That person quickly walked out from a cave in front. Under the phosphorescent glow, it was indeed Li Zhaoting—she hadn’t heard wrong.

Li Zhaoting saw her and frowned slightly. When his gaze fell on Aluo on her lap, his brow furrowed even tighter. He walked to Aluo’s side and knelt down, carefully examining her injuries.

Suzhen pulled at the corner of her mouth but still told him about Aluo’s condition. “Fortunately it’s not very high here. When she fell, her reaction must have been extremely quick—she likely protected her head with her hands. I’ve checked, and her forehead isn’t injured, but her body did hit the ground. Her back struck the stones and sand on the ground, so she’s inevitably suffered some, and her internal organs probably have some damage too, but it shouldn’t be too severe—”

“Shut up!”

Li Zhaoting interrupted with a heavy voice.

Fire rose in Suzhen’s heart. She wanted to throw the person at his face, but the other party was after all an injured person, and a woman at that. No matter how angry she was, she couldn’t be harsh with a girl.

Li Zhaoting examined her for a moment, then felt slightly relieved. He grasped Aluo’s ankle and set her broken bone. Aluo cried out in pain while unconscious. Li Zhaoting sighed silently, then tore off a piece of fabric to tightly bandage her fracture. He seemed to want to turn her body over to tend to the injuries on her back, but quickly stopped, took off his outer robe to cover her, and only then spoke again: “I know you’re afraid, but fear is useless. Rest for now and conserve your strength.”

“I’m not afraid.” Suzhen saw he had finished arranging everything and placed Aluo on the ground close to his position, replying coldly.

Of course, this statement wasn’t entirely honest.

Li Zhaoting glanced at her and said nothing more. His gaze fell on Aluo again. He seemed to want to move again but in the end only tucked his outer robe around her and placed his hand on her forehead to monitor her body temperature at all times.

His gaze held some complexity—both tender care and something indescribable.

Though Suzhen no longer had any love-hate entanglements with him, watching this still left her feeling uncomfortable.

She roughly understood the meaning of that look in his eyes.

Shuangcheng had suddenly become Aluo, become the woman Lian Yu loved most. How could he not be affected?

Before Aluo, she seemed to always be the loser—from Li Zhaoting to Lian Yu.

She suddenly wondered: if much later, when Lian Yu and the others found this place and discovered several corpses, what would be the first thing he’d do? Would he also hold her like Li Zhaoting was doing?

She took a deep breath and also tore off some fabric to roughly bandage the wound on her foot.

Li Zhaoting glanced at her but clearly had no intention of helping.

She cursed “bastard” in her heart—no consideration for old feelings, fellow fallen people at the ends of the earth. Then she got up and hopped along, checking for escape routes. That scene just now was truly motivating—she didn’t want to die here, together with these two people, together with the pile of withered bones on the ground!

“It’s useless.” From behind, Li Zhaoting had been specializing in dampening spirits for decades. “I’ve already looked. There are many caves, but they’re not deep. Not one leads out. Those bags over there contain moldy grain. These dead people have been here for some time too—their skeletal remains are scattered. If pieced together, there should be three people.”

“There’s a mechanism here. Unless someone above opens it, we simply can’t get up. What we can do now is wait for someone to rescue us.”

If this were before, Suzhen would definitely have rushed up to give enthusiastic praise—Young Master Li, you fell down but could still remain calm in crisis and figure out so many details, and would have felt that being alone like this was really quite nice. But at this moment, her heart was growing cold.

However, she absolutely trusted Li Zhaoting’s ability to handle affairs. If he said they couldn’t get out, then there was a very high probability they truly couldn’t get out.

The bone section beside her suddenly dimmed, and the surroundings were once again plunged into darkness.

She was startled, groping along based on memory, slowly pacing back to her original spot and sitting down. “You mean someone deliberately lured us into this trap?”

“Don’t you think so too?” In the pitch darkness, Li Zhaoting’s voice came faintly.

“I did think so, but having another person confirm it makes it less fun. People could really die.” Suzhen tugged at the corner of her mouth.

“What happened between you and her just now? How did you two end up together?” Li Zhaoting asked.

“I came back from Lian Xin’s place and found you all weren’t there. I was planning to leave, but as I walked, I suddenly realized what was wrong with that room, so I turned back.”

“Those chairs?”

“Mm. Everything in the room was casual. You also asked His Majesty—at that time the palace people moved out urgently and hastily. After all, death is an inauspicious matter. Afterward, no one would want to return to this room. Soon after, Lian Yu gained the Empress Dowager’s care and became a true prince. Though still young, having the room sealed wouldn’t be difficult. What we saw today in the room should be how it looked when Jade Consort died.”

