In front of a villa in Maoer Hutong in Beijing, a horse-drawn carriage was parked quietly.

Xiangqin was wearing a plain dress, and her simple attire made people think that she was just a young daughter-in-law from an ordinary family. She stood on tiptoe and carefully peeked inside through the crack in the door, with confusion written all over her face.

"How strange! Why isn't there even a single person?" Xiangqin muttered to herself. "Shouldn't there usually be a servant waiting in the courtyard at this time?"

This morning, before Tianxianglou opened for business, Xiangqin got up early, hurriedly called a carriage, and headed straight to the Dazayuan Hutong in the south of the capital.

Her destination was Chunhong's home. She wanted to visit Chunhong's family and ask Chunhong why she didn't return to Tianxianglou.

Chunhong has not returned in the past two days, which makes Hua's mother dissatisfied and she plans to send someone to look for her.

Xiangqin guessed that Chunhong might have saved enough money to buy medicine and hire a doctor for her mother.

So she offered to help find Chunhong, and brought some cakes with her before leaving, intending to visit Chunhong's sick mother.

However, when Xiangqin arrived at Chunhong's house, only her mother and deaf-mute brother were there.

Chunhong's mother told Xiangqin that she had not seen her daughter for a long time. Two days ago, her daughter asked someone to send her a bag of silver coins. She thought Chunhong had been in Tianxianglou.

When Xiangqin heard this, she did not immediately become suspicious. She subconsciously thought that Chunhong might have been staying in the villa of Master Shoukang's house.

She secretly complained in her heart: "This little bitch, just to make a little money, she doesn't even care about her life. I'm afraid she will be broken after these few days."

But when she stood in front of the gate of the villa of Master Shoukang, she found that something seemed wrong.

The door was closed tightly, and there was silence all around. Not even a single person was in sight. She frowned, feeling an inexplicable uneasiness in her heart.

"How could this happen?" Xiangqin muttered to herself again. She raised her hand and knocked on the door. The door panel made a dull sound, but no one answered.

Xiangqin waited for a while, and seeing still no movement, she turned and walked towards the carriage.

The carriage slowly drove back to Tianxiang Tower, but Xiangqin's mood could not calm down for a long time.

There were also cases in the capital in the past where Hua Niang eloped with her lover with money. It is unknown whether those women lived as imagined, staying together for the rest of their lives.

Xiangqin knew that Chunhong was not the kind of person who would be easily infatuated with love. She often said that those guests who came for pleasure had no sincerity at all, so elopement was absolutely impossible.

What's more, Chunhong cares most about her mother and younger brother. She has mentioned countless times that her family is her most important concern in this world, so it is impossible for her to abandon them.

Thinking of this, Xiangqin frowned and began to think about another possibility for Chunhong's disappearance - was it because of lack of money?

But when she went to Chunhong's house this morning, she saw a bag of silver that weighed at least thirty or forty taels.

This is already a considerable sum of money for an ordinary family in Beijing. Even though Chunhong's mother needs medicine for treatment, this money is enough for them to live a wealthy life for most of half a year.

"Where on earth did this person go?" Xiangqin couldn't help but mutter to herself.

The carriage slowly drove into the intersection of Chang'anfang. Xiangqin got off the carriage and handed the driver a hundred coins.

The driver took it with a little surprise, probably not expecting that this young lady with outstanding appearance was actually the local prostitute.

Xiangqin quietly entered from the back door of Tianxiang Tower, walked through the backyard, and just as she entered the front hall, she heard bursts of noisy quarrels.

"You haven't seen the advisor in the Jingzhao Yin Hall. Humph, what a dog-eyed guy he is."

"He looks down on me? I even complain that his monthly salary isn't even enough to pay for a table of wine in our Yilan Courtyard!"

"That's right. What are you talking about? Is she hiding at her lover's house? Let's go find out for ourselves. Don't let her get lost in her sleep!"

"That's right! When the daughter of the Guards Commander went missing, they secretly searched the entire city. Now that our daughter is missing, not only do they not help look for her, they even laugh at us."

The two loud and chattering voices were obviously from Mother Lan of Yilan Courtyard and Mother Liao of Yingchun Pavilion.

When Hua's mother saw Xiangqin come in, she asked anxiously, "Have you found Chunhong?"

The anxiety on her face was completely different from the discontent she had seen this morning.

Xiangqin felt a little strange and didn't know why so many people gathered here.

"It wasn't found in the slum, nor in the small courtyard of Lord Shoukang's house... What's going on? How is it related to the Jingzhao Yin?" Xiangqin asked in confusion.

When Hua's mother heard this, her expression suddenly became even gloomier. She waved her hand and asked everyone else to be quiet.

"Oh, I hope this doesn't really happen!"

Xiangqin had just heard Mother Lan and Mother Liao mention the disappearance of the Jingzhao Yin and the daughter of the Canling family. At this moment, her doubts deepened.

Mother Lan recounted the situation in detail.

It turned out that in just three or four days, five prostitutes disappeared in Chang'anfang. If Chunhong was included, there were six of them.

"Have you looked for them carefully?" Xiangqin asked anxiously.

"Of course we did," Lan's mother replied, "These girls aren't the kind to run away."

"One of them had a lover in the capital. At first I thought he had secretly escaped from the capital, so I sent someone to check. Unexpectedly, that fool was also waiting eagerly for Mei'er to come and see him!"

Although these girls came from different brothels, Xiangqin discovered that they were almost all the top girls in their respective brothels.

How could such a coincidence happen?

"It seems Chunhong might have been in trouble too." Hua's mother could no longer stand by and watch. "Tomorrow morning, let's go knock on the drum in front of the Jingzhao Yin's gate. I don't believe the Jingzhao Yin will ignore our affairs."

Mother Lan and Mother Liao were exhausted after running around all day.

They looked at each other and nodded. Mother Lan said, "Okay, then we'll wait a little longer tonight. I'll find some help."

"Okay, that's settled." Liao's mother agreed.

Under the cover of night, Chang'anfang is ablaze with lights, and guests seeking pleasure come in an endless stream, but no one knows the undercurrents surging behind it.

Xiangqin seemed listless throughout the night. She was concerned about Chunhong's safety and even thought that if Chunhong could return safely, she would never be jealous of her again.

However, after one night, before the mothers and the prostitutes from Chang'anfang set out, a large crowd had gathered in front of the gate of Jingzhao Yinfu, crying their hearts out.

Before the Western Rong delegation left, a murder occurred in the capital.

The daughter of Dong Zhanqing, the commander of the imperial guard, was murdered and drowned in a lake, and all clues point to the Western Rong envoys stationed in Liquan Mountain.

This news was like a thunderclap, shocking the entire capital.