52 It's you!

Follow me.

As the onlookers dispersed, the crowd gathered again in front of Chun Yu's pastry shop. Hongyan said to Qi Gu, "Princess, I'll go buy some pastries." Of course, she couldn't let the eager princess go into the crowd to buy pastries herself.

Seeing Hongyan's resolute attitude, Qi Gu could only nod in disappointment, "Alright."

Then she and Honghu stood outside the crowd to wait. As soon as Hongyan left, they heard a "Ouch!" This was the second time Qigu had heard this sound today. What was going on today? Everyone seemed to like shouting "Ouch!"

It turned out that Honghu was standing behind Qigu. A small stone hit the back of her head. She touched her head, which looked like it had a small bump, and turned around to see who was so blind as to throw a stone at her.

Turning around, the children looked at Hou Honghu and clapped their hands, laughing, "Oh! He hit it! He hit it!!"

Honghu was furious. She had never suffered such humiliation in the palace, and as a member of the princess's palace, everyone treated her with utmost respect. These little bastards from outside the palace dared to play pranks on her; they had truly gone too far.

Honghu pointed at the mischievous children, "You brats, stop right there! I'm going to teach you a lesson on behalf of your father and mother!"

"Honghu..." Before Qi Gu could stop him, Honghu had already run off. She was about to go forward when she heard, "Hey..."

"Don't move." Qi Gu felt something cold, hard, and sharp pressing against her lower back. She tried to turn around to see who it was, but the sharp dagger pressed even harder against her. "Don't turn around." The voice was almost right next to her ear.

She instinctively prepared to call for help, but the person behind her seemed to read her mind and whispered in her ear like a demon, "Come with me, or the dagger in my hand can pierce your intestines right now, and you won't survive, Your Highness."

Qi Gu finally realized that she had fallen into a trap. The person who was hit earlier, as well as Honghu, had been deliberately lured away.

She quickly recalled everyone she had met since entering the capital, and who wanted her dead. As soon as she thought about it, she broke out in a cold sweat, because she realized that there were quite a few people who wanted her dead.

The person behind her gave her no time to think or call for help, tightly binding her hands from behind and pulling her into a small alley behind the pastry shop.

As Qi Gu struggled, she saw the face of her kidnapper. "It's you!"

...

When news of Qi Gu's disappearance reached the palace, the Empress suddenly stood up, her sharp eyes almost piercing through Hongyan's body. "What exactly happened? How could she have disappeared!"

Hongyan recounted the day's events in detail to the Empress. The Empress's face darkened. There were far too many people in this palace who wanted the lives of her and her two children, but she was certain that no one truly dared to do so!

Who would dare take such a risk? Empress Zhang's face was ashen. She quickly ordered, "Don't make this public. Hongyan, from now on, Qi Gu is just feeling unwell and is resting in the palace. Understand?"

Empress Zhang then ordered, "Guards, take my token and have the city guards immediately close the city gates. Only entry is permitted, no exit! Also, send another team of men to thoroughly search the capital under the pretext of apprehending a wanted criminal!"

In Changxin Palace, the servants clearly sensed that the Empress's expression had become quite unpleasant ever since the eldest princess's personal maid had visited, so everyone was extremely cautious. However, when it came to anything important, the Empress was still looking at the documents on her desk and receiving the palace officials. Changxin Palace maintained a tense atmosphere, seemingly relaxed on the outside but tense on the inside.

Empress Zhang sat before her desk, watching as darkness fell, but still no news came from outside the palace. Lost in thought, she accidentally cut her palm with the carving knife she held.

Lady Lu hurriedly ordered someone to bring medicine to treat the Empress's wounds. She sighed inwardly, thinking how the Empress would not be able to accept it if anything were to happen to the princess.

"Your Highness, the princess is a blessed person and will surely be able to turn misfortune into good fortune," Lu Ao could only comfort her.

But Empress Zhang thought that her so-called luck and good fortune were all false, and she would never again rely on that illusory fate or the so-called turning bad luck into good.

Her lips tightened, and she said to Aunt Lu, "Aunt Lu, go find A-Ling and have her and Yuan Kuai go together. This person must have ulterior motives for kidnapping Qi Gu. I can't just sit here and wait to die." My Qi Gu can't be harmed anymore!

Lu Ao nodded repeatedly, "Yes, yes, this old servant will go right away."

The news of what was happening in the Empress's palace quickly reached Emperor Chu Pei's ears, but he didn't know what the Empress was looking for. Jin Fu asked in a low voice, "Your Majesty, what do you think of this..."

This was asking His Majesty whether he should stop the Empress. Chu Pei thought for a moment, then raised his hand and said, "The Empress is not such a reckless person. Since she didn't come to report to me, it probably isn't a big deal."

Chu Pei glanced at Jin Fu and said, "Just pretend you don't know."

Jin Fu lowered her head and said, "Yes, this servant understands." Then she withdrew.

Seeing that it was getting late, Chu Pei said to Sima Hong and Yuan Kuai in Chengming Hall, "It's so late, you may leave."

Yuan Kuai entered the palace today because Chen Zhan, the son of the Prince of Yan, whom Sima Hong brought back, had never revealed the secret that the Emperor wanted to know.

After the defeat of the Yan Kingdom, Yuan Kuai received a secret imperial edict instructing him to secretly detain and guard the generals who were close to the King of Yan, and then, by any means necessary, obtain the whereabouts of that secret from them.

