After listening to Yi Junhao's words, Xuan Yuanhan remained silent for a moment, then instructed Cheng Liang, "You escort Young Master Yi and the Crown Prince together. If not... immediately return to Xiangmanlou and meet me."
"Your Highness..."
Cheng Liang had a premonition that something big was going to happen tonight, and seemed to have something else to say, but Xuan Yuanhan stopped him with a gesture, saying meaningfully, "It's about time, it's time to wrap things up..."
Xuanyuan Han and Xuanyuan Yue personally watched Yi Junhao and his entourage leave Ruyi Residence on horseback. Xuanyuan Yue finally couldn't hold back the words that had been lingering in her heart for so long, and pouted as she asked Xuanyuan Han, "Uncle, why didn't you go and pick up Yun'er yourself?"
Xuanyuan Han did not speak upon hearing this, but merely glanced at her indifferently before turning his gaze to the servant standing to the side, trembling with fear. "Come here."
Upon hearing the sound, the servant suddenly knelt heavily at Xuan Yuanhan's feet with a thud, wailing and weeping, "Your Highness Prince Qin, spare my life! Your Highness Princess, spare my life! I was blind and ignorant, I didn't know that Your Highness Prince Qin and Your Highness Princess were personally visiting Ruyi Residence. I truly deserve to die, I deserve to die..."
As the servant spoke, he kowtowed heavily. Soon, a large red patch appeared on his forehead.
Xuan Yuanhan remained expressionless and said coldly, "You have no need to be afraid. I just want to ask you some questions. Just tell me the truth."
"Yes, sir, I will tell you everything I know and give you the truth," the servant said, still trembling with fear.
Xuanyuan Han asked, "You just said that the woman was in a disheveled state. Did you see her... did she have a red birthmark on her face, or was she wearing a veil?"
Upon hearing this, the servant breathed a slight sigh of relief. After a moment's thought, he said, "Your Highness, the woman was probably just caught in a sudden downpour during the day, and was soaked to the bone. But she is a beautiful woman with a fair and flawless complexion, and she did not cover her face with a veil."
"Isn't that Yun'er?" As soon as the servant finished speaking, Xuan Yuan Yue immediately realized what was happening and looked at Xuan Yuan Han's profile, asking anxiously.
Xuan Yuanhan let out a deep breath, but in reality, he was even more worried, and his brows furrowed tightly. Despite all his fears, she had ultimately fallen into the hands of the enemy.
After a long pause, he murmured softly, "If she's not Yun'er, then it can only be Lanxiang. If Yun'er really had an accident, then it means something happened at Wanjiao Pavilion. Lanxiang was probably discovered by the people of Wanjiao Pavilion and was chased away, which is why she fled Ruyi Residence."
Xuan Yuan Yue instantly understood, but still seemed somewhat puzzled, asking, "The woman who came here to find Young Master Yi is Lan Xiang. She came here to ask Young Master Yi to save Yun'er. Then why did she say it concerns the lives of many people? Could it be that Yun'er... has already found Yu Niang, and she asked Young Master Yi to save her, and also to save Yu Niang?"
"Which road did Young Master Yi take when he came back just now?" Xuan Yuanhan asked the servant after hearing what Xuan Yuanyue said.
The servant quickly pointed in the direction where Yi Junhao and his group had just left, saying, "It's the main road they just left on."
"Uncle, where are you going?" Seeing Xuan Yuanhan suddenly turn around and rush towards Ruyi Residence, Xuan Yuanyue immediately followed and asked in confusion.
Xuanyuan Han quickly mounted his horse and said to the servant, "You've seen that woman and know her appearance. Come with me and be sure to find her as soon as possible."
The servant answered "Yes".
"Royal Uncle, I'm going too." Xuan Yuan Yue also mounted his horse and followed closely behind. The two of them, along with all the guards from Ruyi Residence, including the secret guards, a group of dozens of people, and they even carried the Qin Prince's Mansion signboard in a grand manner. They rode off together on the street and soon disappeared into a deep night fog.
"Uncle, where should we look for Lanxiang?" Xuanyuan Yue asked, puzzled.
Xuan Yuanhan remained sparing with his words, coldly replying, "Wanjiao Pavilion."
Xuan Yuan Yue was startled. "Wan Jiao Pavilion? Why didn't you take the route that Young Master Yi and the others took? Wouldn't that be closer?"
Xuan Yuanhan explained, "If Lanxiang had taken the same path that Young Master Yi took when she escaped from Ruyi Residence, Young Master Yi would definitely not have missed her."
Xuanyuan Yue suddenly understood and exclaimed, "Uncle is wise. But Yue'er doesn't understand why Uncle is making such a grand display of force at night. This spectacle seems..."
"I want to make it easy for Lanxiang, who is hiding everywhere, to find my group, and to make those who are chasing her tremble with fear," Xuanyuan Han said.
Xuan Yuan Yue was once again shocked by this royal uncle. "So that's how it is. Royal uncle is indeed meticulous."
After saying that, the two of them swung their whips and searched the streets in the night, heading straight for Wanjiao Pavilion.
