The night was clear with the moon hanging high. Su Muqing stayed up late at Fengyi Palace, talking with the Emperor and Empress until midnight. Only after they had both retired for the night did she change into black night-wear, preparing to sneak out of the palace to enact her plan.
However, as soon as she pushed open the window, she saw a figure dressed in black flying in from outside. It was Lu Yuzhi, who should have been at the Prince Regent's mansion! If it weren't for his distinctive silver hair, Su Muqing would have definitely attacked him.
It turned out that when Ke Biqing had arrived in the evening, Lu Yuzhi, seeing Su Muqing's thoughtful expression, guessed that someone would definitely take action before leaving. So, he changed into his clothes early and hid in a large tree outside Huaxia Palace.
Su Muqing looked at the person who had suddenly appeared, completely bewildered. She circled Lu Yuzhi a few times, constantly scrutinizing him. "Why do you always guess so accurately? Anything I want to do escapes your notice."
"Because I want to do the same, so even if you didn't think of it, I would come to remind you," Lu Yuzhi said, wrapping his silver-white hair with a black headscarf.
Su Muqing then nodded in relief, realizing they had thought of the same thing. She had almost thought that after Lu Yuzhi's poison was cured, he might have unlocked some skill to read people's minds.
Otherwise, how could it be that every time she wanted to do something mischievous or go somewhere, Brother Lu would always be waiting for her at the inevitable path?
Su Muqing thought of something, and her body couldn't help but tremble. If there was truly someone beside her who knew exactly what she was thinking, it would be too terrifying.
What if one day she was recalling those intimate moments of kissing and hugging with Brother Lu, and the person himself saw it? How embarrassing would that be!
Seeing Su Muqing nod, then glance around furtively, Lu Yuzhi quietly leaned close to her ear and whispered, "Afraid I'll see through your thoughts? Or are you thinking about something private that you don't want me to know."
His deep, pleasant voice sounded in her ear, and a warm, moist breath sprayed against her earlobe. Su Muqing shivered all over and immediately jumped far away.
Before she could even hear Lu Yuzhi's words clearly, she blushingly retorted, "What private things was I thinking about? I didn't want to kiss you... Pfft, what am I saying! Why did you suddenly get so close to me? You scared me into talking nonsense!"
As soon as Su Muqing finished speaking, she cried out in her heart. Oh no! She had misspoke again. She forcibly found a way to save face, and then, under Lu Yuzhi's meaningful gaze, she blushed and leaped out of the window.
It's over, it's over! This time it's truly utterly embarrassing! Next time, she must listen carefully to what others say before speaking, otherwise, the more she speaks, the more she'll say wrong.
She had indeed been thinking about those things, no wonder her face was so red; it must have been embarrassment! How interesting...
Lu Yuzhi watched her fleeing back, couldn't help but smile and shake his head, then quickly put on his mask and flew out the window, chasing in Su Muqing's direction.
They moved through the imperial palace rooftops undetected, and in the time it took an incense stick to burn, they had flown out of the palace grounds.
The two continued to move in the dark towards Dongrong Avenue, the residential area of the nobles of the Tianzhao Kingdom, where basically all the princes, nobles, and officials of the first rank and above resided.
Originally, the Emperor had also wanted to choose a princess's mansion for Su Muqing on Dongrong Avenue, but all the existing large courtyards there were already occupied, and the temporarily vacant courtyards were too small to meet the specifications of a princess's mansion. Rebuilding would also take too long.
So, the Emperor settled for a compromise, preparing to renovate a six-courtyard residence on Xirong Avenue to serve as the princess's mansion. He had even wanted to find an auspicious date for her to see if she liked it, but now she didn't even have time to take a look before leaving.
After flying for a stretch along Dongrong Avenue, the two finally saw many soldiers patrolling around one of the large courtyards, and it was heavily guarded. It seemed this was the Ping Wang Mansion they were looking for.
There were too many guards around, even on the rooftops of the outer perimeter. Su Muqing asked Lu Yuzhi to stop at a distance, then brought him into the space.
Then, Su Muqing, guided by the space detector, carefully avoided the surveillance and finally landed on the rooftop of the main courtyard, before releasing Lu Yuzhi from the space.
