Chapter 037
Nangong Iren
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The four of them shifted the object, shaped like a cupboard, that covered the door leading to the secret passage. Since there were four of them, they could do it quickly. After opening the door, Shannchyuan asked his friends to come in first. It just liked the story that Iren had heard before. This time, Shannchyuan also didn't forget to lock the door from the hallway.
They didn't carry kerosene lamps. Purposely, they left the lights in the dungeon. They walked with just flashlights for lighting. Because they already know the way, they can move quickly. They had arrived at a large hall shaped like a hexagon without realizing it.
Iren was amazed to see the room. He looked at the stone bench that Shannchyuan had told him about earlier. Lots of questions popped up in his mind. But he couldn't stay there for long. The other three friends left to enter the next hallway pronto.
As they almost reached the end of the passage, Shannchyuan, who was walking in the front, stopped. He shone his flashlight at the hallway wall. Iren saw a candle holder attached there. Shannchyuan grabbed the candleholder and pulled it until it was tilted at a ninety-degree angle. There was a slow rumbling sound, more like a buzzing sound. The left wall of the passage slid closer and then stuck to the right wall. Exactly the same as Shannchyuan's previous narrative.
"You stand guard here." Shannchyuan patted Shinnshiow on the shoulder.
Shinnshiow said nothing. He just nodded.
Shannchyuan then reached into his trouser pocket, pulling out a key. The key was to lock the basement door in their backyard. He gave it to Iren. "Don't forget, you'll lock the door before you go up to the surface."
Iren nodded vigorously.
The door had no handle. I don't think this will be easy.
Shannchyuan, Yihshyong, and Iren walked into the room, where there was a dressing table that was probably made of first-class wood. Same as before. Iren could not linger standing in front of the dressing table. The three of them walked across the room filled with the items. Then, they entered the next room through the dog door one by one. They stood huddled together in the next room, which turned out to be a closet.
"Please pay close attention to what I'm doing," Shannchyuan asked Iren to focus on such an important thing.
Iren observed what Shannchyuan was doing. He listened carefully to how to open the wooden wall that separated the closet from the cupboard in the next room.
"Don't forget, we can only open the dog door from here when this wooden wall is closed." Shannchyuan's voice was firm.
After the wooden wall opened completely, Shannchyuan and Yihshyong quickly stepped into the closet.
"You stay there," said Shannchyuan. "This cupboard is very narrow. It won't fit all three of us standing in it."
After Shannchyuan opened the cupboard door, he and Yihshyong immediately stepped out of the cupboard. Iren looked at them with mixed feelings. He was silent because he didn't know what to say.
Shannchyuan and Yihshyong turned their bodies. Iren came face to face with the two people. Both of their faces were so serious.
"After we leave this room, you close this closet door from the inside. After that, return to where Shinnshiow stands guard!" Shannchyuan turned around after he finished saying the last instructions. The man and Yihshyong moved swiftly. There were so many things strewn about in the room. The two had to be careful with their treads.
Iren nodded again. He couldn't resist the movement of his feet. Automatically, Iren left the closet and stepped into the cupboard. He shone his flashlight at his two friends, who were seen walking away from the cupboard. They walked carefully among the piles of things in the room. Not long after, Iren could hear the door being opened. Shannchyuan and Yihshyong then disappeared behind the door.
Iren couldn't hold back his mixed feelings. He stood there, dumbfounded. It was only about fifteen seconds later that he started to move. Iren closed the closet door, entered the closet, closed the closet wall, and entered the next room through the dog door. He hastened towards the alcove in the wall next to the wooden dresser without wasting much time. Once inside the hallway, he walked over to Shinnshiow.
"Is everything going well?" Shinnshiow's face looked bored. Watching beside the candle holder was not an interesting thing to do.
Iren nodded. "Come on, now let's go back."
Shinnshiow realigned the candle holder. After the hallway walls closed, they rapidly turned around and walked home. Even though they were trying to walk as fast as possible, Iren felt the passages were too long. Finally, they arrived at the end of the passage. Following Shannchyuan's instruction, Iren soon locked the door of the hallway. Exactly as he had thought. Locking the door was not as easy as locking the doors in their homes.
