Chapter 5
When the King of Chu learned that Chu Xinxiu had taken Wei Zhen to the cave, he was so angry that he trembled and cursed: "Stupid! The marriage hasn't even been finalized yet, and you're already showing your cards to them. Are you stupid?"
Chu Xinxiu disagreed: "So what? Now that he knows our secret, he has to stay and become our son-in-law."
Looking at his foolish son's confident look, the King of Chu sighed deeply.
This kid thinks things are too simple! But now that things have become like this, we can only do our best to remedy the situation. Miaomiao's marriage must be successful!
That day and night, Wei Zhen clearly felt that there were more people around him, thinking that they were monitoring him and putting him under house arrest in disguise. Did they think that this way he would have no way to escape?
Wei Zhen snorted softly, blew out the light, and lay down to sleep.
No words were spoken that night.
The next morning, when the Princess of Chu was having breakfast, an anxious little maid rushed into the yard and was stopped by the other maids.
"Why are you becoming more and more unruly? You even dare to act so presumptuously in front of the princess?"
The eldest maid scolded, and then the little girl said in a sobbing voice: "Oh no! The princess is missing!"
The little girl's voice was quite loud, and Princess Chu in the room heard it clearly. She put down her chopsticks and said, "Let her in."
"yes."
The little girl was called in by Lianyue. This was her first time meeting the Princess of Chu. She was so nervous and anxious that she was at a loss for words. It took her a long time to explain what happened clearly.
"I went to make the princess's bed early this morning, but there was no one in the room. The princess and Sister Chuhe are both missing! The other sisters have searched all over the palace, so they sent me to report to the princess first."
The Princess of Chu's face darkened, and her breathing became rapid. As if unable to endure it any longer, she slammed her chopsticks to the ground and cursed loudly, "Evil son! Evil son!"
When the King of Chu learned that Chu Miaomiao was missing, he was furious. He sent people to search for her in the palace and to the outside world to find out where she was. As soon as he found any trace of her, he would bring her in immediately!
If it weren't for the need for her to marry into the Tang family of Changzhou this time, the King of Chu would have wanted to beat this troublesome and rebellious son to death!
Wei Zhen, who was still under the surveillance of the King of Chu, naturally also knew the news of Chu Miaomiao's escape from the marriage.
"Lord Pingyang has escaped from his marriage, and the Prince of Chu's Palace is in chaos right now. This is a great opportunity for us to escape." The guard looked at Wei Zhen, waiting for his reaction.
Wei Zhen still had that indifferent and distant expression, but the guards could sense the anger emanating from him.
"Okay. Okay. Okay."
The Crown Prince's expression was stern, and he said "OK" three times in a row, leaving the guards puzzled. What did His Highness mean by this? Was he deciding to leave the Prince of Chu's mansion immediately?
What a jerk Chu Miaomiao! First, she made him take the blame, then she forced him into marriage in public, tarnishing his reputation, and now she's just abandoned him and run away without a trace.
As the crown prince of the Eastern Palace, he was actually fooled around by a little girl. It was such a shame and humiliation!
"Chu."
"vague."
"vague."
Each word seemed to be squeezed out from between the teeth, and each word was filled with tremendous anger.
The guard was surprised. He had served the Crown Prince for many years, but this was the first time he had heard him pronounce a girl's name with such gnashing teeth. It seemed that Princess Pingyang had truly offended the Crown Prince.
Chu Miaomiao, who was unaware that she was on the Crown Prince's blacklist, was having breakfast with Chu He and Jin Ji at a farm on the outskirts of the city.
"I find that you are becoming more and more unreliable in doing things now."
The farm they were currently at was purchased by Chu Miaomiao under Jin Ji's name a year ago. Therefore, Chu Miaomiao had sent a message to Jin Ji two days ago, asking him to clean up the farm and to meet him outside the palace last night.
After the three of them met last night, they rushed here as soon as the city gate opened at dawn.
