, he couldn't get any information about his past. I've been too busy to ask him myself lately. I was just planning to hand him over to my master for interrogation after he appeared. Speaking of which, my master must be very skilled at this. Who knew that he would escape without warning?!

How could that be?

"What's going on, Kim Jong-un?" I frowned.

Jin San's face was somewhat grim. "Chief, it was my mistake. I sent out too many brothers to search for Xiao Zheng's whereabouts, leaving too few men to guard him. I thought locking that man in the woodshed was a top secret, and I even gave him a muscle-relaxing drug. The garden was heavily guarded, and the traps the chief set were still in place, so I relaxed my vigilance. Given that man's condition, there was no way he could escape on his own. Even if someone came to rescue him, it would be impossible not to alert the guards. Once the guards were alerted and the traps were activated, they wouldn't be able to escape smoothly. Who knew that he would escape without anyone noticing, and our men didn't even discover that the man had mysteriously disappeared until evening when they went to deliver food?"

Wow! Is that even possible? I started to get interested.

He rested his chin on his hand, thought for a moment, then suddenly his eyes lit up and he exclaimed excitedly, "A secret passage!"

Yes, it must be a secret passage. Only by going through a secret passage that we don't know about can we escape quietly without alerting the guards or triggering any mechanisms.

I narrowed my eyes slightly and smiled gently.

Heh, there's even a secret passage hidden in Zhongfang Garden? This is really interesting. Is there one passage or many? Who exactly is that mysterious man? How does he know about the secret passages in Zhongfang Garden? Even I haven't found them yet.

That damned old woman, acting all timid and fearful in front of me, I know she must be hiding other secrets. Hmph, she's never even used the secret passage to avoid me finding out! Hmm, a secret passage, huh? Once I find out, I'll teach her a lesson.

"Qingyan, what did you say? Secret, secret passage? What secret passage?"

Ziru gripped my sleeve tightly, her face suddenly turning pale. The fact that there was a secret passage in her supposedly safe and peaceful home, unknown to her, where a stranger could jump out at any moment when she least expected it, clearly made her uneasy and frightened.

I chuckled and quickly patted her little hand reassuringly, "Don't worry, Ziru, it's okay. I won't let you get into any danger."

"But..."

"Don't be afraid. If you're really worried, just be careful these next few days and sleep with Lüju every night. Anyway, we'll be moving to the Prime Minister's residence together in a few days. Oh, by the way, I'm still having people build a Princess's residence for you. It's not very big, but it's very exquisite and beautiful. I've also bought some farms for you around here. I think you'll like them. I'll take you to see them when the time comes." I chuckled.

Well, with this, Ziru and Lüju's affairs are basically settled. I can leave anytime without them being left adrift and helpless.

She nodded, a little smugly pleased with herself. "There's never been anything I can't do or anyone I need to manage." Hehe.

Chapter 170: Getting More and More Interesting

However, Ziru clearly did not understand my intentions and hurriedly shook her head, "No, there is no need to build another princess's mansion, Qingyan, it's fine for me to live with you."

"That won't do, I can't live with you forever," I laughed. I could leave at any time, you know.

Ziru was stunned, clearly never having considered this possibility. She looked at me and stammered, "Qingyan..."

He stopped speaking as soon as he opened his mouth, as if he had suddenly thought of something. A look of sadness appeared on his face, and he fell silent.

I put my arm around Ziru's shoulder and chuckled, "What? You can't bear to part with me? I can't be with you forever. Do you mean that when your future husband comes, I'll monopolize you all day long and won't even let you into the bridal chamber? I don't mind, but I'm afraid your future husband will come after me."

As he spoke, he deliberately feigned fear.

Lü Ju chuckled to himself.

In front of everyone, Ziru blushed bright red at my antics, forgetting her sadness. She raised her hand as if to tickle me, and I cried out in surprise, jumping up and running away. Ziru was both angry and anxious; how could she let me off so easily? She immediately chased after me. I escaped behind Jin San, peeked out, and made a face at her. Ziru suddenly stopped, lowered her eyes, looking quite embarrassed. She paused for a moment, then turned and ran away.

Well...

I was quite surprised, then suddenly caught Jin San's slightly wistful gaze as he turned away from Zi Ru's back. Hmm... hard to say... I chuckled. It seems the first time I met Jin San was when he wanted to take Zi Ru home as his wife, could it be...?

Jin San, feeling uneasy under my gaze, quickly spoke up, "Boss, are you saying there's a secret passage in Zhongfang Garden, and that the people who came to rescue the mysterious man knew about this passage, or even that they escaped through it?"

Uh, I almost forgot about the important matter. Oh well, let's leave him for now.

I nodded. "Yes, I trust your defenses; there's absolutely no problem. Besides, my little traps are no joke. If someone just vanishes out of nowhere, there's only one possibility: somewhere we don't know, in or near the woodshed, there must be a secret passage. This passage is extremely important to Zhongfang Garden. So, even if we have complete control of Zhongfang Garden, Mama Rong must guard this passage to the death."

The fact that this man, or rather his subordinate, knew about this secret passage indicates that he had a close relationship with Zhongfangyuan.

It's astonishing that a small, unassuming brothel could survive for so long despite the suppression by Li Jinhuan, a high-ranking official of the time. I had long suspected something was amiss. I initially thought Li Jinhuan had taken a liking to Rong Mama's taste and deliberately kept her around to collect beauties so he could plunder them and give them away. But now it seems that Li Jinhuan simply couldn't swallow up Zhongfangyuan from the root.

What kind of person or force is behind Zhongfang Garden? There's even a secret passage! So, what was Zhongfang Garden used for in the first place? Why was it so easily controlled by me after it broke away from its backing? Is that mysterious man the representative or leader of this force? And now, does this force want to reclaim its ownership and regain control of Zhongfang Garden?

But what's in my hands is not something I'll easily give up again. Hmm, you want to take back Zhongfang Garden? Give me a try... Hehe, things are getting more and more interesting.

Chapter 171: Unlucky Cheng Jue

My eyes darted around, and suddenly I beckoned to Jin San. Jin San leaned in and I whispered a few words to him.

"Yes, Kim Jong-un will take care of it right away." Kim Jong-un replied and turned to leave.

—Sakura, shouldn't you be back by now?

"Miss, what do you want Master Jin to do?" Green Ju asked curiously as she watered the flowers by the window.