The sky over the imperial city was somewhat gloomy, and even the wind seemed dry and cold.

When Yun Zong led his men to rush into the palace, the little empress was nowhere to be seen.

The vast, cold palace was deathly silent. Eunuchs and palace maids knelt on the ground at the palace gate, trembling, their faces pale, their teeth grinding, their heads hanging down in fear, not daring to raise them.

Without even looking, he stormed in, yelling, "Where is everyone?!"

The door was kicked open with a loud creak, hitting the wall and bouncing back, echoing through the room. The curtains in the hall hung silently, casting deep shadows, but no one was in sight.

"Where has His Majesty gone!?"

The palace maid's voice trembled, clearly showing fear. Seeing Yun Zong's ferocious expression, she was so frightened that she could barely speak: "His Majesty... His Majesty went hunting with the Imperial Guards, and... and took several palace maids with him..."

The room was chilly and somewhat eerie. Yun Zong gritted his teeth, his expression growing increasingly furious.

Is she trying to escape from him?

But where could she escape to?

"Men, come in and search! Has anyone returned from the men sent to track the hunting party?" His eyes hardened. "If they're found, capture them alive if you can, and if you can't—"

"Kill them on the spot!"

He waved for people to come in, and the group searched high and low for a long time. Soon someone reported: "Your Highness, the porcelain and other items in the palace are still there, but a large amount of gold, silver and jewels are missing."

"Your Excellency, a secret room has been discovered in His Majesty's bedroom. It has been completely emptied, and judging from the traces left behind, it seems that countless gold and silver were stored there."

"A half-finished page was found under His Majesty's dragon bed. It was a travelogue about a secluded life in Jiangnan, and it had many annotations..."

Yun Zong took the book and read it carefully. The annotations were scattered, more like plans, and the handwriting was lively, revealing his aspirations.

"The house has three courtyards, with a river in front and weeping willows swaying in the breeze..."

"At the beginning of the month, I went to the mountains to worship Buddha and ate vegetarian food..."

"Dig a pond in the courtyard, raise koi, build artificial hills and pavilions, and in the afternoon, row a boat on the lotus pond and pick lotus seeds..."

There was also a line of large, vividly written characters: "Anyone who stays in the palace and gets bullied all day long, I'm leaving, never to be seen again!"

The edges of the pages were torn, as if they had been ripped apart in a hurry and hadn't had time to be taken away.

Yun Zong's heart skipped a beat: "She ran away from the palace?"

The Tong family emperors have all had madmen in their lineage. The late emperor even had a crazy experience of ordering eunuchs to set up a market in the palace, having the eunuchs dress up as merchants, and then holding an abacus and account books to haggle over prices.

The young empress has always been rebellious, especially under his strong pressure, her personality has become increasingly arrogant. Now that she is increasingly depressed, it is not surprising that she did something like running away from the palace with gold and silver when she was pushed to the limit.

Thinking of this, Yun Zong breathed a sigh of relief for the time being. On the one hand, he blocked the news, and on the other hand, he urged his subordinates to head towards the eight official roads to search for the little empress's whereabouts.

In particular, they searched for the official road leading to Jiangnan, as recorded on the pages.

He turned and left. As he exited the palace gate, the palace servants kneeling in the courtyard looked at him pleadingly, especially a large number of his spies who were now doing menial work in the outer courtyard. They had not been able to get close to the young empress, were not valued, and could not obtain any information.

They didn't even know that the little empress had run away.

The subordinate asked, "Your Majesty, what should we do with all these eunuchs and palace servants?"

Under the pleading gazes of the palace servants, Yun Zong waved his hand emotionlessly: "Neglecting their duties and failing to serve properly, all of them shall be beaten to death!"

The wind carried away his cold voice, and immediately the courtyard erupted in cries of pleas and wails. Palace servants crawled on their knees toward him, wailing pitifully, "Your Majesty! Your Majesty, spare our lives! Spare our lives, we were sent by you—"