When Yuan Xi woke up again, she started coughing because of the dust in the air. She raised her head and found herself in a damp and dark old house with bare walls and no windows. As soon as she sat up, she felt pain in her wrists. She lowered her head and found that her hands were tied tightly with a thick rope. Something was stuffed in her mouth and she couldn't make any sound. The most terrifying thing was that she was only wearing a bellyband and underwear, and the rest of her clothes were gone.

Yuan Xi's eyes widened in horror, and her mind went blank. The closed room was oppressively hot, and beads of sweat kept falling from her forehead, wetting her messy hair and clothes. After a while, she forced herself to calm down, and confirmed that there were no signs of being violated on her body, and she felt a little relieved. Fortunately, she was not dead, but was thrown into this room in an unknown place. But what was the purpose of the person who kidnapped her?

Just when she was at a loss and didn't know how to get out of this situation, she suddenly heard hurried footsteps coming to the door, and someone knocked on the door and called out, "Mrs. Xiao, are you in there?" It was the voice of the young master!

Yuan Xi's heart suddenly relaxed, and she was about to cry out in joy. She opened her mouth but no sound came out. She rushed to the door in a hurry, but suddenly stopped. A thought rushed into her mind, gradually becoming clear and somewhat terrifying: Why did the young master appear at this time? Why did the person who kidnapped her deliberately prevent her from making a sound and took off her clothes?

She slid down to sit on the floor against the door, the joy of escaping from a desperate situation turned into a deeper fear: she seemed to be trapped in a vicious trap, someone deliberately took her coat and trapped her here, and did not know what name was used to notify the little master to come and find her. And the little master must not know that her clothes were in disarray. As long as he opened the door, she and the little master would be alone in this remote house. If people knew, it would be difficult to explain.

At this time, the young master outside the door did not get a response, so he began to fiddle with the door bolt. Yuan Xi was so anxious that she wanted to shout, but she could only make a small howl, which was soon drowned out by the noisy cicada sounds outside the house...

At this moment, only ten miles away from them, Xiao Du was leading many servants to search for Yuan Xi's whereabouts from house to house. The previous scenes kept appearing in his mind, and emotions of regret, remorse, and worry were mixed in his chest. He shook his head abruptly to put aside these distracting thoughts, hoping that he was not too late.

After talking with Luo Yuan in the afternoon, he felt uneasy, so he walked to the outside of Yuan Xi's courtyard, wanting to see her. But as soon as he entered the courtyard, he felt something was wrong. It was almost dinner time, but he didn't see any maids or servants busying around. He suppressed his uneasiness and searched several rooms, but he couldn't see Yuan Xi. He only found An He and Li Ma Ma unconscious in their rooms.

According to their recollections, they lost consciousness after drinking the tea brought by Rong Xuan. Xiao Du was extremely anxious and quickly called a few clever servants to ask around the mansion. Finally, he found out that someone saw Yuan Xi and the maid Rong Xuan go to the west corner gate together. When he hurried to the place, he saw that the green grass and trees in the bushes were in disarray, with obvious signs of being crushed by someone.

A streak of blood-red slanting sunlight shone on the broken and scattered shrubs on the ground. Xiao Du clenched his fists tightly, imagining what Yuan Xi had experienced here, and felt an unspeakable pain in his heart. When Aunt Wang transferred Rong Xuan from her room, he had arranged for secret guards to secretly check, but at that time, they did not find any connection between her and Aunt Wang. Although he hated Aunt Wang, he did not believe that she really dared to murder the mistress and do something too evil. But now... could it be that he was really wrong! Could it be that Aunt Wang really assigned Rong Xuan to do the matter of the farm? Then what about Yuan Xi now...

He closed his eyes, not daring to think any further. At this moment, someone beside him exclaimed: "This gold hairpin seems to belong to the lady." Xiao Du quickly looked in the direction he pointed, and saw a gold hairpin lying not far from the bushes. It was the one Yuan Xi usually wore. And there was a deep scratch on the mud next to the gold hairpin. Xiao Du stared at the scratch, realizing that this was most likely the last message Yuan Xi left for him before she got into trouble.

Xiao Du sat down on the ground next to the bushes, lost in deep thought. The servants beside him didn't know what happened, so they just stood by and waited. The setting sun gradually set in the west, casting a golden afterglow, moving inch by inch on the grass and trees in front of him. Xiao Du suddenly woke up: It's time! She wanted to tell him the time of her murder! Yuan Xi knew that he had been on the march for many years and could calculate the time based on the direction of the sun's movement, so at the last moment of losing consciousness, he drew a mark at the location where the sun cast. He quickly calculated with his fingers, it should be no more than an hour since Yuan Xi's accident, even the carriage could not go too far, Yuan Xi must still be in the city!

Xiao Du felt relieved. There was no blood here. Yuan Xi was most likely just fainted. At least he was not injured at the time. He quickly sent people to ask the servants guarding the gates and learned that during this period, only one cart carrying wine left the mansion, which was pushed out of the west gate towards the east of the city. It should not be difficult to put a person in the wine tank.

There was an alley in front of the west gate of the mansion. Usually only servants from the mansion went in and out, so it seemed quite quiet. But at this moment, the alley was unusually lively, with many people entering the alley at once. They did not ride horses, for fear of disturbing the traces of the wheels on the road.

Xiao Du and a secret guard carefully distinguished the wheel tracks on the ground. The tracks were thick on one side and thin on the other. It was obvious that the weight of the wine jar on the car tilted it to one side. It seemed that they had found the right place. They followed the wheel tracks all the way forward and walked into the busy city. The wheel tracks were trampled by the numerous footsteps and no traces could be seen. Xiao Du also sent people to ask merchants everywhere. The cars coming out of the Marquis' Mansion were all very impressive, so naturally many people noticed them. Finally, they were pointed to a dark alley.

