Touch of Riches Chapter 9

With every step Nathan Xiao took, he felt as if his whole body was about to fall apart. He could only walk a few steps with the help of a cane and rest. He felt like an old man in his eighties. After finally moving to the desk in the bedroom, he began to search carefully. However, the cabinet had obviously been turned over by the servants, and there were much fewer clothes than before.

When he returned to the desk, he saw that the drawer where he kept his money was locked, but the lock had been broken by someone and everything inside had been ransacked, except for his account book.

There was no fingerprint system in this era. Even in such a mansion with strict rules, once you lose power, your life will be in jeopardy. He even felt a little sorry for the few banknotes he gave to the jailer.

Just when he was at a loss, he suddenly remembered that in TV dramas, many wealthy families had so-called secret doors and secret compartments to protect important financial matters, and some furniture had other mechanisms. Did the Thirteenth Young Master really have no backup plan? He sat on the chair and thought hard. He wanted to do a big search, but he was too exhausted and his wound hurt, so he could only move to the bed again.

However, even such a simple action was performed incorrectly because he was missing a leg. He stumbled accidentally and lost his grip on the crutches, and fell straight toward the edge of the bed. As a result, he fell on the bed board with a thud, and his remaining limbs hit the wooden board so hard that he couldn't recover for a long time.

He didn't know how long he had been lying there before he had a little strength left, and he desperately grabbed the glazed window on the edge of the bed. It was originally a decorative and shielding object, made into the style of a window lattice, and it was even foldable. When closed, it just covered the entire front of the bed, forming a small enclosed space.

It was this action that made Nathan Xiao feel that something was wrong.

After he climbed onto the bed, he stroked the folding window near him and felt that there seemed to be a slight bulge at the bottom edge where he had just grasped. It was a small movable wooden block. Looking carefully, the slightly raised area was extremely hidden. It was at the very back of the folding window. If it was folded up, no one could reach or touch it. This also meant that the small wooden "button" would only appear when the window was opened or closed. Even if the servants who were unaware of the situation came to search, they would never find this link.

Thirteenth Young Master is a disabled person with limited mobility. According to his personal maid Sophie, if he is in the room, he often likes to lie down, or lean on the bed. When he sleeps, he likes to close the folding windows, saying that he is afraid of light. Can it be understood that Thirteenth Young Master thinks that the bed is the safest place for him.
 
The more he thought about it, the more interesting it seemed to him. He touched the wooden button with his hand. The paint on this button seemed to have faded much more than other places, and it was obvious that it was touched often.

After he pressed the block, there was a slight click under the bed. He quickly lifted the quilt and saw that the bed was made of a thick wooden board, which was very flat. There was a small square hole near the head of the bed. The workmanship of the hole was extremely fine. After closing, it fit perfectly with the surrounding wooden boards. There was almost no gap to be seen, which showed the craftsman's superb skills. Even if the servants lifted the quilt, they probably wouldn't be able to find this secret place.

There were some grids on the wall of the Thirteenth Young Master's bed, used to store various items, like small drawers, which were naturally looted. For example, an exquisite old-fashioned flashlight was gone. But there were a few books left. Nathan Xiao took out a book, rolled it into a tube and put it into the square hole that could only accommodate a person's wrist.

Based on his many years of experience in archaeology, he knew that the entrance to this mechanism cave was so narrow, and there might be two mechanisms inside. It was designed so covertly, which was enough to show the owner's attention.

There must be something extremely valuable to Thirteenth Young Master inside. So he couldn't take it lightly. Many of these exquisite ancient objects had mechanical designs that could cause injury or even death, as if expressing the owner's obsessive possessiveness.

This made him feel even more excited, as if he had returned to his beloved career. He carefully put the book into the hole and found that there seemed to be some mechanism inside that needed to be activated. Just as he was trying to fiddle with it, he heard a sharp sound. He immediately pulled out the book, but it was cut off by the blade that suddenly appeared from the hole. Judging from the sharpness of the blade, if he put his hand in, he would probably lose his hand immediately!

This design is so sinister! In addition to the books at hand, he had no other tools to open the hole. He could only cover the bedding first and wait for Wanyue to come back to see if he could find some tools to fiddle with and take out the objects inside.

When Wanyue went to the market, she only changed into the plain clothes she brought with her. She secretly took out the silk and satin clothes and jewelry she brought as a "dowry" and pawned them in the pawnshop, just to raise more money to maintain her and the young master's expenses. The money for the young master to buy medicine was also a considerable expense, and she had to find a way to make some money. In fact, she never felt that she was the young lady of the Xiao family, and the servants did not regard her as the wife of the Thirteenth Young Master. After the Thirteenth Young Master was captured, the servants looked at her coldly, not to mention the other Xiao family members in the mansion.

