106: Magician Ye Su

After settling Chen Xinyi, Ye Su finally got out of bed. He tucked Chen Xinyi in and went to the guest room, which had been turned into a storage room.

"Is there a hidden compartment in this wardrobe?"

There was nothing inside the wardrobe. After opening the doors, Ye Su knocked around, but couldn't find where the hidden compartment was.

"It's called a hidden compartment for a reason; it's normal that it's not easy to find."

Ye Su wasn't in a hurry. He first searched for some videos on [Wardrobe Hidden Compartments] on a short video platform, then, based on the techniques taught in the videos, began searching in likely places.

"Why is one of the wooden boards in this drawer so thick?"

The information mentioned a string of beads, which meant the hidden compartment definitely needed a certain amount of space.

Based on the thickness, Ye Su ruled out the sides, top, and back of the wardrobe, locking his target onto the very bottom.

As it turned out, he really did discover that the drawer pulled out from the bottom seemed a bit off.

A normal drawer is usually just five boards put together, with the joints fixed by screws or glue.

But Ye Su discovered that this drawer in the wardrobe had an extra screw locked on the inside of the front panel.

Normally, this screw would look like it was meant to secure the handle from the inside, and at first glance, it didn't seem like a problem.

However, for some reason, the outermost panel was made of two layers of wood sandwiched together, more than twice as thick as the other three sides of the drawer.

Plus, to secure the handle, the screw would need to be at least five centimeters long.

This kind of small screw didn't look nearly that long.

Ye Su then compared the height difference between the inside and outside of the drawer with his hand and found a gap of about two finger joints, which further confirmed his theory.

The hidden compartment was definitely built into this drawer.

Fortunately, Chen Xinyi, despite being a woman, knew to keep a screwdriver in the house, which saved Ye Su some trouble.

"Huh? Why does it just spin without moving?"

He turned it several times with the screwdriver, only to find that while the screw could rotate, it wouldn't come out.

Seeing this, Ye Su tried prying it with his fingers, and he actually managed to pop the screw out.

It turned out the screw was held in place by a magnet, acting as a latch.

Following the experience he'd just gained from watching the videos, Ye Su pulled the inner wooden board upward, and it slid right out.

After pulling out the board, Ye Su saw the knob that had been covered up.

He turned the knob ninety degrees with his left hand, then pulled the handle on the outside with his right. The two panels separated, and a small drawer slid out from beneath the main one.

Inside the small drawer was a wooden box, fixed firmly in place; it hadn't budged even when Ye Su pulled the drawer out.

Seeing the drawer designed this way, Ye Su was reminded of those fifty-cent double-layered magic boxes he used to play with as a kid.

"Could this hidden compartment have been specially designed by some man to hide his secret stash of money?"

As an unmarried man, Ye Su couldn't understand why men would hand over their salaries, and naturally, he couldn't understand the behavior of meticulously designing a hidden compartment to hide secret money.

Ignoring what the original owner of the wardrobe had intended to hide in this compartment, Ye Su pried at the wooden box with some effort until he finally managed to pop it out of the hidden space.

He opened the wooden box to find a string of beads consisting of twenty jade beads in total—nine white beads on each side, separated in the middle by one red bead and one white-and-green jade bead.

[Ding!] [Congratulations to the Host for successfully obtaining the target item [Qing Dynasty Qiu Jiao Eighteen-Bead Bracelet]. You have received one point of [Charisma] as a reward. Would you like to claim it?]

"The [Charisma] reward has arrived!"

Ye Su didn't rush to claim it. He played with the bracelet for a moment, put it back in its place, restored the drawer, and then went to the bathroom mirror.

"Claim one point of [Charisma] attribute."

[Claim successful!]

Unlike when he claimed [Physique], there was no feeling of total body comfort, and Ye Su didn't notice any other sensations.

"That's it?"

Without any feeling, and with no changes in his reflection in the mirror, Ye Su didn't even know where the [Charisma] had gone.

"If the system says it's arrived, then it must have arrived."

He checked the mirror carefully, but couldn't see any changes. Ye Su had no choice but to give up and return to his room to get some sleep.

...

The next morning, Chen Xinyi made up her mind to seize the tail end of the May Day holiday.

After breakfast, she curled up on the sofa with her phone, planning where to go for the day.

Seeing Ye Su carrying the clothes bought yesterday into the guest bedroom, Chen Xinyi didn't pay it any mind.

Just as Chen Xinyi was happily scrolling through her phone, Ye Su's voice came from the guest bedroom: "Hey, come here for a second."

Not knowing what tricks Ye Su was up to again, Chen Xinyi put down her phone. As she walked toward the guest bedroom, she shouted inside: "First of all, my name isn't 'Hey'!"

Pouting, she walked into the room and put her hands on her hips: "What do you want? Don't tell me you need me to help you tidy up your clothes too."

Ye Su automatically ignored Chen Xinyi's pouting appearance and looked at her mysteriously: "I'm going to perform a magic trick for you."

"A magic trick?" Chen Xinyi said, half-believing and half-doubting: "You know how to perform magic?"

"Of course."

"Fine, I want to see what kind of magic you can perform."

Just as Chen Xinyi was about to lean against the door to watch the show, Ye Su raised his hand and beckoned her: "How can you watch the magic trick standing there? Come over and sit on the bed."

"Sit on the bed?!" Chen Xinyi immediately became vigilant: "What are you trying to do!"

"I really give up on you..." Seeing Chen Xinyi's reaction, Ye Su knew she had misunderstood again: "It's just a simple magic trick, and there's a surprise too. Do you want to see it or not?"

"There's a surprise? Alright then." Chen Xinyi then shuffled over and sat on the bed, just opposite the wardrobe: "Go ahead."

"Watch closely." Ye Su pulled open the wardrobe door; it was completely empty inside.

"That's it?" Chen Xinyi was speechless: "I thought you brought some woman back in the middle of the night and were hiding her in the wardrobe, planning to perform a 'person-vanishing' act for me."

"Can you cooperate properly?" The audience's attitude made the magician Ye Su very dissatisfied: "If you don't cooperate, I'm not doing it anymore."

Well, he had to coax her back since he was the one who started it.

"I'll cooperate, I'll cooperate." Chen Xinyi had no choice but to hold Ye Su's hand as if coaxing a child: "I won't say anything else. You continue."

Seeing that Chen Xinyi's attitude was sincere enough, Ye Su continued and pulled open the drawer.

"Wow—" Chen Xinyi cooperated with an exaggerated shout, fully providing the emotional value.

"I haven't even started yet..."

"Oh."

No longer influenced by Chen Xinyi, Ye Su popped out the screw and slid up the partition.

"This board can be taken out too?"

This time, the surprise on Chen Xinyi's face was finally genuine. She hurriedly got off the bed and followed Ye Su, leaning her head toward the drawer, just in time to see Ye Su turn the knob: "What's going on? How could there be these things in the drawer?"

"Next, it is time to witness a miracle—" Ye Su didn't answer the question. After finishing his line, he pulled with his right hand and slid out the hidden compartment.