allendalepharm Chapter 681: Adventure at Night
Chapter 681: Adventure at Night
The eldest son of the Marquis's mansion lives in the second courtyard. This place is outside the fifth courtyard. How could the steward Li Xun, who was looking for his lover, find this place?
Still doubtful, Jiang Youzhen planned to interrogate him later.
"Bring the people guarding the ancestral hall here." Jiang Youzhen ordered.
People were already waiting here. Upon hearing this, a guard brought the old man guarding the ancestral hall over.
"I, Muyou, greet you, my Lord."
He was forced to kneel on the ground. Jiang Youzhen discovered that he had difficulty walking and was a lame man. No wonder he was visiting the ancestral hall here.
"Is there a secret compartment in this ancestral hall? You usually guard the ancestral hall, how often does the prince come here?"
The old man raised his head when he heard that, and Jiang Youzhen realized that he was not an old man at all. He just had gray hair and looked old, but he was actually only in his forties.
"I never leave the ancestral hall on weekdays, but every ten days or so, the prince will let me go back to reunite with my first wife, and he will ask others to watch over me on that day."
"Who is it? Who is your first wife?"
"The servants in the mansion take turns to guard. My first wife is the housekeeper beside Madam Lu, her name is Cuiying."
Jiang Youzhen: ...He's wearing a green hat. She couldn't help but feel sorry for him for three seconds.
"There is no secret compartment in the ancestral hall. I am just a guard to prevent the candlelight from burning down the ancestral hall. It's an easy job. The prince gave me this job out of pity because he saw that I accidentally fell off a horse and became lame."
I’m afraid it wasn’t given by the prince, but by Li Xun, the manager of the outer courtyard, so that he and Cuiying could have an affair frequently.
But this was consistent with what Li Xun said. Jiang Youzhen waved his hand and strode into the ancestral hall.
At this time, the tablets in the ancestral hall were all over the place. It must have been searched and it was clear at a glance that there was no place to hide anything.
Jiang Youzhen glanced around, then turned to Qin Yandong and said, "Can I borrow your sword?"
"What are you doing?" Qin Yandong immediately grasped the hilt of the sword. For a swordsman, it is not easy to lend his sword to others.
"Of course it has magical uses." Jiang Youzhen stretched out his hand and looked at Qin Yandong with anticipation on his face.
Qin Yandong had no choice but to hesitate for a moment before handing the sword in his hand to Jiang Youzhen.
Jiang Youzhen looked around and then actually knocked the ground with her scabbard. Qin Yandong was a little surprised at first, not knowing what she was doing.
But after she struck it several times in a row, Qin Yandong said speechlessly: "My sword was made by a master with all his efforts. You are wasting it."
Jiang Youzhen said without even turning his head: "Whether it is a treasure or an ordinary item, since it exists, it must have value."
"My sword is for killing people." Qin Yandong snorted coldly.
This Jiang Youzhen really behaves in a weird way.
"Can't it do other things? Just like a person's hands, if they can eat, they can also go to the toilet."
Qin Yandong choked. This kid didn't know how to make people angry.
"Humph! Vulgar!"
"People eat grains and cereals, so why should we say that we go to the toilet?"
Jiang Youzhen turned around and rolled his eyes, pretending to be noble and stingy.
The scabbard struck the floor tiles in the ancestral hall, making a dull sound. Jiang Youzhen knocked on it repeatedly, listening to the noise.
"I can't argue with you old scholars. Scholars rely only on their mouths."
Jiang Youzhen's eyes narrowed slightly and asked, "Do you still look down on us literati?"
The entire ancestral hall was not large, and Jiang Youzhen finished knocking in a short time, without any abnormality. She groaned for a moment, then looked at the wall and upwards.
However, the walls of this ancestral hall were painted with white lime, which made it easy to see at a glance, and there was nothing unusual about it.
Qin Yandong was also wandering around, but after a moment, he sighed impatiently.
"Can you do it? If not, let's go back and interrogate Li Yanzheng!"
Then Jiang Youzhen ignored him. It was already dark, so Jiang Youzhen picked up a candlestick and prepared to light it. With a glance, she suddenly realized something was wrong.
The altar tables for offering tablets in the ancestral hall are all built with bricks and fixed with wooden boards on top, making them quite exquisitely made.
The tablets were already tilted, but some were only slightly moved. However, Jiang Youzhen found that the tablet of the eldest grandfather of the direct branch of the Li family in the middle did not seem to move.
She walked towards the tablet and found that the other tablets were somewhat dusty, only this one was clean.
She stretched out her hand to touch it, and heard a breathless report from behind her.
"Your Excellency, someone wanted to kill the witness Li Xun. Fortunately, we discovered him, but he escaped. We are currently searching for him in the mansion."
Qin Yandong snorted coldly, "This place has been tightly sealed off, and they still dared to take action. They are so arrogant."
"Take me there!" Qin Yandong was just about to go and check it out, when he suddenly remembered that Jiang Youzhen was also here, so he turned around and looked at Jiang Youzhen.
"My lord, please go ahead. I will continue." Jiang Youzhen did not move.
Qin Yandong was a little worried, but then he thought, there is no progress here, but there might be an assassin caught over there. If he interrogates the assassin carefully, he will definitely gain something.
"Then I'll send someone to protect you!" He said and blew a whistle.
"Protect this lord." After giving just one order, he left impatiently.
Jiang Youzhen turned around and was about to continue. Suddenly, she felt something unusual behind her. She felt something in her heart and retracted her hand from her sleeve.
Sure enough, the next moment, a long sword was across her neck.
"Turn around!" A hoarse voice came out very sharply.
Jiang Youzhen turned around slowly and saw that the guard Qin Yandong had just ordered had fallen to the ground.
What use are you? Protecting her?
There was an unfamiliar guard standing in front of him. He spoke first, "Jiang Youzhen?"
Huh? If he only looked at the face, Jiang Youzhen was sure he didn't know him, but he was very familiar with his voice.
This person must be an acquaintance. She had wrapped herself completely, leaving only her eyeballs exposed, but she was still able to recognize this person.
"I knew it was you."
Seeing Jiang Youzhen was silent, the guard said excitedly.
"How dare you come here? You don't think your Li family still has a chance to turn things around?" Jiang Youzhen said.
The guard was stunned, then smiled bitterly and said, "I knew I couldn't hide it from you, but how can I know if I can turn things around if I don't try?"
As he spoke, he pulled off the human skin mask on his face, revealing a familiar face, it was Li Dongsheng.
"You are so brave. You were able to sneak in despite the heavy blockade." Jiang Youzhen was not surprised at all. Who else except Li Dongsheng would dare to come to the Marquis' Mansion at this time?
"Also, I want to say that your human skin mask is rather crudely made. The expression on your face is not natural enough and looks very stiff."
Li Dongsheng said unhappily, "I spent a lot of money to buy this human skin mask, but is this the time to discuss this? I need your help with something."
"No help!" Jiang Youzhen shook his head.