Chapter 682: No More Searching, No More Capturing

Mèng, the clerk, staggered, bowed, and said, "No! No!"

Qing Wang's smile vanished: "Still haven't found it?"

"No! It's not!" Mèng, the clerk, panted, "It's that backfill layer, still—still being excavated! Not yet dug through!"

Qing Wang furrowed his brows: "What's going on? Didn't you say it could be dug through in a day or two? It's already three days!"

Mèng, the clerk, wore a grimace: "The Ministry of Works' old records clearly state a thickness of five chi, and the Imperial Guard are numerous; I calculated based on that thickness."

"Who could have imagined!" he swallowed a mouthful of saliva, "We've already dug several tens of chi, and it's still not finished!"

"I, the servant, sensed something was wrong, so I rushed to report to Your Highness."

"Several tens of chi?" Qing Wang was stunned: "So you dug a deep pit in the ground, didn't you?"

"Yes! Your Highness, please go take a look!"

"I, the servant, also don't know what's happening; when the Guoshi Residence was built, how did there end up so much waste?"

"The material we've excavated would be enough to build another Guoshi Residence! I truly don't know whether we should keep digging."

Qing Wang raised his voice: "Men! Prepare the carriage!"

"Yes!"

The carriage raced along and arrived at the Guoshi Residence.

Qing Wang lifted the carriage curtain and looked out, instantly staring in amazement.

Beside the Guoshi Residence, a mountain had appeared at some unknown time.

Broken bricks, tiles, lime slag, splintered wood… piled like a peak, and in the light of the newly lit torch, resembled a snarling burial mound.

He stared at the heap for a while before coming to his senses: "These are all… dug up?"

Mèng brushed the dust from his face: "Yes, Your Highness, we still don't know how long it will take to finish digging."

Qing Wang inhaled a breath of cold air.

He draped a cloak over his shoulders, pulled the hood over his head, covering half his face, stepped down from the carriage, and approached the pit's edge.

The pit was about four to five zhang square, bottomless, pitch black like a gigantic mouth.

A few lanterns hung on the pit walls, their dim yellow halos only illuminating a palm‑sized area.

The Imperial Guard at the pit's bottom lifted their heads, their faces smeared with black mud, only their eyes glinting unnervingly in the firelight.

"Come up!" Qing Wang shouted.

The Imperial Guard, as if granted a pardon, climbed the ladder, each with a dust‑covered face, their garments soaked with sweat and clinging tightly.

A few of them, upon reaching the top, crouched and dry‑vomited, coughing as if their hearts were being torn.

"What is that smell?" Qing Wang covered his nose.

Mèng coughed a few times: "Your Highness, it's lime and old earth, it really burns the throat."

Qing Wang frowned and stepped back a few paces.

An Imperial Guard, panting heavily, said: "Your Highness, the pit is too suffocating; the brothers can't endure it."

"Indeed, after a while we have to come up for air, otherwise we can't stay inside at all."

"We still don't know how deep it is down there!"

Qing Wang's anger surged; could the Guoshi Residence be a bottomless pit?

He lowered his face: "Continue digging."

The Imperial Guard exchanged glances, gritted their teeth, and climbed back down.

Qing Wang turned and walked back to the carriage: "Mèng, remember, you must dig through!"

"I, the Prince, won't believe it; we can't locate that secret chamber!"

Mèng: "……"

He bowed helplessly: "Yes."

Qing Wang slipped into the carriage: "Back to the residence!"

"Yes!"

He kept a composed face, listening to the clank of iron spades striking broken stone, mingled with the ebbing coughs, fading away.

In the secret chamber.

Tuan Tuan heard the digging sounds overhead and said, "Big brother, why are they still digging!"

Xiao Ningyuan placed a piece of stewed meat into her small bowl: "Let them dig."

Xiao Ran took a bite of braised pork knuckle: "They really don't mind the fatigue!"

Xiao Er laughed: "These past few days, I've gotten used to it."