Under the same night sky, a woman was being relentlessly pursued by two assassins dressed in black on the street.
By this time, the woman was panting heavily, clearly exhausted. She clutched her chest, feeling as if her heart was about to leap out of her chest. Her steps grew heavier and heavier, her legs slowly weakening, as if she might collapse at any moment.
Looking back, she suddenly saw two menacing white lights flashing behind her, chasing after her.
In her panic, she didn't know which way to go and just ran forward desperately, not realizing that she had gone astray. She kept saying in her heart, "Namo Guanyin Bodhisattva, who saves us from suffering and distress, please protect Lanxiang so that she can escape this calamity!"
Before she knew it, the woman had been forced into a dark dead end. The two assassins in black behind her immediately looked at each other and smiled.
Then it suddenly rose into the air and stood right in front of the woman, blocking her way.
The woman stared blankly at the two men before her, a look of terror and near despair washing over her. Then, one of them raised his longsword, which flashed a bright white light in the night sky, before bringing it down sharply on the woman's head. The woman, seemingly instinctively, closed her eyes and screamed, "Help..."
At this critical moment, a petite woman suddenly appeared from behind the two assassins in black. She stretched out two hands from the darkness and said, "Idiot, look at this!"
The two assassins in black turned around curiously at the sound, only to see the woman swiftly and accurately spray a bottle of something into each of their eyes. The two assassins immediately covered their eyes, howling and struggling in agony.
Seizing the opportunity, the woman swiftly rushed from the darkness to the woman who was crying for help with her eyes closed. She reached out and tightly covered the woman's mouth with one hand, then scooped her up with the other and ran to hide behind a large stone lion at the entrance of what appeared to be a temple.
The woman cried out again, "Help!"
"Shh, it's me, Yan Hong." Suddenly, a familiar voice rang in her ears, and she calmed down and slowly looked over.
"Yan Hong, it really is you, Yan Hong..." At this critical moment of life and death, seeing their old friend, they couldn't help but hug each other tightly and burst into tears of joy.
After a long pause, Yan Hong pursed her lips and said, "Sister Xiang'er, the Pavilion Master has sent people to hunt you down everywhere. Grandma and Miss Yun'er have also been captured by him."
"What?" Upon hearing this, Lanxiang was so shocked that she slid down the stone lion and fell to the ground. Yanhong quickly bent down to help her up.
"Sister Xiang'er, the Pavilion Master is a prince of the Northern Lie Kingdom. He had planned this all along in our Western Qin. Now that Wanjiao Pavilion has been targeted by His Highness the Prince of Qin, he is afraid that things will be exposed, so he plans to escape back to the Northern Lie Kingdom."
Upon hearing this, Lanxiang exclaimed in shock, "Is it true? Actually... I had already discovered and suspected it, but the dream is the hardest to wake up from, and in the end, I was defeated by reality."
Suddenly snapping out of her daze, Lanxiang quickly grabbed Yanhong's arm and anxiously asked, "How is my grandmother? Did they make things difficult for her?"
"Sister Xiang'er, don't worry, Grandma is fine, she's alright. Aunt Ru... that's the madam, she's not actually a bad person. It was she who gave me the poisoned water just now, which repelled that assassin in black. Aunt Ru... she only chose to join forces with the Pavilion Master because she had no choice but to do so for her son. Actually, she's a very pitiful person. She has a son but can't acknowledge him, she has a home but can't go home, she's been a wanderer her whole life, drifting alone in a foreign land, it's really tragic." Yan Hong said to her sadly.
As they were talking, Yan Hong suddenly took out a piece of paper from her sleeve and said mysteriously, "By the way, Sister Xiang'er, look what this is?"
Lanxiang took it and hurriedly opened it, but was so excited that she couldn't say a word. Yanhong explained, "It's Aunt Ru... She helped me escape and told me to find you at all costs. She also told me to go as far away as I could and never go back to Wanjiao Pavilion. She asked me to give you this contract of sale. Sister Xiang'er, you are free."
Lanxiang was at a loss for words and could only silently shed tears.
After a brief pause, Yan Hong hesitated before saying, "But Miss Yun'er, she..."
Upon hearing this, Lanxiang slowly came to her senses and hurriedly asked, "Yun'er, what happened to Yun'er? Could it be that the Pavilion Master..."
Yan Hong frowned and bit her lip. "I heard from Aunt Ru that Yun'er is a master of detoxification. The Pavilion Master has taken a liking to her skills and wants to take her back to Bei Lie Kingdom so that she can serve him in the future."
"Did Yun'er agree?" Lanxiang asked hurriedly.
Yan Hong nodded. "At first she resisted and refused, but later the Pavilion Master threatened Yun'er with our lives, so she agreed."
"How could she agree? How could she agree? No, I absolutely cannot let the Pavilion Master take Yun'er away, absolutely not. Who can save her, who can save her..." Lanxiang said through gritted teeth, anxiously calculating all the ways and people she could think of to save Yi Shangyun.
Suddenly, her eyes lit up, as if she had already made up her mind. She quickly stood up, took Yan Hong's hand, and said, "It seems that this is the only way..."
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