Meanwhile, the officials of the Prefect of the Capital searched everywhere for the coachman mentioned by the tavern waiter, but they could not find him anywhere. The coachman had long since gone into hiding with Scarface.
The next day, the Fourth Prince went to the court early in the morning as usual. He was now in the Grand Secretariat, handling important military and political affairs for Emperor Kangxi. If he didn't go to the palace for a day, the matters awaiting his decision would pile up on his desk. Now that there was some progress in the matter of Hongli and Hongzhou, the Fourth Prince entrusted the task of finding their whereabouts to the Prefect of the Capital, while he himself had to go to the palace to deal with state affairs.
The Fourth Prince did not mention the disappearance of Hongli and Hongzhou to anyone, and instructed the Prefect of the Capital not to reveal the matter. He was afraid that someone would use this as a pretext to make a big fuss. At present, it is still undetermined who is responsible for the disappearance of Hongli and Hongzhou, so the Fourth Prince will definitely not easily tell anyone.
Moreover, Kangxi's health was deteriorating day by day, and he now relied on medicine to maintain his energy, spending most of his time resting. Years of hard work for the country, coupled with his old ailments, and his desire for face and indulgence in women, had made his body like an old machine. No matter how much maintenance he received, old age was old age, and in the end, he could only rely on lubricants to keep it running for a few more days.
Consort De's health also began to decline, perhaps due to the strain of caring for her two sons. She started summoning the imperial physician to Yonghe Palace every few days. Naturally, the Fourth Prince would no longer bother Emperor Kangxi and Consort De with matters concerning Hongli and Hongzhou.
Meanwhile, Lanqin specifically instructed Xueying to keep her mouth shut and absolutely not to reveal that Hongli and Hongzhou were not in the mansion. So until now, apart from Gengshi, even Wushi and Songshi were unaware, and the Fujin was even more unaware.
Xueying promised Lanqin she wouldn't tell, and she truly didn't. However, she went to Lanxingju almost every day to talk and read with Wuxiha, and the two became quite fond of each other. The Fujin (principal wife) assumed that Xueying was trying to curry favor with Nanxiaoyuan and get closer to Hongli, so she didn't interfere.
Another day passed, and suddenly a letter arrived at the gatehouse, addressed to Cui Niang. In fact, Cui Niang hadn't come to the mansion for many days. It wasn't that she didn't want to come, but that her child had contracted smallpox, and Lanqin had asked her to go back to take care of the child. She was also afraid that if she came to the mansion, she would infect the people there with the smallpox, so she hadn't come.
Baoqin came in with the letter addressed to Cui Niang and spoke to Lanqin. Since Cui Niang was not present, her letter was naturally handed over to her mistress for disposal.
Lanqin was sitting on the couch drinking tea after listening to the reports from several old women when she saw Baoqin holding a letter. She felt uneasy. Could it be a letter from the kidnappers?
"Master, a letter has arrived at the gatehouse. It's for Cui Niang," Baoqin said.
Upon hearing this, Lanqin felt disappointed. She had thought it was a letter from the kidnappers, but it turned out to be for Cui Niang. She said, "Cui Niang hasn't been around for a while. You can keep it with you and give it to her when she comes."
When Baoqin heard Lanqin say this, she agreed and stuffed the letter in her hand into her sleeve, intending to put it in her room.
Lanqin pondered for a moment, then called out to Baoqin, "Wait a moment, let me see it."
Baoqin found it strange. Why would her master open and read a letter meant for Cui Niang?
Lanqin suddenly realized that Cui Niang could have some kind of letter, so she became suspicious and asked Baoqin to bring it over to take a look.
When Baoqin handed the letter to Lanqin, Lanqin's eyes widened immediately. She stared intently at the three words on the envelope.
"Master, what's wrong?" Baoqin asked without thinking when she saw Lanqin's unusual expression.
"This, this is Hongli's handwriting!" Lanqin exclaimed happily. She was glad that Baoqin hadn't taken the letter away. Lanqin was already very familiar with Hongli's handwriting.
Lanqin's hands trembled as she eagerly opened the letter, and sure enough, what she saw was Hongli's letter regarding the ransom.
Lanqin read the letter carefully. It contained many pleas for Cui Niang to quickly bring money to ransom them back. Most of the messages were pleas for help, and there was no mention of where they were or who had kidnapped them.
Lanqin read the letter three more times, but still couldn't find a single clue about them in it.
Several maids stood to the side, watching Lanqin's expression nervously. They all knew what had happened and were just as worried as Lanqin. Now that some news had finally arrived, they dared not breathe, holding their breath and waiting for Lanqin to tell them the contents of the letter.
"Xichun, go to the front courtyard and tell him to come to the south courtyard as soon as the Prince returns, and tell him about the Fourth Prince." Lanqin finally put her mind at ease and said to Xichun, who was standing at the end of the courtyard.
Xi Chun nodded quickly, then turned around, walked to the door curtain, lifted the brocade curtain with the plum blossoms welcoming the sparrows, and went out.
"Master, what did the letter say?" Yu Xiao couldn't help but ask first.
"It's a ransom request, of course, but Hongli is always thoughtful; he had the prince come back and take a look. I looked at it for a long time, even the acrostic, but I couldn't find any useful information." Lanqin said, while looking at the letter again. She thought Hongli had hidden the important information in the first word of each sentence, but after reading it, she found nothing interesting.
However, the fact that Hongli could write this letter at least proved that they were safe and sound. Although Lanqin had expected this to be the case, she finally felt relieved when she actually saw Hongli's handwriting.
"Master, where are the Fourth Prince and the Fifth Prince now?" Baoqin asked.
"I don't know. Since they sent a letter, they want the ransom. It seems someone has their eye on them. Seeing that they are two children, they've decided to steal from them. How audacious!" Lanqin said. She had been worried that other people might be involved, such as the Fourteenth Prince, which would make things difficult. But now, judging from the letter, they are just ordinary bandits, a bunch of stupid thieves who dared to kidnap the Fourth Prince's son.
“My lord, you can rest assured now. When the prince returns, he will send troops to rescue them. There are still such audacious thieves who dare to harm the Fourth Prince and the Fifth Prince,” Baoqin said.
Lanqin revealed a fleeting smile and said, "I'm afraid they don't know Hongli and Hongzhou's identities either, so they dared to mess with us and have no patience for life."
When the maids saw that Lanqin finally had a smile on her face, they all breathed a sigh of relief. The dark clouds that had been hanging over everyone's heads for the past few days finally dissipated.
"My lady, it's time for some refreshments. Shall I bring you some pastries?" Yu Xiao said quickly, seeing that Lan Qin had finally relaxed a bit.
Lanqin had been sitting for a while, but now she was a little hungry, so she nodded.
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