There was hardly any light in the courtyard; it seemed they had all gone to rest. Lu Yuzhi put his arm around Su Muqing's waist, and then the two silently landed in the main courtyard.
Although the main courtyard was not brightly lit, many candles were lit. What puzzled Su Muqing the most was that after they had wandered around the main courtyard a few times, they hadn't seen a single night watchman. The space detector showed only two red dots in the master bedroom, and the rest were the two small hearts representing them.
Could it be because the mansion had fallen into decline, and the maids and servants were all in fear for their lives, so their service was not as diligent as before? But there shouldn't be no one in sight!
Just then, Lu Yuzhi faintly heard a sound from the master bedroom. The two exchanged glances, then gently pushed the door. To their surprise, the door wasn't even locked, and they walked in so openly...
This was, after all, a respectable princely mansion; their vigilance was too low! These people were really strange.
But after they entered, they realized the strangeness was yet to come!
Looking at the intricately carved bed that was constantly shaking in front of them, and listening to the intermittent groans coming from inside, Su Muqing's toes curled up in embarrassment, clutching the insole of her shoe, afraid of being stunned by the scene before her.
These sounds... she had heard these sounds too much the day before yesterday, so they were all too familiar. It was clearly the Ping Wang Consort, who had only been a widow for a day and a night!
That's not right! She had been a widow since last night, so how could the bed still be shaking? Could it be... a ghost?
Thinking that there was a good show to watch, Su Muqing couldn't help but get excited. She tiptoed towards the bedside, lifted a corner of the light veil with her finger to peek inside. However, before she could see anything, her eyes and mouth were covered by the man behind her, and she was dragged behind the screen.
Oh my goodness!
This sudden movement made Su Muqing's little heart pound like a drum, almost leaping out of her mouth. She struggled cautiously for a long time, but saw nothing! She was almost scared to death by Lu Yuzhi!
Su Muqing turned to look at the person behind her, her eyes filled with physiological tears conveying her protest. After protesting, her gaze turned to pleading. She tugged at Lu Yuzhi's clothes and gently shook him, hoping he would indulge her for the sake of her coaxing.
Lu Yuzhi raised his eyebrows, his eyes full of amusement, as if saying she was starting to act cute and coaxing just to see these eye-burning scenes. Yet, he still shook his head firmly, ruthlessly crushing the budding seeds of curiosity in the little girl's heart.
Lu Yuzhi was determined not to let his little girl see such sordid scenes.
Seeing the man's resolute and unwavering expression, Su Muqing gave up struggling. Actually, she didn't really want to see any restricted scenes; she was just curious about who the man inside was!
Was it a headless ghost, or a bold pervert?
Just as she was about to scream from curiosity, the swaying of the carved bed suddenly stopped.
Huh? Why so fast? Did it last three minutes in total? It seems no matter what kind of ghost it is, their body is a bit weak! They should eat well to recuperate.
At this moment, Su Muqing saw the two people on the bed slowly sit up and move towards the screen. She quickly pulled Lu Yuzhi into the space to hide.
Since it didn't affect her ability to hear their conversation in the space, Su Muqing extended her hand from the void, opened the voice recorder, and placed it in a hidden corner, then sat comfortably in the rocking chair, waiting to hear the gossip.
The Ping Wang Consort draped her clothes, playfully chided and lightly hit the man's shoulder, then got out of bed and walked to the dressing table behind the screen to fix her hair, completely unaware of a faint red dot at her feet.
"You scoundrel, why are you in such a hurry? Ke Bi Ping is dead and gone now, we'll have plenty of time later."
"Why not be in a hurry? You haven't let me touch you for so long! I'm a real man, can't I miss it?" the man said with a chest full of grievances, then pushed aside the light veil and sat on the edge of the bed, his white inner garment hanging loosely, revealing waves of flesh on his belly.
Inside the space, Su Muqing felt fortunate upon seeing the man's appearance and physique, patting her chest.
The Ping Wang Consort's taste was indeed strange. Although Ke Bi Ping had poor character, he at least looked decent. But this man! He was rather hard to describe...
Fortunately, Brother Lu had stopped her impulsive hand just now, otherwise, if he had seen this man and the Ping Wang Consort's intimate scene, he would definitely have to gouge out his eyeballs and wash them thoroughly to disinfect them.
