I'm in trouble again! My best friend, the princess in the group, please save me!

"Anyway, Runxue Hall is only a few steps away from you, so I'll leave it here for now. Anyway, your princess mansion is big and spacious, and there are many storehouses." Jiang Xingkuo took advantage of the situation and continued to press forward.

"Also, Yutai is gone. I was thinking about picking a capable maid from you to take Yutai's place."

"Tsk. How come you are eating and taking things at the same time? Yutai just left and you are already in a hurry to find someone to replace her." Huanyan teased deliberately.

Jiang Xingkuo took a deep breath, "Runxuetang is not only my hard work, but also Yutai's hard work. She was diligent and conscientious during her lifetime. She never made any mistakes, and really let me be a hands-off manager. She must have also wanted me to find someone to take over from her and keep Runxuetang open for a long time."

Huanyan saw that the atmosphere had become tense again, and quickly replied:

"You can pick anyone from my courtyard. Apart from Songyan, she's the only one left for me. Oh, that's not right, where's Tengxi? Why haven't I seen her in the past two days?"

"Princess, you forgot again. Tengxi said early in the morning that she went to her hometown in Yutai, but it's far away. I guess she is still on her way home now." Songyan replied.

"Oh. No hurry, no hurry." Huanyan nodded.

"Then it's settled. I'll bring the goods in through the back door. Give me the key to the warehouse on the other side of the southwest gate." Jiang Xingkuo did what he said.

"Wait," Huanyan suddenly remembered something.

"The warehouse at the southwest gate? When I went to take inventory a few days ago, the door of the warehouse was locked tightly. When I asked the servants, they said it was rusted and couldn't be opened. It was a special lock, so we had to wait for a locksmith to open it."

"Then what? Is there anything special?" Jiang Xingkuo also became confused.

"I've never heard that my storeroom door lock is specially made. And when I saw the lock, it was smooth and shiny, and it didn't look like it was rusty. The servant just evaded me by saying that it was rusty inside, and I couldn't do anything about it."

"Are you saying that there's something strange about the things inside?" Jiang Xingkuo suddenly became interested.

"I don't know. I just thought that this dog slave thought I was stupid and that I was easy to fool. But I didn't say anything at the time. I just thought they got away with it. Now that I think about it carefully, there is a lot going on."

Huanyan held her chin and thought.

"That's right. Logically speaking, the betrothal gift from the Hai family is inside. Since you want to see it, why are you making excuses?" Jiang Xingkuo also narrowed his eyes.

"Could there be unique gold, silver, treasures and jewellery in there?!" Huanyan's eyes lit up.

"You're crazy!" Jiang Xingkuo patted her head. "How did you become a top science student in our school with your brain? I guess these dogs and slaves know your character and just think you're asking on a whim."

"Too many things have happened recently, and I don't want to pretend to be ignorant anymore." Huanyan looked into the distance with a serious face.

The two of them did what they said.

Late at night, the good weather for the past few days suddenly turned into a dark cloud, and the moon was completely covered. There was no one around.

Jiang Xingkuo and Huanyan came to the southwest gate stealthily.

Jiang Xingkuo was tiptoeing towards the warehouse door.

"Wait!" Huanyan suddenly interrupted her, scaring her so much that her heart started pounding and she almost screamed.

"What's wrong with you again?" Jiang Xingkuo kept stroking his chest.

"This is my own home! Why can't I open the door openly?" Huanyan was a little unconvinced.

"My dear aunt! There are traitors, spies, informants and thieves in your family. It's better to have less trouble than more!" Jiang Xingkuo twisted her arm with annoyance and pulled her to the door.

"Oh. That's right." Huanyan rubbed her arm. "What are you doing?"

I watched Jiang Xingkuo holding a wire and poking it into the keyhole, and he put his ear close to listen carefully to the sound.

"That's how it's played out on TV..." she muttered, "Is the wire too thin?" She folded the wire in two and continued poking.

After waiting for a while, Huanyan pushed her away impatiently.

"What are you doing... is this possible???"

Jiang Xingkuo was stunned as he watched Huanyan take out a claw hammer from her arms and start prying.

