"Your Majesty! There's a mark here!"

As soon as Xiao Cen finished speaking, one of his men came to report that the mark was really well hidden. It was carved on a small stone that could be found everywhere, and the stone was thrown into the bushes beside the path.

If I didn't have a bit of luck, I wouldn't take it seriously even if I saw it.

Mu Qing took the stone from the hands of the people below and wiped away the mud and melted snow on it with his hands. "Master, this was left by our people. The other side has a lot of people!"

As he spoke, Mu Qing handed the stone to Xiao Cen.

The soldiers under his command had their own way of making marks. The mark on their hands indicated the number of enemies, which was in the thousands.

On a battlefield, this number is nothing, but this is the suburbs of Beijing!

Although they had left the capital, they were still at the feet of the emperor. There were more than a thousand of them, so it would be difficult to hide, let alone the number of people who could be seen by others.

There may be even more that have not been noticed.

Such a powerful force went to great lengths to run into the city, risking their lives to bring people from the gate of Prince Pingyang's Palace, but in the end they only captured a maid. This matter is really strange no matter how you look at it.

Xiao Cen didn't immediately order the main force to continue pursuing. Instead, he rode his horse and stopped in silence for a while, holding the reins with one hand and stroking the pattern on the stone with the other. "Mu Qing."

"What do you think was the purpose of those people taking Dong Ling'er away? To offend the entire palace for a little girl, the difference between the cost and the reward is too great."

Mu Qing had no way to refute this question. Instead, he frowned deeply. "Perhaps the other party is certain that we will definitely take care of the people from the palace if they are captured. Who knows, they might just lure the snake out of its hole."

This is the only reason I can think of so far.

But Mu Qing still had something to say.

That is, in his opinion, he did not think it was incredible that a group of bandits who came from nowhere kidnapped Dong Ling'er.

Even though Dong Ling'er was just a girl, a servant girl beside the princess.

He had seen Dong Ling'er helping the princess with her accounts. With such a clear mind, he couldn't even understand what she was doing even when he was watching from the sidelines, but Dong Ling'er could tell something was wrong at a glance.

He also went to the restaurant that was taken over by Dong Ling'er.

There are all kinds of new and interesting ideas emerging one after another.

The chef in charge of the restaurant was originally hired by Xiao Cen at a high price. Now under Dong Ling'er's management, his reputation is getting more and more famous, and even reservations need to be made in advance to eat there.

Many nobles and famous families had to get a name card in advance if they wanted to visit the restaurant, and those literati and poets even regarded dining at that restaurant as an elegant affair.

These are all the benefits brought by Dong Ling'er's management.

Putting aside her relationship with the palace, Dong Ling'er herself is an extremely outstanding person!

Unfortunately, Mu Qing knew very well that Dong Ling'er could not leave the palace, so in the eyes of the prince she would only be a servant. Her value and shining points were not unrecognized, but they were not at the level to be cared about.

It was too complicated to explain all this to the prince, so Mu Qing chose to keep quiet. It was better to have less trouble than more, as the final result would not make any difference anyway.

Fortunately, hard work pays off. After chasing for another half an hour, Xiao Cen and his team finally found the whereabouts of Aqing and his team.

Unfortunately, when they caught up, Aqing and his group had been beaten to pieces. Only seven of the ten palace soldiers were left, plus Aqing and his guards, a total of nine people.

Seven of them were tied up, and Aqing's guard and another palace soldier were seriously injured, lying on the ground unconscious like corpses.

"My Lord, what should we do now?"

In addition to Aqing and his group, there were about a hundred people in the group. They set up a few tents and campfires in a valley that was easy to defend but difficult to attack, and were sitting around them eating and drinking meat.

Mu Qing scanned the area but didn't see Dong Ling'er. "That man should be the Master Aqing the princess mentioned. Old Qiao is tied up with him. I feel like something's not right with them."

It's not just wrong, it's outrageous.

Xiao Cen hummed, and followed the two people's gaze towards one of the marching tents, his expression indescribably ugly, "If I'm not mistaken, Miss Dong, it should be there."

"ah?"

Mu Qing was unable to react for a moment.

As his mind turned, his eyes turned gloomy, "Do you want to do it now?"

"Move, leave a few for questioning, and kill the rest...!" Xiao Cen was not the type to dawdle. He knew that the people in front of him might only be one-tenth of this group of people.

But if you can't protect the people you want to protect, what's the point of destroying all the enemies?

He doesn't want revenge, he just wants to bring his people back safely!

The group of people in the valley didn't realize that they were trapped in a jar. They drank and ate meat in big gulps, with a fishy smell on their bodies. From time to time, they would look at their captives with contempt.

Old Qiao kept cursing, but Aqing stared at the tent without moving his eyes. He memorized the faces of every man who walked in and came out with his trousers held up.

Every one!

"Kid, what are you staring at?" Another person walked out of the tent, accidentally met Aqing's gaze and walked towards him.

He had a piece of cloth wrapped around his wrist. It was lotus pink and had a small lotus embroidered on it. "Why, are you jealous?"

"How about after we guys have had our fun, we let you have some fun too?"

As the man spoke, he pinched the piece of cloth and slapped Aqing's cheek.

But soon, the man's shrill laughter stopped, replaced by a heartbreaking scream, "Ah!"

The man opened his eyes wide and tried desperately to pull his hand back, even punching Aqing on the head again and again, but Aqing stared with his eyes bulging, biting the finger with his teeth, and refused to let go.

He bit off his finger and watched the man rolling on the ground holding his hand. Then he spat out a piece of his finger and laughed out loud despite the blood in his mouth.

As he laughed, his eyes turned red. "Is it good? I can make you feel even better. Do you want to try it?"

Logically speaking, he was just a prisoner. If he dared to resist, he would be killed directly. However, this group of people did not do anything. The leader even kicked the provocative man twice before sending someone to bandage his wounds.

These people are really tight-lipped.

Apart from calling each other by code names, they didn't say anything that could point to anything, such as their identities, where they came from, where they were going, what they were arresting people for, or who their superiors were.

"Good boy! That's a good one!"

When the gang walked away and no one came to provoke them again, Old Joe, who was tied to the side, looked at them with admiration, "These damn guys ruined our girl."

"We should eat their flesh, drink their blood, and let them die without a burial place!"