CHAPTER 335: CHAPTER 281: THE KEY

"Princess..."

The guard, having already stepped over the threshold, turned back when he saw that Princess Rong hadn’t moved.

Princess Rong stretched out her hand to stop them from speaking, then forced herself to calm her pounding heart, staring ahead. This cabinet is a three-tiered drawer embedded in the wall, with auspicious patterns like pine cranes embroidered on the upper layer, covered by brocade. This brocade should be symmetrical with the other side, but the cabinet isn’t necessarily, because on top of the cabinet’s surface, there was actually a carved wooden panel. Just now, due to Princess Rong’s frantic pressing, it had unexpectedly opened automatically!

And beneath this carved wall decoration was the cabinet with the three-tiered drawers, revealed before her eyes!

In a place like this ancestral hall, meant only for worship, there shouldn’t be a need to store anything important. So why was there such a hidden cabinet here?

Princess Rong’s heart pounded like a drum, she swallowed her saliva, reaching for the handle. But she couldn’t pull the drawer open; a closer look revealed it was locked.

She immediately thought of the copper key Prince Rong had placed in his pouch. Could it be that this key was meant to open this cabinet?

Looking back, she closed the separated wall decoration again and smoothed the brocade covering it.

After swallowing twice more, she turned and left the room.

Outside, the tranquility remained. After three figures disappeared into the night, two figures crouching beneath the wall gradually stood up.

The two met each other’s eyes in silence, then leaped onto the eaves one after the other, entering the ancestral hall.

They couldn’t see what Princess Rong had discovered here, but they had seen where she and the other two had stood, and the fact that she had returned halfway, using a luminous pearl to illuminate, essentially indicated the exact location to others.

The two looked at the brocade covering the wall, then reached out to lift it, revealing the carved wall decoration beneath. They pressed their palms on it, and when the mechanism was touched, it immediately moved aside, revealing the cabinet in the wall!

"It’s this!"

Fu Zhen pulled down his mask, also took out a luminous pearl to inspect closely, "Princess Rong must have seen this just now!"

Pei Zhan nodded beside him, reaching out to explore for a while and said, "But it’s locked, there’s a mechanism, it can’t be forced open."

Fu Zhen agreed, "Princess Rong will definitely go back to fetch the key. It seems we can only wait for her to get the key before we can uncover the truth about this cabinet."

Pei Zhan straightened up, looked around, patrolled along the four walls to ensure there were no other secrets before waving to Fu Zhen, leading her quietly outside.

...

Princess Rong returned to her room, her heart still pounding.

But now her tension wasn’t for the room full of tablets in the silent ancestral hall; her mind was full of that hidden cabinet!

If earlier, her suspicions about Prince Rong and his son hiding something from her were mere conjectures, the appearance of this cabinet confirmed those suspicions!

What exactly were they up to?

Or rather, what had they done?

Why hide it even from her?

What was inside that cabinet? The fan? Or something else?

"Princess..."

The old woman bringing tea saw her gripping the chair back tightly, her whole body tense, and quickly went to support her, "What’s the matter with you? Are you feeling unwell?"

Princess Rong grabbed her hand in return, "Where is the Prince?!"

The old woman paused, then glanced towards Prince Rong’s residence, "At this hour, the Prince should have retired to his room."

Princess Rong began to walk towards the door; she couldn’t stand it any longer. She had to ask him face to face what on earth was happening. What intrigue did he have with his son?!

Before she stepped through the door, the old woman grabbed her, "Princess, calm down! If you go to the Prince like this, how will you start the conversation?"

Princess Rong was speechless.

The old woman continued, "The ancestral hall and places like that, women are not allowed to enter. You not only went but did so at night, breaking the rules!

"If the Prince inquires, how will you respond?"

It felt as if a bucket of cold water had been poured over Princess Rong, and she instantly calmed down.

Indeed, barging into the ancestral temple at night was no trivial matter. If Prince Rong felt he could share his secret with her, surely he wouldn’t keep it so tightly concealed.

Going over rashly, she would not only fail to get her questions answered but would most likely get caught in the act of trespassing the ancestral temple, which would be quite the loss!