Chapter 59: Earthquakes Can Happen In The Space Too!
Lin Xin hid her figure and hurried across the rooftop, while searching for the most luxurious building in the entire courtyard, which was definitely Feng Xing’s courtyard.
Sure enough, at the very center of the entire courtyard, she found the target building with gold bricks and green roof tiles, carved beams and painted rafters, jade stone paving the ground, and gold beams, every place luxurious and every place ostentatious.
Even the servants and maids walking around in the courtyard had extraordinary clothing and attire, and there were quite a few guards patrolling from time to time, each with a tall figure and a face full of fierce flesh, not looking like good people.
Lin Xin pursed her lips; to build such a house and keep so many people, who knew how much of the people’s fat and oil had been scraped, how much military supplies deducted, and how much disaster relief funds embezzled—it was indeed a person who deserved to die.
She avoided the patrolling guards and lightly leaped onto the rooftop of what was suspected to be Feng Xing’s study room, lifted a roof tile, and looked down.
What met her eyes was a set of rosewood desk and chair, with the four treasures of the study placed on it, as well as a yellow jade paperweight, clearly worth a lot at a glance.
She lifted another roof tile, but could only see the lower half of a four-panel screen.
There was no one in sight anywhere; Lin Xin held her breath and listened carefully, hearing no breathing sounds—the room seemed empty.
She was just about to lift two more roof tiles to make a hole big enough for her to jump through when she heard a faint “creak creak” sound, along with footsteps.
Lin Xin lay flat on the rooftop, pressing her entire face to the gap in the roof tiles, just in time to see a gray-haired head walking from behind the chair.
That person seemed to have something urgent and went straight to the room door, opened it, and left.
She waited a bit longer, and seeing no one else come in, thought for a moment and still enlarged the hole in the rooftop, jumping down into the room from it.
Lin Xin’s goal was very clear; as soon as she landed, she turned to look behind the chair and found it was actually a floor-to-ceiling bookshelf covering an entire wall, filled with books and some small ornaments.
Thinking of the teeth-gritting “creak creak” sound from earlier, Lin Xin reasonably suspected there should be a secret room or a secret passage behind the bookshelf.
She walked to the bookshelf, observing while trying to turn the small handles on it, but after feeling each one, she still couldn’t find the mechanism.
“This can’t be! If not these, then what?” Lin Xin muttered, pulling books out from the first shelf and stuffing them back while frantically thinking about descriptions of study room secret room mechanisms from novels she’d read before; only after taking out and stuffing back most of the books on the shelf did she think of something, her gaze turning to the landscape painting hanging on the wall directly opposite the room door.
She stuffed the book in her hand back, darted to the painting in two steps, took out a pair of disposable plastic gloves from the space and put them on, then carefully lifted the painting slowly from bottom to top.
Right in the center of the wall behind the painting, a red button stood out vividly against the snow-white walls.
She stepped forward, pressed her hand on the button, and the slightly familiar “creak creak” sound rang out; she turned her head and saw the bookshelf slowly parting in the middle and opening to both sides.
Lin Xin got excited—a secret room! A secret passage! It was her first time seeing one!
She didn’t know if it was filled with gold, silver, and treasures like in the novels; if so, her salted fish dream could be realized ahead of schedule!
While pondering, she walked over; just as she stepped one foot into the passage between the two bookshelves, she heard hurried footsteps coming from outside the door, and not just one person.
Lin Xin froze for a moment, then decisively darted into the passage; in the chaos, her elbow bumped the back of the bookshelf, startling her with the pain.
While rubbing her arm, the two bookshelves unexpectedly closed silently, without making a sound.
Lin Xin let out a heavy sigh of relief, hiding behind the bookshelf and listening to the movements outside.
“Eh? Where’s the person? How is it empty?” a somewhat shrill voice said.
“Yeah! Weren’t we told outsiders entered the Grand Tutor’s study room?” This time the voice sounded somewhat honest and straightforward.
Then came the sound of fabric rustling, followed by a steady voice with a hint of gloom: “Someone did enter the study room. You stay here and guard; I’ll go report to the Grand Tutor.”
Lin Xin in the passage secretly thought she’d been careless, actually leaving traces that someone spotted.
But she wasn’t afraid; if worst came to worst, she still had the space to hide in—no one would absolutely find her.
Soon, more people came into the study room, accompanied by a furious voice: “Didn’t I tell you to watch the study room? Why could someone still get in? Am I keeping you bunch of wastes just to eat?”
“Grand Tutor, this subordinate examined the footprints on the ground; the person who came should be petite and slim, most likely a woman,” the steady and gloomy voice said.
“A woman?” The Grand Tutor’s voice showed signs of escalating rage. “You bunch of men couldn’t watch one woman? She actually got into my study room right under your noses? Hm?”
“Grand Tutor, the person didn’t come through the room door, but from······” The rest wasn’t said, but Lin Xin knew he must have discovered the roof tiles she lifted.
Then, that person spoke again: “Grand Tutor, in this subordinate’s judgment, that person probably hasn’t left the study room yet. Should we······”
Moments later, two sets of footsteps went toward the door, and after leaving, they closed the door.
Lin Xin helplessly entered the space; luckily, though she couldn’t see outside from here, she could hear sounds.
After a “creak creak,” the bookshelf was opened again.
“Grand Tutor, please allow this subordinate to go in first,” the steady voice said.
“Good.”
The footsteps entering the passage were very light, but each step was rhythmic and steady—a master, Lin Xin thought to herself.
The person passed by Lin Xin and went deeper in, circled around, then came back; this time, the steadiness was gone, replaced by some uncertainty: “Grand Tutor, inside······ there’s no one inside.”
“No one?”
“This subordinate is very certain the person entered the secret room; absolutely no mistake.”
“Then where’s the person? Vanished into thin air?”
“This······ this subordinate doesn’t know.”
This “don’t know” completely enraged the Grand Tutor; he kicked the person, roaring, “Don’t know? You dare tell me ‘don’t know’? Do I spend so much money just for you to tell me ‘don’t know’? Waste! All wastes! Find them; if you don’t, you don’t need to live! Go, quick!”
When the person was kicked, Lin Xin heard a heavy “thud”; note that the Grand Tutor wasn’t young, and as a civil official who didn’t know martial arts, he could still kick that loudly—showing how furious he was.
“Doesn’t this mean there’s something here he doesn’t want people to know about!” Lin Xin thought, stroking her chin. “Should I wait till no one’s around and go in to search? Or since it’s just us two now, finish him off first?”
Just as she thought that, the ground suddenly shook, and the entire space rocked.
“Holy crap, can there be earthquakes in the space!” Lin Xin quickly squatted to lower her center of gravity, starting to ponder in her mind.
This space had been with her since her previous life and never acted up before—what was going on now?
