Qin Fei was stunned for a good while before he reacted, his face flushing red as he glared at Yan Qiu.

“What nonsense are you spouting? I just think of her as a little sister! And… and what did you just say?”

Was the Ninth Master especially fond of Jiu’er? How could that be? He hadn’t noticed anything particularly intimate between the Ninth Master and Jiu’er!

“Hey! Yan Qiu, how did you figure that out? Is it true or not?”

Yan Qiu had already stopped paying attention to him. He walked with the professor and the others to the entrance of the mausoleum, still studying the footprints on the ground.

There weren’t many footprints, as if someone had cleaned them up, but the cleanup had been sloppy, done without much care.

But hadn’t there been several groups of people here?

Some old, some new — how could it be just one person?

“They didn’t all come at the same time. This person has already been here several times.”

Jiu’er had walked up beside him without him noticing. She glanced down at the footprints, then continued walking ahead.

“So it’s the same person, at different times? He’s come by more than once?” Yan Qiu caught up with her.

Jiu’er ignored him again.

Still, Yan Qiu was gradually picking up on a small pattern in Jiu’er’s temperament: when you doubted her, she couldn’t be bothered to explain. When you guessed her thoughts correctly, she also wouldn’t bother speaking — because you were right.

So was he right this time?

That person had come more than once! If it was only one person, could it be that they weren’t part of a tomb-robbing organization?

Of course, Zhen Jiu’er certainly couldn’t give him that answer right now, so Yan Qiu didn’t plan on asking her.

“Miss Zhen, could you teach me how to tell if footprints belong to the same person? Is it the shoe prints? But the footprints have been cleaned up like this, the shoe prints aren’t clear either — how am I supposed to tell?”

“Also, how do you know he came at different times? What if the shoe prints are identical, then…”

“Don’t ask me. I don’t want to talk about it.” She simply didn’t feel like teaching him right now, so there was no point wasting each other’s time.

Yan Qiu rubbed his nose again. “Miss Zhen, are you still angry? Last night I wasn’t trying to test you on purpose, it’s just…”

Zhen Jiu’er turned back and shot him a withering look, as if she were looking at an idiot.

Yan Qiu gave an awkward cough, quite embarrassed. “Fine, last night I really was trying to test you. But I don’t suspect you anymore now. Can I be your friend, like Qin Fei is?”

This little girl wasn’t just interesting — she was also quite knowledgeable.

He, Yan Qiu, had decided he was going to be her friend!

Unfortunately, the girl truly had no interest in acknowledging him at all. “No.”

“…” Sigh, how could she be so unwilling to give him face! Yan Qiu put on a mournful face. “Will an apology not do?”

She still ignored him.

“Ninth Master, the entrance is blocked by a large stone. I suspect the ancients built some kind of mechanism here — this door would be very difficult to open by human strength alone.”

Seeing Ji Mingyu wheeling Lu Beicheng over, Xiao Chengyuan immediately went to greet him and report on the situation.

“Miss Zhen said someone had come here before. By my estimate, he must have been blocked by this stone door as well.”

Professor Xiao walked over behind him, his expression as odd as it had been the previous night — clearly not in a good mood.

“Ninth Master, I’m studying the mechanism on this door. Give me some time.” Professor Xiao’s tone was somewhat heavy.

Xiao Chengyuan said with a smile, “The stone door has stood for over a thousand years. Even if there is some mechanism, it’s likely long jammed and will need to be forced open by hand.” So, with just the few of them, getting in right now was, essentially, impossible!