A piece of Japanese incense

Walking past the study, I could clearly feel the young eunuch's pace slowing down, and he lowered his head and looked around.

There are many strange rocks in Xianfeng Pavilion. When you walk to a slope, you stop. On the slope is a Hefeng Pavilion.

"Miss Zhi, Miss Yuyi is in the pavilion upstairs. I will take my leave now."

I raised my chin towards Yutuan, who immediately understood and grabbed Xiaoke's clothes.

"Hey~ Don't go~ We have never been here before, Eunuch Ke, please take us upstairs!"

Xiao Ke quickly shook her head and waved her hands, saying, "No, no, the work that the master asked me to do has not been completed yet, so I will go back first."

"It's okay, we'll help you with the work later!" Without further ado, Yu Tuan pulled him by the collar and pushed him to the front, letting him go up the stairs first.

When he was halfway up, he saw the whole pavilion. Yuyi was gagged and tied to a round red-painted pillar.

"Girl! Yuyi is there!" Yutuan grabbed Xiaoke and went up two steps at a time.

"Yutuan, be careful!" I followed closely.

After jogging two steps, Yutuan had already untied the rope on Yuyi by himself, and Xiaoke broke free from the restraints and was about to run down.

The moment he turned around, a wooden stake as thick as a bowl flew towards me at lightning speed, like a bell ringing in the ears of a thief. I moved sideways and grabbed Xiao Ke's arm. He probably thought I was going to hold on to him and tried to pull my hand away. During the struggle, the wooden stake hit the back of his head. Under the impact of the wooden stake, he rolled down the stairs.

Everything happened so fast, like a tornado.

"Are you okay, miss!"

Yutuan and Yuyi quickly surrounded me from left and right, looking me up and down.

I was terrified. Although Xiao Ke had done something bad to lead us here, I didn't expect that he would fall down.

"Hurry, hurry, hurry! Go down and take a look!"

The three of us ran down the stairs. I quickly checked his breath: he was still breathing, so I felt relieved. I then checked his head and arms...

"Miss, is everything okay?" Yu Yi asked worriedly.

"He's still breathing, he's not shaking, and he's not bleeding. He's not pretending to faint, is he?" Yu Tuan held Xiao Ke's head and slapped him.

Yuyi and I were stunned.

"Yutuan! Why are you so aggressive!" Yuyi patted Yutuan on the back.

Xiao Ke was really awake. When she saw us, she was stunned for a few seconds, then she immediately got up and knelt in front of me.

"This slave deserves death! This slave deserves death!"

Yuyi helped me stand up, Yutuan smiled crookedly, stood up and said, "Look, I told you, there's nothing wrong, you just deserve a beating."

Xiao Ke buried her head on the ground, shivering.

"Hurry up and get up, jump up and see if you're okay."

"Thank you, miss! Thank you, miss!" Xiao Ke got up, bent over, hung her head, and shrunk her neck.

"Yutuan, bring your hairpin back."

Xiao Ke took two steps back.

"Hey! You're still hiding!" Yu Tuan kicked him in the butt.

"Ouch!" Xiao Ke curled up on her side, timidly took out the hairpin from her sleeve and returned it to Yutuan.

"Did you tie Yuyi to the pillar?"

Xiao Ke didn’t reply to me.

"You won't tell me, right?" Yu Tuan pretended to raise his foot.

"I'll tell you! I'll tell you! It was Master who asked me to knock Miss Yuyi unconscious, and Master and I carried her to the pavilion together. Then Master asked me to trick you into coming here."

"Who is your master?!"

"Yes..." Xiao Ke glanced at Yu Tuan timidly.

Yutuan raised his hand, and Xiaoke subconsciously blocked it with his hand.

"Yes! Yes... It's Wang De, the eunuch in charge of the upper study."

"Who ordered him?"

"I don't know."

"You're not going to tell me yet!" Yu Tuan said as he was about to roll up his sleeves.

"Really... I really don't know! I always do whatever the master tells me to do. I dare not deceive the young lady." There was a cry in his voice at the end of his words.

