Should she just kill him?
Zhang Dan Shui shuddered at the cold gaze Nan Hua gave to him and quickly called out, "Miss, esteemed Miss, please wait."
"Yes?"
"I'll… help you, so please spare my life!"
Nan Hua looked at Zhang Dan Shui and furrowed her brows. "You don't even know me and you claim that you'll be able to help me?"
Not only Zhang Dan Shui, even Hou Lin felt his blood froze when he heard Nan Hua's chilling cold tone. It was as if he was thrown to the bottom of the lake and the water surrounding him was frozen solid.
Zhang Dan Shui gritted his teeth. "I don't know who you are, but considering that you're making your move against Commander Hai, I can guess that you might be someone from His Majesty side. It's also possible that you're close to someone from his side and thus decided to help him.
Right now, the second prince's men are moving in the palace in an attempt to seize their last chance. Her Highness Empress Dowager Hai would be moved to a secluded palace soon, so this would be her last chance to help her son."
Within 50 days after an Emperor's death, his women, who had become widow, would be settled. It was already 21 days and it was clear that her time was no longer that much. After all, settling the untitled women to monastery and the titled one as Empress Dowagers usually take the first 50 days.
After 50 days, the women of the new Emperor would enter the palace. Because of that, the harem needed to be cleaned.
The problem was that without Empress Dowager Hai's backing, the second prince had no power whatsoever. It would be a miracle if he didn't end up as a forgotten prince in the palace because the officials would be focused on the more powerful faction.
And since the previous Emperor died so close to Winter, it would be impossible for them to move when the winter grew harsher. At that time, it would be too late as Empress Dowager Hai would have already been moved to a separate palace that was far from the main one.
Nan Hua looked at Zhang Dan Shui. "You know more than you show normally."
The attire Zhang Dan Shui wore obviously showed that he was nothing more than a low ranked official. And yet, the knowledge he possessed was one that not even a high ranking official was fully aware of.
After all, some of the matters were quite far etched.
Zhang Dan Shui's heart thumped when he heard what Nan Hua's said. He had been living his life while hiding his true capabilities in fear that he would be killed if he showed more than what he was supposed to. But now that he was about to lose his life, how could he possibly hide it any longer?
If he died, his capabilities meant nothing.
Thus he chose to take a gamble.
"This lowly one only hopes that Esteemed Miss is generous enough to spare this one's life."
Nan Hua didn't answer immediately. She walked closer to Zhang Dan Shui and stood before him.
"Young Miss, don't get too close to him."
Nan Hua waved her hand, signaling to Hou Lin that it was fine. She looked at Zhang Dan Shui. "Look up."
Zhang Dan Shui did as he was told. His youthful face was looking straight at Nan Hua and with the help of the faint light from the side hall behind him, he could now see the young girl's expression clearer.
She was very young. Her dark obsidian eyes reflected calm that was far beyond her age. It was deep as if he was staring straight into the abyss, one that didn't have any end no matter how far it reached.
"How many secret passageway that's connected to the main hall?"
"Two," Zhang Dan Shui immediately answered.
"This one is directed to the side hall?" Nan Hua asked once more. It seemed that she had made a mistake in her carelessness. Well, it was not like she could just walk to her grandfather and asked him for a map to the palace.
Not even her grandfather would have the map that depicted all of the hidden passageways to the palace.
"Yes." Zhang Dan Shui nodded. "This passageway is built around a century ago during the upheaval for emergency use. However, it's already old and the roof often create trouble, which is why it's never used again. It's said that this route is already closed."
Hou Lin's lips twitched. Closed my ass, it was clearly still open.
Nan Hua paused for a moment. If she was not wrong, she did think that it was heading to two directions from the same entrance and she ended up following one of them. Could it be that she had to trace back the same path if she wanted to head back to the correct one?
Wait, if this was not used for so many years, why were Commander Hai was here?
Zhang Dan Shui seemed to be able to guess what Nan Hua was thinking as he continued, "While this passage can't be continued forward, it's useful to create an ambush for those who are having meeting in the side halls. Empress Dowager Hai coincidentally see this place a few weeks ago."
He himself only found out about this place coincidentally since he was punished (and pranked) by his younger brother to stay overnight in the palace to work. Since he couldn't leave, he hid and accidentally saw them opening the door.
Thus, he understood that there was another secret path that hadn't been used for years in this side hall.
He would always hide himself whenever these people come just like now. He knew that these people were also worrying that there might people who accidentally fall into this secret passageway because of the fragile roof, thus they stayed there to guard it.
But he never thought that they would all die like this.