Chapter 360 - Chapter 360: Chapter 367: An Explanation (2/2)
Su Wenyue, seeing Han Yu enter, suppressed the complexity in her heart and nodded: “Yes, I’ve opened it. Actually, I knew how to open the Flower Lantern from the beginning, but with big brother and Xinxin around, I didn’t tell the truth. Look, this is what was inside the Flower Lantern.”
Saying this, Su Wenyue passed the sheepskin map to Han Yu, waiting for his reaction.
Han Yu took the sheepskin map, scrutinizing it. Although he could not understand the drawings and text, he vaguely guessed it recorded the map of some place. A thought struck him—could the reason so many factions were clamoring for it be because of this map? Or perhaps a treasure map?
“Daughter-in-law, how did you come to know the method to open this Colorful Exquisite Lamp?” Every time Han Yu thought he knew his daughter-in-law well enough, he would uncover another mysterious and unknown facet of her.
As expected, there it was. Su Wenyue had thought about her response in advance. Despite feeling a little guilty meeting Han Yu’s gaze, it wasn’t that she didn’t want to tell the truth; after all, she couldn’t reveal that she had learned it from Sikong Ling.
In her previous life, Sikong Ling had acquired the Colorful Exquisite Lamp and invited various experts to try to unlock it, but they failed to open it. Moreover, some believed it was merely a pretty Flower Lantern with no secret inside—esteemed as The World’s Number One Lamp because it was skillfully crafted by Lu Ban. Eventually, Sikong Ling placed it in the study room, providing Su Wenyue with an opportunity to access it.
Su Wenyue knew that even the most magnanimous of men could not tolerate their woman having a relationship with another man, so she would definitely not mention it.
Su Wenyue did not want to mention it, but she also didn’t want to lie to Han Yu, and lying to him would be unwise. So she went to the desk and began to transcribe from memory a passage from Luban’s secret skills.
Han Yu grew increasingly astounded as he watched her. His daughter-in-law had previously mentioned learning just the surface of the skills from a book, but now it was evident it wasn’t just some superficial learning—she had acquired the legendary Luban’s secret skills. Recalling the The Art of War she had transcribed for him before, he struggled to remain composed, wondering just how many secrets his daughter-in-law’s mind held. Such coveted ancient techniques, more than one copy no less, if known to the outside world, would undoubtedly cause a storm. The consequences of discovery were almost too formidable to contemplate.
“Husband, do you remember the boxes made by the craftsmen for last year’s Mid-Autumn festival mooncakes? They used some of Luban’s secret skills, though only the most basic and rudimentary,” Su Wenyue remarked without missing the surprised and incredulous flicker in Han Yu’s expression, a cunning glint in her eyes as she set down the pen and spoke, feeling somewhat smug. It was rare for Han Yu to be taken in by her ruse; she hadn’t deceived anyone after all.
“Those mooncake boxes?” Han Yu suddenly recalled them. He had indeed admired his daughter-in-law’s ingenious idea at the time. Ordinary mooncakes had seemed extra delicious and prettily packaged, looking quite high-end, especially the lock-like mechanisms, which had intrigued him enough to study them closely, yet it turned out to have involved Luban’s secret skills.
“Just those mooncake boxes. You asked me back then how I had thought of that idea. It wasn’t actually my own idea; I had based it on a simple mechanism design from Luban’s secret techniques for the lock,” Su Wenyue declared with a degree of pride, thinking herself the only one who could have thought of applying mechanism techniques to it. She intended to continue this innovation in the future—to let such a treasure of secret skills go unused would indeed be a pity.