"Didn't I tell you? This lock is specially made. Ordinary people can't open it."

Huanyan thrust the claw hammer into the crack of the door knocker and said through gritted teeth, "But the door knocker on this wooden door is not like that."

As he said this, he used all his strength to pry, and the door knocker really made a creaking sound and gradually separated from the door panel.

"Oh my god! That's amazing!" Jiang Xingkuo was so excited that he danced with joy. "Where did you get this thing?!"

"Last time I made a drip irrigation system and needed a handy tool, I asked someone to cast one for me. Stop talking nonsense! Come and help me!" Huanyan's face turned red because of the effort.

"Oh oh oh." Jiang Xingkuo reacted and quickly started to pry it open.

After a while, the knocker began to move loosely, and when I pulled it again, it fell off, and the padlock was also hanging on it. Although the lock was still intact, it was no longer useful.

With a gentle push, the door creaked open a crack, and the two of them squeezed in and then gently closed it.

It was pitch black in front of my eyes, and the surroundings were getting cold and damp.

Huanyan, who had been very tough just now, touched the goose bumps on her arms and squeezed towards Jiang Xingkuo desperately.

"What are you doing?" Jiang Xingkuo took out a fire starter from his sleeve pocket, and the surroundings instantly lit up.

"Ahem." Huanyan returned to normal with a serious face, "Nothing. Let's take a look at what good stuff there is."

The two opened a few boxes at random, and found all of them were ordinary antique vases and utensils. A few more exquisite small boxes also contained gold head ornaments, jewelry, and so on.

"You said the Hai family is really generous." Jiang Xingkuo said as he took out a few huge, round pearls and stuffed them into his sleeve pocket.

"Don't you think about it? I'm a princess! If he wants to marry a princess, would he dare to do so without some strength?" Huanyan touched a piece of smooth and silky cloth. "This cloth is good. I'll use it to make clothes someday."

"This headdress seems to be good too. It can match the fabric just now."

"This bracelet looks expensive. Do you want to exchange it for the one we have?"

"Wait." Jiang Xingkuo suddenly felt something was wrong. "What are we doing? Shopping?"

"Hmm..." Huanyan took back her hand, "Then put the pearl back."

"Oh! It's more important to do the real work." Jiang Xingkuo quickly interrupted and walked to the corner of the warehouse, and Huanyan followed closely.

There were more than a dozen huge boxes piled in the corner, clearly separating an area from the other boxes.

Jiang Xingkuo glanced at Huanyan, and Huanyan nodded seriously.

Just as I was about to open them, I found that the boxes were all locked.

Even stranger.

Huanyan sneered, then took out the hammer and rubbed his hands.

Jiang Xingkuo squatted beside her to provide her with light.

Obviously the lock of this box was much smaller and easier to pry open, and it was opened in a short while.

The moment they saw the black powder, they were both shocked.

Huanyan quickly threw the fire starter in Jiang Xingkuo's hand away and stomped on it a few times.

After confirming that there were no sparks, the surroundings returned to pitch darkness.

Huan Yan, who had come to her senses, wanted to cry in the darkness but had no tears: "...The stars are so dark...I'm scared..."

"..." Jiang Xingkuo was speechless. He reached into his sleeve pocket and fumbled for a while, then took out a box.

Once opened, a night-shining pearl as big as a fist emitted a warm, jade-like light, illuminating everything around it.

"...Where did you get this from?" Huanyan's face turned black.

"I just took it while you were shopping..." Jiang Xingkuo replied without blushing or beating his heart, and then said:

"This black fire was hidden in the princess's mansion. How thoughtful. Send it in together with your betrothal gifts. Even if the officials search the Hai family again, they won't be able to find this black fire."

As she was secretly sighing, Huanyan frowned: "So much black powder, what are they going to do? Are they going to blow me to death?"

Before Jiang Xingkuo could answer, she asked again in confusion: "No, this amount is probably enough to blow up the imperial palace... the imperial palace?!"

Seeing Jiang Xingkuo silent, she looked into his watery eyes and was shocked.

"He... is planning a rebellion?"