"Forget it, let's go."

"Yes! Yes! Thank you, Miss Zhi!" After bowing, Xiao Ke stood up with difficulty, supporting her knees with her hands, and walked away limping.

"Stop, wait a minute, did you really not bump into anything just now?" I called out to him.

"No, no!" Xiao Ke hesitated for a moment, held on to a tree, bent over, coughed dryly several times, and vomited with a "vomit" sound.

"What's wrong with you? Didn't you say everything was fine?" Yu Tuan walked forward, covering her nose and gently patting his back and asked in reprimand.

After Xiao Ke finished vomiting, she sat on the ground exhausted.

I felt his pulse and it was weak. He looked pale, sweating, and breathing shallowly. He must have just fallen and had a mild concussion.

Xiao Ke held her head and confessed: "It's over, it's over, I made this place dirty, the master will definitely beat me to death."

"What's the big deal? Just bury it in the soil. No one will find it."

Yuyi also agreed: "Yeah, don't worry, just sit here and take a rest, Yutuan and I will do it."

Xiao Ke looked at Yutuan and Yuyi with gratitude.

I said, "You have a brain concussion. Ask your master to give you a holiday and let you lie in bed for a few days."

Xiao Ke shook his head and murmured, "No... no need."

"If you don't rest, you'll feel dizzy at best, or even faint and lose your memory at worst. I don't want anyone to die because of me. Let me write you a letter. You go to the Imperial Medical Bureau to find a doctor named Yun Jingmo, show him the letter, and ask him to..."

Before I could finish, Xiao Ke interrupted me: "Thank you for your kindness Miss Zhi. The master doesn't care about my life or death. Besides, I didn't complete the task he assigned me this time, and he will beat me to death when I return." He slumped on the ground, his eyes unfocused.

"How could... someone be beaten to death so severely?"

He slowly loosened his hands that were grabbing the collar of his clothes, and tremblingly lifted up his sleeves, which were covered with bruises and wounds.

"Oh my God! Girl! His arm...!" Yu Yi bit her lower lip, her eyes moist.

Yu Tuan also exclaimed: "No wonder! I didn't even use much strength just now, but you reacted so strongly!"

"Of the five people who entered the palace with me, only two are left now. Since I failed to accomplish my mission this time, I will probably be the next one." He buried his face in his knees and sobbed softly.

Yuyi was puzzled: "Where are the people? Where did they go?"

I whispered, "Dead. Or missing."

There was silence for a moment.

Yutuan sat next to Xiaoke and stroked his back gently.

"Girl, can we...can we help him?" Yu Yi said in a low voice.

I rolled my eyes, poked Yuyi's head with my index finger and said, "Are you a saint? Not long ago, he knocked you out and tied you up there, and he tricked us all into coming here. If it weren't for my cleverness, it would have been either me or Yuyi who fell down from there. Do you still pity him?"

"We are not seriously injured, but if he goes back like this, how are we going to explain to his master? He was also forced by his master..." Yu Yi fell silent when she saw my impatient expression.

"Thank you, Miss Yuyi. I treated you so well, but you still repayed me with kindness. I... However, my fate has come to an end..." Xiao Ke raised her head and said in a deep voice: "Miss Zhi, if today's matter is not accomplished, someone will harm you in the future, and it will only get worse. You should be more careful."

I paused for a moment and said, "Xiao Ke, do you hate your master?"

"I...I don't dare."

"If you don't want to die, then get up and attack him in anger. Only if your master dies, more people will survive. But you don't even have the courage to hate him, so you'd better leave it to fate." After saying that, I pulled up Yutuan who was sitting on the ground and prepared to go back to the girls' school.

"Miss Zhi! I want to live! I... I hate him! He snatched away the only silver bracelet my elder sister left me, and he thought my mother's tablet was unlucky, so he threw it into the fire. And my best friend Xiao Che was suffocated to death by him because he poured wax on his face because he reported him to the higher-ups." Xiao Ke scratched her skin and swallowed frequently.