13 What Could That Be?

She increased her soul force to trespass the walls and boxes to look to its contents. But even though she spent her time surveying every millimetre of the chamber, she found nothing that fitted the keyhole that had a pretty five-petal flower shape carved in the box.

Her chiselled facial features denoted her upset mood; furrowed brows and a downward smirk. She was at the point of going mad, 'Even the secret compartments I have found in two of the walls have nothing. I have only found Yu Lanlan's clothes,' she thought while passing her hands through some of the robes inside a wardrobe made of Floral Mahogany Wood; she was in a side-chamber that was connected to the main one were all her clothing was kept.

She stopped her action and made a thinking gesture, 'All are made of fine fabrics and thread. Hmmh... but where are the head ornaments and jewellery? There is none on these boxes.' She was in need of money; she needed to buy medicinal herbs to put on work her plans. Though she had various kinds of herbs, they weren't herbs she could refine at the moment or completely the ones she needed.

'Well, I could "borrow" some money from this family,' she had that thought but in no time she shook it away. She had been an Empress in the past and a favoured young lady of a top-ranked family before that. She had never taken the belongings of someone without doing a proper transaction unless they were the dead people she had assassinated on her missions, but that was another thing.

'Wait, I could make those goods be part of their debt to pay,' it was a good idea indeed, and the fact of them paying their own punishment was funnier but the feeling she got was still not that good so she discarded her excuse an idea.

She shook her head and turned back to the bedchamber. She walked to Si Xuli's bedside that was to her right and pressed various acupuncture points on her back; she had decided to accelerate things, with what she had done, Si Xuli will feel a certain urge when the skies had turned dark.

If most of the times Si Xuli needed to use the Red Charm Liquid to get the City Lord's dotting, in less than a month the most undesired and evident side-effect of that liquid would begin to manifest.

'Haah… It's so bad that my control over my soul force is lacking and I can only leave enough soul force for it to last at most a week. If I could extend the effect a bit more, this Si Xuli will waste the City Lord's third leg in less than a week,' she giggled sweetly; but she didn't have the ability to prolongate it so she changed her line thought, 'Even so, the fact that I need to help Si Xuli to not be discovered that soon remains. Hmmh, but how do I make some money?' Aside from Yu Lanlan's robes there were no valuables left on her courtyard and she couldn't do alchemy either; maybe some basic powders with some wild plants but she wouldn't be able to earn much, or that was she thought.

Finally, she shrugged her shoulders, thinking, 'Whatever, this lady will find a way. A man like him doesn't deserve to be called a man and a viper like her deserves to be called like one, after all. Huhuhu, Meirong can't wait to watch the show from the sides,' she was leaving her imagination wander; she was really expecting to see it.

She gave a last laugh before stepping back to go away.

*Creak*, her first step had just landed and the creaking sound of the floor sounded. She had been going through all the place and she noticed the floor creaked too much but she hadn't put attention to it till now as her head was full of other thoughts.

'Which wood is this? I must remember to not build something with it. It makes me feel like I'm walking on a bridge, with nothing more than air below the wood planks,' she shook her head and swiftly turned around the bed.

"Huh, empty air?" she thought aloud when she reached the ante-chamber.

'Stupid. Meirong, you didn't look below the floor,' she tapped her forehead before tilting her head, 'but… do you think you will be able to find what you are looking for…'

'Erghh… Anyway, better to give it a try now that I'm here.'

She inspected it but she couldn't be more disappointed; there were only soil and some dry roots with little insects. She chuckled while grinding her white teeth and about to retract her soul, something caught her sight.

In the bedchamber, below a boudoir that was a few meters before the bed, there was an invisible-like flimsy card stuck between two wood planks. Her soul sense couldn't see it, but thanks to some soil that attached to some parts of its surface, she was able to notice it as it looked like some cumulous of floating earth.

'What could that be?' she wondered while returning to the bedchamber.