Chinese valentine’s day special~
The exit was at a rockery. Su Cen carefully emerged only after confirming multiple times that no one was around. With small bridges over flowing water, red flowers and green willows, this place should be located in the north of the big mansion and appeared to be a back garden.
Su Cen dared not linger, knowing that the reason no one was lying in ambush here was simply because the people inside hadn’t realized he had exited the game, and they hadn’t had time to position anyone yet. This was why he had insisted on taking the longer, roundabout route. The previous exit would certainly have been surrounded, and if he had taken that route, though he might have escaped the chess game, he wouldn’t have been able to enter the big mansion.
The further Su Cen walked, the more shocked he became. The pavilions, towers, and ornate beams and painted rafters were all in an imperial palace style, resembling a miniature imperial garden. Hearing voices, Su Cen quickly hid behind a tree, and soon saw a group of people dressed as palace maids and eunuchs hurrying past.
If someone said the Secret Door had no intention of rebellion, he wouldn’t believe it even if they killed him.
It was still bright daylight, and boldly walking around like this was not a good approach. Su Cen found a room that looked like a storage area and hid inside, planning to come out and explore after dark.
Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, this long-unused storage room suddenly had groups of people coming in, taking away brooms and dustpans.
It seemed like some important person was coming, or rather, returning.
Su Cen hid in the shadows. Though he wasn’t likely to be discovered, there was still a risk. As he was thinking of a way to escape, the door opened and another person entered.
The newcomer was dressed as a eunuch, not very large in stature, and similar in height to Su Cen. More importantly, he was alone.
That person was lowering his head, torn between choosing a broom or a dustpan, when he suddenly heard a rustling sound behind him. Just as he was about to turn around, a wooden stick as thick as a wrist struck the back of his head. Everything went black, and he instantly lost consciousness.
“My apologies,” Su Cen threw down the wooden stick and quickly stripped the eunuch of his clothes. Before finishing, he glanced at the person’s lower body and found that he was indeed a real eunuch.
As he changed clothes, Su Cen thought to himself: “The master of this big mansion really has unusual tastes. Unable to successfully rebel, he built his own palace in this remote place. The Secret Door’s eight gates correspond to the six ministries of the court, and the villagers of Lu Family Village are like his subjects. Unable to be a real emperor, he’s satisfying himself by being a local tyrant.”
Su Cen quickly donned the eunuch’s clothes, tied the person up, and hid him in a pile of brooms. Just as he finished, the door was pushed open. A person in black scanned the room, and finally his gaze fell on Su Cen. “Have you seen any outsiders break in?”
Su Cen thought that these people had finally realized what was happening. He lowered his head and shook it.
The man in black scanned the room again, and finding nothing, turned to leave.
Su Cen had just let out a sigh of relief when he saw the man in black turn back and scold him: “Don’t hide here and slack off. Hurry up and clean. Don’t you know the Gate Master is coming back?”
The Gate Master? Is that Master Lu? Has he not been in Lu Family Village these days? Su Cen wondered to himself, but his hands moved efficiently as he grabbed a broom and hurriedly slipped away.
The old man waited until he confirmed that Su Cen had entered the big mansion before turning to leave. Walking with his hands behind his back on a narrow winding path, he smiled halfway through and softly sighed: “The young man is teachable.”
“Hold one’s heart like a balance, with reason as the fulcrum, punish the wicked in the world, and restore peace to the prosperous age…” It had been many years since he had heard someone speak such words. He never expected that after so many years, they would come from the mouth of a young lad.
Indeed, the people of his time had grown old or passed away. Each generation brings forth its own talents, and now they must rely on these young people.
The old man looked back at the village, as silent and deathlike as ever, thinking that perhaps this stagnant pond might unexpectedly create some ripples.
After returning home, the old man lit the stove and cooked as usual. When the food was ready, he hummed a tune as he peeled a salted duck egg in the setting sun, fed the egg white to his chickens, and was about to place the oily egg yolk in his bowl when his hand trembled unexpectedly, dropping it to the ground.