But she didn't care about all this. She followed Thirteenth Young Master not for wealth and glory. In today's world, all men treat women as objects. Good men like her father were also deeply influenced by Confucian etiquette. They taught her from childhood that women should obey the three obediences and four virtues and regard their husbands as the heaven. But only Thirteenth Young Master would say such shocking words to her. What kind of man is this who knows how to pity women! Therefore, she is already content. As long as she can stay with Thirteenth Young Master and live a peaceful life as a poor person, she will feel great happiness.

After exchanging the money, she bought some meat and vegetables and went to the pharmacy to get medicine for Thirteenth Young Master. The prosperity of Xiaocheng was indeed well-deserved. The scale of the city alone was many times larger than the town where she grew up. However, she had no intention of appreciating the novel street scenes. She was only concerned with hurrying on her way back to cook and boil medicine.

In the alley leading to the pharmacy, a man in his twenties came towards them. Even though she lowered her head, he still recognized Wanyue and called out, "Isn't this the Thirteenth Young Master's Concub!ne? I heard that the young ladies of the Xiao family are all nobles and never leave the house. Why are you here to buy vegetables in person?"

This man was the former servant in Thirteenth Young Master's courtyard, named Wang San. When Thirteenth Young Master was arrested and thrown into the dungeon, he immediately stole Thirteenth Young Master's money, then quickly quit his job as a servant and spent the stolen money. Wanyue was pushed and broke her forehead just because she tried to stop him from stealing money. Unexpectedly, she met this enemy again in broad daylight.

"You villain! Return the money to Young Master Thirteen! Otherwise I will report to the police!" Wanyue pointed at him angrily and shouted.

"Hahaha, you probably don't know who is the boss in Xiaocheng. Let me tell you, little country girl, the boss of Xiaocheng is the Xiao family. No matter the county magistrate or even high officials dare to interfere in the affairs of the Xiao family, the Thirteenth Young Master is the one chosen by the eldest master to be punished. Do you think anyone dares to interfere in his affairs?" Wang San came over triumphantly and even stretched out a hand to touch Wanyue's face.

He had long coveted Wanyue's beauty, but when he was in the Xiao family, he was afraid of the Xiao family's rules that servants were not allowed to have affairs with the women of the Xiao family, so he didn't dare to do anything. Now that he has left the Xiao family, he feels that there is nothing to be afraid of.

Wanyue was extremely angry and slapped him hard: "How dare you!"

The madman was stunned for a moment, then he completely revealed his vicious face. He raised his hand and slapped Wanyue to the ground, and kicked her: "Who do you think you are! B!tch! Let me tell you, don't think that you are the young lady of the Xiao family just because you followed that useless guy! Today I want to taste what you are like!"

After saying that, he began to strip Wanyue's clothes off. Wanyue put up a desperate resistance and screamed continuously, but he beat her even harder. The people living in the surrounding alleys and walls did not dare to open the door to take a look. They just minded their own business.

A tragedy was about to happen in this long, deserted alley. A long, curved scimitar was pressed against the back of Wang San's neck.

The knife was engraved with all kinds of strange patterns. It seemed to be made of bronze. It was blue all over, but the temperature of the blade was extremely low. When it was pulled out, it gave off a chill. Wang San even shivered. Before he could react, one of his ears flew off. The man holding the knife pulled out the knife so fast that people couldn't even see it clearly.

After Wang San's ear rolled several times on the bluestone floor and then fell back, he finally felt a sharp pain. He immediately covered the bleeding wound and fell to the ground, screaming like a slaughtered pig.
 
The man who cut off his ear with a knife was a handsome young man in his early twenties, serious and stern. He was wearing a black ethnic costume and did not seem to be from the Central Plains.

Wanyue had never seen such a scene before. When she finally came to her senses, she saw the young man kicking Wang San on the B*tt0cks and saying in a low voice: "If I see you doing evil again, I will chop off your head. Get out!"

Wang San covered his ears with his face twisted in pain, but he still swore: "Do you know who my uncle is? You dare to hurt me! You're dead!"

As soon as he finished speaking, the young man attacked again, this time directly cutting off half of his index finger.

Wang San finally stopped shouting and hurriedly got up and ran away desperately.

Wanyue was stunned. She had never seen such a bloody scene before! But if it weren't for this cold-blooded young man, she would have been defiled by Wang San long ago!