"Hehe..." Zhou Xiaozheng looked at his daughter and laughed out loud.
The laughter echoed as Zhou Jiao hurriedly gestured for her dad to stop laughing. Wasn’t it too scary? She glanced sidelong at her dad and mustered the courage to stand in front of the chanism.
If he weren’t worried about revealing their whereabouts, Zhou Xiaozheng would really like to laugh heartily. He thought his own Jiao Jiao had nerves of steel, but she was still the delicate little princess.
Following Zhou Xiaozheng’s cues, Zhou Jiao quickly opened the door beside her.
Once through the door, she imdiately saw a spacious passage wide enough for a small cart to pass through. Zhou Jiao couldn’t bother being scared and exclaid, "Dad, look!"
Zhou Xiaozheng was also surprised at this mont. He didn’t expect the three secret rooms ntioned in his mother’s will, the most understated one, to be quite large.
Seeing the door behind them slowly closing, he quickly pulled Zhou Jiao.
After a mont with no abnormalities, Zhou Xiaozheng squatted down and looked at the ground ahead, discovering a series of stone slabs leading forward. On both sides, ancient bricks filled the wall corners—apparently, this basent was constructed by the Gu Family ancestors.
"You follow behind Dad."
By walking here, there should already be no danger; there shouldn’t be traps on the ground.—Zhou Xiaozheng thought about his own caution and amusingly shook his head.
Despite thinking this way, Zhou Xiaozheng was still worried sothing might go wrong, so he protected his daughter from behind. He himself cautiously moved forward first and lit the wind lamp on the wall.
"Dad, this is the location of the back garden." Seeing him stop in his tracks, Zhou Jiao looked up to observe the passage’s ceiling and spoke softly.
"I’m checking the ventilation. No one has been here for decades, maintaining its original condition; there must be a skill to it."
Before Zhou Jiao could respond, she noticed a wheelbarrow leaning against the front corner of the wall and quickly pulled Zhou Xiaozheng.
Zhou Xiaozheng stepped forward a few steps and examined the wheelbarrow in front of him. He found that the tire was still rubber, indicating that it wasn’t too old, likely used by his mother, Gu Mingzhu.
Carrying the wind lamp, the father and daughter continued onward along the path. Zhou Xiaozheng silently calculated the direction and distance until they reached a corner and stopped.
"This is past the back garden, heading toward the main courtyard. It’s almost at the secret room your grandmother ntioned. Do you want to take a break before moving on?"
"Hehe... Dad, are you teasing ?" Zhou Jiao nudged him to hurry up and continue—at the critical mont, her dad couldn’t make mistakes. She then softly said, "Dad, did you say the exit is really in the main courtyard’s study? Did you notice the study’s floor tiles earlier? Many don’t match in color. Do you think it might have already been excavated? I didn’t dare to ask Auntie before; did she ntion this to you?"
Zhou Xiaozheng praised, "My daughter is truly smart! The old lady didn’t ntion anything to us, probably because it involves the courtyard’s repair costs. See, everything in the courtyard is empty now; even if she got the courtyard after the liberation, this cost wouldn’t be small. It seems the old lady’s private funds were all spent on this. We’ll have to make up for this money after returning to Beijing.
Even your grandmother’s courtyard was dug up three feet, much less the study. Whether the exit over there can be used is still uncertain; let’s test everything shortly."
Zhou Jiao nodded upon hearing this. If there was only one exit, she definitely wouldn’t want her dad to co inside. If the father and daughter were truly trapped in there, they’d have a big problem.
While speaking, an empty platform appeared in front of them, with two antique carts standing alone against the corner, with weathered straw on them.
As they approached, two large stone slab doors directly opposite them blocked the path.
"We’re here!"
Zhou Jiao breathed a sigh of relief, finally arriving at the secret room ntioned in her grandmother Gu Mingzhu’s will.
"Dad, don’t move, I’ll feel the door first." Zhou Jiao smiled at her dad. She was embarrassed to say she really liked these two stone slab doors. Such massive stone slabs were more captivating than gold, so secure. If soone provoked her, she could use a door to crush many people.
Zhou Xiaozheng would definitely not have expected that his previously timid daughter had such violent thoughts deep down. Now, he was all smiles, affectionately patting her head.
"Hmm, Dad will wait for you. With Xiao Wu outside, there’s no worry about ti."
Upon hearing this, Zhou Jiao reluctantly patted the door, regretfully. She worried that Zhang Guoqing was getting anxious outside, so she hurried to stand beside Zhou Xiaozheng, waiting for him to open it.
Zhou Xiaozheng chuckled and shook his head, unlocking it according to Gu Mingzhu’s thod. The Eight Diagrams Breaking Formation was easily handled by him; without any hints, he was confident in activating these two doors.
As he acted, the two doors slowly slid back into the walls.
Zhou Jiao watched this scene and didn’t have ti to marvel before she saw the secret room beyond the stone door—the spacious area was already filled with wooden boxes and antique racks, leaving only room for the father and daughter to stand at the entrance, unable to even stretch a leg inside.
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