Chapter 304

In Shi Xuedong's view, this beautiful palace maid and his sworn brother must have something going on; aside from her frequently seeking Hu Xiaotian for no reason, he himself has twice seen Baobao enter in skirts and come out in eunuch attire—anyone with a brain could guess what happened between them, which necessarily involves undressing and dressing; Hu Xiaotian has been castrated, so even if both were naked, what could they do? Wouldn't that be even more agonizing? Shi Xuedong doesn't know if Hu Xiaotian would feel that way, but he himself feels awful; the remaining testicle in his body still has some effect, and lately his face has been red, he's been holding it in.

Watching Baobao follow Hu Xiaotian into the wine cellar, Shi Xuedong swallowed, thinking her waist and buttocks were really tempting; Baobao seemed to have eyes in the back of her head, she suddenly turned and snapped, 'What are you looking at? Believe it or not I'll gouge out your thieving eyes.'

Shi Xuedong blinked and said, 'I'm a eunuch…' Eunuchs usually don't look at women with any particular lust.

Baobao said, 'Eunuchs aren't exactly good people either.' While speaking, her beautiful eyes were fixed on Hu Xiaotian, her meaning of pointing at the mulberry while cursing the locust tree was very clear.

Hu Xiaotian pretended not to hear, stepped into the wine cellar, Baobao followed, and then Shi Xuedong locked the door from outside; this guy faithfully fulfilled his duty of guarding the door and watching the wind—first because Hu Xiaotian is his sworn brother, second because he now must follow Hu Xiaotian to get by, and so far his life has been fairly comfortable.

Upon entering the wine cellar, Baobao dropped her reservations and demanded, 'You said you'd take me to explore the secret passage, but over the past many days why haven't you kept your promise?'

Hu Xiaotian said, 'The Bureau of Palace Affairs isn't just me alone; although only the two of us are in the wine cellar, staying too long will inevitably raise suspicion.'

Baobao said, 'What's there to suspect?'

Hu Xiaotian said, 'They suspect we have a secret affair.'

'Pah, you're a eunuch, how could I possibly have an affair with you…' Even Baobao herself felt her words were weak; Hu Xiaotian didn't admit it, but she sensed from his demeanor that he was a fake eunuch.

Hu Xiaotian said, 'There is a passage, and today I'll take you to see it.'

Upon hearing that he finally agreed to tell her the secret of the passage, Baobao couldn't help but feel both startled and delighted.

Hu Xiaotian said, 'Come with me!' He had also thought it over before deciding to tell Baobao the secret of the passage; although Baobao surely had many things she kept from him, since they were cooperating they needed to show some sincerity—if this girl never got any benefit from him, it wouldn't be surprising if she parted ways. To risk a fish dying and the net breaking, the simplest way to earn her trust was to share a common secret; in fact she could already figure it out, for the last time they teamed up to kill Wang Desheng, Baobao had grown suspicious of the wine cellar.

Hu Xiaotian brought Baobao to the previously discovered entrance. He moved the wine barrels aside, then lifted the blue stone slab on the ground. A dark hole appeared before them. Seeing the hole, Baobao couldn't help but be overjoyed, her voice much softer than before: 'Xiaotian, when did you discover this hole?'

Hu Xiaotian gave a hehe laugh, thinking to himself, 'When did I get this close to you?' He replied in a low voice, 'That night you were attacked, I kept thinking— that brat must have crawled into the cellar through another entrance, so I searched everywhere and finally found it.' In fact he had found the map on Wang Desheng's body; otherwise he wouldn't have located the secret passage entrance so easily.

Hu Xiaotian went first. Baobao followed him in, crawling inside until they reached a spacious area where they could finally straighten their waists and walk side by side. Hu Xiaotian raised the lantern in his hand to light the way ahead and said in a low voice, 'The one who first discovered this secret must have been him.' He naturally meant Wang Desheng.

Baobao said, 'Now it's just the two of us.'

Hu Xiaotian shook his head and said, 'It's hard to say he didn't leak this matter.'

By now they had reached a fork in the passage; Baobao glanced at Hu Xiaotian, obviously unaware where each of the three openings led.

Hu Xiaotian raised the lantern and, beside the leftmost opening, found the mark he had previously made, then said in a low voice, 'Of these three openings, only the leftmost one I have entered before; the other two I have never had a chance to enter.'

Baobao said, 'Anyway we have plenty of time today; let's just explore both of those openings.'

Hu Xiaotian said, 'You've been out this long—aren't you afraid your family will worry?'

Baobao said, 'I have no family, and no one would worry about me.' Seeing Hu Xiaotian's sympathetic expression, she couldn't help but add, 'I think you're worse off than I am.'

Hu Xiaotian gave a hehe chuckle, pointed at the remaining two openings and said, 'You say we should take the middle one or the right one?' After asking that, he wondered why he felt a bit evil.

'Give me the lantern!' Baobao already strode toward the right-hand opening without hesitation. Hu Xiaotian shook his head—'men left, women right,' indeed makes sense. After walking more than half a li inside, Baobao realized the passage was no smooth road; unlike when they first entered, the way ahead grew narrower and narrower—first they had to lower their heads to move forward, then they had to bend at the waist. Baobao regretted taking the lead; normally it wouldn't matter, but now Hu Xiaotian followed behind her, that fake eunuch—this posture was practically sticking his butt out.

