Chapter 189: Tunnel
Translator: Atlas Studios Editor: Atlas Studios
The sun rose in the east, and the golden morning sunlight shone on the window paper, illuminating the brush, ink, paper, inkstone, and turtle ornament on the desk.
The fluffy white bird was lying on the snack plate on the table, tilting its head in a rather awkward posture, sleeping like a pig.
Ye Jingtang was wearing his clothes in front of the bronze mirror. He could vaguely hear the words of the good wife and mother disciplining their daughter coming from the main room next door.
“Hurry up and get up. The sun is shining on your butt…”
“Martial Mistress, where’s my undergarment…”
“Shh! Shameless… Your Brother Jingtang is next door…”
“Hehe~”
Although they weren’t really a family of three, this feeling was still very blissful.
But when Ye Jingtang thought about how this happiness should belong to the Pacifying Heaven Cult Master, he felt even more pressured.
When he returned the night before yesterday, he didn’t visit Third Lady, who had yet to recover from her injuries, because he had a lot of things to do yesterday.
After Ye Jingtang got dressed, he bade farewell to Heroine Luo and led his horse out of the courtyard. He wanted to go to Heavenly Water Bridge to take a look before investigating the matter of the Prince of Wu’s heir.
But as soon as he carried the bird out of Dye Workshop Street, he saw a fast horse galloping over, and sitting on it was a constable of the Black Office. The constable shouted from afar, “Young Master Ye.”
Ye Jingtang rode his horse to the front and asked, “Is Her Highness looking for me?”
The Black Office constable cupped his hands and bowed. “Just now, Her Highness sent a message asking you to go to the Longevity Palace immediately. Her Highness didn’t explain anything.”
Ye Jingtang was a little puzzled, but since Dumdum had summoned him, he couldn’t reject it. He could only ask the bird to go to the Pei residence to help him report his safety while he flew to the Imperial City.
Because it wasn’t his first time entering the palace, he was familiar with the way. He stopped the horse outside the Imperial City, showed his token, and entered. He passed through the corridors of the palaces and pavilions and arrived at the Longevity Palace near the imperial garden.
There were relatively few people in the Longevity Palace. Hongyu was waiting outside the palace door. When she saw Ye Jingtang walking over, she hurriedly went forward. “Young Master Ye, you are finally here.”
Ye Jingtang walked to her and sized her up for a moment. He saw some mud on the palace maid’s skirt and asked, “What happened?”
Hongyu led Ye Jingtang into the palace and explained along the way, “Yesterday, when Her Highness and Her Majesty were bathing, they found a book that contained many secrets of the palace. Her Majesty searched for half the night…”
When Ye Jingtang heard this, he guessed that Dumdum must have discovered The Secret History of the Romantic Empress. But judging from the situation, Dumdum wasn’t angry, so he didn’t feel guilty. He followed Hongyu around and arrived at the bedchamber of the Longevity Palace.
Outside the originally clean and tidy bedchamber, there was a pile of soil and gravel. In a room in the side hall, a few palace maids were standing and digging with hoes. There was already a big pit in the ground.
The tall and dignified Dongfang Liren was standing under the eaves of the room, holding a book in her hand and studying it intently.
The plump and fair empress dowager was wearing casual clothes, looking at the big pit in the room with great interest.
After looking at them a few times, Ye Jingtang walked over to Dongfang Liren and cupped his hands. “Your Highness?”
Dongfang Liren quickly closed the book, turned around, and raised her hand to signal. “Ye Jingtang, is this the book you used to learn how to investigate cases?”
Ye Jingtang nodded honestly. “That’s right. The buildings in the capital are described in great detail. Your Highness must have seen it too.”
Dongfang Liren felt that the matters between men and women were written in more detail, but it had indeed been quite interesting to accompany the empress dowager to look for old relics last night, so she didn’t say anything. She turned her head and gestured to the room where the palace maids were digging. “Many of the things written in the book are quite accurate. It even said there’s a tunnel below that leads to the noble heir’s residence of the previous dynasty. However, there’s no record of this in the palace. Do you think it’s true?”
Ye Jingtang had read The Secret History of the Romantic Empress and knew that it was a tunnel used by the empress dowager to have an affair. He thought for a moment and said, “The heir’s residence in the book is near Literary Virtue Bridge. There’s too much work required to dig from here. I feel that it’s not realistic.”
The empress dowager turned around when she heard the conversation and realized that Ye Jingtang had arrived. She put on the dignified and majestic bearing of an empress dowager and slowly walked over. “1 don’t think this matter is fabricated. Yesterday in the phoenix pool…”
“Empress Dowager!” Dongfang Liren was afraid that the empress dowager would tell him about the ‘mother-daughter pose’ last night, so she hurriedly went forward and supported her like a filial daughter. “There’s a lot of dust here. Go back to your bedchamber and rest first. When the digging is done, I’ll get someone to invite you over.”
The empress dowager naturally refused to leave. “The palace can suffocate people to death. I’ll just watch here without getting in the way. If you want to talk to Ye Jingtang, just say it. I won’t disturb you.”
