He exchanged a glance with Minister Qi.
The two rarely agree on something, and they didnât stop Chu Heng this time.
As Chu Heng was leaving,
he suddenly heard a loud bang, as a vase fell to the ground and shattered into pieces.
The guardâs voice, trembling with fear, sounded: "Lord Chu, it was my mistake..."
"My lord, thereâs something wrong with this vase, it seems to be a..." He hadnât finished the word âmechanismâ.
Then there was a cracking sound.
The painting behind the screen split open, revealing a passage that connected the two tea rooms.
Minister Xiang looked sharply at Chu Heng, and indeed saw a smug expression on his face, eyes wide with rage. Only at that moment did he realize that from the beginning, Chu Heng had orchestrated this entire situation for this very moment!
From the start, he was the target.
It wasnât, as he thought, that the other party wanted to take Hu Hua down and cause him to lose an ally.
Minister Qiâs eyes deepened as well, looking at Chu Heng with trepidation.
The room was very quiet.
Even Hu Huaâs cries had hushed in that instant; he couldnât dare imagine what he was seeing now.
In the silent room, a soft sneer echoed.
"Oh, this teahouse is quite interesting, two rooms with a hidden passage, Great Minister Qi and Minister Xiang, you both have such luck, booking a teahouse with the rooms side by side. Surely you werenât aware of this teahouseâs construction secret, right?"
"I wonder if the other rooms in the teahouse have similar designs." Chu Heng seemed to be explaining on behalf of Minister Qi and Minister Xiang but actually emphasized the deep connection between the two.
Minister Xiang had always been an opponent of Minister Qi in court; if they were openly getting along, it wouldnât be an issue, but if the Emperor were to believe they were secretly close, wouldnât that clearly make them out to be colluding together, plotting something, and being guilty of wrongdoing?
He felt the nerves on his forehead twitching violently, his face going a livid shade, but he still had to cover this up verbally: "Lord Chu, if it werenât for todayâs unexpected discovery, I wouldnât have known this tea room had such a hidden setup."
"Itâs just unfortunate that this shopkeeper isnât honest with his dealings, failing even to clarify such matters."
"If it werenât for the fact that Minister Qi and I were in neighboring rooms and have little interaction usually, we would have long noticed this room setting. This teahouse needs to be thoroughly checked, or in the future, if someone barges in while having tea in a private room, it would be hard to explain!" Minister Xiang gave a sharp, angry snort.
He immediately ordered his guard to bring the shopkeeper over.
At the same time, he waved his hand to have his subordinates inspect the other rooms.
The guard soon returned, bowing to report to Minister Xiang: "My lord, similar mechanisms were found in the other rooms as well."
"Hmph, why donât you fess up already, what is this tea room actually used for!" Minister Xiang shouted angrily, looking at the shopkeeper with bloodshot eyes, as if he wished to devour him.
The shopkeeper felt a chill in his heart, instinctively wanting to look towards Minister Qi.
But out of the corner of his eye, he saw the other partyâs cold demeanor and that gesture, clearly indicating he should take responsibility with his life.
"Spare me, my lord, I genuinely donât know about the mechanismâs location. After becoming the shopkeeper, I never noticed this mechanism either, and this teahouse was also bought from someone elseâs hands previously." The shopkeeper wailed his grievances.
He continued to kowtow on the ground, soon bleeding profusely from his head.
"Spare me, my lord..." The shopkeeper kept trying to distance himself from the situation, attributing everything to his ignorance.