Sure enough, clear wheel tracks appeared at the entrance of the alley. Everyone hurriedly chased inside, but found that it was a dead end, and the wheel tracks were cut off in front of a courtyard wall. The secret guards beside Xiao Du hurriedly checked the walls on all three sides of the alley and found that there was no secret door to pass through, so they wondered, "How could such a big car disappear out of thin air?"

"Of course not." Xiao Du looked at the wheel on the ground with his hands behind his back, and said, "Look at the difference between this wheel and the previous one." The secret guard looked at it for a while, and suddenly realized, "This one is no longer one deep and one shallow."

"Yes, they played a trick to confuse us. In fact, they deliberately returned along the original trail."

"That lady..." the dark guard asked again in confusion.

Xiao Du did not answer, but looked up at a towering tree beside the courtyard wall. The secret guard was instructed to climb up the tree and check. As expected, he saw a trace of a rope tied on a thick branch. Xiao Du and the secret guard jumped over the courtyard wall and pulled many other servants over. Behind the courtyard wall were many winding paths and deserted houses. Xiao Du had a premonition that Yuan Xi must be not far away from him, so he frowned and said loudly: "Search every house for me!"

While everyone was searching not far away, Luo Yuan finally discovered that the wooden door in front of him was not locked, but was only lightly bolted with a piece of wood. He was delighted and was about to find a way to remove the bolt when he suddenly heard several regular knocks on the door.

He suddenly stopped, remembering that Yuan Xi was bored in class at Xia's school, so he and he came up with this code to convey simple words, knocking on the table to talk to him secretly. But now the sound coming from the door clearly expressed one meaning: Don't come in.

Luo Yuan frowned and thought about the whole thing from beginning to end: not long after he left the mansion, someone deliberately bumped into him on the street and secretly put a note in his arms, which read: "To save Xia Yuanxi, go to the fifth house on the right hand side of Yulin Lane in Anlangfang alone." He was concerned about her safety, and he rushed here desperately without having time to figure out whether this was a trap. And now, he realized that everything seemed to be arranged by someone. What exactly did that person want?

He then calmed himself down and asked softly, "Mrs. Xiao, are you in there?"

There was a light knock on the door, which meant: It's me. Luo Yuan asked again: "Is there anyone with you now?" After receiving a negative answer, he felt relieved, but he didn't understand why Yuan Xi didn't let him in. After asking several possibilities and she denied them all, he finally asked tentatively: "Is it inconvenient for you to see someone now?" An urgent affirmative knock sounded in the house, and Luo Yuan's heart slowly sank. This trick of killing two birds with one stone was so vicious that it could destroy Yuan Xi's innocence and make him completely lose Xiao Du's trust. The person who led him here must know about their past. Who could "he" be?

Luo Yuan put his hand on the door panel, as if he could feel her breath through the door, and said softly: "Mrs. Xiao, don't be afraid, I will always accompany you outside the door, and I will never let anything happen to you!" Yuan Xi gently pressed her face against the door, and the familiar warm voice was right next to her ears. The tears that she had held back for a long time finally burst out, but her heart was warm and calm. Because she knew that the young master was outside the door, even if they could not meet, he would definitely protect her from any harm.

The two sat facing each other across a wooden door. Luo Yuan was worried that she would be scared, so he picked up many interesting things that happened after they parted, and thought about countermeasures in his mind. Yuan Xi listened more and more attentively, and felt as if she was back in the prime minister's mansion, and even forgot that she was still in a dangerous and unpredictable environment.

At this moment, Luo Yuan heard the sound of footsteps and voices coming from not far away. He stood up suddenly, knowing that the people from the Marquis' Mansion must have arrived. But he quickly thought that if Xiao Du led people to rush in like this, Yuan Xi would be very embarrassed. Seeing that the footsteps were getting closer and closer, Luo Yuan made up his mind and decided to take the final gamble.

Xiao Du led his men to search house by house, and finally stopped outside an old house. He squatted down and picked up a brocade handkerchief on the ground. The embroidery on the handkerchief was very immature, but he could tell at a glance that it was made by Yuan Xi. He raised his head suddenly and found that the door was not locked and could be opened with just a pull.

The person he was thinking about was very likely inside, but Xiao Du suddenly became suspicious: the handkerchief was too conspicuous, and the door was not locked, which seemed like a set-up. At this time, there was a knock on the door from inside the house, mixed with a few small groans, as if someone was anxiously trying to tell him something. Xiao Du recognized that it was Yuan Xi's voice, so he waved behind him and said, "You guys wait here, I'll go take a look first." He gently opened the door a crack and slowly looked inside. In the dark room, a naked arm was exposed. His heart skipped a beat. He sent the guards behind him farther away and carefully slipped in. He saw Yuan Xi, wearing only a bellyband and underpants, hiding her body by the door with her legs hugged, looking at him with tears on her face.

He felt his breathing stagnate, and immediately took off his outer robe and wrapped her body tightly, then held her tightly in his arms, afraid that she would disappear again if he let go. He whispered softly, "It's okay, it's okay..." Yuan Xi leaned in this warm and thick arms, and finally couldn't help bursting into tears.

On a green path behind the house, a figure quietly stood up, breathed a sigh of relief and walked back. Xiao Du picked up Yuan Xi and said, as if swearing, "Don't worry, I will never let the person who hurt you go! First of all, Rong Xuan, she will not be able to escape!"

But he didn't know that Rong Xuan was already a dead man, with his head and body separated...