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Chapter 352 Rare Flower
Inside that huge black wooden box, there was a thick layer of black soil, and the smell of blood was coming from the soil.

On the thick black soil, rows of seedlings are planted neatly. Judging from their branches and leaves, they seem to be still a bit immature and have not yet grown. Occasionally, a few seedlings have just sprouted a small bud, with dark green sepals enclosing the slightly exposed moon-white petals.

The flower's stem is slender, and its leaves are long and curled. Although the color is very deep, it looks exceptionally translucent, as if it were carved from the finest jade.

Although Zhu Yu didn't know much about farming and planting, she had eaten things like leek sprouts and garlic sprouts.

Planting these seedlings in the underground dark room wasn't the end of it; they also had to be kept in boxes painted entirely black, with even the gaps at the box openings covered with a layer of black suede.

How can the leaves of these flowers be so lush and beautiful in such a dark and gloomy growing environment?

She had to admit that although she didn't know what this thing in front of her was, she could feel a sense of unease from the bottom of her heart.

Lu Qing clearly thought so too. He examined the seedlings with surprise, took out a handkerchief from his pocket, carefully dug up a small seedling with a flower bud from the corner of the box, along with the soil, wrapped it tightly in the handkerchief, and handed it to Fu Lu.

He took the talisman and carefully tucked it into his pocket.

Just then, they suddenly heard a faint sound in the distance, like someone talking. The sound was muffled and seemed to be quite far away, so it couldn't be heard clearly.

The three of them tensed up, quickly closed the wooden box, and tiptoed back the way they came as fast as they could.

The voices were right behind them, getting closer and closer. The three of them had to quicken their pace, but the passageway was narrow and they couldn't make any noise, so despite their efforts, their speed couldn't be described as very fast.

Zhu Yu's heart pounded like a drum; she didn't dare to even breathe, her heart was in her throat, and she walked quickly with her head down.

Fortunately, they were able to vaguely see the faint moonlight shining through the opening in the stone slab, and the voices behind them never got very close, as if they stopped some distance away.

Those people didn't seem to be trying to hide anything, nor did they try to keep their voices down. Their voices came from another part of the winding passageway, sounding muffled and particularly noisy.

The three of them finally returned to the exit below the small pond. Fu Lu first used his height advantage to climb up, and then turned around to pull Zhu Yu up.

Lu Qing supported Zhu Yu's waist with both hands and pushed her upwards as she leaped up. Zhu Yu then successfully grabbed Fu Lu's hand and was pulled up by him and Fu Wen together.

Lu Qing felt the sound seemed to be getting closer. Turning her head, she could vaguely see a faint light from a torch at the end of the long passageway, indicating that someone was moving in this direction.

He dared not delay any longer, quickly and lightly pushing off the stone wall beside him, nimbly climbing out of the cave entrance. With the fastest speed and gentlest movements, he placed the stone slab back in its original position, sealing the entrance once more, making it airtight. "Master, just now..."

Fu Lu was about to ask Lu Qing a question when Lu Qing stopped him with a gesture of his hand: "Restore the pond to its original state first. Everyone else, go upstairs and don't gather in the courtyard. After you two return the wooden buckets, keep an eye on the surroundings."

"Master, we understand!" Fu Lu nodded quickly, and without saying a word, he and Fu Wen began to pour bucket after bucket of water that they had just painstakingly scooped out back into the pond.

Seeing that the three of them had come up in a rather flustered and hurried manner, the others guessed that something had happened downstairs. At this moment, no one was so tactless as to ask any questions. They quickly followed Lu Qing's arrangement and moved to the second floor of the small building as soon as possible, leaving only the Fuwen and Fulu brothers busy in the courtyard.

Yan Shu followed Zhu Yu upstairs, sniffing as she walked, and gently tugged at Zhu Yu's sleeve from behind: "Hey, what did you do down there? Why do you have this weird smell... It's not exactly fishy, ​​it's not exactly stinky, it's just not very pleasant, not strong, but you can smell it."

You didn't have this strange smell on you before you went downstairs.

Zhu Yu was surprised that Yan Shu had such a keen sense of smell, not only noticing the strange smell on her body, but also describing it so accurately and clearly.

Upon hearing this, Lu Yan also sniffed, looking puzzled: "What's that smell? I can't smell anything?"

He spoke so naturally, after all, in his eyes, the two people in front of him were Lu Qing's advisors and retainers. The fact that he, the Third Prince, was willing to speak to them like this was because he was open-minded and did not care about status or airs.

Yan Shu didn't react much, because this kind of thing wasn't unusual in the Jie Kingdom. After all, the Jie people were known for their easygoing nature and lack of formalities. Putting aside the fact that she and Zhu Yu were now appearing as men, even if she were dressed as a woman, it wouldn't be considered a big deal in the Jie Kingdom.

On the contrary, Lu Zhang, who was following behind, had a somewhat awkward expression. At first, he seemed to feel that something was wrong, but later he couldn't help but secretly sniff to see if he could also smell the scent that Yan Shu had mentioned.

However, his sense of smell was clearly inherited from Lu Yan's; since Lu Yan couldn't smell anything, neither could he.

The group went upstairs and naturally gathered in the same room. Lu Qing gestured for Lu Yan to sit down at the table. Seeing his solemn expression, Lu Yan knew that he must have something important to say to him, so he readily sat down at the table.

“We found a dungeon beneath that tunnel, and the tax collector you asked Fulu to keep an eye out for is in there,” Lu Qing said to Lu Yan without beating around the bush. “However, he has been dead for several days. We found his body, but we don’t know what’s going on inside yet, so we haven’t moved it.”

There were several other corpses with him, perhaps... your tax collectors are among them.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Yan's eyes widened in shock, almost popping out of their sockets: "What?!"

"Brother, did you get a good look at the other people? Let me describe the appearances of the other tax collectors to you and this Chief Clerk Yu. Try to recall if they are the same people below."