Chapter 166.1
"Many thanks, brother Xiao. I can finally have a nice New Year. I"ll see you again next time!" The Imperial Academy student gratefully said, intending to escort Xiao Liulang out of the house.
This person was Feng Lin"s cla.s.smate, one grade lower than Xiao Liulang. He more or less entered through the back door, and his literary talent wasn’t so good.
During every New Year banquet, a lot of his family and relatives would gather, and they would always call him and ask him to recite a few poetry. Now, with the poems written by Xiao Liulang, he was no longer afraid of not being able to answer them.
Xiao Liulang"s poems were written according to his standard, neither too grandiose nor cheaply done.
"No need to see me out." Xiao Liulang didn"t let the other party see him off and left the house alone.
The sky was overcast and it seemed colder than before.
Xiao Liulang boarded the carriage and had it driven to the residence where Gu Jiao went for her house visit.
When the Madame of the house met him, she said, "That miss has already left. She mentioned about buying candied haws across the street."
As she spoke, she pointed to the sweet soup shop diagonally opposite from them.
That was a sweet soup shop with a long-established reputation. It had been opened by people from Jiangnan, and business in the capital turned unexpectedly good. Xiao Liulang used to patronize this shop when he was a child, but at that time, they weren"t selling candied haws yet.
Xiao Liulang came to the shop and found the new owner.
The original owner was now old and living his days in the backyard. Now it was his son who managed the business.
"Boss."
Xiao Liulang greeted the new owner, and just as he was about to ask if Gu Jiao had been here, he heard the other party exclaim, "Are you looking for someone?"
Xiao Liulang was a bit startled.
Was the fact that he was looking for someone written on his face?
The boss didn"t take Gu Jiao"s words to heart earlier. However, the first moment he saw Xiao Liulang, he couldn"t help but recall Gu Jiao"s remarks, ‘If a good-looking young man finds me later, the most-good looking one, please ask him to wait for me here.’
In flowery language, this was what "the stranger is like a jade, and the gentleman is unparalleled" exactly meant among the reading population.
This appearance was indeed good-looking.
So good-looking, in fact, you would believe this person was unparalleled in the world.
"How do you know?" Xiao Liulang asked.
The boss walked over and relayed the exact words of Gu Jiao.
The most good-looking one?
She said that about him?
Xiao Liulang unknowingly raised the corner of his lips. In a moment, he looked at the boss and asked, "Did she say what she was going to do?"
The boss shook his head, "No, she didn"t mention it."
"How long has she been gone?" Xiao Liulang continued to inquire.
The boss thought for a moment before answering, "It"s been a while already; my candied haws are almost sold out."
Xiao Liulang"s eyebrows slightly furrowed. They had known each other for so long and she had never kept him waiting like this before. Xiao Liulang had no idea where she could have possibly gone and what she might be doing, that she still hadn’t come back after a long time.
There was a faint uneasiness in his heart.
He looked at the boss and said, "May I know if you see which direction she went?"
The boss pointed his finger out, "It seems to be that inn."
Xiao Liulang went to the inn.
As soon as he entered the lobby, he heard two diners talking.
"Have you heard? Something happened to Qingfeng Music House. "
"You’re talking about that new music house? What happened?"
"The building seems to have collapsed. Alas, that place used to be a wine cellar and there were too many pits dug in the ground there. I told them it would collapse sooner or later!"
The uneasiness within Xiao Liulang"s heart became more and more apparent.
"Is someone trapped inside?"
"Yeah, I heard it was a woman!"
Xiao Liulang had never heard of Qingfeng Music House before, but when they said it used to be a wine cellar, he figured out where it was. There used to be a wine cellar on this street, which had changed hands many times and had always been selling wine.
After a few years of not seeing it, it actually had been converted into a music house?
Xiao Liulang headed towards the Qingfeng Music House.
From a distance, he saw that the periphery of the music house was full of people. It seemed that something had really happened here, and it was a major incident that even a yamen officer had come.
The yamen officer had the scene sealed off, and the onlookers had to stand on tiptoe to look.
The music house was in chaos. All the guests were cleared out, leaving only the two servant girls of the Crown Princess, the yamen officer, and the owner of the music house.
The owner knew that the person buried below was the Crown Princess, but the yamen officer didn’t.
After all, the Crown Princess was traveling incognito today. If people learned that she had come to an inconspicuous music house, it would inevitably lead to various speculations.
And in case anyone also saw that person, no amount of mouths could help the Crown Princess explain herself.
Although the two of them were not hostile camps, and there was also no shady relationship between them, still, one was a monarch and the other an official, and any close relationship shouldn’t exist between them.
Servant girl A said, "Hurry up and save people! It"s too dangerous down there! We can"t keep my Madame buried underground all the time!"
The yamen officer called the music house owner and asked, "What is down there?"
The owner answered, "That place was originally a wine cellar, but later, I changed it into a bas.e.m.e.nt generally used for storage."
The yamen officer asked again, "Is there only one room in the bas.e.m.e.nt? What"s over there?"
The owner replied, "That’s also a part of the bas.e.m.e.nt, a smaller room where sundries are stored."
The yamen officer looked at the disorderly scene and asked again, "Is there anyone in the small storeroom?"
Servant girl A said impatiently, "How can anyone be there?"
Did she mean she checked it?
Servant girl B tugged at her sleeve and motioned for her to be careful not to have a slip of the tongue.
Servant girl A gave a slight cough and said, "Stop dawdling here. My Madame is suffering so much down there that she can hardly speak. Don"t you hear?"
She could hardly speak, which meant she could still speak.
That’s right. Although she was buried underground, she was not injured at all and was even able to move a little.
Gu Jiao in the small storeroom was in a much worse situation than her.
She was caught sideways between two slanted stone slabs, and another larger slab was pressing on top of them.
The upper edges of the two smaller slabs slid sideways under the weight of the larger slab, so that the two smaller slabs slanted less and less, and once they turned flat on the ground, the huge slab above would completely press on Gu Jiao’s body, squashing her brains out all over the floor.
One end of this huge stone slab was on Gu Jiao’s side while the other end was on the Crown Princess’ side.
It would be too difficult and time-consuming to lift the whole thing; the best thing to do would be to lift it by one end and save the Crown Princess.
However, in this way, the small storeroom over there would be completely crushed.
The yamen officer said, "If you’re certain that n.o.body is there, we will start lifting up the slab."
"Hold on!"
Xiao Liulang walked over on a crutch.
The yamen officer frowned, "Who let him in?"
The guards on the entrance looked helpless. They didn"t pay much attention to him when they saw that he was a lame man. They didn’t expect him to sneak in by himself in that short moment of neglect.
Xiao Liulang, looking at the direction of the small storeroom, said grimly, "There are still people down there."
Servant girl A retorted, "You’re talking nonsense! There’s n.o.body there!"
Xiao Liulang coldly replied, "Listen if you don"t believe me."
The yamen officer signaled everyone to be quiet.