"What's that sound?" Xia Miaoyuan blurted out.

The second prince covered her mouth with one hand and made a gesture of silence with his other hand.

Immediately afterwards, Xifeng, who was serving on the side, quickly walked to the door, looked out, and closed the door after confirming that no one was eavesdropping.

Xia Miaoyuan's heart tightened as he watched, "What are they doing?"

At this time, the second prince walked to the back window in two or three steps and opened it.

A dark shadow jumped in.

The second prince was not panicked at all. He stood still and looked at the man in black.

The man in black pulled down his veil and bowed to the second prince.

At this moment, Xia Miaoyuan realized that the man in black looked familiar. [He looks so familiar, I feel like I've seen him before. Who is this person?]

The Second Prince said, "No need to be so polite. You are here this time, but what did your eldest prince find out?"

Hearing these words, Xia Miaoyuan remembered that this person was a trusted follower of Yue Haoyun, and his spirits immediately lifted.

[Hurry up, hurry up, is there any important news? ]

"Your Highness!" said the man in black.

"These days, the prince asked his subordinates to look for four old ministers who had retired and returned to their hometowns. We found them, but they have all passed away."

"The prince has asked me to report this to the Second Prince first. He also told me to convey a message: Please rest assured, he will not give up. He will continue to investigate diligently."

As soon as these words were spoken, the expressions of the Second Prince and Xia Miaoyuan changed.

[Ah! How could this happen?!]

Originally, very few people knew about the incident back then. The four ministers who were there have now retired and are no longer in the court.

[Now I have finally found them, but they are no longer alive! ]

[Ah! What should I do? The path to finding the old minister who knew about this is now closed.]

The Second Prince's face darkened as he listened to his sister's voice. He suppressed his emotions and said woodenly to the man in black, "Please tell the Great Prince that even though we gained nothing this time, I am still grateful to him."

The man in black bowed his head and saluted, then jumped out of the rear window and disappeared into the night.

The second prince stood blankly by the window, looking in the direction where the man in black disappeared, motionless.

Xia Miaoyuan felt heartbroken when she saw her brother so lost.

She took the Second Prince's big hand and shook it vigorously, "Second brother, it's okay. Miao'er believes there must be other ways."

Even if we can't find the old ministers, we still have the Oetsu shrine maiden. The others who went on the mission back then might still be alive.

【As long as you persevere, you will definitely find out the truth.】

The second prince listened to his sister's thoughts and a fire ignited in his heart.

He squatted down and hugged his sister tightly, as if drawing strength from her.

…

The next day.

The delegation stayed in Chang Mansion for the first night. Although it was not as comfortable as the palace, it was still acceptable.

Today's arrangement is for the reception envoy to lead the second prince and Han Qingbo to visit Dai Viet's camp outside the capital.

On the surface, it was said that the two countries were exchanging experiences with each other, but in fact, Dai Viet was deliberately showing off its military strength in front of the envoys of Daxia in order to have a deterrent effect.

The Second Prince and Han Qingbo knew it very well and were reluctant to go, but this was arranged by the host after all, so they couldn't refuse and had to go anyway.

However, today they deliberately did not bring Xia Miaoyuan with them.

Firstly, she had just gotten over a heat stroke and needed two days of rest. Secondly, visiting the camp outside Beijing would inevitably involve spending a long time outdoors, and everyone was worried that Xia Miaoyuan would get a heat stroke again.

Therefore, Xia Miaoyuan was arranged by the second prince to stay in Chang Mansion to have a good rest, and was not allowed to go out to play when the sun was out during the day.

Xia Miaoyuan, who always liked lively atmosphere, was of course not willing to accept this arrangement, but she was unable to change the Second Prince's decision, so she could only waste time in the room bored.

"Come on, Little Orange, let's play cat and mouse, okay?"

"I'll be the cat, you'll be the mouse. When I say go, you run!"

Xiaojuzi was dozing off on the bed. Xia Miaoyuan put his face close to Xiaojuzi and told her his proposal.

But Little Orange seemed to have no interest in this proposal at all.

Xia Miaoyuan repeated it four times before Xiaojuzi raised her eyelids impatiently and glanced at her.

But he just took a quick glance, then closed his round eyes, changed his position and continued lying down.

"Hmph! Stinky cat!" Xia Miaoyuan was a little angry.

"They say you only need a cat for a short while to keep it. I usually give you so many delicious foods for free. But you won't even want to play with me for a while."

Xia Miaoyuan hugged his shoulders, looking indignant.

The maids serving in the room couldn't help laughing.

"This princess is so bored, and you still have the nerve to laugh at me!" Xia Miaoyuan said angrily, her pouting even longer.

At this time, Nanny Li came in from the outer room carrying a tray.

Nanny Li walked over and said with a smile, "My little prince, it's not that Little Orange doesn't want to accompany you, it's just that your game is not suitable for it!"

Xia Miaoyuan raised his chin and asked, "Why?"

"I'm a cat, but you insist on making me act like a mouse. How can I be willing to do that?"

Xia Miaoyuan scratched his head and said, "Yeah."

She knelt down and said to Little Orange, "How about you be the cat and I be the mouse?"

Little Orange let out a loud "Meow" and this time didn't even lift his eyelids.

Everyone in the room burst out laughing.

Nanny Li suppressed a smile and said, "Alright, young prince, don't rush into playing. Drink this summer-heat-relief soup first."

As he spoke, he took the empty bowl and filled it from the soup bowl.

Xia Miaoyuan didn't wait for Nanny Li to feed her with a spoon, and said first: "I can drink it myself!"

Nanny Li did not insist, but silently tucked a towel into Xia Miaoyuan's chest.

The summer-cooling soup was still chilled, and Xia Miaoyuan picked up the bowl and took a big sip.

But as soon as Xia Miaoyuan took a sip of the summer-heat-relieving soup, he felt something was wrong.

"Isn't this soup made by Madam Kong? Why doesn't it taste like yesterday's?"

Nanny Li smiled and said, "Our young prince has a very good tongue! This soup today was definitely not cooked by Nanny Kong."

Xia Miaoyuan frowned: "Well, it's okay." He picked up the bowl and took a sip.

"Then why didn't she make soup today?"

Matron Li replied, "This morning, Matron Kong was supposed to go make some summer-heat soup. But before she could even get to the kitchen, someone suddenly came to see her, saying her family had something urgent to tell her."

"She didn't even have time to change her clothes before she hurriedly asked for leave from the steward and left."

When Xia Miaoyuan heard this, he was startled.

[Wow, could this Madam Kong really be a spy for the Bamboo Spirit Sect?]

[She said her family was looking for her urgently. Could it be Zhu Ling calling her?]

Thinking of this, Xia Miaoyuan could no longer drink a sip of the summer-cooling soup.