Chapter 118

Chapter 118

"Let's go in and take a look!" Lu Ming suggested.

"Wait a moment!" Danzi cautioned.

Lu Ming looked down at him, asking, "What's wrong?"

"What if the secret door closes once we enter, and we can't find the mechanism to open it from inside? Wouldn't we be locked in?" Danzi raised his concern.

Minghe concluded, "We would starve to death!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the secret door closed automatically.

"See, it closed!" Minghe pointed at the wall.

Danzi tapped the same spot three times again, and the secret door reopened.

"Our Crown Prince and Young Master Ming are indeed clever," Lu Ming said, stepping out, "I'll call someone to guard the mechanism."

After confirming that others could also operate the mechanism, Xiao Yu and the group entered the secret door with torches, finding themselves in a room filled with over twenty chests of gold, silver, and jewels.

"Wow!" Minghe and Danzi's mouths dropped open in awe.

Lu Ming marveled, "The Zheng family is actually this wealthy!"

"It seems our investigation wasn't thorough enough," Pei Yanli observed.

Although Xiao Yu was fond of wealth, he knew there were more important matters at hand, "Let's find the people first."

They looked up to see four identical passages in the room, each only wide enough for one person to pass through.

"Which way should we go?" Lu Ming asked, frowning.

Danzi inquired, "Yeah, which way?"

Minghe frowned in thought.

Lu Ming looked at Pei Yanli and the others, questioning, "Should we split up?"

Xiao Yu and Pei Yanli noticed dust on the gold, silver, and jewels, indicating the secret chamber hadn't been cleaned. The Zheng brothers were not the type to tidy up, so the floor must also be dusty.

Both simultaneously looked at the floor. Apart from their own footprints, two other sets of clear footprints were visible. They followed these footprints to one of the passages.

Seeing the footprints, Lu Ming and the children also realized, "They must have gone through this passage."

"Let's go in," Pei Yanli entered first.

Xiao Yu followed.

Danzi and Minghe came next.

Lu Ming brought up the rear, guarding against any surprises.

The passage, initially wide enough for a person to walk through easily, gradually narrowed, requiring them to bend down and lower their heads to proceed.

Being tall, Pei Yanli found it particularly challenging and consequently slowed down.

Minghe suggested, "Uncle Pei, let me lead the way in front."

"I want to be in front too, Uncle Yan," Danzi said.

"There might be dangers ahead," Pei Yanli explained his position at the front was to prevent any accidents.

"If there's danger, I'll just run back," Minghe said.

"No," Pei Yanli firmly refused, understanding the risks. "It would be too late by then." He continued leading the way.

Minghe and Danzi reluctantly agreed to stay back.

After struggling through the narrow passage, it finally began to widen.

Pei Yanli was relieved to be able to stand upright again.

As they moved forward, a faint light appeared ahead.

Pei Yanli quickly extinguished his torch, whispering, "They're outside the tunnel."

Hearing this, Xiao Yu and the others also extinguished their torches.

Pei Yanli, observing the extent of the light, speculated, "There seem to be only two torches outside, which means it's just the two of them."

"The Zheng brothers?" Lu Ming asked.

"Likely," Pei Yanli confirmed.

"Weren't they supposed to be escaping?" Xiao Yu was puzzled. "Why are they still there? Why not extinguish the torches? Aren’t they afraid of being discovered?"

"The torches might be there to signal someone," Pei Yanli suggested.

Xiao Yu understood, "You mean, they're waiting for someone?"

"Possibly for someone from the Nan Yue Kingdom," Pei Yanli turned back to Xiao Yu and the others, "Stay here, I'll go ahead and take a look."

Xiao Yu and the others nodded in agreement.

Soon, Pei Yanli returned.

Xiao Yu asked, "How did it go?"

"It's them," Pei Yanli confirmed. "They are indeed waiting for someone from the Nan Yue Kingdom."

"Did you see the people from Nan Yue?" Lu Ming asked in surprise.

"Yes, this tunnel leads to the Zhongchuan Dock on the Zitang River. People from Nan Yue are arriving by boat and will soon dock," Pei Yanli said with a slight frown. "I suspect Zheng Weirong and Zheng Weilu realized the Crown Prince was coming, so they came out of the secret door to meet with the Nan Yue people, planning to ambush the Crown Prince from inside and outside."