The old man clicked his tongue in distress, and was about to pick it up when he heard the bowls on the table inexplicably clatter.
Then, the entire courtyard began to shake.
The chickens and ducks in the yard were in chaos, the table was shaking, the fence was shaking, as if thousands of troops were passing through, yet not a single person was visible.
A moment later, everything returned to calm.
The old man suddenly stood up, gazing at the high wall erected in the center of the village not far away, thinking: “This is bad…”
At this time, the lights had just been lit in the big mansion, making it magnificent and bright as day. The two solid doors that had always been closed were flung open. Everyone in the mansion, regardless of rank, was standing at the bottom of the stone steps outside the door, led by the man in white, followed by several rows of people in black, and behind them were those dressed as eunuchs and palace maids.
With everyone gathered here, presumably to welcome the so-called Gate Master, the entire mansion was now empty. Su Cen naturally wouldn’t miss this opportunity, and using some random excuse, he quietly slipped back into the mansion.
All the buildings in this mansion were modeled after the imperial palace style. Since Qu Ling’er had never been to the imperial palace and didn’t recognize the palace buildings, he had said that day that this mansion resembled Xingqing Palace. In fact, it wasn’t modeled after Xingqing Palace but after the entire Taiji Palace in the Imperial City.
Taiji Palace was originally the Daxing Palace of the previous dynasty. After the founding emperor overthrew the tyranny of the previous dynasty and entered Daxing Palace, he renamed it Taiji Palace, also known as the Imperial Inner City. Later, Yu Wenkai invoked the “Six Lines” theory and calculated that Dragon Head Mountain behind Taiji Palace was a dragon vein that could bless Great Zhou with prosperity for ten thousand generations. The founding emperor subsequently built today’s Daming Palace there. Taiji Palace was thus emptied and converted into the Eastern Palace where the crown prince resided.
These people built this mansion in imitation of Taiji Palace. Could they be remnants of the previous dynasty?
However, this made it convenient for Su Cen to investigate. There was no need to look at easily recognizable places like the Yeting Palace or the Imperial Workshop; rather, the Treasury used for storage was worth checking out.
With no one around, Su Cen easily slipped into the Treasury, and after seeing the arrangements inside, he couldn’t help but frown.
All sorts of rare treasures were arranged in rows—flawless white jade, lustrous pearls and gemstones filled the room everywhere, dazzling to the eye. Who knows how many places like Yangzhou and Xuzhou they had plundered to gather this roomful of treasures.
Back when they were in Yangzhou, He Xiao was a member of the Secret Door. A large portion of the enormous profits from salt trade obtained through collusion with government officials went into the Secret Door’s pockets. No wonder the Secret Door was humiliated and angry, wanting to capture him when he shut down He Xiao’s salt shop in Yangzhou. Anyone would be upset when their money purse is poked.
Further inside were several large boxes that still had government seals attached, labeled “Sealed by the Ministry of Revenue Office, Tenth Month of the Third Year of Yuanshun.”
The 600,000 taels that went missing from Xuzhou had indeed ended up here.
Leaving the Treasury, Su Cen let out a long breath. Seeing no movement outside the door, he hesitated for a moment before heading toward the sleeping palace.
Amid the thin mists, the quiet street suddenly came alive with the sound of hooves and neighing horses. The ground trembled slightly, yet no figures were visible on the ground. In the blink of an eye, a procession of horses and riders suddenly appeared, as if emerging from the ground itself. The entire procession was dressed in black robes, like ghost officials returning from the underworld.
At the front, a person on a black horse led the way. Under the black hood, a pair of eagle-sharp eyes shone, accompanied by swirling dust as they rode through the evening. As they approached, the rider pulled tight on the reins, and as the black horse let out a long neigh, the person dismounted.
