Chapter 1872: [Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda] (Lower)

Hu Xiaotian stared at her blankly, obviously bewildered by her reaction.

"Why are you looking at me like that?" Qiqi asked.

Hu Xiaotian said: "How can a little girl laugh so unrestrainedly?"

Qiqi said: "If I were reserved, wouldn't you become even more brazen? Hu Xiaotian, Hu Xiaotian, you really are shameless."

"Praise, praise!" Hu Xiaotian stretched out his arm and put it around Qiqi's shoulders: "But speaking of which, it's strange."

Only the two of them were here, and Qiqi had no intention of breaking free from his arm; she whispered: "What's strange?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "Do you still remember the secret passage in the wine cellar of the Imperial Pharmacy Bureau?"

Qiqi nodded: "Of course I remember."

Hu Xiaotian said: "One secret passage leads to the Cangshuge, another to the Jade Pool, and another to the Zilan Palace."

Qiqi gritted her teeth: "When you were in charge of the Imperial Pharmacy Bureau, you must have been using the secret passages to meet Long Xi Yue in private for a long time, right?"

Seeing her still holding onto jealousy at this moment, Hu Xiaotian couldn't help but laugh: "If we're talking about private meetings, isn't it between you and me? Then the Long Ling Shengjing is just the place I accompanied you to find."

Qiqi gave him a sideways glance, put aside her jealousy, and turned to the matter at hand: "If I'm not mistaken, before you, it should have been Liu Yuzhang who was in charge."

Hu Xiaotian nodded: "That's right, it was him."

Qiqi said: "He's been in charge of the Imperial Pharmacy Bureau for so many years; there's no reason he wouldn't know the secrets of this place."

Hu Xiaotian said: "Before I came to the Imperial Pharmacy Bureau, Liu Yuzhang had already been working here for over twenty years." Actually, he and Qiqi thought the same: Liu Yuzhang must certainly know about the secret passages beneath the wine cellar and medicine storehouse.

Qiqi said: "As far as I know, the skull inside the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda has already been stolen; the person most likely to have done this is Liu Yuzhang."

Hu Xiaotian said: "The skull was probably taken out of the palace by Long Xuanjiao when she got married far away."

Qiqi's beautiful eyes brightened, and she said in a low voice: "That means Liu Yuzhang and Long Xuanjiao are very likely on the same side."

Hu Xiaotian raised his head and gazed at the exquisite, translucent Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda ahead, and said softly: "There might also be another person."

"Who?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "Hu Buwei!" Only after personally seeing the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda today did Hu Xiaotian realize it was highly likely that Liu Yuzhang had helped Long Xuanjiao smuggle the skull out of the palace back then, and Liu Yuzhang's continued presence in the palace might have been to keep searching for that skull hidden in the Long Ling Shengjing. Now, thinking back, Liu Yuzhang's kindness toward him back then was not without reason, as he himself had said—he owed Hu Buwei a favor; perhaps the true reason behind it was not that, but the relationship between Liu Yuzhang and Hu Buwei must certainly be extraordinary.

Qiqi said: "You mean Liu Yuzhang and Hu Buwei are in cahoots! But Liu Yuzhang was already killed by Ji Feihua, so the only way to verify this is to ask Hu Buwei."

Hu Xiaotian pursed his lips and said softly: "Actually, Liu Yuzhang didn't die."

Qiqi furrowed her lovely brows: "What?"

Hu Xiaotian said: "Back then he used the tactic of 'hiding the sky and crossing the sea' to fake his death, fooling everyone's eyes and ears, and escaped from the palace."

Qiqi murmured: "Another fake death—Ji Feihua did it, and now Liu Yuzhang does too."

Hu Xiaotian even suspected that Liu Yuzhang had returned to the palace; otherwise, how could the killing of Xiao Dengzi be explained? The person who killed Xiao Dengzi must be extremely familiar with this place. If it really was Liu Yuzhang, why would he come back? Could there still be some secret hidden here? Hu Xiaotian couldn't help but glance toward the Seven Treasures Glazed Tile Pagoda—could the secret still be inside the pagoda?

For some reason, Qiqi felt a little scared in her heart; she didn't even want to stay here for a moment, and she whispered: "Let's go, I don't like this place."

Hu Xiaotian nodded, accompanied Qiqi out of the medicine storehouse; along the way Qiqi never spoke, and Hu Xiaotian saw her to the gate of the Imperial Pharmacy Bureau, intending to say goodbye, but unexpectedly Qiqi again asked him to send her back to the Zilan Palace.

By the moonlight, Hu Xiaotian saw Qiqi's pretty face as pale as paper, and in her usually steadfast eyes there was a hint of panic; Hu Xiaotian secretly thought, perhaps this little girl hasn't told him the truth, and he wondered what she was afraid of.

After escorting Qiqi all the way to the Zilan Palace, Qiqi seemed to have calmed down, and she whispered softly: "You can go back now."

Hu Xiaotian said: "Should I stay and keep you company?" He truly had no intention of taking advantage of this girl; he was genuinely worried about her condition tonight.

Qiqi shook her head: "No need, I want to be alone for a while to think carefully about the secret lock above."

Hu Xiaotian smiled at her, turned to leave, but then heard Qiqi call him: "Xiao Tian..."

Hu Xiaotian stopped, turned around, thinking Qiqi had changed her mind and wanted to keep him.

Qiqi bit her cherry lips and said: "You also be careful."

Hu Xiaotian believed Qiqi must be hiding something from him; he left the Zilan Palace and returned to the Imperial Pharmacy Bureau, only to see palace guards stationed at the bureau's gate, and he was slightly startled—he hadn't expected something to happen here so soon.

