Chapter 78: The Bedchamber’s Hidden Secret
As he spoke, he was about to lift the empty wine pot.
The line was “Let not the golden cup be empty under the moon,” and Yuan Xizai’s desk happened to be in the path of the slanting moonlight.
Wei Wanlan figured that if he lifted the pot now and filled the empty cup with wine, wouldn’t that perfectly fulfill the conditions described in the poem?
As he was thinking this, his fair hand had already gently rested on the wine pot. But just as his fingers closed around the handle, another hand covered his.
Wei Wanlan’s brow furrowed.
It was Fu Jun who had intervened, stopping him from lifting the white jade wine pot from the desk.
A look of confusion crossed Wei Wanlan’s face. His hand was held by Fu Jun’s, the pot barely lifted.
Holding this position, Fu Jun said, “This is Yuan Xizai’s bedchamber.”
The statement was so abrupt and out of context that it only deepened Wei Wanlan’s confusion. Of course he knew this was Yuan Xizai’s bedchamber. But he was sure he had solved the poetic riddle Yuan Xizai had left on the desk; opening the secret entrance shouldn’t be a problem.
Just then, Xiao Ji used the moonlight slanting in from the window. He leaned down, closed one eye, and carefully inspected the bottom of the cup.
A moment later, Xiao Ji straightened up. His handsome, jade-like face was now paler than before, as if he had discovered something that made his blood run cold.
He cupped his hands in a salute, his brow slightly knitted. “Young Master, there is a tiny copper needle at the bottom of this cup.”
Wei Wanlan was first bewildered, then his expression slowly froze.
A copper needle in the cup—if he had just picked up the wine pot and filled the cup, the flow of wine would have disturbed that needle, likely triggering some deadly mechanism. The consequences would have been unimaginable.
It was only then that he belatedly understood why Fu Jun had reminded him that this was Yuan Xizai’s bedchamber.
Yuan Xizai himself was the master of this place. If he wanted someone to enter his secret sanctuary, he could just tell them directly. Why would he leave a poem as a clue for outsiders to find a secret base he didn’t want anyone to know about?
Everything suddenly became clear.
The poem was a smokescreen, deliberately designed to mislead any hot-headed intruders who managed to reach his bedchamber. It made them think that pouring wine into the cup was the key, when in reality, it was a fatal trap for uninvited guests.
Thank goodness there were three of them at the Luoyang Governor’s Office tonight. Among three people, there is always one who can be my teacher. Fu Jun was incredible. The great hero was a godsend.
A wave of fear washed over Wei Wanlan. His hand was cold, and he only now realized he was still gripping the pot’s handle, and Fu Jun was still holding his hand.
Wei Wanlan’s face flushed red.
Their bodies were almost touching. In the unlit bedchamber, he could feel Fu Jun’s undeniable woody scent invading his senses, and the hand that had almost caused disaster was being held firmly, as if Fu Jun was afraid he would do something foolish. The rough feeling of calluses against his skin sent a prickly, itching heat through him, making his eyes burn.
Fu Jun hadn’t said a word, but his calm, cold voice echoed chaotically in Wei Wanlan’s mind:
Five per litter, five per litter, here they have five per litter T_T…
The great hero was so powerful; if he said it was five per litter, it must be five per litter.
He was about to die from his own overheating thoughts.
His hand was released.
Wei Wanlan, dazed and flustered, remained where he was.
Fu Jun, however, was completely unfazed. He crouched down to inspect the underside of the wooden desk, just as he had with the carved bed, searching for any hidden cracks or mechanisms. This method of searching for a passage, a kind of reverse thinking different from the escape rooms modern people played, was practical and felt new to Wei Wanlan.
Fu Jun knocked on a table leg. “There’s something hidden in the base of this table.”
Wei Wanlan heard the hollow echo from the wood. One of the table legs was hollow. He followed the leg up to the tabletop and found that the hollow space connected to the bronze cup.
He gently twisted the cup and found that it could be turned. He applied a little more force.
The cup rotated.
