Two days later.

In a quiet and secluded alley, the gate of a house was being knocked on urgently.

"Something terrible has happened, Miss! Madam is in trouble!"

A neatly dressed old woman, but with disheveled hair and face, cried out loudly at the door.

After a while, the maid in the courtyard heard the noise and came to open the gate.

"Who is it, wailing and howling so early in the morning?---Granny Du, is that you?"

The maidservant first shouted impatiently, but when she saw the person in front of her clearly, a look of surprise appeared on her face.

"Quickly, go tell the young lady that Madam has been kidnapped! The kidnappers say that the young lady must go to rescue Madam herself, or they will... kill Madam!"

"That's what Granny Du said anxiously."

"Granny Du, is this true or false?"

Upon hearing this, the maid's expression changed drastically.

"Why would I lie about something like this? You'd better hurry and inform the young lady, or it will be terrible if something happens to the madam! That person said that the young lady must arrive before tonight, or else they'll send the madam's arm!"

Granny Du said angrily.

Is she the kind of person who would joke about something like this?

Today, she accompanied the lady to offer incense, but when the carriage was halfway there, a group of bandits in black suddenly appeared and killed the coachman and servants, leaving only her alive.

They also instructed her that she could only tell Chu Yan about this matter, and that if she leaked it to anyone else, they would kill the old lady even if someone came.

She had been serving Madam Chu for over thirty years, so naturally she couldn't bear to see the old lady killed. That's why she ran to Chu Yan's place without even telling Lord Chu.

The maid immediately went to tell Chu Yan, who was terrified when she learned that her mother had been kidnapped.

Who are these people? Why did they kidnap my mother? Are they after her? Did they say how much money they needed to pay for her ransom?

Chu Yan anxiously asked Granny Du.

"It was a group of men in black. They only gave me an address and told me to inform Miss that she was allowed to go alone and to bring one hundred taels of gold!"

Du Mama said what the kidnapper had told her.

"One hundred taels of gold?"

Chu Yan bit her lip and said.

That's no small amount!

I wonder if all her wealth combined amounted to a hundred taels of gold.

Why did these bandits insist on going by themselves?

Weren't her father and brother both richer than her?

Suddenly, Chu Yan felt something was off.

At this moment, however, Granny Du was extremely anxious.

She kept urging Chu Yan, "Miss, hurry up and prepare the money to save Madam! We can't let anything happen to Madam, we must bring her back before dark!"

Chu Yan didn't have time to think too much and could only nod in agreement: "I'll go prepare the money right away. Write down the location and I'll go save my mother as soon as I have the money ready."

So, Granny Du wrote down the address.

Chu Yan quickly sold all her valuable jewelry and mortgaged some house deeds and land deeds, and in one afternoon she barely managed to scrape together one hundred taels of gold.

Che Yi followed behind Chu Yan, looking at her with some concern.

"Chu Yan, let me go with you!"

He was really worried about Chu Yan going alone. This group of people were obviously after Chu Yan, and if she went alone, something bad would definitely happen to her.

However, the kidnappers specified that Chu Yan was the only one they wanted, and Chu Yan was unwilling to take her along for her mother's safety.

"Che Yi, they said I can only go alone, otherwise my mother's life will be in danger."

Chu Yan looked at Che Yi with a troubled expression.

“But it will definitely be dangerous for you to go alone. Your skills are not good enough. You definitely can’t handle so many people by yourself.”

“But she is my mother, I can’t abandon her.”

"How about this, I'll secretly follow you from behind, without anyone noticing, okay?"

"this......"

"I'll hide. Don't forget I can hide myself and I'll make sure no one finds me. If you're safe and sound and successfully rescue your mother, I naturally won't come out."

"If anything happens to you there, I can appear in time to save you. I promised the Crown Princess I would protect you."

Seeing Chu Yan hesitate, Che Yi tried his best to persuade her.

Finally, after Che Yi's repeated requests and assurances, Chu Yan agreed to let him secretly follow her.

*

At the same time, Chu Yun received a letter from King Xiao and prepared to leave for the city.

Little did she know that as she left the Prince Xiao's residence, she was spotted by Su Wanshi, who happened to be looking for Prince Xiao outside the residence.

"Isn't Chu Yun a lowly concubine? How can she swagger out of the palace like this? And she's not even riding in a sedan chair. Where is she going?"

Su Wanshi hid in a corner, watching Chu Yun's departing figure and pondering to herself.

Out of curiosity, she couldn't resist secretly following them.

Her surprise only grew when she saw Chu Yun leave the city gate.

"She's already left the city, and she didn't take a single maid with her. She must have gone outside the city behind Prince Xiao's back. Is she hiding something? Or is she going to see her lover?"

Su Wanshi excitedly made her guesses.

The more cautious Chu Yun appeared, the more she felt that he was up to no good.

Now, King Xiao likes Chu Yun. If she can find something wrong with Chu Yun and make King Xiao dislike her, then she will have one less rival in love.

With this in mind, Su Wanshi secretly followed Chu Yun towards the outskirts of the city.

As darkness fell, Chu Yun finally arrived at a dilapidated temple.

The dilapidated temple was small, with only two or three rooms. The doors and windows were broken, and weeds grew all around, several heads taller than a person.

The night wind howled, just enough to conceal the movements of Su Wanshi who was hiding outside.

As luck would have it, Su Wanshi was wearing a light green dress today, and the colors surprisingly harmonized as she hid in the grass.

"Your Highness, has my sister arrived yet?"

After Chu Yun went inside, he asked Xiao Wang, who was standing there with a look of shrewdness on his face.

"They're here. Someone just said they're halfway up the mountain. But my men just discovered that she secretly brought someone with her. It took them a while to fight them, which wasted some time."

King Xiao said calmly, but his eyes revealed a ruthless glint.

Yes, Che Yi has been discovered.

On the surface, King Xiao sent a group of fake bandits, but he was still worried that Chu Yan would really come alone, so he secretly left guards to follow her.

Sure enough, his men discovered that Chu Yan had brought a man with her.

His bodyguards were all elite guards, so dealing with Che Yi was no problem for them. Even if Che Yi had regained his martial arts skills, it would still be difficult for him to win against a larger force.

In the end, Chu Yan had no choice but to persuade Che Yi to stay where he was, and she went up the mountain with his men.

"That's good. I can switch faces with my sister soon. Will Your Highness be uncomfortable seeing me? You don't really think of me as your sister, do you?"

After the initial joy, Chu Yun felt a sense of worry.