The knocking sounds weren’t very loud, but falling on Zhu Wu’s and the man’s ears, they were no different from thunder.

Both men’s expressions changed instantly.

The man made a silencing gesture to Zhu Wu and immediately searched for the source of the sound.

Across the wall, Luo Sheng was somewhat uneasy.

What if the two people in the study couldn’t hear? Wouldn’t the knocking be in vain?

Of course, she couldn’t rule out that the two were composed and steady enough to hear the sounds but remain unperturbed.

She simply knocked twice more, then immediately retreated from the secret passage.

Staying was naturally impossible—she couldn’t even beat Zhu Wu, let alone with an unknown man of uncertain background present.

As the knocking sounds came again, Zhu Wu and the man located the bookshelf.

“The sound is coming from here.” The man’s tone was certain.

By now, there was no need for him to remain silent.

If the first sound could have been noise the other party accidentally made, the subsequent deliberate and unhurried knocking was clearly meant to alert them.

The other party did it on purpose!

Deliberately making sounds to let them know of a third person’s presence.

“There’s a hidden chamber here?” The man asked Zhu Wu with a grim expression.

Zhu Wu looked astonished: “Impossible. I checked after moving in—there’s no hidden chamber.”

The man pointed at the wall behind the bookshelf, his tone brooking no argument: “But the sound definitely came from here.”

The two exchanged glances and jointly moved the bookshelf aside.

“Uncle Xing, look—there’s no mechanism here, no secret door. Where would a hidden chamber come from?” As Zhu Wu spoke, he raised his hand and knocked on the wall.

But the resulting knocking sounds made both men frown in unison.

“Something’s wrong.” Zhu Wu reached out and knocked again.

The man had already realized: “Different from the knocking we just heard.”

He immediately knocked inch by inch along the wall, finally stopping at a certain spot near the bottom.

Knocking sounds rang out.

“Right here!” The man’s expression darkened further. “The sound from knocking here is different from other places—the wall is much thinner.”

This discovery made his heart plummet.

From this alone, one could see how well the other party understood human psychology.

With Zhu Wu’s caution, he would certainly have checked behind the bookshelf, using knocking on the wall to determine if a hidden chamber existed.

If the wall were only a thin layer, it could be detected.

But how many people would bend their knees to knock when checking walls?

Zhu Wu’s expression was even more unpleasant than the man’s. He pulled out a dagger from his waist and stabbed toward that spot.

The dagger easily penetrated.

Zhu Wu twisted his wrist, and the dagger carved out a hole.

Looking through the opening to the other side, inside was pitch black.

Zhu Wu’s face was tense as he continued using the dagger to dig at the wall. Soon he’d carved out a palm-sized area, and then he touched thicker wall bricks.

The man lit an oil lamp and held it up to look inside, seeing that it was a hidden chamber that could accommodate one person.

And the chamber was empty, with no sign of anyone.

Zhu Wu punched the wall with his fist: “So cunning—only this small section is a thin layer, while elsewhere it’s no different from a normal wall!”

“The purpose of this hidden chamber was for eavesdropping.” The man said coldly.

Zhu Wu was puzzled: “Since it was for eavesdropping, what purpose did the other party have in making noise?”

The man sneered: “Naturally to remind us that someone was eavesdropping here.”

“Is that person sick?” If someone were in the hidden chamber now, Zhu Wu would want to tear them limb from limb. “After alerting us, they ran away—is this playing games with people?”

This feeling was truly terrible.

The man strode outward: “Go look outside.”

Watching the man and Zhu Wu walk out the door one after the other, the Shi Yan brothers hiding in the courtyard exchanged glances.

Following Miss Luo’s instructions, they hadn’t approached at all to avoid alerting the other party. How was it that the other party seemed to have discovered something and run out?

Shi Yan winked at Shi Yan.

Had Second Brother been exposed?

