CROWN PRINCE'S CONCUBINE

“That’s not my decision to make, sweet child, only Mrs Mao can order people to come in and out, if you really want to go out, you should at least ask permission from her”

Bai Ying lowered his chopsticks and held her hand, looking at her with a pair of pitiful eyes.

“But miss Hu, is there no other way? Mrs Mao is very kind, but she said she won’t let me get out of here at all, can you do something about it? I really want to be able to go out with you once in a while. After all, why should you be afraid of Mrs Mao? I mean, she’s just an ordinary woman, she is small and looks like she cants do any martial art at all, why do you have to always listen to her? Miss Hu looks to be more powerful than her in anything right? What are you afraid of?” asked Bai Ying in a spoiled voice.

Miss Hu glared at Bai Ying.

“Presumptuous, you can’t talk like that about Mrs Mao.”

Bai Ying pulled Miss Hu’s hand back, embracing her indulgently.

“Miss Hu, Ying er is just telling the truth, is that wrong? Please don’t be mad, you scared me.”

Bai Ying’s spoiled voice and cute face made Miss Hu, who had been angry before, let her tension down, how could she be angry with such a cute kid? Just looking at his pair of beautiful eyes made her melt.

.....

“Um, please forgive me, I didn’t mean to scare you, just, Mao Mao is a really great woman, you can’t say bad things about her.”

Bai Ying looked around, leaned his head and whispered to the woman at a very close distance.

“Em, don’t worry Miss Hu, Ying er knows that Miss Hu actually doesn’t really like the rules made by Mrs Mao. And, I also know what Mrs Mao did all this time here” he whispered.

Miss Hu widened her eyes, a little curious about what the young man had in his head.

“What is that?”

Bai Ying thought, he looked around and leaned closer to her to whisper.

“Em, I heard that she ate the youths from the village, didn’t she? So that’s the reason why she can still look young like that” he whispered.

Miss Hu looked at Bai Ying for a moment, finally unable to contain herself and laughed.

“Hahaha, what are you saying? How to eat them? Are they that delicious?” she asked.

Bai Ying raised his index finger.

“Shhh, Miss Hu, don’t talk too loud, someone will hear us, especially if Young Master Xu hears that his older brother has been eaten by Mrs Mao, he will definitely be very sad.”

Miss Hu glanced at Xu Yan who was enjoying his meal with a bit of caution, he couldn’t hear what the two were talking about, but they seemed to have said his name.

“Where did you get such information?” asked Miss Hu.

Bai Ying puffed out his mouth, looking at Miss Hu with big eyes.

“Well, I’m just guessing, otherwise where did they go?” he asked.

Miss Hu enjoyed her dinner, stuffed the food into her mouth chewed it until she swallowed it and raised her head again to look at Bai Ying.

“Rotten kid, you’re just guessing, spreading rumours like that can taint one’s good reputation you know that.”

Bai Ying lifted the teacup.

“What’s reputation? What’s so good about locking a youngster inside her residence without letting us out, that’s so ridiculous”

Miss Hu looked at Bai Ying’s cute pouting face, he was indeed a very attractive young man no matter where she looked at him.

“This kid, hurry up and finish your meal and go back to your room, it’s already late.”

Bai Ying pursed his lips again.

“Erm, Miss Hu, how about, for tonight, Young Master Xu and I sleep here, after all, Madam Mao won’t look for me tonight, she gives us some time off, is that okay, Miss Hu?”

The woman stopped her hand movement and saw Bai Ying’s seductive sweet face looking at her with his big round eyes.

In short. Bai Ying and Xu Yan ended up staying at Miss Hu’s private residence with the purpose of finding clues about the youth’s whereabouts, especially Chang Lo.

By midnight Bai Ying and Xu Yan had already snuck around the house looking for something like a secret chamber or anything like that where Miss Hu might have hidden them.

“Young master, is this safe? What if Miss Hu wakes up from her sleep and finds us sneaking around like this?” whispered Xu Yan who was walking behind Bai Ying clinging to him tightly.

“She won’t, let’s just find them, I’m pretty sure Miss Hu might be hiding something around here, I can feel it” Bai Hing whispered.

The two of them entered Miss Hu’s reading room which was in another room in the woman’s mansion. Look at the walls and shelves where the many scrolls are. Everything is neatly arranged according to their respective colours, not to mention the pile of books on the reading table which is clean without a single dust on it, looks like Miss Hu really likes to read.

Xu Yan looked around.

“There’s nothing here, we better look outside young master” Xu Yan whispered.

Bai Ying stopped in the middle of the room. His keen ears could hear the sound of the wind quite clearly, the sound of the howling wind definitely not coming from a closed window inside let alone a large door. The young man raised his eyes, his eyes could see into the distance where there was a gap between the walls where the wind might be coming from.

“Here, there might be a secret chamber.”

The young man excitedly approached the wall and tried to open it, he saw some things on the shelf, if this is some kind of secret chamber as he already know, there must be a lever or something to open the door.

“Young master Xu, help me find the lever.”

Xu Yan was confused, he didn’t understand what Bai Ying meant by checking every item on the shelf.

“What lever do you mean young master?” Xu Yan asked, he was standing right next to the small statue in front of the table beside the shelf which wasn’t too flashy, but, Bai Ying found something odd about it. He shifted Xu Yan’s body and turned the small frog statue’s head towards the wall, which immediately made the flat wall in front of him move and rotate.

Xu Yan widened his eyes, unable to believe what he was seeing in front of him.

“T-this, how did young master know there was a secret room in here?” asked Xu Yan.

Slowly he followed Bai Ying into the room. Like Xu Yan, Bai Ying also did not expect to find such a secret chamber there.

“Wow, this is pretty big too, is it still in Miss Hu’s residence?”

The two entered a room that resembled the inside of a cave that could be even deeper, the room was so dark could hardly see what was in it. Bai Ying reached out the oil torch that was hanging on the wall near the entrance, and when Xu Yan wasn’t looking, he flicked his finger to ignite the flame which made the torch light up. Instantly the room became bright.

Xu Yan frowned at how the torch could suddenly light up. The young man approached Bai Ying who was walking in front of him and accidentally his hand brushed against something that made the stone door move.

Bai Ying’s eyes widened, and n an instant the tall stone wall moved and closed again tightly.

“Ah young master Xu what are you doing?” and it was too late to prevent it.

The walls shut tight and locked them both inside. Bai Ying saw what Xu Yan nudged was, a small bird statue sticking out of the wall. He turned the rock many times left and right, but nothing happened, the wall didn’t even move.

Xu Yan was pale, what had he done?

“Oh young master, what should we do? How are we going to get out of here?”

Bai Ying looked at the wall and looked behind him where a very visible cave was nothing but walls and rocks as far as the eye could see. It seems that the wall was made to be opened from the outside only, there is a possibility that the exit could be at the end of the cave which is in Miss Hu’s reading room, how can this small house have a cave that is deep enough like this?

A gust of wind carried a slightly unpleasant smell towards Bai Ying and Xu Yan.

“Young master, what is this smell?”

Bai Ying widened his eyes, this smell, he was quite familiar with it, recently he smelled it frequently, it was like a kind of carcass or something, did, it human?

Without thinking, Bai Ying stepped into the cave.

“Come on young master Xu, we have to find your brother”

Bai Ying pulled Xu Yan’s hand who looked very hesitant to enter.

“Young masters, what is this place? Why does it smell so bad?”

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