Hu Xiaotian followed behind, and by the faint lantern light he could still admire the round, pert curve ahead—truly a feast for the eyes.

Baobao suddenly stopped ahead; Hu Xiaotian, still staring, didn't notice and his face bumped into her butt. Baobao let out an 'eh!'—no small reaction—her first thought was that Hu Xiaotian had taken advantage of her.

Hu Xiaotian meant no harm; he coughed and said, 'I told you to say hello—you almost made my nose bleed.' His lips clearly bore a smirk as he spoke; the feeling of this close contact was actually not bad, quite elastic.

Baobao bit her lip, took a few more steps and finally reached a spot where she could straighten her waist; this time she learned her lesson, first said 'stop,' then slowly turned and said, 'You lead the way ahead.'

Hu Xiaotian nodded, understanding Baobao's wariness of him; actually, although he wasn't the sort of Liu Xiaohui who could sit with a woman without impropriety, he certainly wouldn't take the opportunity to grope—what had just happened was purely accidental.

Exchanging positions in the narrow cavern was no easy task; though the spot Baobao chose had enough height, its width was truly too narrow. They tried to sidestep past each other but ended up face‑to‑face stuck together. Baobao was embarrassed to the extreme, her pretty face flushed hot; the harder she pushed backward, the tighter they pressed. Hu Xiaotian said, 'Hey, don't move, you absolutely must not move.' Although the sensation of skin against a sexy beauty was pleasant, it was also torment; Hu Xiaotian secretly drew a breath and pressed his body against the wall.

Baobao seized the moment to wriggle backward; her left leg slipped free, but her abdomen pressed against him again. She clearly felt his swelling there, bit her lip, and whispered, 'You don't move either.'

Hu Xiaotian was torn between laughter and tears; he didn't want to move, but the problem was it wouldn't obey him. He said lowly, 'Move up a bit—your butt's too big and it's stuck.'

'Pah! Your butt's the big one!' Baobao protested, half‑shy, half‑angry, thinking inwardly that it wasn't her fault but that his thing had tripped her; her face flushed at the thought, she being an unmarried maiden—wasn't she being taken advantage of by this guy? She shifted her hips upward a little, finally creating some gap; Hu Xiaotian struggled to slip his body past hers to the front, feeling his loins rubbed raw and hot. He took the lantern, turned around, and only then did Baobao dare lift her head, seeing Hu Xiaotian's buttocks raised before her; naturally she recalled her earlier pose, grew even more embarrassed, blaming herself for not thinking ahead and letting this guy take such liberties.

After walking a few steps further, Baobao suddenly caught a foul smell, hurriedly covered her nose, felt nauseous to the point of vomiting, and protested, 'You have no manners, actually farting!'

Hu Xiaotian felt wronged—it really wasn't him who farted; he didn't have time to explain, raised the lantern to look ahead, and saw a grayish lump not far off; his heart sank, he went over and indeed found a corpse; the smell Baobao had noticed was the corpse's stench.

By then the passage had opened up again; Baobao still held her nose, realizing she had wronged Hu Xiaotian.

Hu Xiaotian pulled a pair of deerskin gloves from his waist, carefully turned the corpse over, only to see its face rotted beyond recognition, unknown how long it had been dead, maggots crawling all over it; seeing this, Baobao turned and vomited.

Hu Xiaotian examined the eunuch's body; from his waist tablet he discovered his origin— the tablet bore the three characters 'Cangshuge', indicating he was a low‑rank eunuch from the Cangshuge, his attire suggesting he wasn't of high rank.

Hu Xiaotian endured the stench and dragged the corpse to one side, then took out a vial of bone‑dissolving liquid from his bosom and dropped a single drop onto the corpse.

Baobao watched from afar as the corpse melted before her eyes, stunned speechless; she couldn't stomach the grisly sight and turned to vomit again. When she recovered, the corpse had turned into a puddle of pus and blood; Hu Xiaotian returned to her side and said softly, 'It's fine—if you feel unwell, we can go back.'

Baobao said, 'I'm fine, let's keep going.'

The passage ahead grew ever wider, allowing the two to walk side by side without issue; Baobao fell silent, recalling the earlier scene which was truly embarrassing, and finally broke the silence in a low voice, 'Sorry, I wrongly accused you.'

Hu Xiaotian laughed, 'No blame on you—I actually thought you were crying thief to catch a thief, but I only admitted to the fart to spare your dignity as a young lady.'

We're just a few short of five hundred monthly tickets, and only fifty shy of reaching second place; speaking of which, could we shine a little? If we could surge to second, even for a moment like a fleeting blossom, Zhangyu would feel satisfied—should I add two more chapters? This request isn't high, just forty‑eight monthly tickets; folks, let the Medical Union shine, let Zhangyu be satisfied once, okay? (To be continued. If you like this work, please vote for recommendation tickets and monthly tickets; your support is my greatest motivation.)