The two looked at each other, both stunned.
Suddenly, Young Master Yi's gaze shifted, drawn to the attire of Zhu'er, the maid who had accompanied Tuoba Ze.
At this moment, Pearl was wearing a golden printed cloak.
Yi Sanshao suddenly recalled the information that Xuan Yuanhan had just passed on to him, and seemed to understand something.
"Could it be that everything that happened today was orchestrated by Tuoba Ze himself? What trick is he playing now?"
"After all, he has always harbored inappropriate thoughts about the girl."
With this thought in mind, Young Master Yi suddenly began to slowly move forward, getting close to Tuoba Ze, and tentatively asked him, "Are you lying?!"
Tuoba Ze clearly didn't understand what he was talking about at all: "What did you say?"
Young Master Yi stared intently into his eyes, as if trying to see through half of him.
Then, they forced him to retreat step by step and questioned him.
"It's true what they say, 'It's easier to change mountains and rivers than to change one's nature.'"
"Everything that happened today was clearly orchestrated by you."
"You sent people to follow us into the city, and then, while I was away, you arranged for someone to secretly take the girl away, didn't you?"
"What exactly do you want to do with the girl?"
"I think you still don't understand, girl, she's not someone you can mess with."
As they were talking, he suddenly stopped and raised his voice, shouting, "Hurry up and tell me, where did you hide the girl?"
This absurdity left Tuoba Ze utterly stunned.
He met her gaze and replied to Young Master Yi with only a few words: "Are you sick?"
Even the maid Zhu'er, who had been standing silently to the side, widened her eyes instantly upon hearing Young Master Yi's words, finding it unbelievable, and then spoke up to explain on his behalf.
"Your Highness, what are you saying? If our Crown Prince really had any feelings for the young lady, would we have had to wait until today? Back on the grasslands, there were so many opportunities; if the Crown Prince had wanted it, he would have done it all."
"Besides, this morning, the young lady clearly went out into the city with His Highness the Crown Prince, so how come she's blaming us again?"
"When you left this morning, our Crown Prince had already left before you, hadn't he?"
"In my opinion, it's clearly just that you're feeling guilty, I'm afraid it's..."
Before he could finish speaking, Yi Sanshao turned his angry gaze to the maid's face and said, "Of course he wouldn't be stupid enough to do it himself!"
The maidservant thought for a moment, then looked on in astonishment.
"did you mean……"
"Are you talking about me?"
"But this is my first time entering the Western Qin Imperial City!"
"Hmph..." Young Master Yi snorted coldly.
He then said with a disdainful tone, "You barbarians from this desolate land, when you lie, you don't even blink an eye, regardless of gender or status."
Tuoba Ze was completely confused and still didn't understand what he was trying to say, so he raised his voice to interrupt their conversation.
"Enough! Explain yourself clearly to this prince. What exactly is going on?"
Then Young Master Yi recounted to her everything that had happened since entering the city that day.
...
"Qin..."
Finally, before he could finish speaking, Young Master Yi stopped himself and said, "Someone saw that the girl was taken away by a woman wearing a golden cloak."
Upon hearing Yi Sanshao's words, Tuoba Ze and his servant exclaimed in unison, "A woman in a golden cloak?!"
Only then did he understand why he had been so agitated towards the two of them earlier.
However, Young Master Yi was still somewhat skeptical of what Tuoba Ze and his servant had said, so he asked them again to confirm: "You really didn't take the girl away?"
Pearl shook her head with great force.
"If you didn't send someone to take her away, and she didn't go back to the house in the western suburbs, where else could that girl have gone?"
He had already sent Manager Xue to secretly investigate the clothing store in the west of the city, but there was no trace of Yi Shangyun at all.
Clearly, at this moment, even the only remaining hope—the western suburban house that she had kept hidden in her heart and had never mentioned to Xuan Yuanhan—was instantly shattered.
This caused Yi Sanshao's already extremely uneasy emotions to suddenly become almost boiling over, but he was completely at a loss.
Just as he hesitated, Tuoba Ze secretly took out a gleaming dagger and held it to Yi Sanshao's neck.
She questioned him: "Tell me the truth, did you kidnap the Guardian and try to possess her? Everyone knows that whoever possesses the Guardian's power will rule the world. Do you also want to use this power to seize this world? Is that right or wrong?"
These words came as a bolt from the blue.
It exploded above Yi Sanshao's head in an instant, completely interrupting his thoughts.
He was startled and looked into Tuoba Ze's eyes, but not because of the dagger pressed against his neck.
He could hardly believe his ears, but he still pretended to be nonchalant and asked, "What guardian?"
Tuoba Ze sneered and said, "Keep pretending! Don't tell me you don't know that woman is the descendant of the long-lost guardian of the Western Qin Kingdom."
Seeing the obvious certainty in his eyes, Young Master Yi could only slowly avert his gaze.
After a while, he asked again, "When and how did you find out about this?"
