"What? Niohuru and Li have both disappeared?" After hearing Tian's report, Consort De stared in shock at Tian and Chu, who had come to report, leaving only Nian, Shuhui, and Xinyi who arrived later.
"Yes, Your Highness, we only intended to ride around a bit, just for fun. But who knew that as soon as Consort Niu got on the horse, it started galloping like crazy," said Madam Tian. She hadn't seen Madam Nian hitting Lanqin's horse's rump and assumed Lanqin was just running around on her own.
"Your Majesty, Consort Niu originally said she didn't want to ride, but someone insisted that she ride." Upon hearing Tian Shi's words, Shu Hui immediately stepped forward to defend Lan Qin, "We don't know what happened to that horse, as soon as Consort Niu mounted it, it started running wildly. We couldn't catch up with it." Shu Hui said.
Because she felt guilty, Lady Nian stayed hidden behind them, not daring to speak. She had only intended to teach Lanqin a lesson by deliberately slapping her horse's rump to scare her, but she never expected it to cause such a commotion. If the Fourth Master found out when he returned, he would definitely punish her.
“Consort Nian, didn’t you run away with Consort Niu? You should know the situation best,” Consort Chu suddenly said.
When Nian was pointed at like that, she immediately panicked and hurriedly lowered her head, saying, "I don't know what's wrong with her horse. It suddenly seemed to have gone mad and started running forward."
At this moment, Nian Shi naturally wouldn't reveal the few lashes she had used, but instead placed all the blame on Lan Qin's horse.
Upon hearing this, Consort De frowned. She thought that it wasn't just Lady Niohuru who had disappeared, but also Consort Li, the Crown Prince's concubine, who was also missing.
"Your Majesty, this is not the time to pursue her; we must send people to search for her immediately. Consort Li is also missing," Xin Yi said immediately.
Consort De nodded and said, "Alright, what the seventh prince's concubine said is correct. Now that we're not in the mood to investigate what exactly happened, we should send someone to look for him immediately."
Meanwhile, Lanqin and Li sat in the woods for a long time, but still did not hear any sound of horses' hooves or people.
"Sister Li, let's get on our horses and find a way. Waiting like this isn't going to work," Lanqin said, standing up. She looked at the sky through the treetops, estimating the time.
“But I’m afraid we’ll get lost. It’s impossible to tell which way is which here,” said Li.
“Why don’t we head in one direction? We’ll eventually find our way out. If we wait like this, it’ll get dark soon, and if they still can’t find us, we’ll have to spend the night in the woods. That would be a real problem if wild animals attacked us. We didn’t even bring a tinderbox,” Lanqin said worriedly.
Li looked around, plotting how to buy time. In truth, she had already left traces along the way. Forced by the Crown Prince, she deliberately approached Lanqin, her aim being to lure the Fourth Prince out alone so she could then eliminate him. Because Lanqin was the Fourth Prince's most favored concubine, if she disappeared or something happened to her, the Fourth Prince would certainly search for her personally. Li had planned to personally lead Lanqin on horseback, then "accidentally" wander into the dense forest and get lost. However, unexpectedly, Nian intervened, causing Lanqin's horse to lose control. Seeing her carefully prepared opportunity about to be ruined, she had no choice but to follow closely, leaving some markings along the way.
“Sister Niu, I vaguely remember a direction. Let’s follow that direction!” said Madam Li. She knew that if they continued to wait like this, Lanqin would eventually lose patience.
"Really? Why didn't you say so sooner, Sister Li?" Lanqin asked, puzzled, when she heard Li say this.
"I've been thinking about it for a while now, and I just remembered a little bit. I'm not really sure, so I haven't said anything," Madam Li quickly explained.
Lanqin nodded, and together with Li, they mounted their horses and headed towards a direction in the woods, following her memory.
Meanwhile, Kangxi and the others had returned. The Fourth Prince, unaware of Lanqin's situation, went straight to his tent to bathe upon his return. Although none of them had directly transported the deer, their bodies still reeked of blood.
Consort De had just sent a small team to search for Lanqin and the others when Emperor Kangxi returned with his hunting party. She hesitated whether to tell "Kangxi" about this immediately, since the missing persons were the Crown Prince's concubine and the Fourth Prince's secondary consort.
After a moment's thought, Consort De sent someone to summon the Fourth Prince. The Crown Princess already knew about Li's matter.
"Your son greets Mother!" The Fourth Prince was changing his clothes in his tent when he heard Consort De come to invite him over, so he came immediately.
"Fourth son, your mother has something to tell you. Today, Niohuru Lady Niohuru went off somewhere while riding with several concubines and hasn't returned yet. Concubine Li, the Crown Prince's concubine, also went missing with her." Consort De didn't beat around the bush and spoke directly to her straightforward son.
When Fourth Master heard this, his head went blank. He hadn't expected Lanqin to disappear and was completely unprepared. Hearing the news of her disappearance suddenly made him feel as if he had been cheated on.
"Fourth Prince, Mother has already sent people to look for him, so you don't need to worry too much. He must have gotten lost somewhere," said Consort De.
"Mother, I'll go right away. It will be even more dangerous once it gets dark. And we don't even know if Lanqin and Consort Li are together," the Fourth Prince said.
Upon hearing this, Consort De immediately realized that she had indeed overlooked this issue. What if the two of them weren't together? Although they disappeared at the same time, it didn't necessarily guarantee that they were together.
"That's fine then. Take some more people in to look for them. Hopefully, they're together." Consort De was a little worried.
The Fourth Prince nodded and immediately withdrew. He selected a few capable men from his guards and asked Xin Yi and Shu Hui about what had happened. After that, the Fourth Prince had a general idea of what had happened.
At this moment, Shi Bingde was resting in his tent. He hadn't expected things to progress so differently on the first day than he had anticipated. Just now, the person responsible for tracking Li Shi returned to report that Fourth Prince's concubine, Consort Niu, had been tricked by Li Shi into going to the place they had planned.
Shi Bingde had originally intended for the Fourth Prince to leave Kangxi's side while he was hunting, but now that Kangxi had returned midway, the Fourth Prince must have already gone to find his concubine.
"Go tell him to detain that Niohuru woman there and let Prince Yong go find her. It's possible they'll search all night. The Emperor is unaware of this, so it's possible the hunting will proceed as scheduled tomorrow."
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