Chapter 342 Caught Off Guard
On Su Yue's side, the fire in the hot spring pool room spread quickly, but the guards put out the fire even faster. Plus, they had taken precautions after the last fire, so the entire house did not burn down.
When the fire was not completely extinguished, Eunuch Yu rushed in. He wanted to see what was inside. After taking a look, he felt relieved because the secret room was under the hot spring and the entrance to the secret passage was on the body of the stone phoenix.
These are things that are not easily burned by fire, so at least they look normal, except for the hot spring pool that the imperial concubine has always loved, which is now full of black ash and debris from burning, and looks very dirty.
Due to the confidentiality of the secret passage, the remaining fire has not been extinguished yet and there are guards all around, so Eunuch Yu cannot go in openly to see how the Crown Princess is doing.
"My Lord, this is terrible. Just now you asked me to go check on those young girls. When I got there, I didn't know who knocked me out. When I woke up, I didn't know who opened the door of the room."
At this time, the guard who had just been knocked unconscious by Su Yue came running over to report.
"What? Did someone escape?"
Eunuch Yu was startled and turned to look at the guards, remembering that there were still four people who had not been found. If there were fewer, and the hot spring pool was being destroyed, not to mention that Concubine Qin had a bad temper, even someone with a good temper would probably not end well if they saw him.
"Your Excellency, there are quite a few people. Not only quite a few, but... there is one more person."
The guard ignored the black dust and dirt on the ground and half-knelt on the ground to reply. When he wanted to come just now, he looked at the wide-open door and was so scared that he broke out in a cold sweat. He rushed in and saw that the girls were all there to his surprise. After counting them carefully, he found that there was one more girl.
"One more?" Eunuch Yu was obviously stunned when he heard the guard's words, but he quickly realized that the cause of the fire tonight was probably the extra woman.
"Yes, but I don't know who the extra person is." The guard answered honestly when he heard Eunuch Yu's question.
"Let's go over and take a look first."
After Eunuch Yu finished speaking, he glanced at the guards who were still busy. Since the entrance to the secret passage was not damaged, it would be fine not to go to see the Crown Princess for the time being. She was a disabled person anyway, so how could she fly? The most important thing now was the extra girl.
As for Su Yue, she deliberately did not close the door, hoping that the unconscious guard would be able to notice the abnormality here as quickly as possible.
Otherwise, when the fire was out, the eunuch would definitely go to check on the Crown Princess' condition. Only if she was fast enough, the eunuch would not have time to enter the secret passage. The matter of the Crown Princess being rescued had to be delayed as long as possible.
Sure enough, when the guard woke up, he immediately noticed something was wrong. He rushed in, asked everyone to stand in line, counted them quickly, and then stumbled out.
Not long after, Su Yue heard footsteps coming this way.
Only then did Su Yue feel relieved. It seemed that the eunuch had not discovered the problem with the Crown Princess yet. After all, if he found out that the Crown Princess was missing, he would have to report to Concubine Qin and would have no time to take care of this side.
"Everyone, come out." When Eunuch Yu came over with his men, a guard beside him shouted loudly into the room.
All the girls immediately got up and walked towards the door obediently. Obviously, this was not the first time these people were asked to go out.
Su Yue quickly stood up and followed the girls out.
As for Mo Jingchen, he now led about two hundred soldiers and gathered at the gate of Qinyan Villa. Then Shangguan Nanxing brought Xiaohe to meet Mo Jingchen.
Xiao He had heard Shangguan Nanxing's plan before, and she also knew that this trip concerned her young lady's life.
When Mo Jingchen saw that Shangguan Nanxing really brought a girl, the two looked at each other and then implemented their plan.
It was daybreak at this time and everyone in the villa was still in a deep sleep. Mo Jingchen signaled with his eyes to the person next to him, and that person immediately understood his intention and stepped forward to knock on the door vigorously.
"Who is it?" A servant rubbed his eyes and opened the door. However, when the door was opened just a crack, a brute force came from outside and pushed the door wide open.
The boy was not careful and fell to the ground.
"The prince received a report that someone was hiding young girls here and taking human lives lightly, so he came to search." Someone shouted loudly, and the servant watched a large group of people rush in.
Because this search was conducted by Mo Jingchen in private, it actually did not conform to the Mo Kingdom's search procedures, so they had to be quick. If they waited for Qinyan Villa to react, it would be difficult to continue. After all, Qinyan Villa was Concubine Qin's territory.
"Master, something bad has happened, Master." The servant saw people rushing in and heading southeast, then he reacted and shouted while getting up and running towards the master's residence.
On Mo Jingchen's side, they soon arrived at the gate of the hot spring pool yard. Only then did Shangguan Nanxing notice that there were three big words "Xiaoyaozhu" written on the doorplate of the yard.
"Charge in." Mo Jingchen looked at the dozen guards at the door who were looking at them with horror. Without further ado, he prepared to force his way in. They must catch the people inside off guard.
"What happened?" a leading guard asked loudly, and then he signaled the people beside him to slip in and deliver the message.
"This prince has received a report that a young girl is being hidden here and is doing something that could harm people's lives. Come over and search."
Mo Jingchen looked at the guards who were blocking their way with a stern face.
"This... is without any evidence. Does Your Highness have a search warrant?" The head guard spoke respectfully, but he said the most important thing.
"Stop talking nonsense and rush in." Mo Jingchen shouted again. Of course he didn't have a search warrant, so everything had to be done quickly. He had to rush in and find the person he wanted when no one was prepared.
Following Mo Jingchen's order, how could the dozen or so people at the door stop one or two hundred soldiers? Moreover, with His Royal Highness the Crown Prince leading the way, they dared not take action, so they could only watch as everyone rushed in.
"Search!" The guard just came in very quickly, but Mo Jingchen's speed was not slow either. With a loud shout from Mo Jingchen, all the soldiers dispersed and went in to search.
"Your Highness, we've found it." With a loud shout, Eunuch Yu turned around in shock, only to see dozens of soldiers standing behind him.
The guard had just walked up to Eunuch Yu and hadn't even had time to catch his breath or say anything. Everything happened in a flash.
Next to Eunuch Yu, a dozen girls had just taken their positions, standing out particularly in this alley.
"Sure enough, there is a young girl here." Mo Jingchen walked out of the crowd with Shangguan Nanxing standing next to him. At this time, Shangguan Nanxing's eyes searched the crowd quickly until he met a pair of familiar eyes.
His heart finally settled down.
"Bring her here." Mo Jingchen also saw Su Yue and gave the order directly.
"I wonder what His Royal Highness the Crown Prince's intention is in breaking into Concubine Qin's private residence?" Eunuch Yu asked with reluctance as he watched all the girls being taken to Mo Jingchen's place.
"This prince has received a report that people are killing people here, so I have come to investigate." Mo Jingchen said the previous reason. Since the person had been found, he naturally did not have too many concerns.
After Mo Jingchen finished speaking, he took a look at the small courtyard. His Crown Princess had been imprisoned here before. Unfortunately, he sent several groups of people to investigate but all of them returned unsuccessful.
When he himself didn't know where the Crown Princess was hiding, he didn't dare to bring people to search so blatantly. What if he couldn't find her and angered Concubine Qin, then his own Rou'er would have to suffer.
"Your Highness, isn't it against the rules for you to lead your troops directly into my mansion?" At this moment, a stern shout came from outside the door. Apparently, the owner of Qinyan Villa had arrived.
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