The Counterfeit Madam Hou

Liu Qinghuan lay flat near the door, peeping suspiciously outside .

Look like Tang Zhibo really trust Feng Zhi, arranging only her to keep a look out . After listening for a while to make sure there’s no one around, she then sneak away silently .

It’s dark outside, only two or three spa.r.s.e candles flickering in the dark . But that’s more than enough for Liu Qinghuan to see the layout of the place . Different from the ‘chamber’ she imagined, here is built like a normal mansion, just placed underground .

She frowns, looking around . Can this be under the temple?

Hearing footsteps approaching, Liu Qinghuan quickly hides behind a corner as 2 Mongolian dressed up as Fire Cult devotees, pa.s.ses her by . She holds her breath and wait till they are far away before coming out from the darkness .

Although here is build like a mansion, there is no door to be seen . She remembered that Feng Zhi took her on many winding paths before they arrived but since it doesn’t look that big, there should exist a secret tunnel or door .

Frowning again, she wonder where Duke Ling Nan’s room is . He could point out so certainly that her map is fake mean that he actually went looking for it himself . She had long since heard rumors about him having the《Armeniaca Mume· Winter》and now it looks to be solid .

She have to get that painting .

But have he brought it with him to Chang-An though? There are Xue Mu and Aersi eyeing the painting here and having it with him paints a huge target on his back so she guess he wouldn’t take the risk . Then he must have copied the map and only brought that along? He could carry the map along on him and it is way easier to hide that then a painting but that would also make it harder for her to steal .

Liu Qinghuan runs through the possibilities in her head as she searches for the Duke’s room . She might have hit something as out of the blue, an arrow flies straight at her . Her gaze harden as she turn and avoid the arrow .

This is bad, there are trap doors here .

Biting her lips, she prepares to head back when a bright light shines on her and Tang Zhibo’s voice follow soon after .

” Lady Du Juan, where are you going to give up on sleeping? ”
” I ate too much, so I came out for a walk . ”
” I see . I forgot to inform you, but there are a lot of traps here . So for your safety, it’s better not to wonder around . ”

Liu Qinghuan’s heart sink . So that’s it . Don’t even mention the map, she will be having a hard time just escaping .

A deep heavy sound is heard, as though someone just pushed a thick and heavy door open . With a candle in his hand, Duke Ling Nan walk out of the secret door . Looking at the scene in front of him, he walk towards them .

” Zhibo, what happened? ”

Before Tang Zhibo can rat her out, Liu Qinghuan smiles .

” Nothing, we are just discussing about life . ”

” Life? I think you’re here to scout out the layout . ”
” Definitely not . ”
” Hmpt . If you are thinking of looking for《Armeniaca Mume· Winter》or the map, I’ll advise you not to go through that trouble . Because… ”

He pauses for dramatic effect, the smile on his face is as nasty as it gets .

” I burned it to ashes after memorizing it . ”

She goes still and look at him disbelievingly . Satisfied with her expression, the Duke look at her with determination .

” No matter the map or the painting, there exist a possibility of being stolen . Only in my brain, is the safest place there is . That way, none of you can ever get your hands on the map . So I advise you to think hard about the《White Jade Orchid》map . If you can’t remember it by tomorrow, then don’t blame me for being merciless . ”

He then turn to Tang Zhibo .

” Get more people to stand guard at the door . ”
” Yes Father . Lady Du Juan, I’ll walk you to your room . ”

Pursing her lips, Liu Qinghuan follow after him silently . Back at her room, Feng Zhi is still sleeping soundly on the floor . Releasing her acupuncture points and seeing no movement, Tang Zhibo look at her and she gives an innocent face .

” I only seal her points . As to why she’s still sleeping, I’m not clear . ”
” Lady Du Juan, it would do you good not to think of escaping from this place . If you can’t hand the map up tomorrow, my father will not go easy on you . ”
” Thanks for reminding . ”

Tang Zhibo narrows his eyes at her before ordering someone over to carry Feng Zhi out, leaving 5 guards outside .

” Don’t even let a fly out of the room! ”
” Yes Sir! ”

The guards answered energetically .

But that energy start waning around midnight . The person inside the room has been quiet, so quiet that it feels like no one is inside . The surrounding darkness seems like a lullaby, as a guard tap on the one besides him, yawning .