"Everyone in Pingzhou knows that you and the Tang family from Changzhou are going to get married, but you ran away." Jin Ji said helplessly, "What are you doing?"
"You think I want to make trouble."
Chu Miaomiao, who was in a state of irritation, couldn't stand hearing such words. She was so angry that she even put down the half-peeled egg: "It's all my father's fault."
Chu He silently took the egg and continued to peel it.
"But I didn't expect the prince to agree to marry a merchant." Jin Ji's expression looked surprised and a little regretful. If he had known this, he should have given it a try.
"Actually, if you think about it carefully, you shouldn't have forced marriage in public. So the source of this matter is still you."
As soon as he finished speaking, Jin Ji received an extremely unfriendly look from Chu Miaomiao. He quickly changed the subject: "So what are you going to do now?"
Chu Miaomiao looked melancholy as she took the hot egg from Chu He and said, "Let me hide here for two days. If it doesn't work out, I'll leave Pingzhou."
Jin Ji was stunned at first, then he smiled and said, "Okay. Just tell me when you leave, young master, I will accompany you to travel around the world!" As he said that, he took the opportunity to put his arm around Chu Miaomiao's shoulders.
Chu Miaomiao rudely elbowed him and said, "Stop messing around. Go back to the city after dinner. Your absence will only arouse their suspicion. If they ask about my whereabouts, don't say anything."
Jin Ji rubbed his chest which was hurt by the push: "I know."
"If you dare to betray me, I will break up with you!"
Chu Miaomiao raised her fist in a threatening manner. Jin Ji nodded repeatedly and made a solemn promise: "I will definitely not say anything!"
*
“Cough cough cough… cough cough cough… cough…”
A violent cough was heard from the room of the Prince of Chu. The Princess Yu Rongxue was patting the Prince Chu Canglang's back to help him calm down.
"Don't worry, my lord. The prince and princess have sent people to look for her. Miaomiao will be fine."
Prince Chu Canglang of Chu should have been a handsome and noble young man, but he had been weak since childhood and had been suffering from illness for many years, so he was thin and had a pale face.
"I actually hope Miaomiao won't come back." Chu Canglang sighed. "Although this marriage was caused by Miaomiao's absurd behavior, the fact that my father agreed to this marriage shows that he has other intentions. I just don't know what my father is planning."
Yu Rongxue said, "Now that things have become so chaotic, I don't know whether it will be a blessing or a curse."
"Please ask the Crown Princess to pay attention to the movements in my mother's courtyard. Once Miaomiao is found, I will go to help her as soon as possible."
Yu Rongxue agreed repeatedly: "Of course. Miaomiao is also my sister, how can I bear to see her suffer?"
That day, the Prince of Chu's mansion was in chaos as they tried to find Chu Miaomiao. By evening, not only did they not find Chu Miaomiao, but they also encountered a fire in the kitchen, and all the family members in the mansion rushed to put out the fire.
The fire was extremely strong and spread rapidly. The fire dragon spread rapidly in all directions. Everyone covered their mouths and noses in the thick smoke and poured water to put out the fire. It was not until nightfall that the fire was completely extinguished. Everyone finally breathed a sigh of relief.
First, Chu Miaomiao had run away from her marriage, and now the palace was on fire. The King of Chu began to wonder if he should go to the temple to pray and ward off the bad luck. Just as he was sighing, the servant assigned to serve Wei Zhen hurriedly came to report: "Oh no, Your Highness! Young Master Tang is missing too!"
"What!"
The King of Chu was shocked. He slammed the table and stood up, pointing at the servants and saying, "Didn't I tell you to follow him? How could you lose him?"
The servant, his face covered in black ash, cried miserably, "The fire was getting bigger and bigger out back, and we were short of manpower, so we called the servants over as well. When we put out the fire and came back, we found that Master Tang and his followers were gone!"
The King of Chu was so angry that his chest heaved up and down rapidly and his face turned red.
"Go, find Steward Wang, and have him take the palace token and immediately notify the city gates not to let anyone leave! Then find Steward Tian and have him tell Magistrate Xu that no one is allowed to enter or leave Pingzhou City for the next two days!"
