Chapter 182: 169 Break, Part 1

“Um, Lu Meisha from the Commerce Bureau went in with the key… what should we do?”

Opposite Zhang Rongfang’s courtyard, a couple selling homemade tofu looked a bit lost.

If it were anyone else, they could secretly intervene. But… this was Lu Meisha…

As spiritual guardians, they were among the few who knew Zhang Rongfang’s true identity.

They were there to protect the safety of the courtyard at all times.

But now, it was the master’s relative who entered…

“Don’t rush, report back immediately and let the master decide for himself. This is the master’s family affair, it’s not our place to make decisions,” the woman said softly while scooping tofu.

“That’s all we can do…” the man sighed.

On the other side, Lu Meisha quickly closed the courtyard door behind her and looked around.

The first thing that caught her eye was the rows of nearly broken wooden stakes.

Wooden stakes were everywhere, almost everyone who practiced martial arts had them.

Lu Meisha only glanced briefly before moving on; her purpose was to find Zhang Rongfang’s real secret.

She wasn’t there to waste time on these ordinary stakes.

Passing through the courtyard, she came to the door of the inner room and pushed it open with force.

Suddenly, a flash of red seemed to pass before her eyes.

“Hmm? What was that!?”

Lu Meisha looked around cautiously.

The room was unusually tidy, and some weapons wrapped in cloth strips hung on the walls.

There were swords, spears, and wheels of all kinds.

A large rosewood table was set with standard stationery supplies.

A light brown bamboo screen engraved with the Qingjing Scripture divided the table into two parts.

The screen served as a small bookend used on desks to block light when it’s too strong, and occasionally for decoration.

To the left, a wooden storage box contained seven or eight seals of various sizes.

Lu Meisha stepped forward, picked one up, and looked at it; she didn’t recognize the characters engraved on the base of the seal.

Just then, she heard a faint pecking sound.

Looking up, she immediately saw a red feather tail bobbing above the screen.

“A bird?” Lu Meisha’s heart stirred, and she slowly approached.

Suddenly, she reached out and grabbed the screen.

But there was nothing behind it.

Scanning the desktop in confusion, all she could see were shells of devoured grains.

But she couldn’t find the owner of the red feather she had just seen.

“Strange….” She squinted her eyes, a hint of killing intent flashed in them.

With a swift motion, she looked at the back of the screen in her hand.

A little red bird was perched there, staring back at her with wide eyes.

In an instant, Lu Meisha noticed something seemed to be tied to the little red bird’s leg.

Reaching out in a flash, she tried to grab it.

Unfortunately, her hand grasped nothing but air.

She lost her balance in the process and crashed into the corner of the table….

Bang.

Lu Meisha cried out in pain, clutching her face as she fell to the ground.

“My face!”

She got up, covering her face, and stared hard at the little red bird.

The little red bird’s gem-like eyes looked calmly at her, meeting her gaze.

The strong and the weak were clear at a glance.

“Haha…. I’m bleeding….” Lu Meisha released her hand and looked at the bit of blood on her fingers, her face suddenly turned grim.

Poof!

She slapped towards the little red bird fiercely.

But again, she missed.

Her palm landed heavily on the table, making a clear popping sound.

“Ow!” Her hand hurt so much….

Lu Meisha watched the little red bird hop swiftly to her right, anger nearly set her eyes on fire.

“I don’t believe it!”

She calmed herself, took a deep breath, and then launched a series of rapid hand slaps.

Pa pa pa pa pa!

She swore her hands had never felt so nimble since birth.

Like a drumstick tapping rhythm or a pebble skipping on water, they danced nimbly across the tabletop.

But alas….

At the critical moment, the little red bird would gently shift, evading her strikes.

Left, right, left, right, left, left, left, left, left…. Poof!

Lu Meisha’s hand landed hard on the edge of a paper knife.

Her eyes bulged, her upper body arched in pain, her mouth opened as if to scream, but she suddenly remembered she wasn’t at home and managed to stifle it.

Retracting her hand, her right palm now bore a shallow cut, though mostly it was bruised.

Thankfully, the paper knife was encased in a protective wooden sheath.

“I can’t use this hand….” Lu Meisha was trembling with rage, never having felt so furious.

She glared intently at Xiaohong, suddenly pointing with her uninjured left hand at it.

“You’re doomed! Just wait, I’ll catch you, steam you, and fry you!!”

“Chirp chirp,” Xiaohong called out blankly twice.

Whoosh!

Lu Meisha was beyond furious, feeling like an idiot for not being able to catch even a bird!

So she took off her coat, spread it open, and lunged forward to cover it!

Bang!

Xiaohong made a calm leap, gently tapping her head, landing on the door frame behind her.

It then looked down at the foolish human who had bumped into the hard rosewood table.

Lu Meisha lifted her head from the table, watching Xiaohong fly off again, feeling near collapse.

She bunched up her clothing and hurled it at Xiaohong, but unfortunately, before the clothes even reached, Xiaohong had flown outside, perching on a branch in the outer courtyard.

“Die!!” Lu Meisha crashed out, wildly swinging her clothes horizontally, using all her strength to throw them out.

Unfortunately, she didn’t notice the threshold underfoot.