Shinnshiow and Iren did not restore the position of the cupboards as before, covering the hallway door. Apart from the fact that the cupboard looked so heavy, they also thought that it was likely that Yihshyong and Shannchyuan would return home through the passage again. If that's the case, then if they now slide the cupboard to cover the door, they'll have to slide it again later to be able to open the door again.
Iren tapped on the iron step on the hole wall that led to the backyard above. No answer. After waiting for some time, there was also no answer.
Where did Yihge go? Could it be that he fell asleep because he was too tired?
"What now? It seems Yihge is not guarding on the side of the pit!" Shinnshiow started to panic.
"I'm afraid something has happened up there." Iren accidentally said those words. One second later, he regretted it. Shinnshiow looked even more panicked.
"Let's go up now." Shinnshiow reached out his hand to touch the iron bars embedded in the hole's wall. "I'm sure these iron rods are still strong enough to support our weight."
"You or I go up first?".
"Renge, you goes up first, please. I'll keep watch here."
Iren went to the surface right away. Actually, he was a little doubtful. Even though the iron rods looked solid, they didn't know how long they had been stuck in the hole's wall. There might be parts that were not as solid as they seem. But he realized he had to set a good example in front of Shinnshiow. After all, he was older than him. So he shouldn't look scared. Slowly, Iren stepped on the iron rods. Little by little, he finally arrived at the end of the hole. When only a few centimeters left, a hand outstretched from above.
Jenqyih held out his hand. Instinctively, Iren caught the hand promptly. Jenqyih then pulled Iren out of the hole.
"Now it's your turn. Come on up," said Iren from above to Shinnshiow, who was still at the bottom of the hole.
"Your voice is too soft. Maybe he didn't hear," said Jenqyih.
Iren picked up the iron rod on the side of the hole with his flashlight. A signal for Shinnshiow to rise to the surface right away.
"Isn't it necessary to wear a rope?" Jenqyih asked.
"No need. I just rode without a rope. Shinnshiow can do it too."
Iren's words were not wrong at all. Shinnshiow rose faster than him.
"What's wrong? Why isn't Yihge standing guard at the edge of the hole?" Shinnshiow immediately asked as soon as he reached the edge of the hole.
Jenqyih looked confused. Clearly visible, he had a hard time answering Shinnshiow's question. Iren frowned. Something wrong must have happened. Without waiting for Jenqyih's answer, Iren walked toward the kitchen door straight away. After entering the house, he carefully checked every room in the house.
The girl is not here!
"Where did Miss Liuchiou go?" Iren felt a little panicked. Shannchyuan rarely got angry. But he could look terrifying when he was angry.
This is terrible!
"Dahge already ordered Miss Liuchiou not to go anywhere." Shinnshiow also panicked.
Jenqyih said nothing. Instantly, he instead walked into the living room. Iren and Shinnshiow followed him without hesitation. It turned out that the television in the living room was still on, even though the volume was very low. Jenqyih directly pointed at the television set. They saw the news of a great calamity.
"Where did this fire happen?" Shinnshiow stepped closer to the television.
On the television screen, there was an important report about a great fire that had engulfed a luxury housing estate. The show was a live broadcast. Iren could hear the reporter. He said that even though it had been more than three hours since the fire broke out, the fire department still could not tame the blazing fire. Even in some parts, the fire was even bigger.
"There was a big fire in Yuehming. Miss Liuchiou said that the location of the fire was very close to her relative's house. So when she saw this news, she went there directly!"
Iren was shocked to hear Jenqyih's words.
How could a coincidence like this happen?
"Yihge just let her go? She can't go alone. In an emergency like this, Yihge should go with her."
"Right! How will we be accountable to Dahge," said Shinnshiow.
"She didn't go there alone," Jenqyih said.
Iren was even more surprised to hear that. "What does Yihge mean? Who else was here? Was Chioujen home yet?" Iren asked questions in succession.
"You guys sit down first. Let me explain," Jenqyih said. Iren could see that Jenqyih seemed to be trying to calm Shinnshiow and him. Shinnshiow did look panicked. Iren guessed Jenqyih thought he was also panicking. In fact, this assumption was not entirely wrong. Iren did panic, but not as much as Shinnshiow.
After they all sat down, Jenqyih began to explain. "Right after you guys went down there, there was a knock on the door. It turned out that Tsaehorng had come here. He wanted to know how we were. Since I'm not allowed to tell him about the whereabouts of our secret passage, I said that you guys left early in the morning to look for it." our new abode. Of course, I couldn't stand guard at the edge of the hole because I had to accompany him in this living room."
