Chapter 60: I Think This Dingguo Duke Has Reached The End Of His Rope!
“Tell me about you. Usually when we don’t need you, you’re all obedient, but now the first time we actually need you, you pull this on me. What exactly do you want?!” Lin Xin muttered softly.
Suddenly, another fierce gust of wind blew over, so strong that Lin Xin couldn’t even open her eyes. She raised her arm to shield her forehead, tilting her head and peering forward with the corner of her eye, only to see Meng Yichen’s motionless carriage parked in the open space inside, and the supplies piled a bit farther away showed no sign of shaking at all.
“Hey! So these demonic winds are specially blowing just for me, huh!”
No sooner had she said that than bean-sized raindrops came pouring down, hitting her body hard enough to hurt. What made Lin Xin even angrier was that the rain’s range was centered on her, forming a circle with a one-meter radius.
After the raindrops came the hailstones, each as big as a small fingernail, clanging down relentlessly. Lin Xin felt that if she hadn’t blocked quickly, she definitely would have been bashed with lumps all over her head.
Finally the hail stopped. As soon as Lin Xin lowered her arm, everything in front of her suddenly went dark. Faint thunder rumbled from the sky, and a bolt of lightning flashed right before her eyes, striking just in front of her toes.
Lin Xin jumped in fright and instinctively stepped back, but another bolt of lightning came down, striking right at her toes again. She finally couldn’t hold back her anger and shouted loudly, “What exactly do you want! If you strike me dead, will you be able to live?!”
After another bolt of lightning, the thunder finally receded into the distance, and the sky wasn’t as dark anymore. A streak of green light shot from afar, piercing through her forehead into her mind with lightning speed. The sharp stabbing pain made Lin Xin clutch her head and squat down.
Fortunately, the intense pain lasted only an instant and soon faded. After a while longer, Lin Xin wiped the cold sweat that had just beaded on her forehead and glared at the sky with an unfriendly expression. “Thieving heavens, can’t you just say it properly? Do you have to put on such a show to show off how powerful you are?”
It turned out that the stabbing pain just now was a warning transmitted to her by the world consciousness. Although she was using the original owner’s body, her consciousness was an outsider’s, and the Grand Tutor was a figure closely tied to this world’s national fortune. To kill him, it had to be done by someone from this world; she couldn’t do the killing herself, or her soul would not be tolerated in this world.
In other words, she couldn’t personally do the deed of killing the Grand Tutor, or once he croaked, she would be done for too.
Did Lin Xin want to die? Definitely not, so despite feeling aggrieved, she shamefully submitted.
“If I can’t kill, then I won’t. I don’t even care to do it! Hmph!” Lin Xin forcibly salvaged her dignity while pricking up her ears to listen to the sounds outside the space. She had completely forgotten about the secret passage and the Grand Tutor amid the earlier commotion.
At this moment, things were lively outside the space. The Grand Tutor had mobilized nearly all the guards in the mansion, along with the Secret Guards sent by the Third Prince, but they still hadn’t found the person who had entered his study room.
The Grand Tutor was someone who loved to rack his brains over things. Someone had clearly entered, yet they couldn’t find them no matter what. His first thought was whether there was a traitor in his home. Otherwise, how to explain it?
Thus, he sat in the study room and had his most trusted old butler Feng Laifu lead people to turn the entire Grand Tutor’s Mansion upside down, but still found nothing.
Listening to Feng Laifu’s report, Feng Xing’s heart burned with rage. He actually wasn’t afraid of the things inside being discovered. With his current status, he believed no one could touch him even if those things were found, but he was afraid of losing face!
Just thinking about how Feng Xing, the Grand Tutor who was always calling the shots, had his home stealthily robbed without a sound, and still couldn’t find the thief, made him feel like everyone in the Capital City was laughing at him—especially those he had bested. That was the important reason he absolutely had to find the person.
“Grand Tutor, what next?” Feng Laifu asked.
“Search! Keep searching for me. I don’t believe this person can grow wings and fly away. Even if you have to turn the entire mansion upside down, find him for me!” Feng Xing said with a grim face. “Also, investigate every single person in the household for me.”
“You mean······” Feng Laifu’s heart sank upon hearing him say to clear the household. The Grand Tutor suspected there was a thief among his own people, but everyone here had been personally vetted by him one by one. Could it be that the Grand Tutor no longer trusted him, yet was having him investigate on purpose to set a trap?
It had to be said that spending long periods with someone who loved to overthink could easily make one overthink too.
Outside the secret room, it was chaos with people running everywhere; inside the secret room, Lin Xin was as delighted as a little mouse that had fallen into a rice vat.
It wasn’t that she lacked backbone; it was just that there were too many good things here—gold, silver, and jewels, silk, antiques, paintings, authentic copies, rare editions, everything one could want. All of it had gone into Lin Xin’s space.
There was even a small room here specially for account books. Since she couldn’t leave for now anyway, and fearing Meng Yichen might wake up after too long, Lin Xin simply injected him with some anesthetic and two nutrient shots, then ignored him and dove headfirst into the account books.
The ancients’ habit of keeping accounts was truly awful—complicated and hard to read. Just as Lin Xin was getting dizzy-eyed and her patience was about to run out, she finally found what she was looking for.
A thick account book recorded the names of all officials who had dealings with the Grand Tutor, with their secrets listed below—like some official backed by his wife’s clan secretly keeping a mistress outside and having children with her, or another official sleeping with his superior’s concubine, or yet another embezzling so much silver, and so on.
The more Lin Xin read, the angrier she got. She simply stored the account book in her space, planning to hand it to Mo Ziyuan and the others to rage over once she got out, while she herself wandered around the secret room.
She had moved all the treasures here into her space, making the inside feel much emptier. Some dusty corners and nooks were now exposed. She accidentally kicked a small pile of dirt by the wall, and half a dust-covered jade pendant tumbled out.
Lin Xin walked over, picked up the jade pendant, and wiped the dust off with her finger. The more she looked, the more familiar it seemed, but she really couldn’t recall where she had seen it before, so she simply stopped thinking and stored it in the space first.
She wandered a few more rounds and found nothing else useful. Just as she was about to return to the space to rest, she heard clamor outside, and faintly the clash of metal.
What was happening? She curiously pressed close to the back of the bookshelf, sticking her ear to the wood to listen carefully.
“Grand Tutor, the intruders are extremely skilled. Several of our people are already injured.” It was still that steady, deep voice speaking.
“Can you tell who they are?”
“Can’t tell, but the martial arts style of the leader looks a bit familiar to this subordinate.”
“Who?”
“This······ This subordinate only thinks it looks like him, but can’t be sure.”
“Who exactly!”
“It’s······ the Heir of Dingguo Duke, Mo Ziyuan.”
“Smash!” Feng Xing slammed the teacup in his hand to the ground. “Dingguo Duke, what a Dingguo Duke! He even sent his son to kill me—he’s got some nerve! I think this Dingguo Duke has reached his end!”
Thanks to Mmy Dang, caroletu, Minmin, and Linghun Zai Chuxing for their votes, and to caroletu for the tip. Thank you all for your continued support, thank you!
