An eight-year-old kid emptied his scumbag father's warehouse and followed his grandparents into

Chapter 892 Hidden Mechanism

At this moment, the gentle yet somewhat accusing voice of my mother Jing Qiurong suddenly came from behind: "It was so hard for us to find you! We walked around the garden all the time and thought you guys had gone back home because you were having fun!"

Before he finished speaking, Xiaoyu beside him had already hurriedly lowered her clothes and respectfully saluted to the back: "Master, Madam."

Jing Chunxi turned around and saw her father Xu Dingchun and her mother walking side by side. She immediately smiled with relief and said, "Mom is finally here. Zhaozhao is so heavy that my arms are sore."

As he said this, he carefully handed the little guy in his arms, who was starting to become restless again, to his mother.

She instructed Xiaoyu seemingly casually, "Xiaoyu, take your wife to the stone bench over there to rest and have a cup of tea to relieve her fatigue." As she spoke, she gave her mother a meaningful look very quickly and imperceptibly.

This subtle interaction was clearly seen by Xu Dingchun. Although he didn't understand what was going on, he knew that Jing Chunxi was acting prudently, so he followed her words and nodded gently to his wife Jing Qiurong, indicating that she should go and rest first.

Seeing her daughter's expression, Jing Qiurong knew that something must be wrong, so she turned around and deliberately urged her, "Come here quickly."

Only after Jing Qiurong, holding Zhao Zhao and Xiao Yu, turned and walked several steps away did Xu Dingchun suppress the relaxed expression on his face. He took a step closer and asked in a low voice, "Xi'er, what's wrong? You're so mysterious."

Jing Chunxi frowned slightly and responded in a low voice: "Dad, Zhao Zhao was a little strange just now..."

Before she finished speaking, Xu Dingchun's nerves immediately tensed up when he heard that it was about his youngest daughter, and he hurriedly asked: "What's going on? What happened to Zhaozhao?" His concern was beyond words, as if any slight movement regarding Zhaozhao could make him instantly alert.

"Don't worry, Daddy. It's nothing bad. Come over and take a look," Jing Chunxi reassured him, guiding her father to the clump of ferns. She pointed upward, "Zhao Zhao was just staring at this spot, saying 'Oh oh' several times. She was incredibly excited. I tried to hold her and leave, but she wouldn't let me. She even pulled my hair."

"Hey! You scared me," Xu Dingchun's heart finally settled down a little, and he couldn't help laughing, thinking that it was just the inexplicable interest of the child.

However, Jing Chunxi's next words made his smile pause slightly: "Dad, there is something that Brother Xiaokang and I haven't told anyone. There is a secret passage under this mansion that was built by the Emperor and the Empress Dowager."

Seeing that Xu Dingchun was listening attentively but didn't look overly surprised, Jing Chunxi continued, "Brother Xiaokang and I only found one entrance before, but we both felt that the scale of this place was definitely not simple, and there must be other entrances that we haven't discovered yet."

"Zhao Zhao? How could she know..." Xu Dingchun's first reaction was to sneer, thinking that the idea was too ridiculous.

But when he turned his gaze to Jing Chunxi, who had a serious, no-joking expression on her face, the indifference on his face gradually faded, and was replaced by a hint of doubt. He knew Jing Chunxi; she was definitely not someone who spoke without thinking.

Moreover, if Zhao Zhao really had some supernatural powers, they would not be greater than the daughter in front of him.

After pondering for a moment, Xu Dingchun said, "Daddy, take a look." Jing Chunxi was petite, and even if she flew in, she could only touch the slender leaves hanging down from the fern by standing on tiptoe. It was quite difficult to lift them up and explore thoroughly.

Xu Dingchun took a step forward, and his tall body easily approached the stone wall. He stretched out his big hand and easily lifted up the dense clump of ferns.

The stone wall underneath was exposed - it was a wet black rock surface covered with a layer of slippery moss, with tiny water droplets constantly seeping and dripping. It looked no different from other wet places on the rockery, and there was really nothing unusual to see.

"Dad, feel it carefully and feel if there are any special protrusions or hidden mechanisms."

Jing Chunxi reminded her from the side, and her heartbeat involuntarily quickened. A mixture of surprise, nervousness and uneasiness towards her sister quietly spread, making her unable to help but look back at her mother and Zhaozhao's disappeared backs again, her heart full of confusion.

Xu Dingchun followed his instructions, stretching out his thinly calloused fingers and carefully feeling around on the slippery stone wall twice. He shook his head and said, "All I can feel is moss and cold stone. There shouldn't be anything..."

But he didn't give up immediately. He patiently used his fingers to peel away the thick, slimy moss, trying to explore what was underneath. "It seems to be just ordinary stone, like..."

Before he could finish his words, his fingertips suddenly touched something strangely hard. He paused abruptly, his tone suddenly changing: "Here... here seems a little different!"

As he spoke, he quickly pulled out a gleaming dagger from the leather sheath at his waist. He stopped scraping the moss with the blade and turned the handle around, tapping the abnormal area twice with the back of the extremely hard steel blade.

"Ding... Ding..." Suddenly, two crisp and short metal collision sounds, which were obviously different from the sound of hitting stones, were clearly heard, and seemed particularly abrupt in this quiet corner.

"It's iron?!" Jing Chunxi exclaimed in surprise, his eyes shining.

Xu Dingchun nodded solemnly, "And it's definitely not ordinary iron. It needs to be refined steel that has been tempered a hundred times to survive the years in such a humid place without decaying."

"This must be the mechanism!" Jing Chunxi suddenly felt as if everything had turned clear, but what followed was deeper worry.

She subconsciously looked at her father, and sure enough, she saw that his expression had become somewhat serious, with his brows slightly furrowed. It was obvious that he had also thought of the complex situation that might be hidden behind this discovery.

However, when Xu Dingchun's eyes met the undisguised nervousness and worry on his daughter's face, the solemnity on his face suddenly melted away. He revealed a helpless yet somewhat proud chuckle and sighed softly, "Zhao Zhao, I'm afraid you're just like your Xi'er, a little lucky star with your own good fortune! You can actually have such a strange perception."

Finally, he suppressed his smile and added solemnly in a low voice, "This matter is of great importance. Don't mention it in front of your mother."