A suspense film was unfolding right before his eyes. Wei Wanlan held his breath.
Some unknown mechanism was triggered, causing a section of an otherwise unremarkable wall in the bedchamber to grind open, revealing a gap.
The secret passage was found! Of course they had to go in, and quickly!
The three of them made sure they hadn’t left any traces in Yuan Xizai’s bedchamber. Fu Jun drew his sword and entered first. Wei Wanlan, afraid, followed closely behind him in the middle. Xiao Ji entered last, but before he did, he turned back and placed a dark, inconspicuous inkstick in the crack of the wall.
“Fine Huizhou ink. It’s definitely hard enough,” Xiao Ji said.
“Is this in case it’s a dead end and the door closes, to give us a sliver of hope?” Wei Wanlan asked.
“The Young Master is brilliant.”
“Not at all, not at all. It’s the Valiant Warrior who is so thorough!”
Wei Wanlan and Xiao Ji exchanged compliments, but Xiao Ji seemed far more enthusiastic than he was. Buoyed by the praise, he responded ceaselessly, “Young Master, I also have a protective amulet from the Temple of Confucius and a top-grade fortune slip from the Master’s temple. If you’re feeling uneasy, I can put one on you.”
The court scholar, who seemed to have a whole stationery shop hidden in his sleeves, once again shocked Wei Wanlan with his practical preparedness.
Wei Wanlan was just about to nod.
Xiao Ji, of course, took the opportunity and was about to place the amulet on Wei Wanlan. But just as his hand reached for the spot on Wei Wanlan’s waist where a sachet would hang, a sharp clang of a sword echoed through the secret passage.
The sword’s energy was so fierce it felt as if it could split the entire tunnel, causing dust and grit to rain down from the ceiling.
Xiao Ji’s attempt to adorn Wei Wanlan turned into a frantic effort to pat the dust off his own clothes, leaving him looking quite disheveled.
No one knew how he had managed to provoke the martial artist Fu Jun. Fu Jun’s taunt was dripping with sarcasm. “Save it for the pretty boy to wear. If Yuan Xizai really catches him, I wish him the best of luck in the imperial examinations.”
Wei Wanlan: “…”
His little dragon brain numbly thought: Perhaps Fu Jun thinks we should rely on his skills to get through this, not on external aids.
Xiao Ji gasped, his anger flaring.
The tunnel was extremely long. They had no tinderbox, and the walk was tedious. But the further they went, the more at ease they felt. Yuan Xizai would not have built such a long dead end. If there were traps, they would have been triggered by now. If he had a secret base, it had to be at the end of this tunnel.
Whoosh… whoosh…
Suddenly, there was the sound of wind, mixed in with the monotonous rhythm of their footsteps.
The moment he heard the wind, Wei Wanlan’s heart quickened. He had a feeling they were about to escape this dark, oppressive environment, and a sense of excitement and joy began to bubble up inside him.
He could already see the end of the tunnel. There was a sliver of light ahead.
Standing behind Fu Jun, Wei Wanlan caught a glimpse of the light from the side and excitedly waved his dragon claws, pointing forward.
Fu Jun quickened his pace, and all three of them sped up.
The light grew closer.
A door blocked their path. Unsure of what was outside, they didn’t dare open it rashly, even though it wasn’t locked. But they couldn’t just stand there either.
Wei Wanlan decided to open a small crack first. He listened for a moment. Nothing.
He gradually widened the crack to about two inches. His dragon claws pulled the door gently, very carefully.
It was still deep night outside, but a faint flickering light shone in. As the light cast itself on the tunnel floor, Wei Wanlan looked down, his doe-like eyes reflecting countless bright, sparkling points of light. What kind of lamp is that?
It seemed no one had noticed them. He decided to take a look outside.
The door swung open—
Before them was a room carpeted in red velvet. In that same instant, countless more points of light shone down on them!
The light came from the walls. In this small room, every wall seemed to shimmer. A closer look revealed that the walls were embedded with tiny particles of different colors, twinkling and changing like a thousand, ten thousand stars, infinitely brilliant.
