The secret passage

Mo Yu had just returned with the findings on the house's owner when Xiao Jinyi sent him to the medical clinic to look for an injured, portly middle-aged man accompanied by a servant.

Seeing Mo Yu, who wore the same stiff expression as his master, suddenly widen his eyes at Xiao Jinyi's instructions, Shen Shixu could not help laughing.

Xiao Jinyi stared at Shen Shixu, whose eyes narrowed with laughter and whose smile revealed a small dimple at the right corner of his mouth. For a moment, he could not look away.

When Shen Shixu smiled, he was like a flower blooming in spring, radiant and full of life. Simply looking at him gave one a sense of hope.

Shen Shixu laughed for a while before composing himself. He and Xiao Jinyi returned to the house and looked around.

Once he saw that no one was nearby, Shen Shixu raised his eyebrows at Xiao Jinyi. "Your Highness, shall we go inside and take a look?"

Looking at his furtive manner, Xiao Jinyi understood that by going inside, he probably meant climbing over the wall rather than walking through the front gate.

But that was exactly what he wanted to do as well. He reached out and caught Shen Shixu by the shoulder, then pushed lightly off the ground and leaped upward. Halfway up, he pressed his toes against the wall for another boost, then landed steadily on the other side with Shen Shixu in his grasp.

Shen Shixu only felt the scenery blur before his eyes, then blur again. When he could see clearly once more, he was already inside the residence.

From outside, it might have looked like an abandoned residence, but the grounds within were exquisitely arranged. There was a rockery with flowing water, a small, tranquil bamboo grove, and unusual stones. Fish still swam merrily in the water.

The pebble paths were spotless, without a single weed. There were no cobwebs in the corners of the buildings, and not even fallen leaves on the ground, as though someone cleaned the place every day.

Yet the households they had questioned said no one ever came here. That meant the residence held a secret. There was probably a hidden passage somewhere.

Shen Shixu and Xiao Jinyi split up to search. Shen Shixu took the row of rooms on the left, while Xiao Jinyi took those on the right.

The rooms on the left stood one after another and looked like servants' quarters. They were not very large, but the beds were hung with pink, purple, or pale red gauze curtains. Each room also had a dressing table bearing rouge and face powder, all of which had been opened and used.

The rooms Xiao Jinyi searched on the right were somewhat larger than those on Shen Shixu's side. Aside from sharing the same furnishings as the rooms on the left, they also had bathing tubs, screens, and cushioned couches for resting.

Apart from these things, they found no entrance to a hidden passage in any of the rooms. Both emerged from their respective areas empty-handed.

Shen Shixu had dust on his clothes. Thinking the entrance might be beneath a bed, he had crawled underneath to look, only to find nothing and get himself covered in dust instead.

Shen Shixu brushed the dust off his clothes. From Xiao Jinyi's stern expression, he could tell that the other man had found nothing either.

"This is really strange. Someone's been using the rouge and face powder in those rooms, but there isn't a soul in this house. We haven't even found the entrance to a hidden passage.

"I even crawled under the beds to look and found nothing. If those cosmetics hadn't clearly been used, I'd be wondering whether I'd guessed wrong."

Shen Shixu was so puzzled that he forgot to refer to himself as a subject before Xiao Jinyi. Fortunately, Xiao Jinyi did not mind.

Shen Shixu himself realized his mistake, however, and hastily bowed to beg forgiveness. "My apologies, Your Highness. Your subject has been disrespectful. Please forgive me."

Watching him bend at the waist in a bow, Xiao Jinyi found the sight decidedly displeasing. Shen Shixu had seemed far more alive just moments ago, when he was freely grumbling to him.

He reached out and helped Shen Shixu straighten. Looking at Shen Shixu, who had retreated into the shell of a dutiful subject, he spoke with a trace of hope in his voice. "You needn't stand on such ceremony with me. I have very few friends. Aside from my eldest brother, there are hardly any people I can talk to.

"I think you're a good person, and very capable. I'd like to be your friend. Would that be all right?"

Xiao Jinyi was entirely sincere, dispensing with his royal form of address this time. Shen Shixu, after all, had received a twenty-first-century education, in a world that valued equality for all.

After coming to Great Qian, he had constantly reminded himself that this was a feudal society, but deep down, he was still the same Shen Shixu he had always been.

So he readily accepted Xiao Jinyi's offer of friendship. "Since you've put it that way, Your Highness, I won't stand on ceremony."

Seeing Shen Shixu come alive again, the corners of Xiao Jinyi's mouth lifted slightly, then quickly flattened before Shen Shixu could notice.

Shen Shixu looked at the dust on his hands and wanted to wash it off. He walked to the pond, crouched down, and scooped up some water to wash them.

The rockery stood right beside the pond. After washing his hands, Shen Shixu took out the handkerchief he carried with him. As he dried his hands, he suddenly noticed something odd about the rockery.

He had not noticed it while washing his hands, but after spending a little longer there, he realized something was wrong.

Not a single bird landed on the rockery. That was very unusual.

Shen Shixu's family home had a rockery too. As a mischievous child, he had climbed it, discovered several nests among the rocks, and even taken a few birds' eggs.

Yet no birds perched on this rockery. He circled it again and found not a single nest.

Shen Shixu recalled television dramas he had watched in the past, in which corrupt officials hollowed out rockeries to hide their ill-gotten gold, silver, and treasures inside.

Then couldn't a rockery serve as the entrance to a hidden passage?

At that thought, Shen Shixu beckoned to Xiao Jinyi. "Your Highness, come quickly. I've found something new."

Seeing him circle the rockery, Xiao Jinyi had already realized he had spotted something amiss. When Shen Shixu beckoned, he strode over. "What is it? What did you find?"

"There's something wrong with this rockery. It's too clean. We have one at home too, and when I played in the courtyard, I'd see birds land on it from time to time. But ever since we came in, I don't think a single bird has landed on this one. It must have been coated with something to keep birds from landing on it, and snakes, insects, and ants from crawling onto it.

"Do you think the entrance we've been searching for could be hidden inside the rockery?"

Xiao Jinyi thought it was quite possible, and the two began feeling around the rockery. In the end, Shen Shixu found its entrance. There was a spot on the rockery that could be pressed inward. When he pressed it, the rockery behind them slowly split open, revealing a gap wide enough for one person to pass through.

Shen Shixu and Xiao Jinyi exchanged a glance, each seeing delight in the other's eyes. Xiao Jinyi took out a fire striker and entered the gap first, with Shen Shixu following behind him. Both were curious about what lay at the end of the passage.

But when they saw what awaited them at the end, both were stunned.