The man in white led everyone to kneel in welcome, calling out in unison: “Gate Master!”
The person called Gate Master removed their hood, which the man in white immediately rose to receive before following closely behind them through the door.
The servants followed suit, and as the two large doors closed, they locked the dusty night outside.
“The Young Master hasn’t returned?” the man in white asked from behind.
That person shook their head, “Someone leaked information, and they had an ambush ready. We lost quite a few men.”
“Leaked information?” the man in white exclaimed in shock, “There’s a traitor among us?”
“Have the Rest (Xiu) Gate Master come see me,” the person said, “Either bringing the traitor with him, or bringing his own head.”
The man in white was solemn and acknowledged the order.
That person asked again, “Has there been any activity in the village recently?”
The man in white: “Two people who claimed to be traveling doctors came in. They were originally heading to Liu Pu, but went in the wrong direction and came here. Also…”
The man in white’s voice gradually lowered. The person stopped and looked over. The man in white felt a chill in his heart and said quietly, “A rat has entered the mansion…”
“How did they get in?”
The man in white almost wanted to kneel to the ground, “Through the underground chess game, transforming into an eagle and entering the water.”
“You were guarding the formation?”
“…Yes.”
“How many teams did you send out?”
“…Six teams.”
“And the other side?”
“…One, one team.”
There was a moment of silence, with a deathly stillness all around. The man in white’s legs grew weak, his knees trembling. Just as he was about to kneel and beg for forgiveness, he heard a light chuckle.
“This gets more and more interesting.”
Su Cen felt that there must be some mechanism in the big mansion that controlled the underground passages; otherwise, they wouldn’t have reacted so quickly when he entered the chess game.
But after searching along the way, he found nothing.
The sleeping palace wasn’t as excessively luxurious as the Treasury. A wide rosewood kylin-patterned arhat bed, a huanghuali wood carved dragon screen, plus a desk and bookshelf – visible at a glance, it was simple yet imposing. Su Cen tapped around the walls, confirming there were no secret doors or mechanisms before preparing to leave. Just as he reached the main hall, he suddenly heard voices from outside!
There was nowhere to hide!
A hand was already on the door. In his panic, Su Cen sidled behind the door.
Two people entered, followed by a team of eunuchs.
After entering, the two continued talking. Su Cen saw that no one had noticed the situation behind the door. Once everyone was inside, he took advantage of the eunuchs dispersing to serve tea and water, stepping out quickly but then moving unhurriedly at the end of the eunuch procession, taking the teapot passed in from outside and stepping forward to pour tea.
The man in white had seen him before and could recognize his face, so Su Cen could only keep his head down as much as possible to avoid being recognized.
Fortunately, the man in white’s mind wasn’t on him. He respectfully stood and replied, “This time we lost Uncle Cao in Xuzhou, and also lost the Young Master. Uncle Cao knows quite a bit about our affairs. Will he inform on us? Should we mobilize our people in Chang’an to rescue the Young Master first, and then take care of Uncle Cao as well?”
“No need to hurry,” the seated person leisurely picked up a teacup, using the lid to brush aside the tea foam. “Since this attack failed, Li Shi will certainly have increased his guard. Charging in now would be like moths flying into a flame, which would only benefit that Li Shi fellow.”
Su Cen stood waiting nearby with the teapot, slightly frowning. The Prince was attacked?
The man in white said quietly, “Can we now use that chess piece…”
Before he could finish, a glance cut him off. The man in white immediately understood and said to the servants attending nearby, “You may all leave first.”
The eunuchs all cupped their hands and withdrew, with Su Cen following at the end, discreetly breathing a sigh of relief.
Just as he reached the doorway, he heard someone behind him say, “Since Lord Su has come, why the hurry to leave?”
(advanced chapters available on kofi)
![Flying Dust [Fei Chen]](https://www.freenovels.net/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/9k.png "Flying Dust [Fei Chen]")