If he didn’t know for certain that this was a political intrigue novel and not some kind of fantasy epic, Wei Wanlan would have thought they had passed through the tunnel and arrived in the celestial realm, not the mortal world.
But… where was this place, and how was it done? How could the walls be made so magnificent?
Wei Wanlan, of course, didn’t understand. But for things he didn’t know, as long as they were within the scope of this world of political intrigue, there was always someone who could.
Xiao Ji had the answer: “Hundred Treasures Powder.”
Hundred Treasures Powder?
Wei Wanlan’s slender, fair fingers gently touched the slightly rough surface of the wall. His translucent fingernails were instantly colored by the shifting light. His doe-like eyes sparkled, as if filled with stars.
He touched the wall and said, “It’s so beautiful.”
Xiao Ji stared at Wei Wanlan for a moment, mesmerized. Then, as expected, the court scholar continued his explanation.
“In his final days, the late Emperor planned to renovate the Hall of Purple Empyrean. The design blueprints were personally handed over to the Minister of Works by the late Emperor himself. They described a type of coating called ‘Hundred Treasures Powder.’ It’s made by grinding various gemstones into a fine powder and mixing it with a special lacquer…”
Wei Wanlan’s dragon claws paused. His fingertips rested on a shard of gemstone, and he stared at it. “Are you saying these walls are covered in gemstones? They used gemstones to plaster the walls? Is this the Hall of Purple Empyrean?”
“No, the renovation plan for the Hall of Purple Empyrean was ultimately shelved,” Xiao Ji said. “At the time the late Emperor proposed this idea, he was already gravely ill. But he was unrestrained and continued to travel between various imperial villas, feasting and making merry. So, before the plan could be truly implemented, the late Emperor passed away.”
After that, the Prince of Lin’an ascended the throne, and the Regent took power. The Hall of Purple Empyrean was never rebuilt.
“So this place must be…”
Wei Wanlan thought for a moment, trying to find the right words.
He pushed open the door of the reception room—
Outside, under the moonlight, lay a vast expanse of palaces and pavilions of varying heights. Glazed tile roofs, walls of a hundred treasures, a gentle spring breeze, and gauze palace lanterns swaying along the walls.
Palace maids and servants moved in an endless stream, and the soft music of silk and bamboo instruments filled the long night.
Even the imperial palace in Chang’an was not this magnificent and extravagant. It was like a dream, both real and illusory.
This place was decorated according to the late Emperor’s blueprints—a renovated Great Wei palace!
Wei Wanlan’s mouth hung open, but no words came out. On one hand, he was a modern person. Even though he had lived a privileged life in the modern world, plastering walls with gemstones was something he couldn’t fathom; his aesthetic sense wouldn’t allow it. What shocked him even more was how this great corrupt official had managed to break ground and build such a den of pleasure for himself without being discovered by the people of Luoyang.
“Three honored guests.”
Someone was there.
“Greetings to the honored guests. You must be the guests invited by the Master, are you not?”
Wei Wanlan turned towards the source of the voice. The speaker was a eunuch dressed in the dark blue attire of an inner court official, like Eunuch An, wearing a tall, pointed hat. His voice was high and thin, and it held a certain detached leisureliness, as if he had been isolated from the world for a long time.
This place was noble and elegant, and Wei Wanlan didn’t like to resort to force and interrogation right away. He thought for a moment and said, “Yes.”
The eunuch became even more deferential, his face beaming like a spring breeze.
The eunuch clearly didn’t know the truth. Wei Wanlan naturally played along, hoping it would get them one step closer to the ledgers they were after.
“The usual place. The Master has arranged to meet us in the study.”
If this place was truly a high-fidelity replica of the Chang’an palace… then Yuan Xizai, being merely an outer court official, would have no residence in the imperial palace. He would surely use the study of the Hall of Purple Empyrean—the very same one where the big bad guy often tutored him!
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Dear translator, can I ask when our little emperror get pregnant? I can’t wait hahahah
Lol. hahahaha.