The two stayed on the boat until evening before heading back. There were hardly any people on the road. Mingxiu and the others leisurely made their way back. After spending a few days with Mingxiu around, Kangxi got busy again. Mingxiu started wandering the streets on her own with her entourage, and Kangxi wasn't too worried because she always had people with her.

Mingxiu walked along the street, looking at the scenery on both sides. Today she changed to a different street and decided to take a stroll. She didn't really want to walk around the same street every day.

“Madam, we didn’t bring Miss Chenghuan with us this time. She’ll definitely be angry. Madam, would you like to buy her something else?” Yu Lan said, looking at Mingxiu, who was eagerly looking for food, and worried that she might overeat.

Mingxiu paused for a moment before putting the rice crust into her mouth, then nodded in deep agreement.

“That’s true,” Mingxiu said, looking around before placing the food in her hand on Yulan’s plate. “How about this? There are a lot of kids up ahead. They must have something interesting. Let’s go take a look. If it’s fun, we can buy it for Chenghuan.”

Yu Lan and Qing Ya nodded repeatedly, thinking that their empress had been eating too much since she arrived here, and that she especially liked one particular food.

Yu Lan sighed as she looked at the things in her hands.

Mingxiu, unaware of Yulan's sorrow behind her, walked ahead and saw a group of children.

Mingxiu glanced at it with great interest and was immediately captivated. It was truly fascinating! Mingxiu exclaimed in surprise as she looked at the lifelike shadow puppet show in front of her.

Yu Lan and Qing Ya behind her nodded repeatedly, agreeing that it was indeed very beautiful.

Mingxiu watched quietly and with great interest. She hadn't expected that shadow puppetry still existed. Moreover, the shadow puppets were exquisitely made, and the performance was very vivid. No wonder so many people were watching.

Mingxiu and her friends stood in the crowd, watching with a bunch of kids. Mingxiu was tall, so she didn't stand in front of them, as that would block the children's view.

Mingxiu was watching with great enjoyment, occasionally letting out exclamations of surprise along with the children next to her. Yulan, who was listening nearby, felt embarrassed.

As Mingxiu watched, she sensed something was wrong. Something was amiss; why were the children in front of her being carried away by others?

Mingxiu frowned as she watched a middle-aged woman carrying a child walk confidently forward, but the way she was holding the child looked rather uncomfortable.

Mingxiu stared at the woman in front of her, and suddenly noticed that the child in her arms had drooped down and was not making a sound. Mingxiu narrowed her eyes and thought of something.

Turning to look at Qingya, I saw that Qingya was also frowning and staring at another person holding a child next to her.

Mingxiu knew it was good that she had encountered human traffickers, so she quickly tugged at Qingya's sleeve, signaling her to hurry up and chase after them.

Qingya looked at Mingxiu with a troubled expression, then shook her head.

Mingxiu was taken aback, then realized that she was protecting herself. It was too chaotic outside, and if Qingya left her side, someone might take advantage of the chaos to arrest her.

However, they couldn't remain completely silent in this situation. Mingxiu was extremely anxious, but she was afraid of alerting the traffickers and letting them escape.

Mingxiu quickly led her people to her carriage and instructed Qingya, "Go quickly and follow the traffickers ahead. Don't make too much noise. Leave marks along the way. Someone will follow you. Once we find the location, we'll report it to customs and arrest them. Be very careful, understand?" Mingxiu said anxiously, pulling Qingya along.

Qingya nodded and quickly chased after the person she had just seen. It was only because there were so many people around that they dared not make any big movements for fear of arousing suspicion, so they could still see the figure.

Mingxiu watched as Qingya quickly chased after her, directing the others to hurry back. She knew that she had people following her to protect her safety, but Mingxiu hadn't considered this situation before and forgot to ask how to command them.

Now we can only hurry back and try to get them out. Besides, my safety is not guaranteed outside, and Mingxiu can't risk her safety.

Mingxiu quickly returned to her house, which was completely empty. After a moment's thought, she looked up at the sky and called out, "Someone come here!"

After shouting, Mingxiu looked on nervously, only to see a figure suddenly fly out from somewhere and stop directly in front of her, bowing slightly in greeting.

Mingxiu swallowed hard. A secret guard! This was a real secret guard. This was the first time Mingxiu had ever seen one.

“My personal maid just went to chase after the human traffickers. Have someone go with them to check and make sure everything is alright. Then find the traffickers’ location and try to rescue all the children. After that, hand the traffickers over to the authorities. If you don’t have enough manpower, just keep watching and wait until the Emperor returns.”

As soon as Mingxiu finished speaking, the figure in front of her disappeared in the next second. Along with the disappearance of the figure, there was also a faint sound, as if it could be blown away if the sound was made even slightly louder.

Watching the person in front of her fly away, Mingxiu revealed an envious look in her eyes, which widened in disbelief.

Yu Lan, who was standing next to them, was also staring wide-eyed; the expressions of the two, master and servant, were exactly the same.

Seeing Kangxi return from outside, she couldn't help but laugh. She walked up to Mingxiu, took out her fan, and gently tapped her: "What are you looking at? You look so calm. You didn't even know I was back."

When Mingxiu saw Kangxi return, she relaxed and quickly told him about what had happened to her that day.

Kangxi frowned as he listened, looking at Mingxiu with a furrowed brow: "It's good that you didn't send your people over rashly. You did well. Leave the rest to me. I'll send someone over to check it out again."

Mingxiu nodded. That was perfect. She hated this kind of thing the most, but she had no experience and was afraid of making a mistake.

What if those children suffer?

Just in case, Mingxiu didn't go out shopping for the next few days. Qingya returned that day, saying that the Emperor had taken over and asked her to come back to continue protecting Mingxiu.

Mingxiu nodded. Although she really wanted to know, there was definitely no result yet, so she had been patiently waiting for the past few days.

Since Mingxiu didn't go out, the people around her naturally didn't go out either, so she had no idea that the streets outside had been in chaos these past few days.

In just one day, more than fifty children went missing, and in the past two days, more than one hundred children have gone missing.

Almost every household had a missing child, and the atmosphere was incredibly tense. Families with children were too afraid to let them go out to play and kept them at home every day, not even letting them slip by.