I'm Already the Richest Man, Why Did My System Just Arrive?

Chapter 320: Chapter 187: Hidden River

However, this time, it seemed Zheng Xiu’s Prediction was for Xie Luohe. Before she could speak, he said with a straight face, ”Xiaotao is still at the inn.”

Xie Luohe’s expression froze as she stared at Zheng Xiu’s serious face. Soon, she averted her gaze, her long hair concealing the right side of her face. ”Then... let’s go back,” she said softly.

The two were quiet on the way back, saying nothing.

Zheng Xiu once again sensed that something was off with Xie Luohe. Beyond her obvious anxiety, he couldn’t quite put his finger on anything else. When they got to the inn, the Night Watchman was striking his gong on the next street—CLANG, CLANG. Xie Luohe leaped up, pushed open a window, and slipped into her room.

At first, Zheng Xiu didn’t think anything of it. But as he trotted up to the door, Xie Luohe’s laughter came from within the tightly shut room. ”It’s late. Would the impatient young master please return?”

Inside, Xiaotao’s hushed, urgent voice could be heard. ”Miss, it’s so late! If we make the young master sleep on the streets...”

”How could you... RUSTLE... RUSTLE...”

”Let’s just squeeze in together...”

”Oh, you...”

The mistress and servant argued inside, until finally, it sounded like Xiaotao’s mouth was covered.

’I’m the one who rented this room!’

’It’s my money!’

”Robbers! Bandits! Once a bandit, always a bandit!”

Although Zheng Xiu hadn’t planned on *doing* anything, having his room stolen was still infuriating. He walked away, muttering curses.

Luckily, the night wasn’t too cold. Zheng Xiu found a spot under some eaves that would shield him from any rain and made do for the night, waiting for daybreak.

Early the next morning, Zheng Xiu felt someone patting his face. He opened his eyes to see Xie Luohe squatting before him with a grin, still in that same outfit that made her look so much like Feng Bei. She was wearing black gloves.

The sky was a hazy gray. Heavy, damp air condensed into stubborn pockets of fog that wouldn’t disperse. Curled up miserably on the street corner, Zheng Xiu had glistening dewdrops clinging to his hair.

As Zheng Xiu sleepily got up and brushed the dew from his clothes, roosters began to crow one after another throughout the city. Hearing them, Zheng Xiu said irritably, ”You’re actually up earlier than the chickens.”

Xie Luohe just smiled, pointed toward the stables, and pulled Zheng Xiu along with her.

On the way, as if afraid Zheng Xiu was worried, Xie Luohe mentioned that Xiaotao was feeling much better after taking her medicine and that he shouldn’t worry. Zheng Xiu knew she wouldn’t joke about something like that, so he sighed softly and followed her out of the city.

They rode horses, left the city, climbed the mountain, and descended into caves.

For five days straight.

The terrain of Ba Mountain was far more complex than Zheng Xiu and Xie Luohe had first imagined. In those five days, they explored a total of seven caves, all to no avail.

On the sixth day, two expected guests arrived.

It was Cheng Xiao and Bai Xiaosheng.

Cheng Xiao still had the look of a down-and-out Knight, draped in a thick cloak. His hair was a mess, and his pale complexion formed a stark, unchanging contrast with the black scabbard cradled in his arms.

After the last few days of torture, Zheng Xiu was determined not to wake up before the roosters crowed, even if it killed him. This morning, as he and Xie Luohe were having plain congee at a table in the inn, Bai Xiaosheng and Cheng Xiao plopped themselves down.

”Four meat buns.”

Cheng Xiao coolly ordered his breakfast.

Then he looked at Zheng Xiu. ”I have no money for travel.”

”Then why are you ordering so much if you have no money?” Zheng Xiu glared at Cheng Xiao.

The meat buns arrived quickly, and Cheng Xiao began to devour them in big bites.

Bai Xiaosheng looked from Xie Luohe to Zheng Xiu with a faint, unreadable smile.

”So, have you two found the entrance to the treasury yet?”

Xie Luohe frowned.

Zheng Xiu wasn’t surprised that Bai Xiaosheng knew they’d been going up the mountain and into caves every day. Seeing Bai Xiaosheng’s smug, eminently punchable expression, Zheng Xiu mulled it over for a moment before laughing despite himself. ”You know where the entrance is?”

Hearing this, Bai Xiaosheng shook his head smugly, a deeply pleased look on his face.

Xie Luohe’s brow smoothed. ”Speak.”

Bai Xiaosheng huffed twice.

Xie Luohe gave a faint smile and slowly pressed her palm onto the table.

CRACK.

The wooden table cracked. When Xie Luohe lifted her hand, a clear Palm Seal was left indented on the surface.

”Ahem.” Bai Xiaosheng said at once, ”No need to rush. Am I the kind of person who forsakes his friends for personal gain?”

Zheng Xiu added with a grin, ”Hard to say.”

Bai Xiaosheng shot Zheng Xiu a nasty glare before pulling a sheepskin map from his robes. It was covered in mildew spots, clearly ancient. Zheng Xiu curiously snatched the map from Bai Xiaosheng’s hand. In the bottom-right corner was a reign title. Zheng Xiu glanced at it and froze for a second. ”A map of Yanzhou from the previous dynasty? Fatty Jiang, where did you find this?”

”I have my ways!” Bai Xiaosheng said proudly, pointing to a spot on the map near Ba Mountain and tapping it. ”Can you see the clue?”

Xie Luohe’s gaze fell upon it. A moment later, her eyes lit up. ”During the previous dynasty, there used to be a river here?”

Bai Xiaosheng nodded. ”I actually arrived in the area two days ago. When I heard that the two of you, a man and a woman all alone, were heading up the mountain and into the caves, I decided not to disturb you. After I got this Ancient Map, I cross-referenced it with the historical records. And from a few scant lines in the archives, I noticed a coincidence.”

Cheng Xiao finished his four meat buns, his face once again a stoic mask. He hugged his black scabbard and listened quietly.

”Heh heh. If I hadn’t checked, I never would have known. But once I started digging, I uncovered a massive secret. Decades ago, Yanzhou suffered a great flood. Back then, the casualties were countless, a truly horrific tragedy...”

Bai Xiaosheng prattled on.

”Get to the point,” Xie Luohe said, her gaze hardening, her killing intent palpable.

”...At the time, the one supposedly in charge of Yanzhou’s flood relief was Lord Nie. Now, why would a perfectly good corrupt official like Lord Nie bother coming to this remote mountain region to handle a flood?” Bai Xiaosheng paused, narrowing his eyes. ”Unless, of course, the appropriation from the Ministry of Industry for flood relief that year was enormous, and there was a profit to be made. Otherwise, what do you think Lord Nie could have possibly been after?”

”Let’s go!”

The moment she heard this, Xie Luohe rolled up the Ancient Map, shot out the door like a gust of wind, and vanished from the inn’s entrance in the blink of an eye.