Chapter 291 Qi Shen
The older maid looked at her and asked, "Is there anything else, Miss Jin?"
Jin Yuan's expression was somewhat complicated: "Were you sent by the Eldest Princess to protect the Princess?"
Maid: "So what if it is, so what if it isn't? Miss Jin has overstepped her bounds."
It seems the eldest princess still has a grudge against her, otherwise she wouldn't have sent no maids to accompany Princess Chang Le yesterday, but secretly sent two today.
Thinking that she couldn't marry the Crown Prince and had offended the Empress and the Eldest Princess, Jin Yuan felt her heart sink into an ice cellar and almost burst into tears.
Half an hour later, Qi Yuxuan avoided the palace servants and went to a secluded corner by herself. Ren Shun then carried her out of the North Garden's wall.
Seeing that she looked like she was about to cry, the maidservant said anxiously, "Miss Jin, if you're alright, we'll take our leave."
So the two maids curtsied and hurriedly chased after Princess Chang Le in the direction she had left.
However, even after walking to a secluded corner, with the palace walls of the North Garden all in front of them, they still couldn't see a single trace of Princess Chang Le.
The two maids exchanged a glance, thinking to themselves, "Oh no!"
In the Empress Dowager's palace, the eldest princess was serving the Empress Dowager a nourishing soup, and the mother and daughter were talking about the interesting story of how the eldest princess chose a husband for herself back then.
Upon hearing that Princess Chang Le had disappeared in the North Garden, the Eldest Princess stood up abruptly:
"Gone? He was perfectly fine at the palace, how could he just disappear? Didn't I tell you to follow him?!"
The princess was so angry that her vision blurred and she almost collapsed.
The Empress Dowager was also startled and grabbed her teacup, spilling the warm tea all over her hand. "Don't panic, Mian'er, calm down and listen to what they have to say."
Her once kind and gentle eyes darkened, and the majesty of her former empress and later empress dowager gradually resurfaced. Her voice was calm and unhurried, yet it sent chills down one's spine: "You two, tell me the whole story from beginning to end."
So the two maids recounted the entire conversation, from the moment they met Jin Yuan, including Jin Yuan's expressions, the places they searched, and the palace servants they asked, down to the smallest detail.
"Jin Yuan? Another daughter of the Jin family! Imperial Censor Jin has truly raised a fine daughter!" The Princess was furious. "Quickly, arrest Jin Yuan and interrogate her thoroughly!"
The Empress Dowager quickly grasped her daughter's hand, urging her to calm down: "The Jin family is also a scholarly family. Where would they get the ability to deceive so many palace servants and guards in the North Garden and abduct someone? Moreover, as far as I know, Chang Le and she have no conflicts. Why did it come to this?"
"You should immediately dispatch men to search the entire North Garden thoroughly, making sure to search every single place carefully... Also, inform the Crown Prince and see if the Qilin Guard can be mobilized to search the entire area within a ten-mile radius of the North Garden."
Unfortunately, the palace servants spent two hours searching the entire North Garden, but they couldn't find any trace of Princess Chang Le.
It was as if the person had truly vanished into thin air, evaporated from the face of the earth.
As for Shengxing Palace, the Crown Prince came out of Fuqu Garden early this morning and was summoned by the Emperor to discuss the war in the southwest with the ministers. He has not come out yet.
The subordinates dared not disturb him rashly, and could only wait outside for the Crown Prince to come out before reporting back. Therefore, they could not privately mobilize the Qilin Guard, which was now completely under the Crown Prince's command.
Upon learning that no trace of the search had been found in the North Garden, and that even the moat and lakes had been searched without any success, the Princess was both panicked and anxious, wishing she could run out and search for it herself.
The Empress Dowager gripped her hand tightly, dismissed the attendants, stared into her eyes, and said earnestly:
“Mian’er, I know you are anxious right now, but it is precisely at times like these that you must not be hasty. Have you forgotten what happened between the Crown Prince and Minying?”
The princess's eyes gradually hardened, and her breathing became steady.
How could she forget? She would never forget. The Crown Prince and Min-young were captured by the rebels, and the Prince Consort died young while trying to save them. Min-young was even lost for five years before being found...
The eldest princess looked at the Empress Dowager and said sorrowfully, "Mother... my daughter, my daughter, she was perfectly fine, how could she suddenly disappear? It must be a traitor, right? Is it Qi Shen? There are spies of Qi Shen in the North Garden, it must be him."
Prince Duan, Qi Shen, has been on the run for a long time and has not yet been captured. Perhaps Yu Xuan's disappearance today is Qi Shen's doing!
The more the princess thought about it, the more convinced she was that it was him. Besides Qi Shen, who privately refined elixirs and colluded with Lancheng in Longxi, who else would do something so heinous?
The Empress Dowager remained silent for a moment before saying, "The matter is still unresolved. We can only wait for the Crown Prince to order the Qilin Guard to search the vicinity of Beiyuan..."
The Empress Dowager was somewhat exhausted. One problem after another was causing her a real headache. If she had known that there would be so many things to deal with after returning to the palace, making it impossible to enjoy her retirement in peace, she would not have returned to the palace to live out her days in comfort.
Two hours ago.
Qi Yuxuan followed Ren Shun out of Beiyuan and headed south until they arrived at the small courtyard where Xiao Yuyao was temporarily being looked after.
The courtyard looked abandoned by the farmers; the fence was dilapidated, and the bolt on the gate was nowhere to be seen. An elderly woman with sharp and shrewd eyes sat in the courtyard, staring expressionlessly at the tightly closed door.
Upon seeing the visitors, the old woman stood up and bowed politely: "Greetings, masters. The people inside are just as well-behaved as yesterday, not uttering a word. They haven't used a single drop of the food and water that were brought in."
After she finished speaking, she tactfully withdrew from the courtyard and stood quietly at the door, showing great manners.
Qi Yuxuan glanced at her again before letting Ren Shun open the door.
Having been abandoned for so long, the wooden door creaked open, kicking up a cloud of dirty dust.
Inside, a woman was tied to a pillar, her limbs and neck were fixed, and her hair was disheveled and covered her face, making it impossible to see her features. But even if she were reduced to ashes, Qi Yuxuan would still recognize her.
This is indeed Xiao Yuyao.
Ren Shun lagged half a step behind her: "Then I'll go out first and keep watch for you?"
Qi Yuxuan nodded.
The door was closed again. Qi Yuxuan took two steps and used the straw scattered all over the ground to brush aside the woman's hair on the pillar.
What did she see?
On Xiao Yuyao's otherwise pretty face, there were several deep and terrifying scars! The wounds were crisscrossed and had been there for some time. The scabs had long since fallen off, revealing new pink skin that stood out starkly against her fair and thin face.
"Pah—you bitch! I knew it was you!"
Xiao Yuyao wanted to spit on Qi Yuxuan's face, but unfortunately, she hadn't eaten or drunk anything for two days, and she was barely able to speak, let alone have any spit left.
Qi Yuxuan raised an eyebrow. It seemed that even if she didn't kill Xiao Yuyao, Xiao Yuyao would eventually bring about her own demise.
Xiao Yuyao stared fiercely at the gorgeously dressed, beautiful girl in front of her, wishing she could drink her blood and devour her flesh!
"Tell me, are you working for Qi Shen?"
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