Joy of Life: Me, the Second Prince? Summon Yuan Tiangang!

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The Empress Dowager's bedroom!

Fan Xian cursed inwardly, wondering how he had ended up in this ancestor's territory in such a panic.

The Empress Dowager is the most respected woman in the entire Qing Kingdom's palace, and the guards here are definitely the most elite in the palace.

Just as he was about to quietly retreat, a series of rapid footsteps and the sound of armor clashing suddenly came from afar.

"Quickly! There's movement at Guangxin Palace! Increase patrols; we absolutely cannot let the assassins disturb the Empress Dowager!"

Fan Xian felt a chill run down his spine. It seemed that his movements at Guangxin Palace had revealed some clues.

At this point, the outer defenses had tightened, and if they forced their way in, they would inevitably be exposed to the public eye.

The most dangerous place is often the safest place.

Fan Xian glanced at the silent Han Guang Palace, gritted his teeth, and with a flash, taking advantage of the moment when a patrol of guards was changing shifts, he leaped over the high wall of Han Guang Palace like a night owl and silently landed in the shadows of the courtyard.

The Hanguang Palace was quiet, with only a few dim palace lanterns swaying in the night breeze. The Empress Dowager was old and a very light sleeper, so even the palace maids and eunuchs around her bedchamber dared not breathe loudly.

Fan Xian followed the wall and found the back window of the Empress Dowager's bedroom. The window was not closed tightly, leaving a small gap for ventilation.

He gently pushed open the window and drifted in like a wisp of smoke.

The bedchamber was filled with a strong, calming incense and the musty scent of time. Behind layers of bright yellow gauze curtains, the Empress Dowager's slightly heavy and labored breathing could be faintly heard.

Fan Xian dared not be careless in the slightest. He tiptoed behind a huge mahogany screen and hid. His eyes scanned the dimly lit bedchamber, trying to find a secluded corner where he could hide until dawn.

Suddenly, his gaze was drawn to a sandalwood shrine enshrined in the corner of the bedroom.

A lamp burned eternally in front of the shrine, its faint light illuminating a gold brick beneath it.

Fan Xian keenly noticed that the gold brick seemed to be slightly darker in color than the surrounding bricks, and that there was an extremely fine crack at the edge.

This is an intuition, an intuition cultivated through long periods of walking on the edge of life and death.

Fan Xian glanced at the Empress Dowager sleeping soundly behind the gauze curtain, and confirming that she showed no signs of waking up, he silently slid to the Buddhist shrine like a ghost.

He crouched down, extended two fingers, gently gripped the edge of the slightly darker gold brick, and then slowly applied pressure.

The gold brick was not as heavy as expected; it was pulled out very smoothly.

Below the gold brick is a square hidden compartment.

There were no gold or silver treasures in the hidden compartment, nor any peerless secret manuals, only a small object wrapped in bright yellow silk.

Fan Xian's heart skipped a beat for no apparent reason. He had a premonition that the secret the Empress Dowager had hidden beneath the Buddhist shrine in her bedroom was definitely no small matter.

He carefully untied the silk, and inside lay a key with an extremely strange shape.

The key was completely black, made of some unknown metal, and felt icy cold and unusually heavy to the touch.

Its shape is not the traditional tooth shape, but is covered with extremely complex grooves and protrusions, like a precision mechanical part, full of a certain industrial aesthetic that does not belong to this era.

The moment Fan Xian saw the key, it was as if a bolt of lightning struck his mind, leaving him frozen in place.

key!

The key to that black box!

Fan Xian never dreamed that he would find the key under the Empress Dowager's bed on this night of unexpected twists and turns!

His hand holding the key trembled slightly. This key was not just a tool to open the box; it was a secret connecting him to his mother, Ye Qingmei, whom he had never met. What exactly had she left in that box?

Fan Xian took a deep breath, forcibly suppressing the turbulent emotions churning within him.

He hid the key on his person and restored the gold brick to its original state.

Tonight's adventure has already exceeded expectations. Staying here would risk exposure at any moment.

Fan Xian glanced at the sleeping Empress Dowager one last time, then turned and quietly left Hanguang Palace along the same route.

……

At the same time.

The Second Prince's residence, study.

Li Chengze remained seated cross-legged on the soft couch, a half-finished chess game laid out on the table in front of him.

He held a black piece in his hand, hesitating to place it.

The study door opened silently by itself, without any wind.

A chilling wind, carrying a heavy, bloody stench, blew in, causing the candlelight in the study to flicker violently, as if it might go out at any moment.

An old eunuch, dressed in a bright red python robe and with a full head of white hair, appeared in the center of the study like a ghost.

His face was pale and effeminate, and his eyes gleamed with a venomous light.

His hands were tucked into his wide sleeves, and several blood-red threads could be faintly seen winding and moving around his fingertips, as if they were alive.

"You've arrived." Li Chengze didn't look up, but simply placed a black chess piece gently on the board. "How is the situation in the palace?"

Han Diaosi bowed slightly, his voice shrill and piercing, as if fingernails were scraping against glass: "Your Highness, the little mouse has successfully crawled inside."

"Oh?" Li Chengze finally looked up, a hint of interest flashing in his eyes. "Where did he go?"

"Guangxin Palace." Han Diaosi's lips curled into a cruel sneer. "He stayed in the Princess's study for a while and was almost discovered by the shadow guard beside the Princess. But this kid is skilled in light footwork and extremely cunning, and he actually managed to escape."

"We couldn't find anything useful with my aunt. Although she's crazy, she's not stupid. She wouldn't keep truly fatal leverage around. And then what happened?"

"Later..." A strange light flashed in Han Diaosi's eyes, "He panicked and fled from the Imperial Guards' search, sneaking into the Empress Dowager's Hanguang Palace."

"He went in? And then, did he not alert the Empress Dowager?"

"No, this servant has been secretly blocking the Empress Dowager's senses using the secret technique of 'Red Silk Guide'. Until just now..." Han Diaosi paused, seemingly admiring Li Chengze's expression, and then said, word by word, "I watched him take that black key from under the Buddhist altar in the Empress Dowager's bedroom."

"Snapped!"

Li Chengze put the chess piece back into place, a smile appearing on his face.

"Alright, Han Diaosi, it's getting late. You should go back now, or you'll be discovered."

"Yes."

"Your Highness, why did you guide Fan Xian to obtain that key?" Zhao Gao emerged from the shadows and asked in confusion.

"Because I want that Barrett too."

A smile appeared on Li Chengze's face.

"Zhao Gao, keep a close eye on Fan Xian this time. Don't let him slip away with my Barrett again."

"It is Your Highness."