"Then we need to act quickly!" Lu Ming urged.

"Absolutely," Pei Yanli looked back and said, "Let's set up a trap and catch them all in one go!"

"So, we head back first," Xiao Yu suggested.

"Yes, we need to arrange for people to ambush at the Zhongchuan Dock on the Zitang River as soon as possible," Pei Yanli agreed.

"Uncle Pei, I can run fast, I'll go notify them," Minghe volunteered eagerly.

"But they won't listen to you," Lu Ming pointed out.

"Then I'll take Little Brother with me," Minghe said, grabbing Danzi.

The way back was safer than the journey there, and since the children were small, they could move freely in the tunnel. Pei Yanli nodded, "Go ahead, and be quick."

Xiao Yu double-checked, "Did you both remember everything Uncle Pei said?"

"Got it," the two children lit their small torches and ran back quickly, disappearing in a flash.

Xiao Yu, Pei Yanli, and Lu Ming approached the secret door.

Minghe and Danzi were already waiting at the entrance.

Xiao Yu asked, "How did it go?"

Minghe said, "We've already sent the message."

Danzi pointed to the other three passages, "They are all solid."

Lu Ming asked in surprise, "You've already checked them?"

Minghe and Danzi nodded together, "Yes, we ran really fast. We kept running until there was no more path, so we ran back."

Xiao Yu smiled and gave a thumbs up, "Great job!"

The two children giggled happily.

Lu Ming concluded, "It seems the other three passages are just to mislead people."

Pei Yanli added, "Or perhaps they were never completed."

"Then let's not worry about them. Yanli, you stay here. I'll go to Zhongchuan Dock to keep watch," Lu Ming decided.

"Go ahead," Pei Yanli nodded.

Lu Ming left with a few people.

Pei Yanli positioned some archers in ambush near the study, while he, Xiao Yu, Minghe, and Danzi hid inside the study.

Danzi asked, "Uncle, will they come out from inside later?"

"Yes," Xiao Yu nodded in agreement.

"There are mechanisms inside too, right?" Minghe asked.

"Right," Xiao Yu confirmed.

"I couldn't find where the mechanism was," Minghe said.

"We were lucky to find the external mechanism. I don't expect luck to always be on our side," Xiao Yu said, not hoping for continual fortune.

Suddenly, the wall began to make a rumbling noise.

"They're coming!" Minghe and Danzi said together.

"No more talking now, and no matter what you see, don't speak," Xiao Yu instructed.

Both children nodded vigorously.

The four of them stared intently at the wall.

Soon, Zheng Weilu peeked out, scanned the surroundings, and not noticing anything unusual in the study, cautiously stepped out. Approaching the study's door, he saw imperial soldiers moving around in various parts of the Zheng residence and overheard some saying, "The Crown Prince is interrogating the Zheng family." Believing Pei Yanli and the others to be unaware of his presence and guarding the front courtyard, he smirked and returned to the secret door, gesturing to someone inside.

A group of men in black, armed and moving swiftly yet cautiously, emerged from the secret passage and quickly left the study.

Until Zheng Weirong came out.

Zheng Weilu said, "Xiao Yuanheng and the others are still in the residence."

"Then we'll coordinate inside and out to kill them all!" Zheng Weirong's eyes gleamed venomously.

"I just wonder how Yuanping is doing now," Zheng Weilu expressed his concern.

"Although Green Maiden's plot was exposed, the antidote was real. Given the Emperor's love for his son, he will surely give Yuanping the antidote. As long as Yuanping takes it, he'll be fine."

Zheng Weilu breathed a sigh of relief, "That's good to hear."

"If we eliminate Xiao Yuanheng now, Yuanping still has a chance to ascend the throne, and we can return to the court," Zheng Weilu said, hopeful about the future.

Suddenly, there was a sound like a smashing wine glass, followed by a rain of arrows shooting around the study, striking the men in black. Screams filled the air in an instant.

"What's happening?" Zheng Weilu was horrified.

"Quick, back to the secret passage!" Zheng Weirong ran to the steps near the bookshelf and bent down to tap on the floor tile. Suddenly, a foot stepped on his hand, and he looked up to see Pei Yanli looking down at him with a smile: "Pei, Pei—"

Pei Yanli kicked Zheng Weirong against the wall.

Zheng Weirong spat out a mouthful of blood.

