Chapter 563: Chapter 248: Harsh Reality

"You don’t recognize it?"

Luo Shuqing gave Fang Shuwen a strange look.

"She’s practically your future wife, and you haven’t... haven’t looked closely at the hair ornament she wears?"

"..."

The corner of Fang Shuwen’s mouth twitched. ’How did she become my wife?’

He took the Hairpin, his expression a little complicated.

Luo Shuqing, however, seemed to have a delayed reaction. She suddenly gasped.

"Since we found Sister Lan’s Hairpin here..."

"Doesn’t that mean... that your guess was right?"

"That the Second Miss of Tingtiao Pavilion was... was locked in here by her father and younger brother?"

Fang Shuwen gazed at the Hairpin and said softly,

"Back when Suhe Jing disappeared, do you think anyone ever considered searching the secret chamber beneath Tingtiao Pavilion’s ancestral hall?"

Hearing this, Luo Shuqing’s shoulders suddenly slumped. A faint tremor entered her voice.

"Even if someone wanted to search, I doubt... they would have been allowed, would they?"

She suddenly looked at the surrounding statues.

"What... what on earth happened here?"

"I don’t know."

Fang Shuwen’s answer was blunt, but it did nothing to solve the mystery.

He simply furrowed his brow, lost in thought.

He suddenly put the Hairpin away and said softly,

"Suhe Lan must have been trapped here before. But with that door in the way, she couldn’t get out."

"But she isn’t here now. She must have found another way out."

"Come on, let’s keep moving forward and see."

"Maybe we’ll find some answers up ahead."

Luo Shuqing nodded.

However, after they passed through another doorway and walked a short distance, they found there was no exit ahead.

Before them was an even larger space.

The space was filled with countless statues and raw stone.

But unlike the statues outside, which seemed chaotic but secretly followed a pattern, these were different.

The statues here were arranged in neat rows and columns.

But the sense of oppression they exuded was even colder and heavier.

Of course, Luo Shuqing bore the full brunt of this oppressive feeling; Fang Shuwen’s gaze simply swept over their surroundings.

The Observing Traces Technique made his vision far sharper than before. His gaze paused for a moment, and he pulled Luo Shuqing forward, weaving around the statues until they reached a corner.

Here, two statues stood closer together than any of the others.

They stood side by side, as if concealing something.

Fang Shuwen pushed them apart, revealing a hole in the wall.

The two of them stared at each other.

This place was incredibly secret. To get in, one first had to bypass Tingtiao Pavilion’s heavy security, and then find the mechanism to open the hidden passage.

After that, you had to make your way forward and somehow open that door.

So sneaking in was by no means an easy feat.

So who would have dug a hole here?

"Suhe Lan... could, could she be in there?"

Luo Shuqing’s voice was tinged with unease.

Fang Shuwen glanced at her.

"If you’re really that scared, you can wait out here."

"...Wouldn’t that be even scarier?"

Luo Shuqing glanced at the statues in the room.

Finally, she grit her teeth.

"I’ll go in first..."

With that, she ducked down and squeezed through.

Fang Shuwen hesitated for a moment but decided to follow behind her.

He hesitated because the opening was narrow and the space inside was extremely cramped. For Luo Shuqing to get through, she would have to crawl on the ground.

Following behind a young woman moving forward in such a posture was, after all, rather improper.

However, with her in front, he could act instantly to save her if any trouble arose.

But as Fang Shuwen squeezed in after her, he suddenly had a thought. ’If I were in front, I could handle any problems. Why am I letting her be the one to test the waters?’

He immediately said,

"Why don’t we go back out and switch? I’ll go first, you follow."

"No... don’t."

Luo Shuqing refused flatly.

"What if someone outside heard the sound of you breaking down that door?"

"If they come in to investigate and find us here, wouldn’t I be in more danger in the back?"

"With me in front, you can still help me if there’s danger ahead. But if someone comes up from behind... then I’d be in real trouble."

"..."

Her logic seemed sound.

Fang Shuwen shook his head, unwilling to dwell on such minor details.

The two of them continued onward, one after the other.

The passage was extremely narrow, so they moved slowly.

They crawled like this for a long time.

Fang Shuwen noticed Luo Shuqing’s breathing growing heavier and more erratic.

Crawling forward through such a claustrophobic and seemingly endless passage was a great test of mental fortitude.

Just as Fang Shuwen was about to tell her to stop and rest, he heard her suddenly exclaim,

"I... I think I see a light."

Fang Shuwen’s forward view was completely blocked by Luo Shuqing. He couldn’t see anything else.

Hearing her words, he could only advise,

"Be careful. Slow down."

But despite his words, Luo Shuqing couldn’t slow down one bit.

The long passage had drained too much of her energy.

Scrambling on all fours, she couldn’t wait to get out. With a sudden cry of alarm, her entire body abruptly vanished from the end of the passage at an incredible speed.

Fang Shuwen shot his hand out, and her body jerked to a halt.

By the time Fang Shuwen reached the opening and yanked her up by the ankle, he was finally able to see the area outside the passage.

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