A thousand miles away from the capital, in the mountains, the torrential rain had just stopped. A person emerged from a hidden cave, glanced at the sky, and turned back into the cave.
"Your Highness, the rain has stopped. Shall we continue south?"
There were eight people inside the cave, all of whom had suffered injuries of varying degrees.
And in the center of the crowd was none other than the Crown Prince, who had been missing for many days.
"Further south is Jingzhou Prefecture. The prefect of Jingzhou has the emperor's backing and has probably already set up many traps. Going there would be tantamount to walking into a trap."
The crown prince pondered for a moment.
"We will change our route and go to Changde Prefecture."
Several of his men responded simultaneously.
At this moment, Jin Xiang presented the dried clothes, saying, "Your Highness, may I help you change your clothes?"
The crown prince waved his hand, took the clothes and put them on, then asked.
How much wound medicine do we have left?
Jin Xiang looked troubled: "There's only one bottle left."
They had been hunted for more than ten days, and all of them were seriously injured, even the crown prince had two knife wounds.
The prince still felt lingering fear when he recalled the incident of falling into the water that day.
He had already guessed that the emperor would make a move on the road, and he had intended to use the opportunity to lure out the emperor's backup plan, but he did not expect that the river was too turbulent and swept him away in an instant.
If the crown prince hadn't secretly learned to swim at the estate, he probably would have drowned on the spot.
At the time, a dozen secret guards, led by Jin Xiang, were following him. They immediately captured the traitor, but before they could interrogate him, he committed suicide.
Afterwards, Jin Xiang led his guards in a day-long search and finally found the Crown Prince downstream.
They had just rescued the prince when they were attacked by a group of assassins.
After sacrificing two bodyguards, the group fled south with the crown prince.
As they fled, relentlessly pursued by assassins, they were forced to abandon the main road and venture into the sparsely populated deep mountains.
"The downpour has kept those assassins at bay and washed away our tracks. Let's take this opportunity to get going!"
The prince stood up.
At a command, the guards extinguished the fire, wiped away footprints and other traces on the ground, and carefully withdrew from the cave.
After crossing the mountain, the group concealed their tracks and quietly traveled southeast for several days until they finally saw a county town.
The group discussed who should go into town to buy things. After looking around, the prince decided to go himself.
Jin Xiang almost immediately grabbed his leg.
“Your Highness is of noble birth, how can you go alone? What if there are traps in this county town? I shall go instead! My life is worthless, it is not a pity to die.”
The crown prince reluctantly pried his hands off.
"You'd be too conspicuous if you went."
Eunuchs are different from ordinary men; their voices and mannerisms are quite different, making them more likely to attract attention.
As for the others, they were all seriously injured, covered in blood, and their clothes were tattered and conspicuous.
Among the group, the Crown Prince was the least injured. Because everyone protected him, his clothes were not stained with much blood, although there were a few cuts from the knife.
"No need to say more, my mind is made up."
The crown prince's tone was firm, and Jin Xiang dared not stop him any longer.
The prince left his hiding place, took a few steps, then stopped. He blackened his face, neck, and hands, added a full beard, and only after confirming that no one would recognize him did he continue forward.
This was a small county town without city gates. The prince followed a group of farmers and entered the town smoothly, where he found out the location of the pawnshop.
The prince took off the jade pendant from his waist and went into the pawnshop.
The pawnshop owner squinted at the jade pendant a few times, his eyes full of disdain.
"The color of this jade isn't very good! Where did this impure jade come from? But the carving is quite good. If you want to pawn it, I'll give you five taels of silver."
The Crown Prince had heard that pawnshops outside were corrupt, but he never imagined they were this corrupt.
This wasn't the first time he had gone out incognito. He wore a white jade unicorn pendant that wouldn't reveal his identity. Putting aside the carving, the raw material of this pendant alone was worth a hundred taels.
The crown prince laughed in anger.
"With that kind of discernment, you can be a pawnshop manager?"
The shopkeeper slammed his hand on the counter, jumped to his feet, and angrily said, "Take it or leave it! Who knows which grave you dug this thing up from? I'm taking a risk buying this! I'll give you ten taels of silver at most!"
The crown prince glanced at the scene and then suddenly stopped.
He stared at the jade pendant dangling from the shopkeeper's waist, feeling a sense of familiarity, as if he had seen it somewhere before.
The prince composed himself, stroking the jade pendant in his palm, and then spoke.
"Ten taels of silver, plus the jade pendant you're wearing."
The shopkeeper looked down and was immediately filled with secret joy.
He wasn't truly lacking in discernment; of course, he could see that the white jade pendant in front of him was extremely valuable. But being from Zuo Pawnshop, he naturally tried to drive the price down as much as possible.
He had acquired the jade pendant for less than five taels of silver, and even with an additional ten taels, he would have made a fortune.
The shopkeeper almost impatiently pulled off the jade pendant from his waist and took out a few pieces of silver from the counter.
"Let me make this clear: once it's done, it's non-refundable, and you won't be able to redeem it later."
The crown prince raised an eyebrow, nodded, and accepted the silver and the familiar jade pendant.
After leaving the room, the crown prince stared at the jade pendant in his hand and examined it.
The jade pendant was of ordinary quality, a small piece, crescent-shaped, smaller than a baby's palm. But the prince had a discerning eye and immediately recognized that the pendant was originally meant to be a pair.
Where exactly have I seen this before?
Even after buying the dry rations and medicine, the Crown Prince was still thinking about this problem.
He pondered deeply, carrying several large bags as he walked out of the city. Suddenly, out of the corner of his eye, he caught sight of a cluster of pink flowers, and a bright idea flashed into his mind.
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