Oh no! Seven kids at the start, all yellow and skinny.

Chapter 85 Huo Qingyuan's Secret

The jade cabbage is indeed immovable, but it can be twisted clockwise.

Then I heard a click...

She broke the jade cabbage in half, because the jade cabbage was fixed to the shelf.

Yunyi touched her nose somewhat awkwardly, which was a bit unexpected.

Just then, footsteps were heard outside, followed by someone saying, "Greetings, Your Excellency." It was undoubtedly Huo Qingyuan.

Yunyi hurriedly put the jade cabbage back in its original place. Whether it was secure or not was not her concern. Then she looked around and found that there weren't many places to hide in this study. She looked up at the roof beams, where she could hide someone. However, it was a pity that she didn't have internal strength or the ability to use light footwork. She could use a grappling hook to get up there, but the sound of throwing a grappling hook would easily alert people outside.

Finally, with no other option, Yunyi crawled under the bed the moment the study door was pushed open.

In ancient times, people who had a study would place a bed in it so that they could rest if they got tired of reading. Of course, some people also did it for the convenience of having fun.

Huo Qingyuan was a military general, so his academic performance must have been mediocre, since there were hardly any books in his study. Instead, there was a large bed, which, judging from his lecherous nature, was clearly intended for a woman to sleep on when she came to visit.

However, to Yunyi's surprise, Huo Qingyuan did not come back alone late at night; he brought a woman with him. The two of them started making out as soon as they entered the house, and then they both fell onto the bed.

Yunyi: ...

Did I forget to check the almanac before going out today? I actually had to eavesdrop! How embarrassing...

Just as Yunyi decided to temporarily block out her five senses, the woman who had been moaning on the bed suddenly fell silent, and Huo Qingyuan got out of bed: "Mo Feng."

"My lord." Guard Mo Feng hurriedly appeared.

"What number is this?"

"Reporting to Your Excellency, this is the seventeenth."

"who is the next?"

"Master Huanxing said that two candidates have been identified. One is the second illegitimate daughter of the Guo family in Nancheng. Her birth chart is purely Yin, but her destiny is very auspicious and quite unique. She is the best candidate for the medicinal ingredient. The other is Xiao Jinxiu, the eldest daughter of the second branch of the Xiao family. She is currently exiled in Heicheng."

Huo Qingyuan frowned: "Let's start with Miss Guo. We need to find out her preferences first." As for the Xiao family... he really didn't dare to act rashly. After all, the Crown Prince had revealed so much evidence of his crimes, but in the end, the Emperor didn't kill him, he just crippled him. Nobody knows what the Emperor is thinking.

Therefore, even if the Xiao family members were exiled to Black City, he still needed to make careful plans.

The key is that these people must be willing to follow you. If there is any resistance, then the blood can't be used.

"Yes," Mo Feng replied.

"Send this to Daoist Huanxing."

"Yes." Mo Feng responded again, then carried the dead woman from the bed and left the study.

Yunyi, lying under the bed, didn't know whether to be happy or sad. She had only come to see what was going on with this commander, but she had discovered such a big secret instead.

While this secret could effectively threaten Huo Qingyuan, it could also be a deadly weapon.

She doesn't care about herself, or whether she's still with the Fang family or not, since she doesn't care about their lives. But now she has children and fellow villagers, so she has to think carefully about how to use this secret without getting herself into trouble.

Huo Qingyuan did not leave the study. Instead, he lit a lantern and opened the door to the secret room.

Yunyi, lying under the bed, could only watch as the antique shelf opposite her was moved away, revealing a tunnel. Huo Qingyuan then carried a lantern and went down through it, after which the antique shelf returned to its original state.

But then a loud crash was heard, and the jade cabbage fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.

The loud noise attracted the attention of the guards outside, but this was not a place that ordinary people could enter; they could only report to their leader.

When Mo Feng entered and saw the broken jade cabbage, his expression changed slightly. He knew that the jade cabbage was fixed to the antique shelf, and its fall meant that someone had broken the base. In other words, someone had been inside. He quickly knocked on the door of the secret room a few times.

Huo Qingyuan came out quickly: "What's wrong?"

"My lord, someone must have entered the study."

Huo Qingyuan's expression changed when he saw the broken jade cabbage: "When did this happen?"

Mo Feng shook his head: "I don't know." Then he lowered his head, acknowledging his oversight, "Please punish me, sir."

Huo Qingyuan took a deep breath: "Save the punishment for now." He paused, then added, "Take your men and search the entire mansion, and re-screen the people inside." It was incredibly frustrating to not even know when someone had visited his own residence.

"Yes." Mo Feng replied, and after tidying up the fragments of the jade cabbage, he turned and left.

Huo Qingyuan paced back and forth in the study a few times before finally leaving.

Yunyi listened quietly for a while, and only after confirming that the person had really left did she crawl out from under the bed. However, she didn't leave in a hurry, but instead went to the display shelf and stroked it. Finally, she discovered that if she moved the entire display shelf outward a little, it would turn on its own.

After checking the situation outside again and confirming that there was no one there, he slipped into the tunnel.

Because the walls inside were inlaid with luminous pearls, the light was dim, but it was still possible to see.

The tunnel wasn't long; below was a stone chamber. Because it was surrounded by ice, the moment you stepped inside, you felt a chill.

In the center of the stone chamber was a crystal coffin, inside which lay a woman who appeared to be dead. However, due to the crystal coffin and the ice, her body was perfectly preserved, and she looked as if she were asleep.

This reminded Yunyi of Huang Yaoshi from Jin Yong's novels, who kept his wife's body in a jade coffin for twenty years after her death.

Could this person also be Huo Qingyuan's wife?

She recalled the conversation she had overheard outside: today was the seventeenth person to die, the next one would be the second young lady of the Guo family, whose birth chart was purely Yin and suitable for medicinal ingredients, and there was also that so-called Master Huanxing... She was now 100% certain that this person was treating human life as worthless and engaging in crooked practices.

I reckon that Huanxing tricked Huo Qingyuan into believing that the blood of countless women with pure Yin energy could bring the dead back to life. That's why this bastard treats human life so carelessly.

After leaving the secret room, Yunyi rummaged through the desk drawer again and found two letters. Because of the poor lighting, she couldn't see what was written, but she could recognize the seal on them. She then put them in her bosom before leaving the study and departing from the Huo residence.