Shi Yan gave Shi Yan a cold look, thinking to himself that Third Brother hadn’t been beaten in a while—not only had his physique swelled, but his attitude had swelled too.

The man stood in the courtyard looking around in all directions and cupped his fists: “May I ask what exalted personage this is? Could you show yourself?”

Shi Yan and Shi Yan looked at each other in dismay.

They’d really been exposed?

Thinking of Luo Sheng’s instructions, neither brother moved.

Even if exposed, they couldn’t make a sound unless the other party walked right up to them.

What answered the man was only the rustling sound of wind blowing through branches and leaves.

At this moment, knocking sounds came from the gate.

The man’s and Zhu Wu’s expressions changed instantly as they both looked toward the courtyard gate.

Someone had come.

After pondering for a moment, Zhu Wu strode toward the gate: “I’ll go see who exactly it is!”

He had deliberately kept his distance from the tavern people all along, so at this time it couldn’t possibly be someone from the tavern looking for him.

The person coming to the door was perhaps the person who had disappeared from the study’s hidden chamber.

That mysterious person who had viciously played him for a fool.

Since they’d delivered themselves to the door, he shouldn’t be blamed for being impolite. He didn’t believe that even teaming up with Uncle Xing, they couldn’t capture that person.

The shock of having his secret discovered transformed into rage and killing intent. Zhu Wu opened the courtyard gate.

The young woman standing outside the gate curved her lips in a light smile at Zhu Wu.

Zhu Wu was startled, quickly concealing his reaction, asking with some surprise: “Master, why have you come?”

“I’ve come to find Accountant Zhu about some matters.”

Zhu Wu’s heart was filled with shock and suspicion, momentarily forgetting to react.

Luo Sheng smiled: “What, Accountant Zhu won’t invite me in?”

Only then did Zhu Wu return to his senses, hastily stepping aside: “Master, please enter.”

As Luo Sheng walked in, she saw the man whose voice she’d only heard before.

He appeared to be around fifty, tall in stature, with spirited eyes. At this moment, he was looking over expressionlessly.

Zhu Wu hastily introduced: “This is a distant uncle of mine who came to the capital today to seek my help. Uncle Xing, this is our tavern’s master.”

Uncle Xing cupped his fists toward Luo Sheng.

Luo Sheng nodded in return, then suddenly called out: “Shi Yan—”

The Shi Yan brothers immediately revealed themselves, standing one on each side guarding Luo Sheng.

Zhu Wu’s gaze tightened.

Miss Luo had knocked and entered through the gate, true, but the Shi Yan brothers had been hiding in the courtyard.

What did this mean?

Zhu Wu stared hard at Luo Sheng and asked: “Master, you—”

Luo Sheng smiled slightly: “Accountant Zhu, didn’t you just hear the wall-knocking sounds?”

A cold light flashed in Zhu Wu’s eyes.

Yet the young woman before him still maintained her calm and breezy demeanor: “I was the one who knocked.”

As her words fell, Zhu Wu immediately struck toward Luo Sheng’s throat.

Shi Yan moved lightning-fast, engaging him in combat.

Uncle Xing didn’t move.

Shi Yan didn’t move either.

The two men watched each other, swords drawn and bows bent.

Only Luo Sheng showed not the slightest sign of tension or fear. After coldly observing Shi Yan and Zhu Wu fight for a while, she smiled: “Accountant Zhu, you and Shi Yan are evenly matched. Shi Yan’s skills are considerably stronger than Shi Yan’s, and probably won’t be too far inferior to your uncle’s. Moreover, there are many more of my people outside the courtyard. Rather than this meaningless fighting, why not stop and have a chat? What do you think?”

Shi Yan, who was currently engaged with Zhu Wu: “…”

He didn’t know what Zhu Wu thought, but he was very displeased.

Second Brother was much stronger than him?

Where did this rumor come from!

The young guard angrily threw a punch, striking hard on Zhu Wu’s shoulder.