After a thorough search, nothing seemed to be found. The lead eunuch, incredulous, scanned the room again, hoping to find any places they had missed. But to his disappointment, every corner of the room had been searched, and nothing suspicious was found.
"Nothing was found!" Several eunuchs came to him one by one to report.
"Have you searched everything thoroughly? Have you left no place unchecked?" the head eunuch roared, still almost in disbelief.
“Brother Lu, we really found nothing, there really is nothing!” a eunuch whispered.
"Gentlemen," said Liu, the troupe leader, "we still need to prepare a play for Lady Song's mother, the Old Madam Song, about causing havoc in the Heavenly Palace. If you've finished searching, could you please let our Master Mu rest? If he doesn't rest now, then tonight's play won't be able to be performed. If we offend Lady Song, we can't afford to suffer the consequences." He was still feeling the pinch of those ten taels of silver.
The leading eunuch, unable to say anything more, could only wave to his subordinates and bow to Mu Qingyang, saying, "Forgive me, I was just following orders. Let's go!"
"I won't see you off!" Mu Qingyang said in a deep voice. When he brought the bundle back from Liu's place, he had been deliberately careful not to put it in his own room. Instead, he found a place and hid it there. Liu never dreamed that Mu Qingyang wouldn't bring her bundle back. This must be fate!
After a thorough search, they were unable to find the jewelry that Liu had lost. Since it wasn't just one or two pieces, but most of Liu's jewelry, Steward Lu dared not be careless and had to report to Lanqin that Liu's belongings had not been found.
Lanqin had just returned and had already instructed the kitchen to prepare Fourth Master's dinner. Then, Madam Song came over and invited Lanqin to go to Changyin Pavilion to listen to opera that evening. It turned out that Old Madam Song was very fond of opera, and Madam Song, being filial, had specially arranged for the Mu family troupe to perform. Lanqin agreed to bring a few children to listen that evening. However, she was a little worried about whether the opera would actually be performed, since she had just been with Madam Liu, and from her words, the person who stole her jewelry was likely the leading performer of the Mu family troupe.
"Consort, Steward Lu has returned with news," Si Hua said.
"Let him in!" Lanqin said. Ever since she returned from Liu's place, she had been thinking about her.
"This servant greets Consort Lanqin!" Steward Lu bowed to Lanqin.
"How is it? Did you find anything?" Lanqin asked directly.
"Reporting to Consort Lu, this servant has already sent people to search Changyin Pavilion, but they did not find any of Consort Liu's jewelry," Steward Lu said, bowing his head.
Upon hearing this, Lanqin already felt that it wasn't entirely certain that the Mu family troupe had stolen the food simply because Liu had said that they had visited her Xinghua Spring Pavilion.
“Continue the search. Since we’ve already searched Changyin Pavilion, let’s search other places as well. Especially the rooms of the servants who serve Liu. Sometimes they covet their mistress’s jewelry, and they often do foolish things. But I’ve never seen a thief steal most of the princess’s jewelry,” Lanqin said. Liu said she hadn’t lost just one or two pieces, which Lanqin found quite suspicious, and she didn’t think it was the servants. Servants usually only take one or two pieces at most; taking more would be a clear indication that their mistress had been robbed! But now, Lanqin had no choice but to try anything, even if it seemed hopeless, and ordered Steward Lu to continue the search.
Meanwhile, Liu also received news that the package intended for Mu Qingyang was not found in Changyin Pavilion.
Clang!
"Princess, this is your medicine to prevent miscarriage!" When Cuizhu heard that Liu had not found the scene she wanted, she was so angry that she threw the medicine bowl on the ground.
"What, Little Jinzi, how could this happen?" Liu cried out like a cat whose tail had been stepped on.
“Princess, please calm down. This situation was completely unexpected. We didn’t expect Mu Qingyang to be so cunning. Clearly, he didn’t hide the bundle in his room. The garden is so big; if he just buried it somewhere, it would be very difficult to find.” Xiao Jinzi said, bowing her head.
"What are you going to do?" Liu shouted angrily.
"We can only rely on the princess. We must see Mu Qingyang again. Maybe he doesn't know that what they're looking for is what the princess gave him!" Xiao Jinzi said. "I specially slipped some silver to the eunuch in charge of the search, telling him not to report that the princess lost something."
Madam Liu frowned and said, "This princess cannot get out of bed now, how can I go to him? Besides, if we fail this time, we may have already alerted him."
"Not necessarily. Based on what you know about that man surnamed Mu, he might not suspect you yet. If you just test him a little more, you might be able to find out where he hid the bundle," Xiao Jinzi said.
After pondering for a moment, Liu said, "I heard that Song ordered a play at Changyin Pavilion tonight and even invited the concubine over?"
“Yes, I heard it from Song’s maid. I just went to the pharmacy to get medicine for the princess, and I happened to run into her getting medicine for Song’s mother,” Cuizhu said.
“Alright, let’s go see the play tonight,” Liu said, having made up her mind.
“But Princess, are you even able to get out of bed?” Cuizhu asked.
"It's alright not to fight. Besides, we might run into Master. Niohuru went to watch the play, and Master might have followed her there too," Liu said.
“Yes, Princess, we can’t delay any longer. The sooner we find out where he hid that bundle, the sooner we can get rid of him. Otherwise, things might get complicated,” Little Gold agreed.
"Yes, it's settled then. Cuizhu, pick out a nice dress for me. It's been so long since I've seen Master," said Madam Liu.
Meanwhile, inside Changyin Pavilion, Master Liu was having a conversation. He apologized to everyone for the house being searched earlier that day, and then said that several masters would be coming to see the show that night, so everyone had to perform well.
Mu Qingyang had nothing to do since then, as tonight's "Havoc in Heaven" was a martial arts spectacle, mainly featuring his junior brother. He played the Jade Emperor, but his role was small. At this moment, he was pondering what exactly had happened that day.
What exactly did they lose? And why did they search the house immediately after Yao'er gave them the bundle? Was it all just a coincidence?
"Alright, that's all I wanted to say. Get ready. Eat your meal first, and when the masters arrive, you'll have to serve them diligently," said Master Liu.
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