Seeing my panicked expression, the housekeeper added, "Young Madam, don't be too nervous. Young Master Yanchen asked you to pick him up, so I think it's not too serious."
As soon as he said this, I immediately understood what was going on.
Lu Yanchen knew I'd been wanting to go to the repair shop, but my identity was too sensitive, and going directly there would surely arouse suspicion.
The people he'd sent to investigate hadn't found anything amiss. I'd been to that stone chamber before, while in spirit form, so perhaps I could find the problem.
He'd asked me to pick him up under the guise of a car repair, so everything fell into place.
"Okay, go get the car ready."
Although I suspected this was a ploy, I still worried about the severity of the accident.
I was terrified the entire way there.
Perhaps I was so nervous for him that I didn't even feel the slightest bit of fear when the car entered the repair shop. As I got out of the car, all I could think about was Lu Yanchen. I rushed toward him, my face thick with worry. "How are you?"
Before he could answer, I threw myself into his arms. "I was so scared when I heard this news. How could you get into an accident out of the blue?"
At that moment, I ignored the dejected look Lu Shiyan gave me or the looks from everyone else. I was genuinely worried about Lu Yanchen.
Perhaps, even before I knew it, my feelings for him had ceased to be dependent.
Lu Yanchen patted my back soothingly. It was clearly his accident, yet he still tried to comfort me.
"It's okay. It was just a minor incident."
I'd died once before, so I'm very sensitive to such accidents.
Because one accident could end my life, I was afraid...
Even if I knew he was setting it up, this method was too dangerous. My eyes couldn't help but well up, and he pulled me onto his lap, patiently soothing me. "Okay, okay, don't cry. I'm really fine. Shiyan's hand is a little scraped."
I then looked at Lu Shiyan beside me and perfunctorily asked, after all, he was now nominally family.
"Xiao Lu, are you okay?"
Lu Shiyan met the tears threatening to spill from my eyes and said, his voice hoarse, "I'm fine, Auntie."
Lu Yanchen casually said to a young man, "Hello, can you get me a glass of water?"
"Okay, wait a moment."
The man took a glass of warm water and handed it to me. Lu Yanchen handed it to me, "Drink some water to calm yourself."
I took the warm water and took a sip before asking about the car: "How's it? Was it seriously damaged?"
"You always have to see it with your own eyes to be reassured."
I wiped my eyes and continued the story. "I want to know what happened, but you won't tell me."
"Then let's go check it out."
I got off him and pushed him around the store. This auto repair shop was enormous. The front primarily sold various auto parts, offering a wide selection from domestically produced to imported parts.
The back was the repair area, several times larger than the front.
The air was thick with the smell of engine oil, as mechanics methodically went about their work.
Nothing seemed out of the ordinary.
Lu Yanchen's car was parked not far away. The front headlights and bumper were slightly damaged, but the problem didn't seem serious. "Now you should finally feel relieved. I told you it's nothing serious."
"You, can you spare me some of the worry?"
"It's snowy and slippery, no one wants to."
I squatted down and greeted the mechanic. "Thank you for your hard work, sir."
"You're welcome. This is our job, ma'am. There's a lot of grease here, so don't get your clothes dirty. The car can't be fixed today, especially the headlights. We'll have to wait for the parts to come back. We'll contact you when it's fixed."
"Okay, thank you for your help."
"It's not a big deal."
I pushed Lu Yanchen to leave. "By the way, where's the restroom?"
The mechanic enthusiastically climbed out of the repair booth and led the way. I pushed Lu Yanchen and chatted with him. "I didn't expect there's such a large repair shop in such a remote place."
"Although the traffic here isn't as great as in the city, the land is cheap and the prices are fair. We have a lot of regular customers, so business is pretty good."
Lu Yanchen sized up the young man. "You look young, why aren't you in school?"
"Sir, we're not like you. Even when your car arrived, I didn't dare touch it. Why didn't you file an insurance claim for such a nice car?"
"We didn't bring our driver or assistant today. It's so cold. You can't just leave us sitting there waiting for the traffic police and insurance company to determine liability and settle the claim. It's not a big deal. We can handle it ourselves."
"It's great to have money. I'd be heartbroken if I were you. I'm lucky I hit your car."
The young man was very talkative. I pulled out my phone. "How about this? I'll add you on WeChat. My husband has bad legs. If it's fixed or you have any questions, just contact me."
"Okay."
The young man wiped his hands on his grimy pants before pulling out his phone and adding me. "Okay, ma'am, the restroom is right up ahead. Go ahead. I'll keep an eye on Mr. Husband."
"Thank you."
I walked towards the restroom. A surveillance camera hung overhead, and I controlled my expression as I entered.
I remembered that I wasn't in the stone chamber from the start, but rather wandered through a maze-like underground scene.
I tried to recall the underground structure and determine where I was above ground.
Thinking back to the structural diagram I'd just seen, the repair area was undecorated. The walls and floor were simply covered in cement. Everything was gray, and without lights, it looked very dark.
The ceiling was very high, formed by nine stone pillars.
Wait! Why nine?
As far as I know, self-built houses in rural areas are generally supported by six frame pillars. Modern structures use reinforced concrete for the main structure. I've never seen one with nine three-dimensional pillars.
And the headlights in the repair area were below halfway up the pillars, meaning there was no light from above.
If I'm not mistaken, the pillars were smooth and flat underneath, but the tops seemed to be carved with something. But the ceiling was so high and so empty that the upper portion was shrouded in darkness, making it difficult to discern.
Nine is the number of the extreme.
For example, the Nine Heavens and the Nine Springs.
These nine massive stone pillars plunged deep into the earth, connected by stone walls, forming chambers.
What I saw then was only a small part of the underground.
How could one open the underground door?
So far, I haven't found anything suspicious.
No wonder Lu Yanchen sent different people there, but to no avail.
I didn't dare linger too long and left the restroom after a few minutes.
When we came out, Lu Shiyan was milling around outside, fiddling with car parts. "What took you so long? I'm getting impatient."
"Sorry, my stomach hurts."
He glanced at me calmly. "Let's go."
I pushed Lu Yanchen away.
There was a huge parking lot outside the repair shop, visible from all directions. Back in the car, Lu Yanchen finally spoke after driving far away from the repair shop, "Did you find anything?"
I frowned and shook my head. "No, I don't think the entrance outside is likely; it's too dangerous. And I haven't found anything wrong inside. Could it be somewhere near the repair shop?"
Lu Yanchen slowly removed his cufflinks. "Don't jump to conclusions. Perhaps there's something new to discover."
It was then that I realized his cufflinks were actually miniature HD cameras!
Lu Shiyan also removed some cameras from his person.
This meant that before I arrived, they had filmed the entire repair shop under the guise of repairing cars!