He was ordered by the emperor to torture the generals of Yan in a secret basement, but he never managed to get the details of the secret.

However, it wasn't all for naught; he learned from these generals that the King of Yan and Zhao Ji had once had a daughter.

Unexpectedly, the King of Yan and Zhao Ji were truly cunning. Their child was clearly a son, but they claimed to be a daughter, which caused them to spend a long time searching for the child over the years.

If Sima Hong hadn't gone on his southern inspection tour and discovered that the remnants of the Yan state were hiding in the Fanyue Mountains, it's unknown how long it would have taken to find this child.

Even after all these years, the Emperor is still not convinced of that secret. He asked him and Sima Hong to come up with a plan to pry the secret out of Chen Zhan.

But after so many days, no matter how much torture he endured, Chen Zhan remained silent, as if he were mute.

He couldn't really kill him. Even he, a grown man, sometimes admired this teenage boy. He was a tough guy, much more tolerant than those Yan generals. Back then, those men couldn't endure more than three rounds of torture and confessed.

That's why he hesitated; could the secret His Majesty wanted to know just be a legend?

He returned empty-handed once again. Today, the Emperor summoned him and Sima Hong to the palace together, and Chu Pei seemed to have lost faith in the matter.

In those days of great chaos, the King of Yan rose to prominence among numerous forces and almost became the new hegemon. It is said that the King of Yan obtained an iron mine, and the weapons of his Yan Kingdom were superior to those of other armies.

He was poor back then. Compared to noble princes like the Prince of Yan, he was just a penniless nobody.

Moreover, it was rumored that one day, the Prince of Yan received guidance from an old immortal riding a seven-colored divine deer in his dream, which led him to an iron mine and gave him a method for smelting iron.

This iron-smelting method can forge the finest weapons in the world, and the iron in that mine can be used to create an endless supply of such weapons.

Therefore, the King of Yan had the strongest financial and military resources. With this legend, it seemed that even Heaven was on his side. His power quickly grew to be the greatest, and he gathered many rebel armies like his own.

Hmph, what a pity! Even if he really gets that iron mine, so what? This world will still belong to him, Chu. Since he is the one destined by heaven, then this iron mine should rightfully be his.

So after defeating the Prince of Yan, he never stopped searching for this iron mine and the method of iron smelting. Learning that the prince had a child, he thought that if the iron mine was real, it was either with his trusted confidants or with his child.

I never expected that a teenager would be so tight-lipped. Could it be that the legend was just a legend, something the Prince of Yan made up to deceive people?

Chu Pei refused to believe that all his efforts over the years had been in vain. He asked Sima Hong, unwilling to give up, "Xiuyuan, could it be that this iron ore and iron smelting method are really fake?"

Chu Pei did not hide from Sima Hong his purpose of finding the child of the Prince of Yan and Zhao Ji. Therefore, Sima Hong went to Chen Zhan for the iron mine and the method of iron smelting.

Sima Xiuyuan's words, as expected, made his already cold heart even colder: "I believe that the iron mine matter is a hoax."

Hearing this, Yuan Kuai felt relieved. It meant that it wasn't that he couldn't get the kid to talk, but that there was no such thing as an endless supply of iron ore in the world.

But then Sima Hong said, "The iron ore matter may be false, but the method of iron smelting is real."

Chu Pei's eyes lit up again. "Does Xiu Yuan have any basis for making this judgment?"

Sima Hongdao said, "The weapons left behind by those Yan generals are indeed different from our weapons. I have examined them carefully and found that they are less prone to breakage, rust less, and are sharper."

Chu Pei slapped his forehead. "That's it! That's it! How could I forget this? The giant wooden sword in the hands of the Prince of Yan can sweep away thousands of troops like a whirlwind. We are soldiers, and we have suffered a lot from it. However, I remember that the weapons of the Yan soldiers are average, not that amazing."

"That's why the iron mine story might not be true, but the iron forging method is real. If they really had an inexhaustible iron mine, Yan should have had more soldiers who could use such excellent weapons. But the fact is, only the King of Yan and a few of his generals used such finely forged weapons."

"Not bad, not bad." Chu Pei laughed a few times. "Xiu Yuan saw through the fog with just a few words, and almost fell for that kid's trick."

"Yuan Kuai, continue the interrogation."

"yes!!"

Sima Hong and Yuan Kuai left the palace together. As soon as they stepped out of the palace gate, they saw someone sent by his wife whispering something in his ear.

Sima Hong saw that after hearing the servant's words, Marquis Guangshun's expression changed, and he immediately bowed to him to take his leave, saying, "Lord Sima, I have urgent business at home, so I must take my leave first."

Atai said behind him, "I don't know what's going on today. First, the Empress ordered the city gates to be sealed off, and now the Empress's brother-in-law, Marquis Guangshun, is rushing home in a hurry. It seems that the criminal the Empress is looking for is not simple."

Sima Hong watched Yuan Kuai ride away at full speed with his beautiful eyes. He called to A Feng, "A Feng, follow him and see who the Marquis of Guangshun and the Empress are looking for."

"promise!"

[Author's Note]

"It's you!" Though late, it's here! Can you guess who it is? There's a prize for the correct guess, hahaha~ The answer will be revealed in the next chapter! [doge emoji]