Mistakenly Connected to the Jade Flower Branch

Chapter 182 Cellar

When Xue Yunting and Qin Jiu arrived together, Nian Yao was sitting in the small hall of Yaochi reading a book.

Xue Yunting was surprised: "Sister, you just said you didn't read much."

Qin Jiu said, "The gang leader doesn't like those 'fair-skinned ladies pursued by gentlemen' types. I used to drink with Uncle Liu, and he was very proud of her."

He said that the gang leader memorized the Thirty-Six Stratagems at seven, read Sun Tzu's Art of War at eight, studied Jiang Ziya's Art of War at nine, and made flower wreaths to wear on her head at ten. A bunch of kids would kowtow and bow to her, recognizing her as their queen. She was so powerful..."

Nianyao threw the book on the table: "What's so impressive about it? If Uncle Liu hadn't stopped me, my dad would have spanked me to a pulp."

Xue Yunting looked at the book "Wei Liao Zi" on the table: "Why did your uncle hit you?"

Nianyao said, "He doesn't like me reading these books, and I don't like the books he makes me read. Uncle Liu hid several boxes of military books under the bed, and I read them secretly."

Xue Yunting asked in surprise, "Can you really keep it a secret?"

Nianyao shook her head: "I was young then, and I thought I could keep it a secret... Later he stopped caring, and I didn't have time to learn the work on the ship..."

Seeing that the atmosphere was not right, Qin Jiu quickly said, "Let's go check the cellar."

The three men moved the bed in the old gang leader's room, tapped here and there on the ground, and then tapped the entire ground. They looked up at each other and found that the ground did not seem to be empty, and they did not find any small pits or holes like longevity locks.

If the switch were a long-life lock, it would be very conspicuous. The three of them touched the wall again, but still couldn't find any marks.

Qin Jiu looked at the painting on the wall: "Boss, does this painting have any meaning?"

Nianyao said, "This painting has been hanging here as long as I can remember. It's so badly painted, yet my father still inscribed it and hung it here, so it must have been painted by my mother. As for the meaning, can you figure it out?"

The most noteworthy part of the painting is probably the two lines of calligraphy by the two gang leaders: "Two or three peach blossoms outside the bamboo grove, the ducks are the first to know when the spring river warms."

As for the image: a dark clump of bamboo, with two ink blotches on the left, presumably two ducks. A branch extends horizontally from the right of the bamboo, dotted with ink dots of varying sizes, likely a peach blossom branch and blossoms…

Xue Yunting identified the signature as: "Jianyang Huichong?"

Qin Jiu thought to himself: If Master Hui Chong knew, he would probably jump out of his coffin.

There was really no meaning or hint to be seen, and the three of them were somewhat disappointed.

Qin Jiu turned to Xue Yunting: "Why don't we ask your housekeeper?"

Xue Yunting replied, "I asked him before I left home, and he only knew there was a cellar, nothing else. Sister, how much money do you need?"

Nianyao said, "I just want to give the brothers who left the Dahe Gang a sum of money so that they can live a worry-free life in the future."

Xue Yunting said, "It doesn't matter if they don't give it to me. I'll take a group of people with me. They have military pay, and they'll get titles for their military achievements, so they won't care about this little bit of money."

Nianyao turned to Qin Jiu: "Have the expenses for the naval forces been paid out of your account?"

Qin Jiu shook his head: "No."

Xue Yunting said, "The Great River Gang's money is deposited in the official money exchange, and then withdrawn and disbursed from the money exchange. This way, no one will suspect anything, and the Great River Gang will be safer."

Nianyao stared at Xue Yunting for a while before saying, "Those who eat the king's food should be loyal to the king. If the military expenses are not paid from the Dahe Gang but allocated in the name of the King of Nanyue, the soldiers will naturally be loyal to Nanyue and the king, not to the Dahe Gang."

Therefore, Xu Sheng was able to successfully take away the Wind Dragon Soldiers. As for the navy, it's just that you made them obey my orders. I was truly stupid; in order to counterbalance Xu Lai, I actually gave Uncle Zhou Yan five thousand men. Even if I had the gang leader's order now, I couldn't mobilize them.”

Xue Yunting said, "Sister, you can transfer Zhou Yan at any time."

Nianyao said, "That depends on what I'm here for, right? If I transfer all the naval forces back to Dongyang, that's fine too?"

Xue Yunting thought about it seriously for a while: "Sister, it's not impossible."

Nianyao looked him up and down. Xue Yunting was open and honest, showing no sign of guilt.

Nianyao said, "Forget it, we won't starve anyway. I'll farm on Chongming Island from now on, and I won't care about the navy's expenses. You can do whatever you want."

Nianyao saw Xue Yunting and Qin Jiu out, then stood in the middle of the small hall in a daze: Father couldn't possibly lie about this, so where is the problem?

Father's room? Under Father's bed? When they first arrived at Chongming Island, she was afraid to sleep alone, so Father slept with her. It wasn't until the following year that Father moved to live across the street.

Was that under her bed? Nianyao returned to her room and laboriously moved the bed. Under each of the thick bed legs was a small indentation, shaped like a longevity lock; there were six in total.

Nianyao held the silver longevity lock around her neck, thought for a moment, then let go, took out six gold longevity locks, and placed them into the six small pits one by one.

Nianyao stared at the ground, but there was no movement. Just as she was wondering, she saw the wall move, revealing a doorway, just big enough for a person to squeeze through sideways.

Nianyao took the candlestick, went through the doorway, went down the narrow steps, and turned a corner to see the cellar.

The cellar was about two zhang long and one zhang wide, with boxes on both sides, neatly stacked, leaving a gap in the middle just wide enough for one person to pass through.

As Nianyao walked, she opened the boxes to inspect them. On her left were boxes containing silver ingots, and on her right were boxes containing gold bars. She walked to the end of the cellar, where there was only one box on the ground.

Nianyao bent down and opened it, revealing a complete set of kingfisher feather headdresses, exquisite and luxurious. Something seemed to be tucked inside the large crown ornament. Nianyao parted the ornament and saw a letter.

Nianyao's hands trembled slightly as she placed the candlestick on the box and slowly unfolded the letter.

The handwriting was terrible, just like the painting—a complete disaster—yet Nianyao recognized every single character:

My son Nianyao:

I am Yaochi, your biological mother. I left you hastily before I could raise you to adulthood. It is a great regret that our mother-daughter bond was short in this life.

Mother in heaven, I pray that my son will be healthy and happy, have a smooth life, find a good husband and marry well, and grow old together in joy.

Your mother has been a spendthrift all her life and has not been able to accumulate any wealth for you. The only thing I can leave you is a set of jewelry I bought for your wedding. I hope you like it.

Written by Xue Yaochi herself.

Nianyao stared at those few simple lines for a long time, until her eyes ached and tears soaked the words "mother." Through her teary eyes, she seemed to see a young woman sitting at the table, frowning, struggling to write each word one by one.

Nianyao couldn't help but whisper, "Your handwriting is so ugly, I almost couldn't recognize it... And Dad, he didn't tell me anything... I don't know anything, I don't know anything..."

Nianyao wiped away her tears, tucked the letter into her bosom, and said to the box, "Mother, everyone says I look like Father, but Father always says I look like you... Father always told me that you were a fairy from heaven, and that you went back to heaven..."

A gust of wind came from behind, and the candle suddenly went out. Nianyao was startled and jumped to her feet, shouting, "Who...?"

No one answered. In the cramped space, before Nianyao could turn around, she felt a sharp pain in her neck and collapsed.