Hongyu has struggled to survive to this day, and is much thinner and frail than his peers, and is also half a head shorter than them. He relies entirely on medication to keep his body afloat.

Just past the age of ten, Prince Zhi breathed a sigh of relief. According to the imperial physician, the child had been successfully raised.

With proper care and recovery, getting married and having children shouldn't be a problem.

When Prince Zhi saw that the Second Princess's face was covered in tears, he panicked. He tried to remain calm and asked, "Second Princess, don't cry. How did you get lost? Where did you lose it? Tell your father."

"My younger brother wanted to see the lanterns, so my daughter took his hand. Then a group of people came along, the kind of vendors who carry loads on their shoulders and walk through the streets and alleys. Many people came to see their novelties."

"My younger brother seemed to have taken a liking to someone too, and he let go of my hand. I was holding on tightly, but the crowd dispersed, and my brother disappeared." The Second Princess finished speaking in tears, and then recounted how she had sent her guards to search for him, but they hadn't found him.

"Don't be afraid, Father will bring your brother back to you." Prince Zhi put on his hat and strode out.

He first contacted the Prefect of Jingzhao Prefecture, who urgently sealed off the city gates, allowing everyone to enter and exit as soon as possible.

They then contacted the Five Cities Garrison and began searching house to house along the lost section of the road.

After doing these things, Prince Zhi immediately rushed to the Forbidden City, took out his waist token, and disturbed Emperor Kangxi in the middle of the night.

Kangxi, wearing an overcoat, walked to the outside of the bedroom. Prince Zhi knelt at his feet, tears streaming down his face, and cried, "Father, Hongyu is gone, and I can't live anymore!"

Emperor Kangxi was startled: "What happened to Hongyu? Has the imperial physician been summoned?"

Prince Zhi stopped crying and changed his expression: "Hongyu has gone missing. Your son has overstepped his bounds by first summoning people from the Jingzhao Prefecture and the Five City Garrison. I beg Your Majesty to punish me."

Kangxi waved his hand, indicating that he did not care: "You were discussing matters in the Ministry of War. It was not an overstepping of your bounds in the heat of the moment. Stand up and explain in detail what happened."

The Prefect of Jingzhao clutched his few remaining hairs, feeling that his life was about to end.

He knew that a group of human traffickers had been roaming the capital recently, but the focus of the recent security deployment was on the imperial examination.

The yamen was short-handed, so they had to put it aside for now. Just as the prefect of the capital was about to get to work on the case after seeing off most of the students, things took a turn for the worse.

That's the only son of Prince Zhi!

And his son is known for his poor health. Even if the child is found, if something happens to him out of fear and anxiety, his small Jingzhao Prefecture cannot withstand the wrath of the Crown Prince.

"What exactly happened? Didn't you say they were committing crimes in the west of the city before? How come they've come to the east of the city!"

The constables, who had all been flogged, clutched their backsides and straightened their hats, saying, "We were just too busy before, and only one brother was with them. He couldn't keep up, sir."

"You want me to tell Prince Zhi and the Emperor that we lost them?!" The Prefect of Jingzhao kicked him. "Stop pretending to be a cripple! Go find them! No one will survive if we don't find them!"

Yi Hua received the news the next day. Instead of starting to farm, Yin Zhen was taking them back to the capital.

Hongyu's disappearance is a serious matter, and it's inappropriate for Yinzhen to be on vacation at this time; he needs to hurry back and help.

Yinzhen rode away first with Honghui and Hongyun, while Yihua followed closely behind in a carriage.

She still remembered Hongyu. Yihua remembered that thin little boy calling her Fourth Aunt in a soft voice. He was a quiet child who was completely different from Honghui.

His health was weak from birth, Yi Hua frowned, fearing that it would be too late to find him.

The Jingzhao Prefecture had previously seized several dens of thieves, and now they were being raided one by one. The prison was already overcrowded, but no human traffickers were seen.

"Expand the search area and keep looking, we have to search every household!" The Prefect of Jingzhao wiped away his cold sweat, disregarding the crumpled official documents, and went to inform the Prince of Zhi first.

It's not that we're not trying hard enough, it's just that human traffickers are too cunning. We're still doing our best to find them.

The Prefect of Jingzhao expressed a similar attitude, and then asked for advice: "Please forgive my impertinence, but does Prince Hongyu have any enemies?"

What could a sickly little guy like him possibly have that caused him any enmity?

However, things were different for him. Prince Zhi's expression flickered, but his enemies were beyond the control of the Prefect of the Capital.

"You haven't managed the security properly, and now you're blaming Hongyu for making enemies. I think you, the Prefect of Jingzhao, have quite the airs of an official." Prince Zhi sneered.

The Prefect of Jingzhao hurriedly said he dared not, and then fled in panic under the gaze of the Prince of Zhi.

The people in the Prince Zhi's mansion have kept a lot of private soldiers, who are hidden in villages a hundred miles from the capital. These are people who cannot be easily moved.

Prince Zhi was extremely anxious, knowing that he was at great risk of being exposed, but he still sent someone with his token.

"Break up the whole operation and head to Beijing."

It took the Prince of Zhi a great deal of effort to complete the order, which consisted of just a few words. He knew that no matter what the outcome was, this group of troops could no longer be used.

As the entire capital city sped up, human traffickers were also in a panic.

"Damn it, who went to pick up the goods this time? Did they run into someone they shouldn't have? How come martial law was imposed so quickly? Soldiers keep coming in waves, we can't even leave the city gates!" The leader was a fat man with a scar on his face, and he asked viciously.

"It's either that boy or that girl, they're dressed the best." The skinny man followed behind the fat man, bowing and scraping, his gaze always fixed on the girl with an ambiguous smile.

The boy was referring to Hongyu, who felt extremely cold because his coat was on the girl.

This chapter is not finished, please click the next page to continue reading!