wait a minute

Chapter 155 Crypt Exploration
Tread~
Three footsteps landed in the claustrophobic tunnel that had been closed for hundreds of years.

The deep stone path buried deep in the ground is about two meters wide and high. The two sides are made of stone bricks and the top is arched. The construction is extremely firm.

Ye Jingtang picked up the palace lantern, looked carefully at the authentic bricks, and tapped the ground lightly with the scabbard to confirm the solidity and firmness of the bricks. It can be seen that they are abnormally strong and can still be used normally.

Holding the lamp in his hand, Dongfang Liren was also looking at the details of the tunnel entrance, walking slowly with Ye Jingtang.

The Empress Dowager looked at the dark and deep tunnel, felt guilty, and followed Li Ren's buttocks, but just after walking a few steps in, a figure fell down at the entrance again, calling out:
"The Empress Dowager."

Ye Jingtang looked back, but saw that the person who came was a middle-aged court lady with an official knife hanging from her waist. She met Yang Lan when she entered the palace for the first time. She was the little leader of the imperial city's dark guards, and was responsible for the safety of the queen mother's bedroom. It is also because of this that it is not easy to go to the ginkgo tree to dig the treasure left by the adoptive father.

The empress dowager was quite nervous at first, but when she turned her head and saw the follower running towards her, she felt a little resentful:
"This place hasn't been opened for 200 years, and nothing will happen. I'm not nervous at all with you in front of me. Go outside and wait. If something goes wrong, I'll come to save me."

Yang Lan inspected the entrance of the tunnel, and could see that it was built as an escape route, and the way of building walls and sealing the roof was also difficult to hide the mechanism, which seemed quite safe.

But the place is safe, people are not necessarily, Ye Jingtang is a man, and Kong Wu is strong, let King Jing and the Queen Mother run around, in case Ye Jingtang's beastly behavior comes and eats everything, the Empress Dowager hugged it last night Bansu's "The Secret History of Cleopatra" is probably about to come true.

Knowing that the empress dowager's life in the palace was boring, Yang Lan wanted to find some excitement, so she didn't forcefully disappoint the fun, but said:
"Xiaozhi is waiting behind, and will come immediately if there is a situation."

The Empress Dowager raised her hand as a signal, then pinched Dongfang Liren's sleeves and followed her into the pitch-black tunnel.

Because the tunnel has to bypass the environment such as the lakeside, it is not a straight line. In some places, it will go down a few feet and then rise again, which seems to be the foundation of the palace.

Ye Jingtang carried the small palace lantern and walked slowly on the floor tiles, step by step, checking the firmness of the walls on the ground.

Dongfang Liren followed twenty steps away, probably infected by Ye Jingtang's cautious appearance, and he was also carefully looking at the subtle traces on the wall.

And the empress dowager, who is round and beautiful, may be the first time to play this kind of secret adventure scene since she entered the palace. Her cheeks were three points nervous, her big eyes looked around, and sometimes she turned her head to look at the dimming light at the entrance. She found Yang Lan and the ghost. The shadow hung behind like a shadow, and waved his hand.

Because they were too cautious, the three of them crawled like tortoises, and within a quarter of an hour, they only walked less than [-] steps.

Dongfangli inspected it cautiously for a long time, but he really didn't feel that this place was special, so he said:

"The tunnel project is too large, and it is too extravagant to use for private meetings. It is estimated that it was built by an emperor of a certain dynasty."

The Empress Dowager retorted: "The entrance of the emperor's retreat should be placed in the Chen'an Palace. The Queen Mother Xuanyang has been in charge of the government for seven or eight years. I estimate that this tunnel was built secretly by the Queen Mother Xuanyang for fear that the courtiers would force the palace. I will escape from the capital when necessary; when I am idle, I will also send some noodles from here to the palace for luck..."

Ye Jingtang responded: "The empress dowager's guess is very likely, the private meeting should be only incidental, and it is mainly used to escape from the war."

