“Why not?” Fu Miaoxue opened her eyes wide and asked.

Du Lai answered: “I heard from the servants that the Fu family’s treasure vault is on the third floor. Anyone who goes near it without permission gets… dealt with. There was once a servant whose cat ran off. She chased it up to the third floor and never came back down again.”

At that, Du Lai gave a small smile. “Miss, I’d like to keep living a while longer, so I’ll be giving the third floor a pass.”

“Why didn’t she come back down? Did she die and turn into a ghost?” Fu Miaoxue clicked her tongue in amazement. “I didn’t realize my home had such entertaining rumors. Are there more?”

“Oh, yes.” Du Lai continued, “I also heard that Old Mr. Fu keeps the mummy of an Egyptian pharaoh in the treasure vault, and every night after two in the morning, strange sounds drift down from the third floor — the pharaoh scratching at his own coffin.”

“Hahaha! A mummy!” Fu Miaoxue doubled over with laughter. “What nonsense — how could my grandfather possibly keep a corpse? He does collect burial relics, but there’s definitely no mummy… Oh, wait. I know what it is. Those antique suits of armor, right? When I was little, Grandfather used to frighten me, pretending the armor was haunted~”

Du Lai smiled. “Perhaps so. It’s all just hearsay — not to be taken seriously.”

“Exactly.” Fu Miaoxue said. “There’s no treasure vault on the third floor at all. I live on the third floor. From now on, you’ll be my personal attendant on door duty.”

“As you command, Miss.” Du Lai bowed.

“However…” Fu Miaoxue gave a mysterious smile and continued, “there is somewhere you genuinely shouldn’t go — for fear of your life.”

Du Lai humbly asked: “Where might that be?”

“The room at the far end of the east side of the second floor.” Fu Miaoxue narrowed her eyes slightly, and her smile dimmed a fraction. “Grandfather forbids anyone from going near it — even me. I’m told there are deadly mechanisms inside. Don’t be foolish enough to make that mistake.”

Du Lai nodded compliantly. “Since Miss says not to go, I naturally won’t.”

A look of satisfaction spread across Fu Miaoxue’s face. “Good. Now then — do a few more tricks to entertain me. I have to go to my evening lesson soon.”

……

From her spot in the distance, Bai Youwei was mulling things over. If there’s nothing to hide in that room, why on earth would it have mechanisms installed — deadly ones, at that?

The more heavily something is guarded, the more important what’s inside must be.

Could it be that the treasure vault Du Lai mentioned isn’t on the third floor at all — but in that second-floor room? …Or perhaps the room connects to a hidden passage leading to it?

She furrowed her brow and glanced at Fu Miaoxue and Du Lai.

Du Lai had moved on to coin tricks, and even something so small was enough to make the young miss throw her head back laughing.

Bai Youwei thought for a moment, then rose and left the garden.

She had no particular interest in gold and jewels, but Du Lai’s behavior just now had clearly been an attempt to pry information out of the young miss. So she needed to understand exactly what the treasure vault was — and whether the reason Fu Miaoxue was stuck in this loop might have something to do with it.

……

Bai Youwei moved through the estate without encountering a single obstacle.

The “friend” identity opened every door — every servant she passed treated her with the utmost deference.

She walked through the main hall, took the stairs to the second floor, then made her way along the east corridor.

On the first floor, a servant stood watch every few meters. On the second floor, there wasn’t a single person in sight. The corridor was completely empty. Afternoon light poured silently through the windows, gilding the ivory windowsills in warm gold.

As she drew close to the end of the hall, Bai Youwei slowed her steps, walking while surveying her surroundings.

Nothing here looks like there are mechanisms nearby.

Are they inside the room?

She reached the door and tried the handle, but it was locked. There was a faint strange smell drifting through the air — something like the animal smell of a zoo enclosure.

Bai Youwei pressed her ear against the door panel and listened.

Huff… huff…

Her feelings were complicated.

She couldn’t say for certain whether there was a treasure vault inside. But if Du Lai were reckless enough to pry this door open, she was certain he’d be torn to pieces.

That Fu Miaoxue…

She never changes her twisted little habits.