"Indeed!" Eunuch Cheng also laughed: "At first, this old servant thought it was noisy and couldn't sleep, but these past two days I've slept so well!"

"Me too!" Tuan Tuan ate two bites, tore a chicken leg and handed it to Xiao Feifei's mouth.

Feng Zhou calculated: "The rammed earth has long been gone; what's being dug now must be from the backfill layer."

"Those things can't compare to soil; once dug up they disperse."

"These past days they've been digging day and night; the material they've unearthed could probably rebuild another Guoshi Residence."

"Tuan Tuan is still the best!" Chen Hao looked at Tuan Tuan, his gaze gentle.

"They must still find it strange," Lu Qi took a sip of wine: "Why can't they finish digging?"

The crowd burst into laughter.

Early the next morning, Mèng, the clerk, staggered into the Ning Prince's Mansion: "Your Highness! The digging—it's finished!"

Qing Wang hurriedly asked: "What about the secret chamber?"

"None!" Mèng replied crisply, "There is nothing!"

Qing Wang was taken aback: "None? How could there be none?"

Clerk Meng was nearly exhausted: "I, a lowly official, have come here just to ask Your Highness to take a look."

The carriage set out again from the Ning Prince's Mansion, heading straight for the Guoshi Residence.

All around was silent, and the junk heap beside them had grown considerably taller.

Qing Wang pulled up his hood and stepped down from the carriage.

Clerk Meng rushed to the pit's edge and pointed into it: "Your Highness, please look."

He crouched, scooped a handful of yellow earth from the ground beside him, and handed it to Qing Wang: "This is the excavated soil—fine‑grained, uniformly colored, with no speck of impurity."

"Your Highness!" he exclaimed, his voice cracking, "This is pristine soil! There could truly be nothing beneath!"

Qing Wang glanced at the soil in his hand, walked to the pit's edge, lowered his head to stare at the yellowish ground below, and said nothing.

Clerk Meng carefully asked, "Your Highness, shall we continue digging?"

"If there truly were a hidden chamber, it couldn't be this deep!"

After a long silence, Qing Wang looked up at the Imperial Guard who seemed just unearthed from the soil and said, "Stop. No need to dig further."

The Imperial Guard knelt en masse: "Thank you, Your Highness!"

Finally we can go back! What a task this is!

Qing Wang turned and boarded the carriage.

Seeing the carriage slowly pull away, Clerk Meng felt as if pardoned, his legs went limp, and he collapsed onto the ground.

The carriage rode all the way into the imperial palace.

Qing Wang entered Zichen Hall and informed the Masked Man about the matters of the Guoshi Residence.

"Your Excellency," Qing Wang said, puzzled, "Could it be that the hidden chamber is not inside the Guoshi Residence?"

"Chu Yuan is getting old; are those pastries from Qiaosu Pavilion all bought for him to eat?"

The Masked Man shook his head: "No, it's right there; someone just tampered with it."

"Send word to the Ministry of Works: from today, rebuild the Guoshi Residence."

"The regulations remain the same, but the materials and craftsmanship must both surpass those of the past."

Qing Wang was startled: "What about the hidden chamber? Stop looking for it?"

"Stop looking! Inform the Ministry of Works: the Guoshi Residence was destroyed in an instant; the Imperial Court sympathizes with the National Preceptor, and workers must rush day and night to seal the ground as quickly as possible!"

Qing Wang suddenly realized: "Stop looking, and stop seizing her, to trap Princess Jiayou to death inside?"

The Masked Man nodded.

"Fine!" Qing Wang turned and walked out.

The Masked Man lifted his hand gently.

Two dark silhouettes slipped silently down from the beams.

Both were cloaked in black, their faces masked so that only a pair of eyes were visible; when they landed, not even a whisper of wind rose from their garments.

"Jingcheng underground has secret passages; you go investigate them thoroughly!"

The two said nothing, knelt on one knee, and placed a fist over their hearts.

Then they leapt upward and vanished without a trace.