I became the Counterpart of the Winner in a Period Novel-Chapter 314 - 288: Night Visit to Qiong Bamboo Temple 2
At this point, the few others who had objections also fell silent. Not for any other reason, but simply for the sake of this wine, they were willing to sit down and talk. The Zhao Family is a family of wine lovers... though not actual drunkards, they are clear-headed people who love wine but never let it interfere with important matters.
Grandfather Zhao was injured in battle in his early years, and a blizzard raged on for a month. The old man only survived thanks to a jug of wine and a bit of dry food given by a comrade on their deathbed. If it had only been the dry food, with his body full of wounds and in the bitter cold, he would have frozen to death in the snow long ago.
Thankfully, it was that jug of wine that allowed the old man to return to the village alive, marry, and start a family.
From then on, his sons and grandsons grew up hearing this story. To their family, wine holds a special significance, and what’s more, good wine does have health benefits. They rarely encounter such wine, but the bottle tonight is definitely extraordinary. They have tasted many good wines over the years, but just by smelling this one, they knew that the ones before were nothing but horse piss.
At this moment, Jiang Mingyue’s group also arrived at the Qiong Bamboo Temple. At night, the ancient temple was unusually tranquil. It wasn’t obvious during the day, but now it was clear that the surrounding mountains encircled the temple, resembling a child embraced by a mother.
Jiang Mingyue first used her spiritual power to probe inside, but oddly, in the middle of the night, when people should be asleep, there were still people gathered around a fire. By the firelight, Jiang Mingyue could roughly see their faces. They were still the same beggars, but strangely, something seemed off, though she couldn’t quite put her finger on it.
The strangest thing was that the main door was left carelessly open, with nobody guarding it.
Her cousin also noticed and pointed to the door: "Look at that, doesn’t it seem strange? Yueyue, when you came last time, was the door open like this?"
"No, An Jian and I had to climb over the wall! Brothers, I have a feeling something’s not right."
Xie Yunhai replied nonchalantly, "Why don’t we go in and take a look? Even if a fight breaks out, that bastard Liu Chu isn’t all that tough. Last time in the Baihua Forest, didn’t I almost kick and cripple him?
Too bad! This time I’ll make sure to finish the job and make him impotent."
Jiang Ming’an: "Cough cough... take note, my sister is still listening."
Jiang Mingyue: "..."
"Alright, let’s go!"
The door was carelessly half-open, just a step and they could enter. This was indeed abnormal. Don’t forget, the group of "beggars" led by Yang the Sixth practiced martial arts behind closed doors, wishing everyone was kept out to prevent spying.
It’s impossible for them to lack such an awareness of protective measures.
Xie Yunhai: "Brother, could it be that the whole group of beggars was wiped out? That Yang the Sixth certainly must have killed their parents and captured their sisters."
Jiang Ming’an was at a loss for words: "Stop reading those picture books!"
"Brothers, look over there..."
"Firelight?" Flames flickered, casting shadows on the red walls.
They held their breath and took a shortcut through a small side door, then exited through another side door, just right to stand under the shadows and observe everything clearly.
They saw a group of beggars huddled around a pile of firewood, either leaning or lying down. Occasionally, two of the beggars would bow their heads in conversation and occasionally add wood to the fire.
Jiang Mingyue finally realized what was wrong.
The state of alertness.
The beggars in front of her were genuinely lazy and carefree, without any vigilance. It was exactly like how they were when sleeping on park benches while begging on the street, having nothing to fear as they were so poor they only had fleas left.
In contrast, Yang the Sixth and his group were very cautious. Last time when she and An Jian came, every one of them was either leaning or lying down, and even without using spiritual power, she could feel the numerous "eyes" watching her. Just like Yang the Sixth, even with his watch chain hanging, his eyes closed, he knew to reach out and grab.
"Brothers, these seem like real beggars!"
Xie Yunhai: "Yueyue, look at their faces again, do you notice anything different?"
After a moment, Jiang Mingyue whispered, "Brother Xie, their faces indeed appear to be their own. Yang the Sixth and his group probably bought their beggar outfits and left them behind when they left. These people picked them up again to wear."
"If you want to be a beggar, you indeed can’t wear well."
Jiang Mingyue grew even more puzzled: Yang the Sixth and his group had obviously withdrawn, leaving the territory to the original beggars. But she clearly saw them stationed at the Qiong Bamboo Temple for a year. During this period, where did the beggars go? Did she misunderstand, and Yang the Sixth’s group actually came midway to take over?
If so, the implications are obvious.
There might truly be a secret they are hiding here.
This time, Jiang Mingyue mobilized all her spiritual power, directing it all beneath the Qiong Bamboo Temple for a thorough search.
Sure enough, she discovered three cellars. By rights, the water and soil in the Southwest are comfortable, so there’s no reason anyone would dig a cellar beneath their own home. Perhaps there’s something special in the temple that needs to be kept private.
Any further, Jiang Mingyue couldn’t see clearly.
"Brothers, An Jian says there are three cellars below, two to the east and west, and one to the north."
Xie Yunhai remembered something, "I know about the ones to the east and west. There is an archive in the east, which used to be a place for the temple disciples to practice and borrow books. But the temple also has some rare collections that ordinary disciples can’t access, only those above the rank of elder. They expanded the cellar behind the abbot’s resting place to accommodate other elders, and the blueprint shows it right next to the archive.
As for the west, that’s even simpler; it’s the temple’s large kitchen where cellars were dug to store food.
Regarding the north, I’ve never heard anything of it, let’s go down and take a look."
Jiang Mingyue: "..." So, some people and things truly can’t be generalized.
Jiang Ming’an whispered quietly to his sister, "Under building 43, Brother Xie dug a cellar, built with green bricks and cement around, and reinforced with steel plates on top, like a fortress. Unless there’s a cataclysmic earthquake, even if Magpie Street is flooded, the cellar would remain watertight. Do you know what’s hidden in the cellar? All kinds of treasures, a pile of Buddhist Scriptures, and secret martial arts manuals. We didn’t understand where they came from before, but now we know."
Jiang Mingyue: "..." To say this out loud to me, is it really okay?
And she thought: My brother won’t just be mine anymore in the future.
Xie Yunhai led the two through various parts of the temple, familiar with the way, and actually found the entrance, exactly matching what her spiritual power had detected.