Tuoba Ze said dismissively, "That's not important! What's important is that the Prince of Nan'an, who is always seen as carefree and unrestrained and only wants freedom, is actually the most hypocritical person in the world."
"His Highness the Crown Prince claims to have no interest in the world, but in reality, he does the most despicable things behind the scenes. I was wondering why His Highness the Crown Prince has been revolving around this woman all these years, even though she is now Qin King Xuanyuan Han's woman. So that's why."
Upon hearing his words, Young Master Yi suddenly smiled and uttered two words: "The world?!"
So, instinctively, he wanted to defend himself: "What use is this world to me? The only reason I approached her was because..."
But as soon as he opened his mouth, he took back the rest of his words and said coldly, "Who do you think you are? Why should I explain so much to you?"
At this moment, Tuoba Ze said confidently, "No matter what you're planning to do with her, Guardian, she can only belong to me, and no one else can take her away."
Young Master Yi smiled, but he didn't think so at all: "It seems you still don't understand her at all. She has never belonged to anyone."
However, right now, his only concern was Yi Shangyun's safety, so he muttered to himself again, "Golden cloak...woman..."
"It seems that he really didn't do this." Tuoba Ze thought to himself, and slowly put the dagger away, falling into deep thought along with Young Master Yi.
After a while, Tuoba Ze's gaze suddenly widened, as if he had thought of something.
"A golden cloak..."
"Could it be her?"
Noticing that he seemed to be deep in thought, she murmured softly.
Young Master Yi quickly turned to look at his profile and pressed, "Did you remember something? Do you know who took her away?"
Tuoba Zedun was awakened by him, but when he came to his senses, he denied it, saying, "How would I know who took her away? There are so many people wearing golden cloaks on the street. She was brought out by you. If anything happens to her, I will definitely not let you off the hook."
"Pearl, let's go..."
After saying that, he quickly left with his maid.
“Ever since he returned to Western Qin, he’s come into the city every day. What is he doing? He must have remembered something just now…”
Watching Tuoba Ze's hurried departure, Young Master Yi pondered for a moment, then quietly followed him.
After leaving a distance, Tuoba Ze and his servant immediately spurred their horses and galloped towards the east of Xiqin City.
The maid, Zhu'er, followed closely behind him and asked, "Does Your Highness already know who took the young lady away?"
Tuoba Ze remained silent, his heart filled with genuine worry. He seemed not to have heard her words, but gritted his teeth inwardly and thought, "Mei Xiyuan, if you dare to harm a single hair on her head, this prince will tear you to pieces!"
Meanwhile, inside, it was warm.
Mei Xiyuan was reclining on the warm couch in the room, resting with her eyes closed.
Inside, wisps of smoke rose into the air.
Suddenly, a series of hurried footsteps approached, breaking the silence.
Mei Xiyuan slowly opened her eyes and sat up.
A maidservant entered and reported to her, "Your Highness, everything has been investigated. It turns out that Tuoba Ze returned to the grasslands not long after we left Western Qin."
Mei Xiyuan took the teacup from the maid, took a sip of tea, interrupted the maid, and asked, "Do you know why he went back?"
The maid said, "It is said that it is because his only brother, the emperor, passed away..."
Upon hearing this, Mei Xiyuan stopped what she was doing and looked astonished.
"What did you say?"
"Tuoba Hong is dead?"
The maid nodded.
Mei Xiyuan felt very sorry for him.
"Although they were born of the same mother, Tuoba Ze was cruel and violent, while Tuoba Hong was kind and benevolent. Moreover, I heard that his medical skills were superb, and few people in the world could match them. It's such a pity!"
The maidservant added, "Who can argue with that? If the Northern Lie Kingdom hadn't fallen, perhaps Tuoba Hong would have been the most trustworthy and capable ruler!"
Mei Xiyuan seemed to be deep in thought.
But then the maid hesitated, "I've heard that Tuoba Ze, he..."
Seeing that he suddenly looked troubled, Mei Xiyuan asked, "What's wrong with Tuoba Ze?"
The maid stammered for a long time: "Tuoba Ze... now... now..."
Finally, she mustered her courage, steeled her resolve, and blurted out, "I've heard that Tuoba Ze has now partnered with that bitch!"
"What?"
Upon hearing this, Mei Xiyuan was instantly stunned.
Hesitantly, the maidservant added cautiously, "I heard that Tuoba Ze seems to be very concerned about that wretched woman. When they were on the grasslands, he protected her in everything he did!"
Mei Xiyuan clearly never dreamed that things would develop this way: "How could this happen? The two of them..."
Thinking it over carefully now, she became even more certain: "This Tuoba Ze is a habitual opportunist. No wonder I always felt that he was different from before when we met again. On the surface, he seemed sincere, but in reality, he gave off a disdainful and aloof feeling. It turns out that he has already found a better opportunity."
He paused, then continued, "But today, he agreed to our request again. Since he didn't say it outright, I really don't know what he's up to now."
Just as Mei Xiyuan was lost in thought, another maid hurried in...
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