My Wife is a Frustrating Genius!!! - Chapter 55

After the meal, Lu Jiahe went to the study to read, while Cheng Yi sat alone in the courtyard pavilion practicing calligraphy with a brush.

“Young Mistress, it’s getting late. Let me help you freshen up and rest,” Guo’er said as she stood by, refilling her mistress’s cup with water.

“Ah!” Cheng Yi straightened up upon hearing this and set down her brush. “I keep feeling like something is about to happen lately, my mind just won’t settle.”

Guo’er picked up the teacup and handed it to Cheng Yi, advising, “Young Mistress, ever since we arrived in the capital, you haven’t taken a single day off. You should rest for a few days to regain your energy before practicing calligraphy again.”

“You’re right. I’m not like her, who doesn’t have to worry about anything and can just focus on studying all day,” Cheng Yi said, pushing the paper and brush away from her.

“Is she still in the study?” Cheng Yi turned to look at Guo’er. For some reason, she missed Lu Jiahe intensely at that moment and longed to relax in her embrace.

Guo’er nodded. “Yes, she just sent someone to ask me for two pots of tea to bring in.”

“Alright.” Cheng Yi stood up, intending to go to the study to find her. “You can put these away and rest for the night. I’ll manage washing up on my own.” Without waiting for a response, she strode to the study door and pushed it open.

“Young Mistress,” Lu An, who was grinding ink by the desk, greeted her as she entered.

Cheng Yi glanced at him and then at the young woman sitting at the desk, absorbed in her book. She signaled for Lu An to retire for the night, indicating that she would take over.

Thinking that his mistress had come to reconcile with the young master, Lu An promptly set down what he was holding, left the room, and closed the door behind him.

Lu Jiahe watched as Cheng Yi approached step by step. Only when Cheng Yi stood before her and turned around did she set down the book she had been holding.

“What brings you here? Didn’t you practice calligraphy?” Lu Jiahe pulled her into an embrace, her movements as natural as if they had been together for years.

“My mind is too restless. I couldn’t write,” Cheng Yi replied, wrapping her arms around Lu Jiahe’s neck and pouting as she complained.

Amused by her adorable expression, Lu Jiahe couldn’t resist gently tapping her nose. “Tomorrow, I’ll have Guo’er buy some herbs to cool your system and brew them into tea for you, alright?”

Cheng Yi tightened her hold on Lu Jiahe’s neck, drawing her face closer. “Are you playing dumb on purpose?”

“What do you mean?” The clueless girl widened her eyes, looking innocently at the blushing woman.

Cheng Yi studied the emotions in her eyes and, seeing no hint of deceit, pressed her lips to the corner of Lu Jiahe’s mouth. “It’s not anything else that’s making me restless. I just wanted to see you.”

Upon hearing this, Lu Jiahe’s face flushed as red as an overheated kettle.

So bold! So audacious! She’s truly too daring!

Her mind raced through all the affectionate gestures Cheng Yi had initiated over the past few days, realizing that Cheng Yi was the assertive “young master” from the romance novels she’d read.

With emotions high and the atmosphere just right, it would be a shame not to share a kiss!

Too shy to express her feelings, Lu Jiahe didn’t know how to respond to the other’s words. She could only gently press her lips, completely sealing them against the other’s crimson ones.

Unwilling to part! The atmosphere grew increasingly intense!

Carried away by the moment, Lu Jiahe directly lifted the other person and pressed her against the bookshelf behind them.

To prevent Cheng Yi from bumping into it, she even reached out beforehand to cushion the back of her head.

As a newly together couple, their emotions were inevitably intense.

The two didn’t pay attention to controlling their strength, and with a series of clatters, they knocked the items on the bookshelf to the ground.

Creak!

“Ouch!”

Somehow, the two must have triggered a switch on the bookshelf, because the firmly placed bookshelf suddenly shifted to the side on its own.

The young couple had no idea there was a hidden passage behind the bookshelf. As the bookshelf moved, they both tumbled to the ground.

“Are you okay?” Lu Jiahe, seeing Cheng Yi pinned beneath her, quickly propped herself up and pulled the other into her arms.

Cheng Yi, who had originally hoped to kindle some romantic sparks through their friction, instead held her waist and rested her head on the other’s shoulder.

“I’m fine.”

Having made such a spectacle of themselves in front of each other for the first time, neither had the mood to continue what they had started.

“Why is there a secret passage here?” Cheng Yi stared curiously at the large hole dug into the wall.

Lu Jiahe shook her head in response. “I don’t know either. When we viewed the house, the owner didn’t mention it.”

Cheng Yi furrowed her brows in thought for a moment, then stood up and asked Lu Jiahe to fetch a torch. She needed to investigate what might be hidden inside this suddenly appearing passage in their home.