” Let’s do shifts, I’ll go take a nap first . ”

That guy nod and thus, 2 of the 5 guards takes a nap as the other 3 starts chatting, trying to stay awake .

A tiny black object slowly crawls out of the door and wave it’s feelers at them . A guard stares it as another punches him on the arm .

” What are you looking at? ”

That guard points to the black thing on the floor, asking .

” What’s that? Roach? ”

After the 3 observes it for a bit, they nod .

” Looks like it . ”

One pauses, as if remembering something .

” We are ordered to not even let a fly out, even more so for such a large roach, right? ”
” Sounds right . ”

He lifts his feet and when he is preparing to stomp down on it, the little thing flies up suddenly, follow by a m.u.f.fled sound .

All 3 guards have fallen in the smoke .

The little thing flaps it’s wings as it flies away . The noise woken the other 2 napping guards, and when they see the floor of people, they panicked . Rushing into the room to check, they see that Liu Qinghuan is still on the bed, sleeping soundly .

Back outside, they slap, hit and even punches the 3, before finally being able to wake them up . After this round of surprise, all of their sleepiness evaporates and they once again stand guard energetically .

When the Duke and Tang Zhibo comes over in the morning and seeing their energy levels, Tang Zhibo asks .

” Anything happened last night? ”
” Nope! ”

With that, they enters the room . Liu Qinghuan is still sleeping soundly on the bed . After staring at her for a while, the Duke orders .

” Get a bucket of water here . ”

Liu Qinghuan yawns, as she sits up from the bed .

“Morning, Duke, Mister Tang . ”
” …… . ”
” It’s morning, I hope you recall what the map looks like . ”
” A little more than yesterday . ”
” It would do you no good to drag this because I don’t have much patience . ”

A random maid carries a tray of writing materials in . She blink . Looks like Feng Zhi haven’t woken up yet . When that little thing sprayed Feng Zhi, that gas has been acc.u.mulating for a month so she might sleep till noon at least .

The ones standing guard are much more fortunate, getting a watered down version .

” Draw it . ”

The Duke orders, emotionless . Liu Qinghuan purse her lips . This Duke is way too stingy to not even allowing her a bite of breakfast! Walking over to the table, she picks up the brush, before putting it down again . And picks it up again . And puts it down again .

” Do you have hemorrhoids on your hands? ”
” ……… . ”

She picks up the brush one last time and her brush start dancing across the paper . Finishing that great masterpiece, Liu Qinghuan satisfactorily picks up the paper and blow on it .

With a swipe, the Duke s.n.a.t.c.h the paper away and stare at it, before turning around to look at her .

” This better be real, otherwise I would have you wishing for death . ”

Successfully threatened, she swears .

” I swear on the Duke’s personality that this map is real . ”

The Duke snorted, ignoring the sarcasm in her words and said to Tang Zhibo .

” Look after her and don’t let her escape . ”
” I will, Father . ”

The Duke nod and take the paper out of the room .

The sleeping Chang-An city starts waking up as the streets get busy .

A group of men, lead by a man in Fire Cult robes, appears all of a sudden, crossing through the forest, before stopping in front of a rock . That rock lies crooked, half buried in the soil . It is weathered, cracks appearing throughout the surface and even weeds begin growing out of them .

” Leader, it’s here . ”

One of the man in the group suddenly say . The leader waves his hand and everyone take out a shovel from their robes, digging around the rock . Duke Ling Nan too, takes a shovel and dig along with everyone else . Lowering his head to take a look at the soil, his brows start scrunching up .

The soil looks like it had been turned before .

Not a while later, a clanging sound can be heard . A man, with the shovel in his hand, shouts happily .

” Leader, there’s something here! ”

The Duke rushes over and everyone starts digging the thing out . Very soon, the top of a chest could seen and the leader open it up immediately, but it is empty .

The excited bunch feel like a bucket of cold water have just been poured over their heads .

” Leader, there’s another chest here! ”

Another excited voice yell out . Walking over, the Duke immediately open it without waiting for the leader .

This time, there is a piece of paper in it .

After opening it, a line can be seen .  ‘Make love, not war . The biggest treasure on earth is LOVE!’ .

Duke Ling Nan almost crush the paper into powder!

Taking a deep breath, he suddenly realize something .

” That swindler! She’s working with Xue Mu! ”