Traveling Through the Grave Robbers' Chronicles: Starting from Meeting You

"Brother! Don't stay outside for too long in this cold morning. Come back quickly!"

Zhang Qiling looked up and saw Zhang Hanyan standing at the kitchen window with a smile on her face. When she saw him looking at her, she waved happily.

"Okay, I'll be right back."

As he strolled back, he kept tightly grasping the pendant in his right hand, not knowing how to give it away.

When he turned the corner, Zhang Hanyan was already standing at the kitchen door waiting for him with a towel in her hand.

"Brother, come here quickly! Wipe off the dew on your body!"

Zhang Hanyan smiled and waved, and he walked over as she said, letting her wipe his body with the towel.

"Okay, let's go in and warm ourselves by the fire. The fire in the charcoal basin is burning nicely. I've also roasted some sweet potatoes in it."

Zhang Qiling sat down on the small stool beside the brazier, staring at her as she used the tongs to stir the sweet potatoes in the ashes.

He had just returned from outside and was emitting chills all over his body, except for the palm of his right hand holding the pendant, which was slightly beaded with sweat.

He hesitated for a long time, but finally made up his mind and called her softly, "Han Yan..."

"Hmm?" Zhang Hanyan looked up at him, her watery eyes seemed to be filled with thousands of stars, clear as water and bright as stars.

Zhang Qiling pursed his dry lips nervously and spoke as she looked at him with increasing doubt.

"Today is the first day of the twelfth lunar month, your birthday...so..."

He stretched out his right hand, and his slender white fingers slowly spread out, revealing the crescent-shaped white jade pendant in the palm of his hand.

"This is my birthday gift to you..."

As he spoke, his eyes were always observing the expression on her face. Until he saw the joy between her brows, his heart, which had been hanging in the air, slowly let go.

"Han Yan... do you like it?"

Zhang Hanyan took the pendant from his hand, with a smile on her face.

"I like it, brother. Thank you. This is the first time I have received a birthday present. This pendant is so beautiful. It is like the moon in the sky was plucked and placed in my palm.

I'll go back to my room and find a nice rope to hang it up."

As she spoke, she held the pendant and kept gesturing at her body, wondering where would be the best place to hang it.

Zhang Qiling had been watching her every move. The look on her face that showed she really liked him made his eyes suddenly brighten up with a hint of joy.

"Brother, let's go to Qingsong and ask about Master's situation. I haven't heard from him in recent years. I'm a little worried about him."

The word "Qingsong" made Zhang Qiling's eyes shrink suddenly, and his pupils turned cold instantly.

"Han Yan, there is one thing I have never told you. Qingsong is the second elder. He was the one who asked me to go to the ancient city of Sizhou to find the bronze bell."

"what?"

Zhang Hanyan looked up at him in shock, and he nodded firmly, confirming what he had just said.

“No wonder the Second Elder was able to use Master to threaten me. It turns out that he has always been hiding in the Qingsong in the eight broken courtyards.

If that's the case, then... little brother, tell me, does the master know that Qingsong is the second elder?"

Zhang Qiling shook his head silently, indicating that he didn't know either.

Zhang Hanyan stared at the jumping flames, wondering whether she should go against the plot and go to Guangxi in advance to find Zhang Yecheng.

"Brother, let's go to the yard where Qingsong lived before and take a look."

"Okay, go now."

Zhang Hanyan deftly covered the turned sweet potatoes with ashes, put away the pendant in her hand and stood up.

"Then let's leave now."

The two walked out of the kitchen one after the other and walked into the weed-covered yard in the cold morning wind.

"This courtyard is so dilapidated. Why does the second elder, who is rumored to have been in seclusion for more than ten years, have to stay here all the time?"

Zhang Hanyan pushed the door and walked into the room with full of doubts. She looked around and found that the tables, chairs and benches in the whole room were spotless, which was completely different from the weeds outside.

"Qingsong has been back at the Elders' Council for a long time, how come this house is still so clean? Does someone come here to clean it often?"

She stroked the table and looked at her clean fingers and asked in doubt.

Zhang Qiling wandered in the corner beside the bed, inserted two extremely long fingers into a tiny gap, turned it slightly, and opened the mechanism inside.

The originally flat brick wall slowly rotated, and a flap opened, revealing the space behind the door.

"Brother, you found the hidden flap here so quickly?"

"You could have, you just weren't paying attention."

Zhang Hanyan chuckled, and the two of them walked into the space behind the flap, one on the left and one on the right.

Behind the flap is just a small space of about ten square meters. Apart from a small bookshelf filled with books, there is nothing else.

Zhang Qiling picked up the only box on the bookshelf and opened it. Inside was a bead as big as an egg, illuminating the dim space.

Zhang Hanyan walked over curiously and looked at the glowing beads. "This, isn't it a night-shining pearl?"

"No, it should be the Dust-Repellent Bead. It is because of it that this room is spotless."

"Will the Dust-Repelling Pearl also glow like the Night-Shining Pearl?"

"I don't know. This is the first time I've seen it, too."

Zhang Qiling took out the beads and put them in Zhang Hanyan's hand, "Here you go!"

"Give it to me?" Zhang Hanyan looked up at him, "Why?"

"You are afraid of the dark, this bead can shine."

"..."

[......Host, look, I told you to lie and say you were afraid of the dark before, now you are done for! ]

Zhang Hanyan had never expected that a casual remark she made many years ago would be remembered by Zhang Qiling until now.

She looked at the shiny Dust-Repellent Beads with a little embarrassment and pulled the corners of her mouth forcedly.

"Haha, thank you, bro."

She didn't really like this bead. Why? Did she think it was too small?

Zhang Qiling saw her reluctance, and before he could ask, Zhang Hanyan had already taken the beads to check other things on the bookshelf.

"Brother, I've searched everywhere, but there's no record of how Qingsong contacted the master. It seems that I have no choice but to ask him in person!"

Zhang Qiling put down the book in his hand and saw her sinister and malicious smile.

"Why? Burned down the Council of Elders?"

The smile on Zhang Hanyan's face froze and she looked at him blankly.

"About the burning of the Elders' Council, how do you know... it was me?"

Zhang Qiling suppressed the smile on his face and pulled her out without saying a word.

"When the Elders' House caught fire, I saw you smiling, Hanyan. It was you who burned down the Elders' House, wasn't it?"

His firm attitude left Zhang Hanyan no room for rebuttal and she could only nod in agreement.

"Yes, I burned it."

"So this time, how do you plan to get what you want to know from the Second Elder?"

Zhang Hanyan waved her hand and said with a smile, "It's simple. He will definitely tell you. Don't worry. I will go and ask tonight. I guarantee I will find out about Master."