Dongfang Liren’s gaze was a little strange when she heard the empress dowager’s words, but she couldn’t explain it. She looked at Ye Jingtang. “I asked you to come over and help. Don’t just watch.”
Ye Jingtang smiled and didn’t say anything else. He entered the room, asked the few pitiful palace maids to retreat, jumped into the pit that was half a person deep, and stepped on it with his feet. Then he pulled out the Hornless Dragon Saber, inserted it into the soil, and pressed it down with his palm.
Swish!
It was as if the blade of the saber was being inserted into sand inch by inch. It only stopped when only the hilt was showing.
Ye Jingtang sensed carefully. “There’s a stone slab below. There really must be something here.”
While speaking, he grabbed a shovel and threw away the compacted soil, quickly revealing a limestone slab.
The empress dowager was very curious. She stuck her head out over the pit. “Is that the tunnel down there?”
Ye Jingtang squatted down and knocked on the stone slab with his hand, making a thumping sound. He nodded and said, “The stone slab is about three inches thick, and it’s empty underneath. It should be the tunnel.”
Dongfang Liren entered the room and frowned. “There’s a secret passage in the palace. This isn’t a small matter. Open it and see if it’s sealed.”
Hearing this, Ye Jingtang threw the shovel into the room and waved his hand.
“Stand back.”
Dongfang Liren was slightly puzzled as she left the room. “What are you doing?”
Ye Jingtang felt that this stone slab was quite big, but he didn’t have time to dig slowly. He stood in the pit and took a deep breath. Then he raised his palm and suddenly slapped the stone slab.
Boom!
Crack!
Lightning-like cracks appeared on the stone slab under his feet.
The empress dowager felt her feet go numb from vibrating. She hurriedly retreated and hid behind Dongfang Liren.
Dongfang Liren widened her eyes and reminded, “Be careful of hurting your hand.”
Ye Jingtang only used palm strikes because he was afraid of hurting his hand. He immediately circulated his qi again and slapped three consecutive times.
Bam! Bam!
Boom!
When the last palm strike landed, the stone slab shattered into pieces and collapsed with the broken soil.
Ye Jingtang quickly jumped up and landed steadily outside the pit.
Whoosh!
When the dust in the room settled, a five-foot-square hole appeared in the middle of the room. With the light from outside, they could see the stone wall below.
When the empress dowager saw this, she wanted to go in and take a look, but Dongfang Liren was afraid that there was a trap, so she held her back.
Ye Jingtang waited for a moment and didn’t see anything unusual. Then he carried his saber to the entrance of the tunnel and looked inside. He could see that this was the end of the tunnel, and on the other side was a staircase leading down. It was pitch-black, and he didn’t know where it led. “This tunnel doesn’t look blocked. It just had the entrance sealed.”
As Ye Jingtang spoke, he took out a flame stick from his waist. After blowing on it, he threw it into the depths of the tunnel.
Tap, tap, tap…
After the flame stick rolled down the stairs, it rolled deeper. Even when it stopped, the fire was still lit. “It looks like there are air vents. I shouldn’t suffocate to death if I go in.”
When Dongfang Liren heard this, she was slightly surprised. She walked over to take a look. “You’ve been in a tomb before?”
“Hmm?” Ye Jingtang looked up, confused.
Dongfang Liren explained, “The Black Office caught a few tomb raiders.
Throwing flame sticks into tunnels is a habit of tomb raiders.”
Ye Jingtang shook his head slightly while looking at the tunnel that might not have been opened for 200 years and asked, “Should I seal it directly or go in and take a look?”
Dongfang Liren definitely had to seal the tunnel. Otherwise, it would be troublesome if the empress dowager suddenly had a whim one day and sneaked out to play.
But before sealing it, she still wanted to see where the tunnel led. “Bring me down to have a look.”
Ye Jingtang carefully examined the underground structure. After confirming that it was just a simple underground passage, he jumped in.
Dongfang Liren asked a palace maid to bring two lanterns and jumped in as well.
When the empress dowager saw this scene, she was a little unhappy. She went to the tunnel entrance and lowered her head. “You’re just going to leave me here?”
Dongfang Liren knew that the empress dowager was bored and curious. She checked the tunnel left and right and didn’t find anything unusual, so she flew up, hugged the empress dowager’s waist, and jumped into the tunnel.
Seeing this, Hongyu also wanted to jump down, but the empress dowager said solemnly, “Stay here obediently. If the tunnel collapses, call people to dig me out as soon as possible.”
“Oh.” Hongyu shrank back resentfully.
For safety reasons, Ye Jingtang didn’t let the two of them follow behind. He raised his hand to signal. “I’ll walk in front and scout the way. After confirming that there’s no problem, Your Highness and Your Majesty will follow. If anything happens, retreat. Don’t worry about me.”
Dongfang Liren handed a lantern to Ye Jingtang.. Then she held the other lantern, protected the empress dowager, and followed behind while keeping a distance…
