"Your Highness, where is Qi Yan?"

At the gate of the Imperial College, Yu Jingyang stood beside the carriage of the General's Mansion and waited for a long time but his daughter did not come out, so he went to the carriage of the East Palace to ask Hua Qingcheng.

"Uncle, didn't Qi Yan not come to school today?" Hua Qingcheng asked in confusion, thinking that Feng Qi Yan was on sick leave.

"Didn't come to school?"

When Yu Jingyang heard this, he suddenly felt a chill rising from the soles of his feet to his heart.

"Your Highness, Qi Yan... although she woke up late this morning, she left the General's Mansion on horseback at 7:30 AM. How could... how could she not come to school?"

Yu Jingyang, who was extremely worried, suddenly felt dizzy, but fortunately Wu Chen, who jumped out of the car, caught him in time and prevented him from falling to the ground.

"Uncle, don't worry, let's talk in the car."

Hua Qingcheng, realizing the seriousness of the matter, didn't even bother to eat. Together with Wu Chen, she helped Yu Jingyang onto the carriage of the General's Mansion.

"Uncle, I just asked the students in the 'Genius Class,' and Qiyan's classmates said she didn't come to school today, which means she probably didn't go to the Imperial College. Please tell me what happened this morning when Qiyan left the house for school."

Even if Yu Jingyang was usually very well-mannered, he would lose all his composure in an instant when his daughter went missing. Although Hua Qingcheng was also anxious, she knew she couldn't panic, otherwise Yu Jingyang would only become more panic-stricken.

"This morning, mother said, 'As a descendant of a military family, it's outrageous that I still need the palace's carriage to pick me up and drop me off at school.' And father said..." Yu Jingyang, who was worried about Feng Qiyan, suddenly became disorganized in his speech.

"Dad, you tell me."

Seeing that Yu Jingyang had been talking for a long time but still couldn't get to the point, Hua Qingcheng decisively let Feng Lingyan speak.

"Qingcheng, it's like this. Mother believes that 'daughters shouldn't be spoiled'. A too comfortable environment will only make people lazy and lose the faith to strive. So she planned to train Qiyan from a young age. The first step was to let her ride a horse to school by herself. This morning at 7:15 am, Qiyan left the house riding her own little mare." Feng Lingyan answered truthfully.

"Left at 7:15 AM..."

Hua Qingcheng pondered for a moment after hearing this. If she rode a horse, it would take less than half an hour to get from the General's Mansion in the east of the city to the Imperial College. However, more than two hours had passed since Feng Qiyan left the mansion, and she hadn't seen her at the Imperial College. It was obvious that something had happened along the way.

"Dad, uncle, you must go to the Fengcheng government office right now to report to the authorities. Ask the prefect to send runners to set up checkpoints at all key intersections throughout the city and conduct inspections. Just say that it was my order. Then go back to the General's Mansion and inform my aunt of this matter. Ask her to send someone to look for her as soon as possible. I will also go back to the East Palace to summon the guards to look for her." Hua Qingcheng made a prompt decision and handed Yu Jingyang the token that symbolized her status as a princess.

"Okay, okay..." Yu Jingyang took the token and nodded in response.

"Uncle Fang, please take good care of them." Hua Qingcheng glanced at Kang Fulai, who was waiting quietly by the side, wearing a mask and using the alias Fang Xian, and said sternly.

"Yes, Your Highness." Kang Fulai responded in an extremely solemn manner.

"By the way, uncle, are there any items that Qi Yan often uses in the carriage? They will be useful when I look for someone later." Hua Qingcheng asked again before getting off the carriage.

"Qi Yan's belongings..."

Yu Jingyang muttered to himself, and then he said, "Yes. Yesterday evening, when school was over, she felt uncomfortable with her socks because they were sweaty, so she changed them. The socks she took off are still under the couch in the carriage."

As Yu Jingyang spoke, he took out a small box from the corner of the carriage, and inside it was a pair of socks worn by a child.

Hua Qingcheng: ...

Okay, socks are socks...

(Xiaobai: Thank you for listening to me...)

After watching the carriage from the General's Mansion leave, Hua Qingcheng asked someone to ask for an afternoon off for herself and Wu Chen, and then asked Feng Wu to drive the carriage back to the East Palace.

"Qingqing, why are you back at this time?" Mu Lige, who was taking a nap in Hua Qingcheng's bedroom, couldn't help but look worried when he saw Hua Qingcheng coming back in a hurry.

"Brother Li, Qi Yan is missing!"

Hua Qingcheng briefly explained Feng Qiyan's disappearance, and then took off her Imperial College uniform in front of Mu Lige and changed into a neat red and black outfit.

"Qingqing, in addition to having people search along the official road from the General's Mansion to the Imperial College, we should also check the small roads that lead to the Imperial College. Qi Yan might take the small road because she is worried about being late for school..." Mu Lige looked towards the east of the city, his eyes were leisurely and his face was slightly solemn.

Feng Qiyan was only eight years old, so it was impossible for her to have any enemies. It was possible that her status as the legitimate daughter of the General's Mansion had caused trouble. If someone was seeking revenge against the Feng family, or using this to threaten Feng Cailan, then this was a serious matter...

In just a moment, countless possible reasons for Feng Qiyan's disappearance flashed through Mu Lige's mind.

"Okay, Brother Li, I'll take note of it."

At the end of noon, Hua Qingcheng led Xiaobai and Hongfu, took away two-thirds of the guards of the East Palace, left the palace and went to the east of the city to help search for people. Also accompanying them were Wu Chen and Situ Ye, who were both skilled in martial arts.

On the other side, Yu Jingyang and Feng Lingyan, who was wearing a veil, took Hua Qingcheng's token to the Fengcheng government office to report to the authorities. Fengcheng Prefecture Governor Mo Xiaozhu immediately ordered people to close the four gates of the capital, east, west, south and north, and set up checkpoints at all key entrances and exits for strict inspection to prevent people from being taken out of the capital.

Upon hearing that her daughter was missing, Feng Cailan of the Grand General's Mansion immediately dispatched 20,000 soldiers. Ten thousand of them conducted a blanket search from the Grand General's Mansion east of the city towards the Imperial College, while another 10,000 were dispersed elsewhere, searching every possible hiding place. While there was a suspicion of using soldiers from the barracks for personal use, Feng Cailan, desperate to find Feng Qiyan, didn't care about that.

In the dense forest at the junction of the east and central parts of the city.

After the masked man in black left, his subordinates also moved the children from the deep pit.

"Boss, what should we do? There seem to be a lot of people outside. They sound like well-trained soldiers." A masked man in black said worriedly to the small leader in charge of guarding.

The "boss" naturally heard the noise outside, but he glanced leisurely at the group of children in the deep pit, and then a hint of extremely cruel light flashed in his sinister eyes.

"Since we can't take him away, then... let's kill him right here!