Zhong Muyu didn't care too much. If he got injured, there was no need to worry, since they had brought medicine with them.

Back at the manor, everyone busied themselves preparing the ingredients, while Zhong Muyu, due to health reasons, went back to her room to rest and would come out again when it was time to eat.

In order to whet Zhong Muyu's appetite, Lu Ziyuan also went into the kitchen for the first time this time and learned cooking skills from Zao Chun. After the final product was finished, he cautiously asked Zao Chun, "What do you think of my learning results?"

"Your Highness is quite talented in cooking; the Princess will surely enjoy your dishes."

Lu Ziyuan breathed a sigh of relief: "It would be best if she was happy and ate more."

Zaochun said, "If you want the current princess to eat more, I'm afraid it's not spicy enough."

"Really? I didn't expect her to be able to eat so much spicy food now. I wonder if her body can handle it. The royal physician always says it's fine, but I'm still worried."

The mention of spicy food always casts a shadow over Lu Ziyuan's mind. Although he loves to eat a little, his stomach gets uncomfortable if he eats too much. But Zhong Muyu is different. She can eat a lot to begin with, and it seems that she can eat even more spicy food now that she's pregnant, which sometimes makes him suffer.

People's tastes are different, so Lu Ziyuan didn't think much of it and took his prized creation to the dining table.

Soon, the table was filled with all sorts of dishes, their aromas irresistible.

After tidying up in early spring, she went upstairs to call Zhong Muyu, but a moment later, she heard her scream!

"ah!!!"

Upon hearing the screams, Lu Ziyuan rushed upstairs without a second thought. He found Zaochun standing in the doorway in terror, Qiao'er lying on the ground foaming at the mouth, and the half-open bed curtains revealing an empty, disheveled bed.

Chengfeng stepped forward first to shield Zaochun behind him. He checked Qiao'er's breathing and then said, "She is still breathing."

"Quickly, go find a doctor!"

Early Spring came to her senses and hurriedly brought up the family physician and dragged Qiao'er away.

After examination, it was found to be mild poisoning. Fortunately, the patient was unharmed and woke up after taking the antidote.

Apart from the bed, only the window was open in the room, and Zhong Muyu was no longer there.

Lu Ziyuan immediately thought that Zhong Muyu had been kidnapped. He rushed to the window, but outside the dark window was a steep slope with a large drop, and the bottom of the slope was full of rocks and weeds. It would be very difficult to kidnap someone from here.

Unless the opponent has a large number of people and is highly skilled in agility.

Of course, Lu Ziyuan did not rule out the possibility that Zhong Muyu was captured by supernatural powers, after all, there had been examples before. But if supernatural powers were used, there would be no need to go to the trouble of poisoning Qiao'er.

He directed the guards who followed him, shouting, "Search! Don't miss a single corner!"

After the guards left, Lu Ziyuan looked out the window in frustration, but could only see a thick darkness.

It was all due to his carelessness. He didn't know who the people who captured Zhong Muyu were, but it was probably just the same few people. Now that the two kings were vying for power, everyone wanted to take advantage of him.

He angrily pounded on the window frame. Zhong Muyu was pregnant and weak, and if anything happened to her, he would never let himself off the hook.

After treatment by the physician, Qiao'er slowly woke up. Her face was pale and her body was weak, indicating that there was still some residual poison in her body.

"Sister Early Spring? What... what's wrong with me?"

Seeing a row of people standing in front of her bed, Qiao'er tried to get up, but she didn't have the strength.

Early spring quickly helped her up and asked with concern, "How are you feeling? Do you remember what happened?"

"I...I only remember taking a sip of tea, and then...did something happen?"

Early Spring sighed and told her what had happened. Qiao'er's eyes widened immediately: "How could this happen! I stayed in the room the whole time after I helped the princess to bed, but... I got thirsty in the middle and went to get a pot of tea. After drinking it, I felt dizzy and nauseous."

"Tea! Go check on it quickly!"

Zaochun directed the physicians behind her to go to Zhong Muyu's room and bring back the tea that Zaochun had drunk.

"There is indeed a trace amount of poison mixed in this tea, Miss Qiao'er. Did you brew this tea yourself?"

"That's right, I took the tea from the tea canister I brought."

Early Spring nodded. Zhong Muyu treated her servants well, and many of her personal belongings were available for her personal use.

The physicians then brought out a tea canister, which did indeed contain poison powder, but the powder was only a thin layer on top, indicating that someone had sprinkled it after they arrived.

There weren't many of them on this trip, and they were all people he knew. Lu Ziyuan gathered the rest of the group together and questioned them one by one, but he couldn't get any information out of them.

There were too few people, the place was too big, and it was very dark, so it would be very easy for martial arts masters to sneak in. However, to capture someone right under Lu Ziyuan's nose, their strength must be extraordinary.

At this point, no one was in the mood to stay here anymore. Lu Ziyuan headed back to his residence overnight and sent a large number of guards to search the city. Since the people were kidnapped at night, they must not have left the city yet!

At night, the torchlight startled passersby. Led by Cao Lin, they searched every shop but couldn't find the person. It was already late at night.

Meanwhile, Lu Ziyuan was personally leading a search party. After he returned to the palace, the last group of people also returned shortly afterward.

"Your Highness, we have not found any trace of the Princess Consort."

Lu Ziyuan sighed, and Cao Lin asked, "Your Highness, now, perhaps the only option is to search house to house."

They knew that going door-to-door would disturb the people, but Lu Ziyuan wouldn't give up until he found Zhong Muyu.

After a long silence, Lu Ziyuan waved his hand and said, "Go back first. We'll send more people to patrol tonight, and we'll go look for it again first thing tomorrow morning."

The group agreed and left one by one, knowing full well that tonight would be another sleepless night.

...

At dawn, as the sky began to lighten, the port of Lingqing began to bustle with activity. Foreign merchants directed laborers to unload cargo, while outgoing merchants directed laborers to load goods onto ships.

Today is different from the past; the inspection of goods going out is significantly stricter.

The merchants didn't take it seriously. Yuanqi was in chaos, and the rules changed every day. As long as it didn't affect their interests, they could do whatever they wanted.

During a routine inspection, someone at the port suddenly shouted, "Fire!"

Suddenly, flames rose from the area where the goods were stored. Something piled up there could cause the fire to escalate rapidly. Everyone was startled and hurriedly called for help to put out the fire. Chaos broke out in the entire port.

In the midst of the chaos, someone managed to move a wooden crate onto the boat.

After the fire was extinguished, the port management staff angrily demanded, "Who did this?"

"We don't know either, everything was fine just now."

"You careless fools! If something goes wrong with the goods, we couldn't afford to compensate you even if we sold you!"

The shouting and cursing gradually faded away, and the guards who had been inspecting the goods returned to check them again after seeing that nothing had happened.