Moon frost snow

Chapter 199 Exploration

Gu Wenbo's arrival was like a ray of light shining into her gloomy life.

Her care for Gu Wenbo is not only a continuation of her friendship with A Yan, but also a reflection of her own maternal love.

She longed to pour all her love and care into Gu Wenbo to fill the void in her heart caused by not having a child.

Unfortunately, fate is always full of helplessness and cruelty.

A few years ago, Concubine Xu unfortunately passed away due to illness. Her departure was another heavy blow to Gu Wenbo.

Yet, her palace remains, like a museum of memories from the past.

Except for the people who are gone, all other items are still there.

Those exquisite ornaments, gorgeous beddings, and quaint screens seem to be quietly telling stories of the past.

Gu Wenbo slowly came to Concubine Xu's palace alone.

The palace is now filled with an atmosphere that is both familiar and unfamiliar. It has a cold feeling as if it has been uninhabited for a long time, but it also has a sense of neatness and order because it has been carefully cleaned all year round.

The tall palace gate is like a silent guardian, standing there quietly, witnessing the changes of time.

When Gu Wenbo gently pushed open the palace door, the slight "creak" sound seemed to break the seal of time, and memories of the past surged in his heart like a tide.

In the palace, every corner seems so quiet and full of stories.

The items inside are still arranged exactly as before, as if frozen in time.

Those exquisite porcelains are still neatly displayed on the wooden shelves. The flowers, birds, fish and insects painted on the delicate porcelain surfaces are lifelike, as if still telling of Concubine Xu's love for them back then.

The tables and chairs made of golden nanmu wood exuded a faint fragrance. Their positions had not moved at all, as if Concubine Xu had just been sitting there, looking at everything in the palace thoughtfully.

The exquisite embroidery scroll hanging on the wall is still brightly colored, and the landscapes and figures drawn with every stitch and thread are vivid.

These embroideries must have been collected or personally produced by Concubine Xu with great effort. Now they hang there quietly, as if waiting for their owner to return and appreciate them.

With mixed feelings, Gu Wenbo looked carefully at every corner of the room.

His gaze was like a nimble silk thread, slowly wandering through this familiar yet slightly deserted palace, not missing any corner.

Every inch of space seemed to carry memories of the past. Those dusty past events seemed to be peeking at him from the corner, waiting to be awakened again.

He slowly came to a shelf, which stood there quietly, exuding an ancient and mysterious atmosphere.

The shelves are filled with a variety of items, each of which seems to have its own unique story.

And right at the top of the shelf, there was a painting.

This portrait has an invisible magic that attracted Gu Wenbo's attention and made him reach out and take it down involuntarily.

When he gently opened the painting, the memories that were buried deep in his heart suddenly flooded into his mind like a surging tide.

The painting shows his mother, whom he misses so much.

This painting may have been stored here for a long time. Perhaps because it was placed too high, the palace maids in charge of cleaning could not reach it, so it stayed there quietly and was never disturbed.

The dust of time is like a fine gauze, covering the painting layer by layer, making the painting covered with dust.

As time went by, the mother's face in the painting began to fade, just like the memories in Gu Wenbo's mind, which, although profound, gradually became blurred under the wear and tear of time.

Gu Wenbo held the painting tightly in his hands, his eyes full of attachment and longing, and he just looked at it quietly.

Time seemed to freeze at this moment. He was immersed in the memory of his mother's past appearance, and the warm scenes of his mother accompanying him when he was a child kept emerging in his mind.

After a long time, he slowly and carefully put the painting back to its original place. His movements were so gentle as if he was afraid of disturbing the mother in the painting.

When the painting was put back on the shelf, the scroll accidentally bumped into a small box.

It was an exquisite wooden box. After being hit, it fell off the shelf like a dancer who lost his balance and landed straight on the ground.

Gu Wenbo hurriedly squatted down and picked it up. The texture of this wooden box looked very fine, and there seemed to be some delicate patterns engraved on the surface. However, due to its age, those patterns had become a little blurred.

Gu Wenbo opened the wooden box and what caught his eye was a beautiful key.

The shape of this key is very special. Its shape is not ordinary and has an indescribable unique charm.

The curved lines seemed to hold a mysterious meaning, and every arc seemed to have been carefully designed. There seemed to be some subtle carvings on the key handle, but they were too small to be clearly seen.

Gu Wenbo's eyes swept back and forth in the room. He carefully checked all the locks in the house, from those ancient and heavy treasure chest locks to the delicate and small cabinet locks, but found that none of them matched this key.

Just when Gu Wenbo was filled with disappointment and was about to put the key and wooden box back in their original place, an accident happened again.

His hand accidentally bumped into a candlestick on the wall.

The candlestick looked old, and the metal part was slightly rusted. The candle on the candlestick fell to the ground due to the impact, making a "clicking" sound.

At this moment, a hole in the same shape as the key unexpectedly appeared on the candlestick.

The hole was hidden so cleverly that it would have been difficult to find if the candle had not fallen.

Gu Wenbo's heart was instantly filled with doubt and curiosity. With an attitude of trial and error, he slowly put the key into the hole.

When the key touched the wall of the cave, he could feel a subtle sense of fit.

He twisted it slightly, and it seemed to trigger some mechanism. Then, a "creaking" sound came from somewhere on the edge of the shelf.

It was like an ancient door that had not been opened for a long time was slowly being pushed open. The sound was particularly clear in the silent palace, as if it was a prelude to the secret that had been silent for many years being revealed.

As the creaking sound gradually stopped, a door more than one meter high appeared in front of Gu Wenbo.

This door seems a little secretive, as if it has been hidden in the corner of this palace for years, just waiting for this moment to be discovered.

Gu Wenbo looked at the door that suddenly appeared, full of doubts.

He didn't know what was hidden behind this door. Was it a clue related to his mother's disappearance, or some other unknown secret?

Although his mind was full of questions, his curiosity drove him to walk in cautiously.