The clothes spun halfway, dropping like a sheer cliff.

A muffled thud.

Lu Meisha fell face down on the ground.

At this moment, the Little Red Bird on the tree, and Lu Meisha on the ground.

The aura of the strong and the whimper of the weak were apparent…

The little ruby-like eyes of the bird showed no emotion, only calmness.

This kind of mischief, in the special training it underwent, wouldn’t even count as post-meal entertainment.

It looked uninterested at the human struggling to get up, preened its tail feathers with its beak, and flew away from here.

Lu Meisha got up, with her nose bleeding from the fall, almost unable to stop.

She quickly stuffed a handkerchief tightly into her nostrils.

Turning back, she looked at the already messy room, knowing she definitely couldn’t let Zhang Rongfang discover she had sneaked in.

Otherwise, she would have no face to mingle in the mansion in the future.

So she hurriedly rushed in, bearing the pain in her hand, face, and nose, quickly tidying up the various items, putting them back in their original places.

In the process of tidying, she swiftly began her own inspection and search.

Whoosh.

A drawer of the desk was pulled open.

Inside was empty, with some envelopes that appeared quite confidential at a glance.

Lu Meisha instantly felt a chill, knowing she finally found the key.

She reached out, picked up an envelope, opened the torn mouth, and pulled out the letter.

Unfolding the paper, a line of words clearly appeared.

Lu Meisha felt excited, knowing her recent efforts weren’t in vain, she hurriedly focused her eyes.

’This letter is poisonous.’

Bang.

She shuddered, the note in her hand instantly fluttered out, landing on the tabletop.

Soon, she felt her hand starting to itch and hurt, the part that touched the paper began to turn purple and swell.

A peculiar itch even extended from her fingers to her palm, wrist….

Lu Meisha was instantly ice-cold, panicking frantically inside.

’How could there be poison in Zhang Rongfang’s room on the letter paper!!?’

Her face turned pale suddenly, feeling the rapidly moving itch and pain on her hands, at that moment panicked and helpless, completely clueless on what to do.

Suddenly, she noticed the back of the letter paper she had dropped still had writing!

’The antidote is in the third drawer.’

Lu Meisha’s heart surged with a flame of hope, quickly pulling open the third drawer.

Inside the drawer was another letter.

Her heart flustered, but she still picked up the envelope, removed the paper from the torn opening.

The letter had a single line of text.

’The antidote is in the chamber pot at the foot of the bed.’

“…” Lu Meisha’s charming face instantly turned red.

But her hands were increasingly itchy and painful, she couldn’t care much, turned and ran towards the foot of the bed.

Quickly, she found the chamber pot there.

Fortunately, there was nothing inside, not smelly.

The chamber pot had a piece of paper in it.

Lu Meisha quickly picked up the paper and unfolded it.

Only to see it had a single word on it: ’Lick’.

“…”

In an instant, Lu Meisha’s face turned green.

She looked at the chamber pot, then looked at the handwriting on the paper. Her body began to tremble with anger, her chest faintly heavy.

Just as she was about to crumple the paper, she suddenly discovered there was another sentence on the back.

’Just joking, the antidote is the water in the washstand on the desk, drink it.’

Lu Meisha finally let out a breath, quickly dashed to the desk, grabbed the washstand.

This tool is used to contain water for grinding ink when writing, the water inside was clear and very clean.

Lu Meisha couldn’t care much, picked it up and drank with her head up.

*

*

*

At dusk, Zhang Rongfang opened the yard gate, immediately becoming aware that someone had been in his house.

Entered, closed the door, turned and took a report stuffed in by Golden Wing Pavilion guards from a hidden corner gap in the wall.

Unfolded and looked at the paper, Zhang Rongfang’s expression unchanged, he casually crushed it and threw it into the burning charcoal brazier in the corner.

Entering the room, he looked at the setup that seemed the same as before he left, silently chuckled.

He was too familiar with this place, living here every day, able to keenly sense any slight changes.

Just like now, the screen on the desk moved slightly in position.

The handle of the drawer changed orientation.

The chamber pot at the foot of the bed indeed had been moved. Seems like the little trap he previously set had been triggered.

Chirp.

The Little Red Bird flew in from the outside window, landed on his shoulder.

Removed the bamboo tube, after feeding it some food and water, Zhang Rongfang finally had the time to check the intelligence in the tube.

The intelligence was about Shadows in the Forest.

Internally within Golden Wing Pavilion, under Bao Ning’s leadership, combined with the abilities of newly joined members. Quickly, a lot of related information was discovered.

Picked up a magnifying glass, Zhang Rongfang meticulously read through the content bit by bit.

As for Lu Meisha sneaking into his courtyard to check, that wasn’t anything significant.

Since Jin Xiu’s move last time, Zhang Rongfang had laid down some prank traps around his residence.

Just like the poison Lu Meisha fell for, it was actually an itchy powder that could make people itch all over, the effect only lasted for a day and night.

This was merely a small punishment for the thief.

Zhang Rongfang had long transferred anything of value in this room to hidden compartments in the walls.

Moreover, without the special key he carried, the hidden compartments couldn’t be opened either.

Golden Wing Pavilion was specialized in this sort of thing, setting up such an arrangement was a piece of cake.

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep