Madam Shangguan glared at her daughter lovingly.
"Nonsense, how can one give swords to concubines in the harem?"
"Okay, don't worry about it, mother. I'll prepare it. I promise that the virtuous concubine will like it."
Shangguan Wanning asked the maid to help her mother back to her room to rest, and sighed tiredly.
"You should go and take a rest too." Sun Jinyao gently stroked Shangguan Wanning's long hair.
"Miss...something bad has happened..." The housekeeper rushed in, looking panicked. "Miss, I just received a report that the master disappeared on his way back."
"What?" Shangguan Wanning's face suddenly changed, and she asked hurriedly, "What do you mean missing? My father went out with more than a dozen experts, how could he be missing?"
"I don't know either. The servant who came back to report was too badly injured and had fainted. I asked someone to ask Elder Lu to treat him."
Shangguan Wanning's heart ached fiercely and she almost fell down, but Sun Jinyao quickly caught her.
"Don't worry, I'll go check it out."
"I'll go with you."
Shangguan Wanning would never feel at ease unless she went there in person.
She turned around and told the housekeeper, "Keep this a secret for now. Don't let anyone know, especially my mother. I'm afraid she will worry."
"But... I'm afraid we can't keep it a secret for long. If we follow the normal schedule, even if the master walks slowly, he should come back to report to the emperor in three to five days."
"My father is the prime minister, and his safety will affect the previous dynasty. I don't want to cause panic, so I'll keep it a secret for as long as possible. Prepare three fast horses for me immediately. I want to leave the city with Brother Yao before the curfew. Please notify Brother Huo and ask him to come with us."
"Yes." The butler went to do the work immediately.
"Ning'er, don't worry. Your father has seen all kinds of situations. I believe he can handle it."
"Um."
Shangguan Wanning felt very uneasy. She reminded herself to stay calm at all times and never let any emotions affect her judgment.
Soon, the housekeeper prepared everything. Shangguan Wanning took Sun Jinyao and Huo Gang out of the city and headed straight for the post station where her father disappeared.
The three of them traveled all night and arrived at their destination at sunset the next day.
The postmaster took a look at the token from the Prime Minister's Mansion in Shangguan Wanning's hand, his legs went weak and he knelt down.
"Princess, this is none of my business... this, this, this... the Prime Minister disappeared inexplicably..."
"Get up first and tell me the situation slowly."
"Okay... okay..." The postmaster wiped the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve and told the story intermittently.
"I knew the Prime Minister was coming one day in advance, so I didn't receive any other guests that day. In the evening, the Prime Minister and his twelve guards stayed overnight, and I and the four waiters here arranged meals for him."
"Everything was fine, but when I woke up the next morning, I saw a guard dead in the garden. I was terrified and immediately went to find the prime minister. But there was no one in the prime minister's room, only a large pool of blood."
"Then, the waiter found the bodies of the other guards in another room. Twelve of them. They were all dead... The Prime Minister disappeared."
Shangguan Wanning's expression was somewhat solemn.
"Miss, I'm going to go check on the bodies of the guards first."
"Okay, thank you, Brother Huo."
"Let's go." Huo Gang signaled the waiter to lead the way.
Shangguan Wanning thought about it seriously and asked, "Did anything special happen that night? Or, were there any other guests staying overnight?"
"Yes, a young man came to see the Prime Minister."
The postmaster continued, "It was already dark at that time. I thought he was staying overnight. He said he wanted to see the prime minister and gave me a visiting card to pass on to the prime minister. The prime minister asked the guards to take him into the room."
"And then?"
"I don't know what happened afterwards. I was driven back to my room by the guards. I don't have any impression of when the young man left."
"What does that young man look like?" Sun Jinyao asked.
The postmaster recalled carefully, describing it as he thought.
Shangguan Wanning and Sun Jinyao looked at each other.
Shangguan Wanning had a bad feeling in her heart, because the person described by the postmaster seemed... familiar to her.
"What do you think?" Sun Jinyao asked in a low voice.
"Let's go and have a look at the room where my father lived."
The two men walked into the room together. There were no signs of a fight in the room. Even the bedsheets were neatly folded. There was only a large pool of dried blood beside the desk, which was shocking to see.
"Don't worry, this blood may not be your father's."
Sun Jinyao's comfort did not soothe Shangguan Wanning's heart. She just forced a smile and nodded.
Sun Jinyao pondered for a moment, walked to the desk and picked up a pen. He drew a portrait in a very short time.
"Come and see if this is the person who came to see the Prime Minister that night?"
Sun Jinyao called the postmaster, who nodded repeatedly as soon as he saw him.
"Yes, yes, that's him..."
Shangguan Wanning's heart skipped a beat.
It was indeed Mu Jingrui.
"Why...is it him?" Shangguan Wanning frowned.
"who?"
Sun Jinyao noticed someone outside the window, so he jumped out and hit the figure with his palm.
The man moved extremely quickly and landed steadily on the ground after dodging.
"It's you, after all."
Sun Jinyao didn't expect that Mu Jingrui was still there.
Mu Jingrui ignored Sun Jinyao and looked at Shangguan Wanning who followed him out.
“Here I come.”
He seemed to have expected Shangguan Wanning to come.
"Where is my father?" Shangguan Wanning asked impatiently.
"He was taken away by some mysterious people. When I went to chase him, I encountered obstacles and lost him."
Shangguan Wanning didn't know whether to be happy or sad.
"Did a mysterious person take the Prime Minister away, or did you hide the Prime Minister?" Sun Jinyao remained skeptical about Mu Jingrui's words.
Mu Jingrui didn't want to say anything more to Sun Jinyao. Instead, he walked up to Shangguan Wanning and said, "The people who killed your father's twelve guards should be the same group that killed Wang Dan."
Shangguan Wanning was startled.
Sure enough, there is a follow-up to this matter.
"Are your lies a little clumsy?"
"He didn't lie."
Huo Gang walked over. He had a good impression of Mu Jingrui, so he bowed to Mu Jingrui.
"Miss, I have checked the wounds of the master's twelve guards and the jailers who guarded Wang Dan. The location and depth of the cuts, as well as the shape of the wounds, are almost the same. They should have been the same people."
"Why did they kidnap my father?"
Shangguan Wanning fell into deep thought.
She began to seriously recall all the major events that happened in her previous life.
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