Lu Jiahe had initially thought of calling Lu An along, but Cheng Yi, believing the fewer people who knew about this the better, grabbed the torch and pulled Lu Jiahe into the secret passage.

After walking for about a quarter of an hour, they faintly heard voices.

“Someone’s there?” The somewhat timid Lu Jiahe tightly gripped Cheng Yi’s arm, not daring to take another step forward.

“Shh.” Cheng Yi raised a finger to her lips, signaling for silence, then pulled her forward a few more steps, closer to the source of the voices.

“So? She didn’t realize you were the one who sold the house, right?”

“No, I don’t think she recognized me at all. It’s like she’s lost her memory.”

“Heh! If that’s really the case, then things are about to get interesting. Keep an eye on her. If there’s even a hint of trouble, you know what to do.”

“Understood. The secret passage in our house leads directly to the study of that residence. When the time comes, we can trap them from both sides. They won’t have anywhere to run.”

The two eavesdropping in the passage frowned more and more deeply. Weren’t the people the man was referring to none other than themselves?

“Let’s go back first.”

Cheng Yi whispered into Lu Jiahe’s ear, then led the way back to the study with the torch.

Once back in the study, the two examined the mechanism on the bookshelf. After restoring the bookshelf to its original position, Cheng Yi finally voiced the question that had been weighing on her mind.

“Have you offended anyone?”

Lu Jiahe frowned, thinking carefully. “No, aside from Lu Jiazheng and Lu Jiahao, who used to have issues with me, the only other person would be Wang San.”

“But his family has always done business in Bianjing. There’s no way they could have connections with someone in the capital.”

After hearing the other party’s words, Cheng Yi thought to herself that since they hadn’t offended anyone, it was impossible for her, a time traveler, to have done so either, unless she had another identity in this era. Otherwise, that person wouldn’t have set a trap for them, deliberately making them buy this house.

“Alright, from now on, we need to be careful in the capital. They are in the shadows while we are in the open. We must pay extra attention to everything.”

Cheng Yi’s words were not only a reminder to the other person but also to herself. This wasn’t Bianjing; under the emperor’s feet, they didn’t have the same ability to act recklessly as they had there.

“I understand. So, what should we do about the secret passage? Should we keep it?” Lu Jiahe knocked on the wall behind the bookshelf.

“Tomorrow, go to the academy as usual and don’t act any differently. Guo’er and I will go buy materials, and when we return in the evening, we’ll block the passage together.”

After hearing the people in the secret passage talk about attacking them from both sides and eliminating them, Cheng Yi had made up her mind to seal it off. She absolutely couldn’t give the other side an easy opportunity to harm them.

Lu Jiahe nodded in agreement, and then the two of them moved the tables and chairs in the room to block the bookshelf.

That night, neither of them slept soundly. After all, knowing that someone wanted to silence them would make it hard for anyone to rest peacefully.

Early the next morning, after seeing Lu Jiahe off, Cheng Yi took Guo’er and wandered around the streets for a while.

“Young Mistress, we’ve already walked around several times. What are you planning to buy today?” Guo’er held up an oil-paper umbrella, shielding her mistress from the scorching sun.

Cheng Yi didn’t answer immediately. Instead, she led Guo’er into a tavern, requested a private room, and only after they were settled did she reply.

“Eat well. Later, we’ll need to carry a lot of sand and bricks.” As she spoke, Cheng Yi placed a few pieces of chicken into Guo’er’s bowl.

Ever since learning about the secret passage in the study, Guo’er had been too frightened to eat. “Young Mistress, why don’t we just sell the house and buy another one?”

Cheng Yi shook her head. “No, the other party is already watching us. If we sell the house now, they’ll definitely notice something’s wrong and might just eliminate us outright.”

Guo’er frowned deeply, thinking to herself how kind her young master and mistress were. Why would anyone want to assassinate them?

“Alright, don’t worry. With me and your young master here, what is there to fear? We’ll just block the wall tonight,” Cheng Yi comforted her, noticing her concern.

After finishing their meal, the two hurriedly found a shop selling bricks and lumber, purchased a large quantity of materials, and arranged for them to be delivered to the house later in the day.

When Lu Jiahe returned from school, the four of them quickly ate dinner and then started moving the materials into the secret passage.

“Is anyone home?”

“Where are you?”

The people working in the secret passage faintly heard shouts from outside the courtyard. They quickly set down their things and hurried out.

“Who is it?” Cheng Yi activated the mechanism, waited for the bookshelf to slide back into place, and then led the others out of the study.

“It’s me! Why aren’t you opening the door?”

A familiar voice came from outside the wall. Cheng Yi wiped the dust off her and Lu Jiahe’s faces before hastily leading Guo’er to open the main gate of the house.

“Whoa! What have you all been doing? Why are your faces that color?” Xue Wanning stood outside the door, staring at the dust-covered group, unable to hold back her exclamation.