He walked over to check the situation, and saw Mu Rongzhan coming out from inside, followed by Shi Xuedong, who was smiling and repeatedly bowing to him.

Mu Rongzhan saw Hu Xiaotian stop, clasped his fists and bowed: "Your humble servant Mu Rongzhan pays his respects to Your Highness, the Prince, Thousand Years."

Hu Xiaotian nodded, glanced at Shi Xuedong, and said: "What? What happened inside the Imperial Pharmacy Bureau?" He was asking knowingly, mainly because he was worried the medicine storehouse matter would be exposed.

Mu Rongzhan said calmly: "It's not a big deal; just two palace maids died yesterday in the palace, one of whom was on good terms with Shi Gonggong, so I came to ask Shi Gonggong about the situation." He paused, then added: "I heard the Princess had just come by?"

Hu Xiaotian nodded: "That's right."

Shi Xuedong and the others were very perceptive; seeing Mu Rongzhan and Hu Xiaotian talking, they all tactfully withdrew to the side.

Hu Xiaotian said: "I heard the dead one was Fugui, the little eunuch who used to be a favorite of Eunuch Quan and also had some acquaintance with me; I don't know why he suddenly died."

Mu Rongzhan looked around, making sure everyone else had gone far away, then lowered his voice: "It wasn't suicide; it was murder. On the surface he's unharmed, but his internal organs and meridians are all shattered—this is the work of an expert."

Hu Xiaotian's heart stirred; he thought of Xiao Dengzi's death, and now it was Fugui's turn; he couldn't help but wonder, could it be Liu Yuzhang? He kept his composure and asked: "What does Shi Xuedong know?"

Mu Rongzhan shook his head: "He doesn't know anything; he just found a lot of medicinal herbs in Fugui's room, and those herbs all came from the Imperial Pharmacy Bureau's medicine storehouse."

Hu Xiaotian frowned; Shi Xuedong had not reported this to him, it seemed this fellow had been doing a lot of stealing in the palace. Mu Rongzhan said: "Just now Shi Gonggong also explained to me that Fugui's health was poor, so the imperial physician prescribed him some medicine; unfortunately some of those medicines aren't available outside, so he used personal connections to find Shi Xuedong, who then fetched those medicines from the Imperial Pharmacy Bureau's medicine storehouse."

Hu Xiaotian said: "What offense could a little eunuch possibly have committed to deserve this?"

Mu Rongzhan said: "Maybe he saw something he shouldn't have; who knows? There are far too many strange things happening in this palace." He bade farewell to Hu Xiaotian and led his men away.

After Mu Rongzhan left, Hu Xiaotian returned to the Imperial Pharmacy Bureau, summoned Shi Xuedong into the room, and rebuked him: "Why didn't you tell me about your involvement with Fugui?"

Shi Xuedong's face turned pale with fright, and he trembled: "I clearly told you just now—he came to me asking for the Black Tiger Whip, but I didn't have one, so I casually gave him something to fool him with."

Shi Xuedong was so frightened his face turned pale, and he said in a trembling voice: "I just told you clearly, he came to me asking for the Black Tiger Whip, but I really didn't have it, so I casually made something up to fool him."

Shi Xuedong said: "A deer penis! I never imagined that scoundrel wouldn't even eat it, leaving that piece of evidence behind; everyone knows that thing came from me, this scoundrel really brings trouble—dead, he still causes me problems."

Hu Xiaotian said: "Come on, let's go check the medicine storehouse."

Shi Xuedong heard he still wanted to go inside, and his scalp tingled; he shook his head like a rattle-drum: "No, it stinks in there; I just ate something, I don't want to vomit it up."

Hu Xiaotian coldly stared at him: "Will you go or not?"

Shi Xuedong cried out with a mournful face: "Go, you tell me to go, I'll go—after all, we are sworn brothers."

The two returned to the medicine storehouse; Hu Xiaotian had Shi Xuedong lead him to the spot where the deer penis had originally been stored. The more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed—could Fugui really have brought disaster upon himself just for a deer penis? Perhaps there was some secret hidden in that deer penis; after Fugui took it from here, he might have inadvertently discovered that secret, and thus met his misfortune.

The two returned to the medicine storehouse again, and Hu Xiaotian had Shi Xuedong lead him to the spot where the deer penis had originally been stored; the more he thought about it, the stranger it seemed—could Fu Gui really have invited a lethal disaster over a single deer penis? Or could there be some secret hidden within that deer penis, after Fu Gui took the deer penis from here, he inadvertently discovered its secret, and thus he suffered misfortune?

Shi Xuedong stood beside Hu Xiaotian holding a lantern, since he learned that Xiao Dengzi died here, his body dissolved by bone‑melting water, his fear of the medicine storehouse had reached the extreme; if Hu Xiaotian hadn't forced him to come, he would never have entered again no matter what. At this moment Hu Xiaotian suddenly said: "No need to hide, I see you!"

Shi Xuedong was startled and gave a start; hearing Hu Xiaotian's meaning, he realized clearly that besides the two of them there were other people hiding here; he was so frightened he could not hold onto the lantern, dropped it to the ground, and the lantern burst into flames: "Ghost… ghost…"

Hu Xiaotian glared fiercely at that guy; he was only saying that on purpose. Although he suspected someone might be hiding in the dark, his super‑strong perception detected no movement. Hu Xiaotian lifted his foot and stomped out the lantern, lest it reveal the medicine storehouse, then listened closely, but still heard nothing.

Shi Xuedong stammered: "Let's go, let's go……"

Hu Xiaotian, annoyed by his noise, was about to leave when he heard a thin, sharp voice say: "Little beard, are you trying to swindle us?"

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