RPAGF Chapter 678 Your mother probably carried the key with her and buried it in the ground with you?
Chapter 678 Your mother probably carried the key with her and buried it in the ground with you?
The box is made of sandalwood and is carved with intricate lotus patterns, with a brass lock in the center.
"Where's the key?" Qian Zhenyun asked in a low voice, looking around.
Lin Jiayou pursed his lips and began rummaging through the drawers of the dressing table. Gu Qingchen followed suit and went to check the low cabinet by the bed.
Bottles and jars, odds and ends, everything was there, but there wasn't a single key to open the box.
Just then, a series of light footsteps came from outside the courtyard, accompanied by two servants whispering deliberately.
"Did you hear that? There seems to be some movement in the princess's room?" a voice trembled. "No, could it be the princess's ghost returning?"
“Let’s go take a look.” The other voice sounded calmer.
"Heavenly spirits, earthly spirits, every wrong has its perpetrator, every debt its debtor. Princess, if you wish to seek revenge, go after the Zhao family. Please don't come back to frighten this humble servant; I'm easily frightened."
"What nonsense are you talking about! Let's go check it out. What if a thief has broken in while the guards at the manor are lax?"
"Which thief is so bold as to dare to steal from the princess's residence?"
"If anything gets lost, we'll be in deep trouble!"
The three children inside turned pale instantly, and their movements froze.
The approaching footsteps struck their hearts like heavy hammer blows.
"Quick! Put the things back!" Lin Jiayou reacted the fastest. He shouted and hurriedly stuffed the scattered jewelry back into the box.
Gu Qingchen and Qian Zhenyun panicked and frantically tried to push the heavy wooden box back under the bed.
In the chaos, Lin Jiayou pressed his palm heavily on the base of the dressing table, and with a soft "click," a hidden compartment popped out.
But before he could even get a good look, he heard the sound of the door latch being pulled from outside!
"Under the bed!" Lin Jiayou made a quick decision, grabbing the jewelry bundle with one hand and pulling Gu Qingchen and Qian Zhenyun with the other, along with the box that wasn't completely stuffed in yet, the three of them crawled under the bed using both hands and feet.
The three of them held their breath, like three frightened wild cats, pressed tightly against the cold ground, not daring to make a sound.
"Squeak-"
The door was pushed open, and a beam of dim yellow light shone in, casting two swaying shadows on the floor.
A servant carrying a lantern peeked in and shone the light around the room.
"Look, there's nothing here, isn't there? It's just the wind rattling the windows."
"Let's go, let's go," the timid servant said, his voice trembling, still feeling uneasy. "This place is very eerie. What if the princess is just being sentimental?"
As he spoke, he even bowed to the four corners of the room, muttering, "Princess, may you rest in peace. I will go and buy some yellow paper tomorrow and burn more for you."
The door was closed again, and the footsteps outside gradually faded away.
The three people under the bed dared to breathe heavily. Qian Zhenyun patted his chest and said with lingering fear, "I was so scared. We almost got discovered."
They crawled out from under the bed, covered in dust and dirt.
Gu Qingchen looked around the room and said with a troubled expression, "This room is only so big, and we've searched almost the entire place, so why can't we find the key?"
"Hey, Lin Jiayou, did your mother bury the keys with her in the ground?"
Qian Zhenyun's lips twitched. He thought that Gu Qingchen was a really good person, but he just happened to have such a mouth.
Lin Jiayou ignored her, only giving her a cold glance before walking straight to the dressing table.
"I found the key."
He crouched down, reached into the hidden compartment he had accidentally opened earlier, and took out a small brass key.
He took the key, walked to the wooden box, aligned it with the keyhole, gently inserted it, and turned it.
With a "click," the lock opened.
The lid of the box was slowly opened, and in the moonlight shining through the window, a silvery gleam instantly dazzled the three of them.
"Wow!" Gu Qingchen couldn't help but exclaim in surprise, "How come there's so much silver?"
Lin Jiayou and Qian Zhenyun reacted quickly, covering her mouth from both sides at the same time.
"Keep your voice down!" Qian Zhenyun said urgently, "Do you want to call the servants back?"
With his mouth covered, Gu Qingchen could only nod vigorously.
Lin Jiayou found another cloth to spread on the ground and took out the silver ingots from the box one by one.
Beneath the silver ingots was a thick stack of silver notes, each with an astonishingly large face value.
At the very bottom of the box lay a blue-covered ledger and several land deeds.
Lin Jiayou picked up the ledger and turned to the first page.
By the moonlight, one could see that the accounts of several shops were clearly recorded in delicate small regular script: Jinxiu Cloth Shop, Linlang Pavilion, and Zhenbaozhai.
Gu Qingchen leaned closer for a look, tilted his head, and said, "Why does this Jinxiu Cloth Shop's name look so familiar?"
Lin Jiayou didn't give her any extra time to think. He carefully wrapped the banknotes, account books, and land deeds in oiled paper, stuffed them into his pocket, and then wrapped the heavy silver ingots tightly in a bundle.
After doing all this, he locked the empty box again and, together with Qian Zhenyun, stuffed it back into its original place under the bed.
The three of them, carrying two heavy bundles on their backs, once again used the artificial hill and flowers as cover to return the way they came.
Under the cover of night, they silently scaled the high wall and disappeared back into the darkness outside the princess's mansion.
The three of them ran a long way through a dark alley before finally stopping and leaning against the wall, panting heavily.
Lin Jiayou took off the bundle full of hairpins and jewelry from his body, and then took out the bag of silver notes, land deeds and account books from his pocket, and handed them to Gu Qingchen.
“Since I’m leaving the capital, I can’t take all these things with me,” he said, looking at Gu Qingchen with an unprecedented seriousness in his eyes. “You keep them for me for now, and I’ll come back to get them from you when I return.”
His mother's dying words echoed in his mind, and looking at the girl in front of him, a strange feeling rose in his heart.
Entrusting her with the most important thing seemed to bind their fates tightly together.
"Okay!" Gu Qingchen agreed readily, taking the heavy bundle without hesitation. "Don't worry, I'll hide it well for you, no one will be able to find it!"
Lin Jiayou pulled out a silver note from another bundle, and stuffed a few pieces of loose silver into his personal purse. Apart from his clothes, he gave the rest to Gu Qingchen.
Qian Zhenyun stamped his feet anxiously, "Let's hurry back! It's almost dawn. If the people from the Duke of Zhenguo's mansion find out we're missing, we'll definitely get beaten up again when we get back!"
"What's there to be afraid of!" Gu Qingchen pouted, looking completely unconcerned. "It's already like this, whether you stick your neck out or not, you'll get stabbed anyway."
As if she had suddenly thought of something, her eyes lit up, and she patted Lin Jiayou on the shoulder.
"Let's go! We'll head straight to the escort agency! Lin Jiayou, you're going to Chengdu, a place you'll never know. Why not hire a bodyguard? They can guide you and protect you!"
Lin Jiayou and Qian Zhenyun were both stunned for a moment, then felt that the idea was simply a stroke of genius.
"Sister, you've finally figured things out for once!" Qian Zhenyun exclaimed sincerely.
The three hit it off immediately and, instead of returning home, went straight to Weiyuan Escort Agency, the largest escort agency in the capital.