The Ping Wang Consort said while combing her hair, "Are you satisfied now? Hurry up and think about what to do next!"
The man leaned lazily against the bed, his tone somewhat perfunctory as he said, "What can I do? With such a major incident, the mansion is bound to be lost. However, the Emperor has always been benevolent, so he probably won't make things too difficult for you women. At most, you'll be demoted to commoners and sent to the wilderness."
The Consort suddenly slammed the comb onto the table, turned her head to look at the man with his eyes closed as if dozing off, "Sent to the wilderness? No! I don't want to live that kind of life! You help me think of a way! And even if I were willing, Xiang'er probably wouldn't be able to adapt. Even if you don't think of me, you must think of our daughter! She's accustomed to the life of a noble princess, how can you expect her to accept it?"
What? Su Muqing, who was eating a cucumber in the space, suddenly sat up and looked at Lu Yuzhi, who was also somewhat astonished. This was truly getting gossip when you weren't even looking for it! She never expected that the famous Princess Yunxiang of Rongcheng was actually the Ping Wang Consort's child with someone else!
No, no, no! This melon is too big; the cucumber is no longer up to par. Su Muqing went to the kitchen and cut a plate of watermelon. The two continued to eat melon and listen to gossip.
The content that followed was the various coping methods the two had devised for the different outcomes that might occur in the future. The most important of these was the large amount of funds they had already transferred out.
The financial power of the mansion was not in the hands of the Ping Wang Consort. Ke Bi Ping was determined to put his son on the throne, so most of the mansion's wealth was stored in his private treasury.
Fortunately, the man was not from the mansion. The two fumbled to put on their clothes and prepared to take more wealth from the treasury, allowing the man to take it out through a secret passage, otherwise, they wouldn't be able to take anything from the mansion once tomorrow arrived.
Seeing the two preparing to move money, Su Muqing used her old trick again. She extended her hand from the space, her two fingers walking like feet. First, she picked up the voice recorder, then made a sharp turn and ran towards the two.
Inside the space, Lu Yuzhi watched Su Muqing stick her hand into a white mist, then bend over and wiggle her backside, running here and there, her movements looking quite comical.
Here, Su Muqing finally caught up with the two. She pinched the Ping Wang Consort's skirt with her two fingers, then climbed up along the skirt. Finally, she climbed onto her shoulder.
The Ping Wang Consort felt movement on her shoulder. Just as Su Muqing climbed onto her shoulder, her hand had already reached over.
Su Muqing quickly withdrew her hand and completely hid back in the space. However, the two still touched slightly. Suddenly! The Ping Wang Consort covered her mouth with both hands, then abruptly turned her head to look at her shoulder. Why did she feel a hand on her shoulder just now?
The Ping Wang Consort stopped and looked around for a long time, but it was quiet all around. Besides the sound of the wind and insects, there was clearly nothing else. She breathed a heavy sigh of relief, thinking she must have seen incorrectly just now!
The man walking in front didn't notice her anomaly. Seeing that the Ping Wang Consort hadn't kept up, he turned back to find her. "Why aren't you walking? It's getting late, let's hurry! Let's try to make more trips tonight and move more things."
The Ping Wang Consort looked around again, confirmed there were no problems, and then nodded, "Okay! Let's go!"
This time, both of them quickened their pace and soon arrived at the door of the Ping Wang Mansion's treasury. As soon as they opened the treasury door, Su Muqing threw a dose of sleeping powder, knocking the two unconscious.
Looking at the countless treasures before her, Su Muqing couldn't help but marvel. There were indeed many good things here! However, most of them were exquisite and valuable large items. General currency like gold, silver coins, and banknotes were relatively scarce.
But according to the Ping Wang Consort, the wealth here was far less than Ke Bi Ping's private treasury, which showed that Ke Bi Ping was quite wealthy.
Sigh! It seemed she was going to get rich again tonight. Su Muqing rolled up her sleeves, looking determined.
With a wave of her small hand, the once overflowing treasury was instantly reduced to a thick layer of dust! She even took away the solid wood shelves, estimating that the mice wouldn't even find their nest next time they came.