"Yes, yes, yes..." She had said these words to different people more than ten times since she woke up this morning. Her mouth was dry and she was exhausted. But even more than fear, she wanted to know where the lady had gone.
"Your Highness, the lady must have been kidnapped by criminals. You must find her!" Siqin grabbed Lu Anyuan's sleeve tightly, her face flushed, and her lips turned dry and white.
"I know, don't worry." His patience finally exhausted, Lu Anyuan stood up and looked around the room carefully. Nothing was missing. Even the private money he had given her for safekeeping was still in the box.
If he escaped, it would be impossible for him to take no clothes or money with him. If he was kidnapped, how could he knock Siqin unconscious and change her clothes?
Qin Li knocked on the door, but Lu Anyuan didn't let him in. Instead, he walked out of the bedroom. "Hello?"
"Yes, everyone said that yesterday evening, the maid in the Crown Princess's room took the token and went out through the back door. As for whether she came back..." Qin Li didn't say anything further, the meaning was self-evident.
"She was alone, no one was forcing her, and she got out safe and sound?"
"The guards at the back door only saw one person. She didn't have a bag, but her arms were bulging, so she must have hidden something. But they didn't dare ask too much about the main courtyard. They checked her token and let her go. No one knows where she went after she left."
"We were chasing Chao Jianyi this morning, and the city gates haven't been opened yet, right?" Lu Anyuan gritted his teeth. He didn't understand why they treated him like this?
"Indeed, but if the Crown Princess had been quick yesterday, she should have left before the door closed..."
Lu Anyuan suddenly felt deflated. He had a feeling that he had no place to vent his anger. The rule that the guards had to look at the tokens was set by himself, and the time of closing the city gates at night was also the law of Daxia. Every step was in compliance with the regulations. Who could he vent his anger on?
"Ah Er! Where are Ying Jiu and Ying Wu at the mansion?"
"My lord, they are all missing. Ying Wu is the maid from yesterday... Uh, before the Crown Princess left, she asked her to go get the account book from Si Wen, but she never returned. I don't know when Ying Jiu left..."
“Excellent.” Lu Anyuan showed an almost perfect smile. If someone was not familiar with him, they would definitely think that this smile was kind and beautiful, but these few people in front of the hall... I guess this is what people call the Smiling Devil?
"Go, seal up all the shops under her name, and imprison all the employees. Arrest anyone who comes to her for ransom or through backdoor channels, regardless of gender. Also, send the Weiwei army to the Southern Border, the Northern Border, and the East China Sea. We don't seek decisive victories, but rather station troops thirty miles from each border. I don't see any of those smaller nations daring to make a move. Keep the city gates sealed, and search everywhere in the city. Find out where she went after leaving the Crown Prince's Mansion!"
Ah Er and Qin Li opened their mouths at the same time. Are they planning to arrest the Crown Princess as a fugitive?
"Also, post Xu Yiwen's paintings everywhere and search for him!"
"Xu Yi... Wen?" Didn't he leave the capital to travel a long time ago? Ah Er's head hitched, and he immediately understood that His Highness was planning to capture all the people close to the Crown Princess and use them as bait!
"Also, remember, the Crown Princess is not missing. She will accompany me into the palace to receive the emperor's greetings later."
Qin Li quickly lowered his hands. He understood that this was a temporary expedient. After all, the new emperor's coronation ceremony was imminent. If he said that the future queen was missing at this moment, it would definitely cause another big uproar. It would be better to keep it aside for now and search for her slowly and secretly later.
"Your Highness!" Ah Qi was panting. His body was exhausted from the trip up and down the mountain.
"How?" A gleam flashed in Lu Anyuan's eyes.
"No one's here. They've all left. But, I can't tell if they left a long time ago or just left suddenly."
The light faded, and eventually this last glimmer of hope was shattered.
"Master, do you want to post the portraits of Ying Wu and Ying Jiu as well?"
"Don't you know that they can disguise themselves? Don't you know that those people are highly skilled in martial arts? If they really get out there and get caught by someone, who do you think will die? Don't you know that those people will definitely break up into small groups and scatter? Don't you know that large group of people..." Lu Anyuan really didn't know. Until now, he didn't know how many shadow guards Xu Yixing had.
So I don’t know whether to ask them or myself these questions.
"Forget it, go ahead and do it, Qin Li, let's go back to the palace. Go and invite Commander Bai, his wife and children into the palace, and have them stay in the late Empress Dowager's Yi'an Palace."
Lu Anyuan sat in the carriage, his eyes closed. After a while, he took out two plums from his pouch, chewed them, and swallowed them. He had not eaten plums in recent years, but the servants had not known about it and still packed them for him every day.
When he took out the third one, he didn't rush to eat it. Instead, he held it in his hands and examined it carefully: "Why did you lie to me? You didn't want me to be emperor from the beginning, right? You pretend to be looking forward to the future every day, but that's because you know that your future doesn't include me at all, right?"
He had been concentrating on the palace for a while, but now that he had calmed down, he could naturally think of some of the more insignificant details of his daily life. Now that he had thought of everything, he had figured it out. He had even sent people to guard the place where his second brother's poor widow was staying in the cold palace, but he had only missed his own residence.
"Xu Yixing, you are really amazing." Lu Anyuan crushed the plum in his hand into pieces and threw it out of the window, his eyes as cold as a devil.
Today, the capital was in chaos, and civilians and merchants alike were in a state of panic. The reason was simple: they had seen the white lanterns hanging high above the city gates early in the morning, and the gates were surprisingly locked. This was the capital of the gods; even during wartime, they were never completely closed. So everyone kept their heads down and held their breath, obediently opening their bags for inspection before the soldiers who clearly had ill intentions. However, it seemed that these soldiers not only required a pass to be checked, but also a face-saving gesture.
After a busy afternoon of investigation, he finally reported it to Lu Anyuan who was keeping vigil over the late emperor in the evening.
"Your Highness, Madam... She left the palace yesterday and hired a carriage from Fengxing Coach and went to Xiaoxi Town."
"What is that place?"
"It's in a small town about a hundred miles north of the capital. But the people at the carriage and horse company said she was going to Jingdie Township. It's a long way up the mountain from Xiaoxi Town. The carriage and horse company doesn't have a branch in that small town, so they can only drop her off at Xiaoxi Town."
"Hmph, don't worry about it, it's all smoke and mirrors. But so, she went north?"
Ah Da continued, "Did he go to the northern border? After all, I heard that the Xu family has its roots in Miaozhou, maybe..."
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