The Empress Dowager was praised, she smiled crookedly, and then said brokenly:

"Look at the empress dowager, how happy she is, with the court covering the sky with one hand, and she can call beautiful men into the palace at any time to have fun... Woo~"

The words stopped abruptly.

Ye Jingtang turned his head to look around, but saw the rebellious and stupid, actually covered the Queen Mother's mouth with his hands, and when he saw him turn around, he gave him a fierce look:
"Take a good look for the way, the king is talking to the queen mother, why are you interrupting?"

Ye Jingtang secretly shook his head, honestly scouted the way ahead, and didn't interrupt the two of them.

The empress dowager was covered with her mouth in front of the guards. She obviously felt that she was losing her dignity, so she raised her hand and patted Dongfang Liren on the shoulder:

"Ben Gong just sighed, and didn't say that you need to learn and behave. I don't say that you have to raise noodles, but you want to go out of the palace to relax, but you always push back and forth, which means that I am sensible and don't fight with you. If you really want to do anything wrong , do you think you can manage this palace?"

Dongfang Liren did not refute this statement. After all, the Empress Dowager is not a vase. Standing behind her are the Jiangzhou Navy and the Southeast Meritorious Group.

Seeing that the Empress Dowager was upset, Dongfang Liren comforted her softly:
"Knowing that the Empress Dowager understands things well, I'm not pushing back and forth, but the undercurrents are surging outside. The risk is too great. I have to be careful when I go out..."

The Empress Dowager was about to let out a sullen "Hmph~" when she saw Ye Jingtang in front of her. When she came to a corner, she paused slightly, then took half a step back abruptly, and grabbed the handle of the knife.

wow-

The tunnel was already deep and dead silent, and the movement sounded loud.

The empress dowager was a little nervous, so she had nothing to say. Seeing this ghost-like reaction, she shrank in fright, and her breathing stopped.

Dongfang's cowardly courage depends on how many guards are around him. Seeing Ye Jingtang react so strongly, he is naturally nervous. He doesn't know what is behind the corner, so he asks anxiously:

"what happened?"

"Squeak~"

As soon as the words came out, there was a strange cry at the corner, and then a dark shadow came out from the corner and rushed towards the two of them, only a pair of small green eyes could be seen.

"ah--!"

Two exclamations.

The empress dowager turned pale, and quickly hugged Dongfang Liren's arm.

Dongfang Liren was caught off guard, and was equally shocked. He lost the lantern in his hand, and dragged the Empress Dowager to dodge to the side.

"Squeaky~~"

Amidst the strange cry, the black shadow blinked and had already arrived in front of him.

Fortunately, the personal guard in front was not a dead person, Guang Guang stepped forward and stepped on the shadow.

step~
The black shadow stopped immediately.

But before the two royal ladies could breathe a sigh of relief, they saw the shadow clearly through the light of the lamp—a big black mouse with fluffy hair, after being trampled on its tail, baring its teeth at them, writhing and struggling on the spot , just a stone's throw away! !

Seeing such a horrific scene, the Empress Dowager turned pale with fright, jumped directly in front of Ye Jingtang, hugged her arms, and patted her shoulder with her hands:

"Hurry up!"

Dongfang Liren was a little more stable, but he was also a little out of proportion by the sudden big mouse, so he dodged behind Ye Jingtang and urged:

"Quickly get rid of..."

Ye Jingtang noticed that the pale-faced empress dowager was holding his arms and wanted to slip into his arms, so he quickly comforted him:
"Don't panic, don't panic, it's just a mouse."

For fear of dirtying the shoes, he didn't trample the mouse to death, but just kicked it forward and kicked the mouse out.

"Squeak..."

The big mouse that escaped immediately rushed into the depths of the dark tunnel, and immediately heard a 'bang~', as if it was kicked against the wall, and immediately fell silent.

The empress dowager felt lingering fear, she moved her arms in her bosom before realizing it, and quickly let go:

"I'm scared to death, this place has been sealed for 200 years, how could there be mice..."

As he spoke, he glanced at Ye Jingtang, and found that Ye Jingtang was checking the surroundings in an upright manner, and he didn't seem to pay attention to her inappropriate behavior, so he secretly heaved a sigh of relief.