Seeing this, Zheng Weilu ran towards the window.

"Where do you think you're going!" Minghe and Danzi pulled out their small crossbows.

With two "whoosh" sounds, arrows struck both of Zheng Weilu's knees, causing him to cry out in pain and fall to his knees with a thud.

Xiao Yu gave two thumbs up, "Well done!"

The two children were extremely pleased with themselves.

Pei Yanli stepped forward, dragged Zheng Weilu up, and threw him in front of Zheng Weirong.

"Third brother, third brother," Zheng Weirong called out.

"Big brother, I'm fine," Zheng Weilu said, enduring the pain.

"You'll be in trouble soon," Minghe remarked.

Danzi pointed to the men in black outside, "We've captured all of them!"

"So what?" Zheng Weirong, wiping blood from his mouth, remained defiant.

Xiao Yu chuckled, "Are you implying you have a backup plan?"

Leaning against the wall, Zheng Weirong lifted his chin.

"Still waiting for the Nan Yue people, aren't you?" Pei Yanli said.

Zheng Weirong's expression faltered, then he sneered, thinking Pei Yanli only knew about their connection with Nan Yue from Xu Da and was unaware of his recent conspiracy with them, silently waiting for the Nan Yue forces to invade from outside.

Seeing his elder brother so confident, Zheng Weilu also felt reassured.

Suddenly, a thumping sound came from behind the secret door.

"Someone's knocking," Minghe noted.

"I'll open it, I'll open it!" Danzi expertly tapped three times on the floor tile.

The Zheng brothers watched in shock as Danzi opened the door, "How... how do you know about this?"

Danzi tilted his head, "I accidentally sat on it and then figured it out."

"Impossible! Absolutely impossible!" Zheng Weirong shouted.

Zheng Weilu added, "Only my brother and I knew about this mechanism!" They had even killed the craftsman who built it.

"Then it must have been you two who told me about it," Danzi said.

The brothers were so infuriated they almost spat blood.

At that moment, Lu Ming, covered in blood, walked out from the passage.

"Lu Ming!" Xiao Yu exclaimed in shock.

"Don't worry, it's not my blood!" Lu Ming laughed, "We've taken care of the Nan Yue people at the Zhongchuan Dock."

Hearing this, Zheng Weirong actually spat out a mouthful of blood.

"Big brother, big brother!" Zheng Weilu called out repeatedly.

"Uncle Lu, well done," Danzi complimented.

Lu Ming bowed, "Thank you for the praise, Your Highness!"

Danzi turned to ask Pei Yanli, "What do we do next?"

"Take them away and lock them in the Heavenly Prison," Pei Yanli commanded. The Heavenly Prison was for serious criminals in Da Jing, from which there was no escape.

Danzi echoed, "Take them away, lock them in the Heavenly Prison."

"Yes!" soldiers came in to drag the two away.

Zheng Weirong and Zheng Weilu, realizing their defeat, struggled frantically but in vain.

"If they can't be dragged, carry them out," Minghe instructed.

Zheng Weirong, hearing Minghe's voice, abruptly stopped, then turned to Minghe. His face twisted into a mad grin as he said, "Minghe, Minister Ming, do you think you have won now? Let me tell you, your future will be—"

"That won't happen!" Xiao Yu squatted down, wrapping his arms around Minghe's shoulders, smiling at Zheng Weirong, "I'll address you as Vice Minister for the last time. You'll never become the Prime Minister or a Royal Uncle. But our Minghe, his life is different. He hasn't wandered or suffered abuse. His uncle and Yu Tongtong are with him. He's kind-hearted and will assist the emperor in governing the realm. He'll marry Yu Tongtong and become an official beloved by the people, dying a peaceful and natural death."

Others might not understand what Xiao Yu was saying, but Zheng Weirong did. He suddenly realized why, since his rebirth, he faced obstacles in everything he did—it was Xiao Yu.

It was Xiao Yu!

Xiao Yu was the one sabotaging him from behind!

So!

That's why his life after rebirth was even worse than before!

His eyes bulging with fury, Zheng Weirong looked at Xiao Yu and demanded, "Who are you? Who are you really?"

Xiao Yu tilted his head and smiled casually, "Guess."

Minghe echoed, "You guess."

"Pfft!" Zheng Weirong spat out another mouthful of blood.