Chapter 32 - A Treasure
Lin Xiaofei stepped out from Hong Pei Lou.
She turned her head and looked upward as if she could see what was inside it and feel that the man she had just met was just standing there and watching her as she walks away.
What they talked about earlier was not something that could be talked about outside especially, in front of the Royal family. Knowing how much the Royal family was afraid of any uprisings and always had their guards up even to their most trusted officials, they would execute anyone they believed to be planning a revolt.
Hence, if the words that someone was looking to buy a bomb, that person should expect to be executed already once the words passed through the ears of the Heaven's son, the emperor.
In addition, the Hong Pei Lou who was the middleman won't be able to escape the same fate as the buyer. Thus, Lin Xiaofei was confident Hong Pei Lou and the manager whom she met earlier and spoke with, wouldn't even try to say a word about this matter in fear of being implicated.
However, she wasn't so sure what was the relationship between the Duke of Xin and Hong Pei Lou. Was it all a coincidence that the masked man suddenly suggested her to get what she wants from the Duke of Xin? Just basing on the way he spoke immediately as if he was rushing, the Duke of Xin was instantly thrown on the center of their topic and it seems like they had some dealings with the Duke himself.
Whatever the case and the relationship between the two, Lin Xiaofei has already made up her mind.
Assuming that the Duke of Xin will definitely ask her for what purpose would she be using the bomb, Lin Xiaofei knew that she will not be able to lie to those discerning eyes who have seen and experienced battles both war in the plains and the battles between the sinister and scheming officials in the imperial court.
As someone who faced mortal danger every day, Lin Xiaofei knew how much danger and death was lurking around Qu Xing Xu just by looking at him. However, she would still risk meeting him just to get her hands on a bomb and proceed to her plan.
The bomb she wanted to have her hands on was not going to be used to revolt against the imperial family but rather, to do something more perilous and that will make the entire Zheng empire quake in fear.
When Lin Xiaofei was still a child, she would always pass by the mountain between the Zheng empire and the Chu empire and would stop to take a rest on a small and abandoned cottage at the foot of the mountain. At that time, Lin Xiaofei was too young to understand what was going on, however, while she was resting, three groups of soldiers and slaves were seen walking up the mountain like it was a walk in the garden.
Lin Xiaofei, a young girl who wanted to have the knowledge of the world naturally followed them but secretly and silently hid behind the trees to not be seen. As she was following them, they suddenly stopped in front of the mouth of a huge cave, and there, she saw what was lying inside it.
In the four Empire, Zheng Empire was considered as the richest and could rival the other three kingdoms, however, no one knew the truth behind why the empire like Zheng who was struggling for centuries to make it to the top finally broke into the ranks and made its name?
Of course, Lin Xiaofei was still so young at that time to analyze and think more of what she saw, but after marrying Yu Fangzhu, she finally understood what was the importance of that cave.
In the cave, gemstones of every kind were everywhere and deep inside the cave. It was like a treasure that was filled to the brim that even if one were to dig it up to the bottom, there was no end to the treasures that could be found inside.
That cave that was like a bottomless treasure box was made into a mine and with the Royal family's orders, people were gathered to dug up the gemstones and other raw material they could find.
And though, the mining of these raw materials was hard and could gain the public's attention, no one found out of their activities as it was kept in secret and only a few knew of it.
It was by a chance that Lin Xiaofei was able to come across the group walking up the mountains and followed them, however, if they found her at that time, Lin Xiaofei was sure that her head would fall on the ground.
They couldn't risk people knowing of the cave they found and most importantly, they couldn't let the neighboring empire, the Chu empire, to know of its existence and divide it among themselves since the cave was located in the mountain that was both owned by the Zheng and Chu empire.
This was the reason why she wanted a bomb.
She wanted to bomb the cave and make the usefulness of the cave disappear, and let the Chu empire who was robbed and was lied upon by the Zheng Empire, know of its existence.
With the source of wealth and money, Lin Xiaofei wondered what the royal family would do. What would Yu Fangzhu do to solve this problem?
Knowing him, Lin Xiaofei bet that he would treat the cave as his own property. Yu Fangzhu, a man who wanted nothing but to be above everyone. Lin Xiofei wanted to see what would be his face look like when he saw the thing he wanted the most crumbling down to dust and useless.
Lin Xiaofei felt a soft drop of water falling on her cheeks and looked up. The sky that was so bright and felt welcoming in the morning was replaced by the dark grey clouds overcasting the sky before the rain was slowly getting stronger.