Without any mental preparation, Yun Xi was startled and gasped when she suddenly saw the person. Fortunately, she managed to stop herself in time and didn't scream out and make a fool of herself.
The person smiled, and the criss - crossing flesh - colored scars on her face twitched, making her look even more terrifying.
"You're quite brave," she complimented Yun Xi again. Then she took the fire starter and turned around to walk backward, saying, "Follow me. I'll send you out."
Only then did Yun Xi have the energy to look around her.
The surrounding walls were smooth, and the narrow path under her feet curved forward. She should be in a tunnel.
Patting the dust off her body, Yun Xi sized up the person again. Seeing that she was wearing a light pink dress and only had a wooden hairpin on her head, Yun Xi couldn't tell whether she was a palace maid or a concubine. So she asked carefully, "May I ask how to address you, auntie? I'll surely repay your kindness."
The woman let out another soft laugh, murmured a few words in a low voice, and replied, "Yes, auntie. Just call me auntie."
"As for the repayment, I don't need it. And you deserve all my protection."
There was obviously a deeper meaning in her words.
But this auntie just covered things up and refused to explain clearly.
Yun Xi had an idea. She pretended to groan in pain and staggered towards the auntie as if she couldn't stand steadily.
Unexpectedly, the auntie seemed to have eyes on her back. She deftly turned around and smoothly avoided Yun Xi's touch.
Yun Xi was stunned. Before her mind could react, she heard the auntie say, "I know what you're thinking. Don't try to read my mind through contact. You'll naturally know those things when it's time for you to know."
"How do you...?"
She even knew Yun Xi's identity as Man Ping! This auntie was more powerful than Yun Xi had imagined.
Yun Xi stared at the person in front of her with her mouth wide open in surprise. Then she realized her rudeness and immediately shut up. She gave an embarrassed smile and said, "I was rude. Please don't blame me, auntie."
Her doubts grew even stronger. But Yun Xi didn't press on further.
No matter who this auntie was, she could clearly feel the other person's kindness towards her.
As for other things, although the auntie refused to say, she didn't stop Yun Xi from investigating. With such obvious characteristics and the ability to move freely in the tunnel of Jianjia Palace, it was easy to guess that she must have a close relationship with Concubine Qing.
In this way, the direction of the investigation was very clear. Yun Xi would surely figure out her identity and the deeper meaning of her words sooner or later.
While Yun Xi was thinking to herself, the auntie gave her a deep look. She didn't mind Yun Xi's little tricks. She turned around again and walked forward, saying, "It's okay. Hurry up."
"He has already noticed that there's an outsider in Jianjia Palace. God knows how chaotic it is up there. With his temper, he may search every palace one by one. If he finds out that you're missing, it'll be troublesome."
He?
Did she mean Emperor Zhaohuan?
Judging from her tone, this auntie seemed to be very familiar with Emperor Zhaohuan.
Thousands of thoughts flashed through Yun Xi's mind. She quickened her pace to follow the auntie and temporarily suppressed all her doubts in her heart. She replied, "Yes, auntie has thought it through. Thank you."
After walking only a few steps, the space in front of them suddenly opened up.
The narrow tunnel ended, and a stone chamber appeared in front of Yun Xi. There were fist - sized night pearls inlaid on the walls of the stone chamber. The crystal - carved lotus candlesticks reflected the light of the night pearls, illuminating the whole stone chamber brightly.
So Yun Xi could clearly see the nearly human - height painting in the middle of the stone chamber and the sacrificial altar with offerings placed below it.
The woman in the painting had a veil over her face, revealing a pair of gentle and watery eyes. The smooth and round contour of her cheeks was faintly visible behind the light veil.
Her eyebrows were like willow leaves, and her hair was as black as clouds. Her skin was fairer than snow. Her figure was slender and graceful.
Just standing casually under the crabapple tree, she outshone the thousands of crabapple blossoms behind her.
Yun Xi was so absorbed in looking that she always felt that she had seen this woman somewhere. Her eyebrows and eyes were really familiar, but the charm in them seemed strange.
It was really strange.
Seeing Yun Xi staring blankly at the painting, the auntie blew out the fire starter in her hand and casually took a night pearl from the wall. She coughed lightly and reminded, "Stop looking. Hurry up. We don't have much time left."
"Okay," Yun Xi said.
She averted her gaze and took a few quick steps, but couldn't help looking back at the painting again.
Who did she look like?
She really couldn't remember...
Yun Xi patted her head in distress and followed the auntie into another narrow tunnel. They walked around, turning left and right. After an unknown amount of time, they reached the end of the tunnel.
A clearly chiseled stone staircase came into view.
The auntie walked up the stairs and led Yun Xi out from the floor of a dilapidated and messy house full of dust. She pointed outside and said, "I'll stop here. You have to walk the rest of the way by yourself."
"After you go out of this door, go straight ahead. When you see a unicorn with a white marble ball on its head, turn left. Keep walking until you reach a camphor tree as thick as three people can hug, then go to the drooping gate on the upper right. The drooping gate leads to the right of the lotus pond. The back wall of Chaogan Hall is beside the pond."
After a pause, she thought for a while and added, "By now, he must have led people to Chaogan Hall. There may be guards at the back door. If you can't get in, go around the pond to the side of Chaogan Hall. There's a small hole behind the clump of lilacs. With your figure, you can definitely get through it."
"Go."
The auntie waved her hand. Without waiting for Yun Xi's response, she turned around and walked back.
The situation was urgent. Yun Xi quickly thanked her again, lifted her skirt, and walked towards Chaogan Hall according to the auntie's instructions.
All the way was smooth. When Yun Xi reached the lotus pond, she saw two guards with swords at the back door, vigilantly looking around.
Yun Xi held her breath and quietly walked around to the back of the dense clump of lilacs. She pushed aside the branches and weeds and saw a small hidden hole.
There was no time to think about how the auntie knew about such a hidden hole. Yun Xi took a deep breath and quickly crawled out of the hole.
Behind the hole was the back courtyard of Chaogan Hall. There was no one there for the time being. But there were faint arguing sounds in the distance, as if they were arguing about her whereabouts.
Yun Xi quickly slipped in through the back window. Just as she hid in the side room, changed into her Taoist robe, and put on her veil, she heard noisy voices outside. The voices came through the door and window into her ears.
"Since the Taoist priestess Man Ping is in the room, why are you being so evasive, master?"
It was Yi Zhen's voice, as gentle and amiable as ever.
"As long as we take a look, we can prove that the Taoist priestess Man Ping didn't go to Jianjia Palace. But you've been making all kinds of excuses. It makes people think you're guilty."
Then another female voice chimed in confidently, "Forgive me, master. I really saw it by accident. Although the Taoist priestess Man Ping is your junior sister, she broke into Jianjia Palace privately, despised the law, and ignored the emperor's order. I really can't cover it up."
"Master, you mustn't be partial to your own people because of your own selfishness and disappoint the emperor's trust!"