"Yes!" The servant took the order and ran away.
Tang Zhen must not be allowed to leave Pingzhou like this. Either he should marry into the royal family, or...
A fierce light flashed in the King of Chu's cloudy eyes.
However, by the time the people from the Chu Palace arrived at the city gate and asked the soldiers guarding the city to block the city immediately, Wei Zhen and others, who had changed into ordinary people's clothes, had already galloped twenty or thirty miles.
The Prince of Chu of Pingzhou's intention to rebel is true, and Princess Pingyang has mocked him and abandoned him. The Chu family of Pingzhou must make them pay!
Wei Zhen swore secretly in his heart, raised the whip again, and urged the horse to speed up.
*
Chu Miaomiao had been quite content for the first two days of her stay at the manor. But after a few days of no return from Jin Ji, and no news about the palace, her initial comfort gradually gave way to a sense of unease.
Could it be that her parents just ignored her?
Although this was Chu Miaomiao's dream, now that it seemed to be about to become a reality, she had an indescribable feeling in her heart.
"Princess!"
Just as he was distracted, Chu He, who had been sent out to gather information, rushed in hurriedly: "Not good!"
Chu Miaomiao sighed. She wanted to hear some good news! She poured a glass of water and handed it to Chu He, who was out of breath from running. "Tell me when you've caught your breath."
Chu He raised her head and drank the tea. After putting down the teacup, the first thing she said was: "Pingzhou City is blocked. Now you can only enter but not leave."
"No wonder Jinji didn't come to see us. Anything else?"
"Young Master Tang has also escaped!"
"He ran away too?" Chu Miaomiao was surprised.
Chu He nodded frantically: "Now the city gates are blocked and no one is allowed to leave. It is said that they are looking for Master Tang. Judging from the prince's attitude, Master Tang will have to marry into the prince's family."
Chu He was still chattering about the news she had heard, but Chu Miaomiao fell into deep thought.
A merchant's son could have run away, and with the status of the Prince of Chu, there was no need to worry about not being able to find a son-in-law. But the fact that my father had sent soldiers to guard the city gates and was searching for him throughout the city was so tense, which meant that Mr. Tang might have some leverage over my father.
Just as she was thinking about what the evidence was, she suddenly remembered that Jin Ji's men had followed Chu Xinxiu into the mountains.
"He said he followed Chu Xinxiu into the mountains and saw a blacksmith's workshop. He didn't dare to follow closely, so he didn't see clearly what was being made."
Jin Ji's words that day rang in her ears again, and Chu Miaomiao had a guess in her mind.
Could Tang Zhen’s departure be related to that workshop in the mountains?
"...I heard that the prince was also frightened and fell ill for a few days."
Although she was thinking about something, the word "Prince" that came into her ears immediately drew her attention back.
"What happened to my brother?"
"It was the day Young Master Tang disappeared that a huge fire broke out in the palace. Our prince, who has always been weak, was frightened. I heard he was in a coma for several days and hasn't woken up yet."
Chu Miaomiao frowned, her face full of worry.
In this family, only her eldest brother treated her the best. Now that she heard that her eldest brother had been in a coma for several days, Chu Miaomiao felt very sad.
"Princess, what should we do now?"
Chu Miaomiao was melancholy: "I don't know either."
That day, Tang Zhen had asked her if she had considered the consequences of using him to set up the trap. She hadn't taken it seriously at the time, but now it seemed Tang Zhen was right. It was all because of her willful scheme against Tang Zhen that the farce of forced marriage and escape had occurred, and ultimately, it indirectly led to her eldest brother's coma.
He is the elder brother who will stand up and speak for her when she is scolded, the elder brother who takes out his own money to support her because he is worried that her monthly salary is not enough, and the elder brother who will silently accompany her and listen to her when she is sad!
Chu Miaomiao, filled with guilt, gradually had tears in her eyes, and she murmured to herself, "What am I doing..."
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