Dongfang Liren hid behind Ye Jingtang. Now that the crisis was over, he probably felt that his reaction was unreasonable, so he stood up straight again, pretending to be calm, and looked up as if nothing had happened:

"There must be vents in the tunnel, and it's not uncommon for mice to come in."

Ye Jingtang couldn't explain it in his heart, he felt that he was not inspecting the tunnel now, but was playing in a haunted house with two beautiful and charming beauties, a mouse was like this, and he didn't dare to think about what would happen if he continued walking .

Ye Jingtang picked up the dropped lantern from the ground and persuaded:

"Why don't you go back, I'll go in and check, there are mice in here, if the queen mother is frightened..."

And the dark guard Yang Lan also came out from behind, persuading:

"Empress Dowager, this place is not clean, your body of gold..."

The empress dowager patted her chest lightly, she was still terrified, but she was a little unhappy when she heard that she was going to leave.

She lived in the palace for ten years, living in a pool of stagnant water on weekdays, and it was not easy to encounter a little disturbance; such an exciting adventure, I have never experienced it since I was a child, and now who will accompany her to mess around next time?

The empress dowager looked at the deep corner, pretending to be calm and said:
"It's okay, let's go on. I was not mentally prepared just now. Be careful this time. Yang Lan, stay away. There is nothing in the tunnel. You are hanging behind your back. I always feel chilly behind me. Something is staring at me. palace."

Seeing this, Yang Lan showed helplessness, so she had to retreat into the dark and continue to play house with the queen mother.

Dongfang Liren felt that the reaction just now was a bit embarrassing, and ordered solemnly:

"Yejingtang, you go ahead to explore the way, be more cautious, don't be suspicious, it's just a mouse, this king thought you had encountered a ghost, and this king was startled..."

Ye Jingtang didn't expect that there were living creatures in the tunnel, and his reaction was indeed a little big. Benben put the blame on him, so he naturally didn't say anything, and continued to explore the way with a lantern.

The next journey was much more peaceful. Although I encountered a few more mice, I was mentally prepared and didn't get surprised again.

The Empress Dowager walked with Dongfang Liren, occasionally said a few words, behaved cautiously, and seemed very devoted.

A few people walked along the tunnel, turning left and right for an unknown period of time, feeling as if they had already left the palace.

And this tunnel, as expected by several people, is not just as simple as a private meeting, after turning a corner, an underground room appeared.

The room is about four feet square, and there are some furniture in it, but it has been decayed for too long. There are storage compartments on the wall, and there is even a small well in the corner.

Ye Jingtang carried a lantern and carefully inspected in the stone room:
"This should be a transit point. If there is chaos in the capital, you can't leave the city. You can stay here for a while and wait until the limelight passes before leaving..."

Dongfang Liren came to the storage compartment dug out on the wall and stood with his hands behind his back, nodding slightly:
"The preparations are really good, but it seems to be useless in the end. According to the records, the Empress Dowager Xuanyang committed suicide by taking poison after losing her power..."

The Empress Dowager carefully read the Secret History of Cleopatra yesterday, thought for a while and said:
"The mausoleum was built by the Empress Dowager Xuanyang. It is not difficult to dig such a tunnel secretly, and it is not difficult to use hands and feet in the mausoleum. Maybe after the return of the emperor, he faked his death and eloped with his lover to live in seclusion..."

While talking, the empress dowager came to the porch and thought of touching a stone pillar at the door.

Seeing this, Ye Jingtang quickly came to the front and raised his hand to stop:

"This is the door-sealing stone that blocks the pursuers. Remove the door and it will be sealed. Be careful, Empress Dowager."

The empress dowager put away her hands, looked back and forth, and then looked at the exit on the other side:

"Shall we keep going in?"

Ye Jingtang must find an authentic exit, but just in case, a stone pier was brought over from the stone room to serve as a stool, and placed under the door-sealing stone to resist, and then walked deep with the palace lantern...

(End of this chapter)