Iren gaped at Jenqyih. Tsaehorng coming to their house was a surprise. Three days ago, Iren did give him their home addresses. But he didn't think that Tsaehorng would actually take the time to visit them. Moreover, lately, he has been swamped because he had to meet a lot of people at the painting exhibition. Apart from that, Tsaehorng also has a business to deal with.
"At that time, Miss Liuchiou also sat in the living room. In accordance with what we agreed, I introduced Miss Liuchiou as Dahge's distant relative. Suddenly, in the middle of our conversation, Miss Liuchiou turned on the television on a whim. When she saw the news of the fire, she looked anxious instantly. She said that the location of the fire was very close to his relative's house. Impulsively, she wanted to go there."
"Why don't you suggest her to call her relatives from here? That’s a lot more practical, isn’t it?" asked Shinnshiow.
"She's already called there. No answer."
"Why don't you try to stop her?" Shinnshiow frowned.
"I tried to stop her from leaving. I told her to wait for Dahge to come home first. But she didn't want to hear what I said. Tsaehorng happened to come with a private car. He even had a driver. So he offered to take Miss Liuchiou there. I couldn't refuse the offer. After all, it would be much better for her to go there with Tsaehorng than to go alone."
Jenqyih's explanation did not satisfy Iren.
"Still, Yihge shouldn't just let him go with Tsaehorng. Yihge should have gone with them. You could have written a message on a piece of paper to explain your departure," said Iren.
"I'm sorry. Situations like that have made me feel panicked, so I couldn't think straight. I was afraid you would suddenly appear while Tsaehorng was still here. It would be complicated for us to explain."
"Things like this have happened. There's no point in making a fuss anymore," said Shinnshiow. "Now, what are our next steps?"
"I have a suggestion," said Iren. "Maybe we should just change our plans a bit. Yihge sticks to our original plan: to go to the station far away from here to pick up the backpack he left there. Then, immediately move the backpack's contents to the Shindongchaang warehouse at Jongharng Station. Shiowdi, you should catch up with Tsaehorng and Miss Liuchiou. I saw Dahge had copied the address that Miss Liuchiou gave. Take a look in the notebook in his room."
Shinnshiow nodded. In a flash, he walked to Shannchyuan's bedroom. He quickly disappeared behind the bedroom door.
Jenqyih patted Iren's shoulder. "But, aren't Dahge and Shyongge also heading there?"
"Dahge and Shyongge don't know about this incident yet. Since Miss Liuchiou and Tsaehorng took a private car, they most likely got there much earlier than Dahge and Shyongge."
"So, you want Shinnshiow to meet with Dahge and Shyongge to explain this before they meet Tsaehorng?"
"Something like that."
"Does Shinnshiow understand your intentions?"
"I'm sure he has the same intentions."
Jenqyih was silent. He seemed to rack his brains.
"Who did Tsaehorng come here with?"
"Only with his driver. But the driver didn't come into our house. He was just waiting inside the car."
There was the sound of a door opening. With a bright face, Shinnshiow came out of Shannchyuan's bedroom. He had a piece of paper in his hand.
"I'm leaving now!" said Shinnshiow.
"When you get there, look for a payphone, and you call me right away," said Iren.
Shinnshiow nodded.
"Yihge, when you arrive at that distant station, you should also call me as soon as possible. Then, after you finish putting your things in the Shindongchaang warehouse, you call me again."
"Okay! I'll be going now too." Jenqyih said.
"You'd better leave the house together. You two separate to your respective destinations later when you get to the highway."
Jenqyih and Shinnshiow speedily stepped out of the house without wasting much time. Iren escorted them to the gate. Shinnshiow fumbled in his shirt pocket.
"You didn't bring a pen?" Iren asked.
Shinnshiow shook his head.
"You take this!" Iren took out the pen in his trouser pocket and gave it to Shinnshiow. No more time to go in and grab another pen.
After the two friends left, Iren went back into the house. He sat on the long sofa in the living room. The television was still on. With great curiosity, Iren watched the broadcast about the current situation of the big fire.
"I hope everything will be fine!" Taking a deep breath, Iren turned around and walked toward the dining room.
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