“Some pillows and bedding on the kang weren’t taken. The women’s mirrors, combs, and rouge on the tables were mostly still there. It seems many people didn’t want to take things away, afraid of bad luck. Yet those chairs were arranged in a row, placed neatly and orderly in the room. In a room for seven or eight people, chairs and stools are for sitting. Unless they were tidied up, how could these chairs be so neat? But at that time it was chaotic with soldiers and horses—they barely had time to flee. Who would have the leisure to arrange them properly before leaving?”

“I wanted to come back and look. I didn’t expect to encounter Gu…”

“She seemed to also notice something wrong and returned to investigate under cover of night. But I don’t know what specific mechanism it was. Everything happened too fast. When she fell, I reached out to grab her, then was also pulled down.”

“Under the chair’s blue bricks there are gaps. Bricks can be lifted through the gaps, and the mechanism is under the bricks—it’s a copper ring. Once twisted, the bricks fall downward, the full length and width of several chairs. Anyone on top would fall down with them.” Li Zhaoting answered her question.

But Suzhen suddenly shook her head. “No, that’s not right. Where are my people from the Judicial Commissioner’s office? By logic, this trap couldn’t lure people. I left on business, but on your side, if there had been even two more people, no one would have been without rescue.”

“Weren’t your people called away by you?” Li Zhaoting said suddenly.

Suzhen was shocked. “What did you say?”

“So it really wasn’t you who sent someone to call them away.” Li Zhaoting sneered slightly.

“Someone used my name to send them away?” Suzhen’s fingers were trembling slightly.

“Not long after you left, a eunuch came and called them away, saying you had a place that needed their investigation. Originally they hadn’t entered the room anyway, afraid of disturbing the scene. Knowing I was here examining things, they split into two groups and followed along.”

“Someone has been secretly watching us from nearby all along,” Suzhen said. “This is good too. After so many years we were worried about lack of evidence, but the murderer, fearing we’d discover clues, has automatically appeared. That’s quite good indeed.”

“That’s assuming Judicial Commissioner Li can get back up.”

In the darkness, Li Zhaoting’s voice rose slightly, carrying a trace of mockery.

Suzhen’s heart itched with hatred. In this situation, couldn’t you be a bit kinder to me? We’re roommates after all, aren’t we?

Since both had started discussing the case, and they couldn’t get up now but could only wait for rescue, she simply chatted with him about the case. “Besides those chairs, did you notice anything else?”

“No.” Li Zhaoting responded very curtly. “This room left no evidence—only this hidden mechanism.”

“What do you think about this place? Is it somewhere the palace used to store things long ago, or…” Suzhen thought of the several skeletal remains sleeping around them and asked quietly, “Are they connected to Jade Consort’s death? What kind of people do you think these corpses were?”

“You have thoughts in your heart. Tell me what you think,” he said.

In the darkness, she couldn’t see him and he couldn’t see her, but Li Zhaoting seemed to see through her thoughts. Suzhen felt his pair of clear, bright eyes looking at her in the darkness, and couldn’t help feeling somewhat nervous. She had desperately hoped to gain his recognition before. Though that was long past, the two of them sitting and talking in such an environment was ultimately a strange thing.

This seemed to be the first time they had a “heart-to-heart” conversation in relatively equal circumstances—she no longer needed to please him.

“I’m thinking, if this is really related to Jade Consort’s case, then these people knew something back then, and the murderer killed them.”

“This place usually has no visitors at all. Even Lian Yu wouldn’t come—this is a place that would make him feel sentimental. The most dangerous place is the safest. After the case was temporarily closed, the murderer created a secret chamber below and threw them here.”

“Later, when Lian Yu became Crown Prince, he ordered this place sealed, so even fewer people would pay attention.”

“Even if someone did come in, they wouldn’t notice the chairs. Even if they noticed, they wouldn’t think much of it—they wouldn’t go knocking and searching brick by brick under the chairs to discover the mechanism.”

“But unexpectedly, many years later, His Majesty ordered this case reopened. This place saw daylight again. At that time, people left one after another—first Lian Yu, Prime Minister Yan and General Murong, then the Empress Dowager and Consort Jin. Later even you and the princess left. When I left, Princess Imperial seemed to have already departed too. The opportunity couldn’t be missed. This person knows your capabilities, knows your keen observation, and was certain you’d discover the mechanism. So they improvised, sent away my people, and tried to trap and kill you here first.”

“The next one might have been me.”

“Well said.”

Li Zhaoting’s voice came faintly—he rarely praised her. Suzhen couldn’t help but smile, then heard him say: “You don’t need to wait for next time—you delivered yourself, and even brought along a Gu Xiluo as a bonus.”

As he spoke, he suddenly paused and stood up abruptly, his reaction very sharp. “There’s a sound. Who’s there?”

“I’m hungry. My stomach’s rumbling.”

Suzhen stated honestly. After all, she no longer needed to maintain any image in front of him. However, with this, she probably became even more nothing in his heart.

He didn’t speak for a long while. Suzhen was puzzled when she suddenly heard a low, suppressed laughter coming from his direction.