Chapter 263 She looked at the corpse but felt no pain in her heart
The two held their breath, not daring to make a sound, and listened carefully to the conversation not far away.
"We haven't found it yet. You guys, keep searching downstream! Let's take a closer look upstream!" the rough voice ordered.
The footsteps and voices gradually faded away, as if they were going their separate ways.
In the reeds, Chu Ruohan's tense body relaxed a little.
She whispered to Gu Cheng'an beside her, her voice carrying a barely perceptible chill: "Are these people...Gu Chengyan's men?"
Gu Chengan nodded with a complicated expression.
"From what they said, it should be."
It seems that Gu Chengyan did not jump off the cliff with her in his arms on impulse.
He was well prepared.
He had anticipated the possibility of an accident and arranged personnel to meet the needs downstream in advance.
This was simply a carefully planned escape plan by him.
Chu Ruohan felt even colder in her heart.
"We can't stay here for long," she said decisively. "We have to leave here quickly. If they come back, it will be troublesome."
Gu Chengan nodded immediately, the confusion on his face was gone, and he looked more alert.
"Okay. Where to go?"
Chu Ruohan looked around and identified the direction.
This guy obviously doesn't know the way.
She pointed in the opposite direction of the searchers, which seemed to lead deeper into the forest.
"This way."
Meanwhile, above the cliff.
Gu Junze grabbed the rough rope and climbed down bit by bit.
The cliff was steep and slippery, and gravel rolled down from time to time due to the ropes, making a heart-pounding sound.
The palms of his hands were rubbed so hard that blood oozed out, but he seemed to feel no pain.
The further down you go, the wider the view.
When he saw the winding river at the bottom of the cliff, a faint glimmer of hope suddenly ignited in Gu Junze's dead heart.
water!
If Han'er fell into the water... maybe there would be a glimmer of hope!
He quickened his descent speed and soon landed on the soft ground at the bottom of the cliff.
"search!"
Gu Junze almost roared the order, his voice distorted by excitement and fear.
"Search the riverbank, upstream and downstream, inch by inch!"
The shadow guards he brought with him and the soldiers assigned by Guan Cheng immediately took action and launched a carpet search along the river bank.
Gu Junze also joined the search personally, his eyes sweeping over the river surface, every patch of grass and crevice on the shore.
Time passed by little by little, and everyone's heart was hanging.
"Prince!"
A soldier suddenly shouted not far downstream, his voice filled with fear and uncertainty.
Gu Junze's heart skipped a beat and he rushed forward like crazy.
I saw several soldiers working together to drag something onto the shore from the turbulent river.
It was a human-shaped object.
Wearing... the same dress that Chu Ruohan was wearing at the last time in his memory.
Gu Junze staggered and almost fell.
He watched the "corpse" that was swollen and unrecognizable due to being soaked in water being dragged ashore. His heart seemed to be tightly grasped by an invisible big hand, and he felt so painful that he couldn't breathe.
He walked closer, his body shaking uncontrollably.
The surrounding soldiers and shadow guards held their breath and dared not make a sound.
Gu Junze slowly squatted down.
He stretched out his hand, trembling, trying to brush away the wet hair covering the "corpse's" face.
That face... is very similar to Han'er's, but it looks strange because of being soaked in water.
His fingertips gently stroked the cold, stiff skin of her cheek.
Touch...
Gu Junze's movements suddenly stopped and his eyes suddenly became sharp.
He was groping.
Confirm whether this is a...human skin mask.
Ying Qing returned to the capital and happened to meet Song Ruyan and Chu Yueshu, and learned that the Chu family had been invited into the palace.
He immediately took Gu Junze's token and asked to see the emperor, but he couldn't even enter the palace gate.
In desperation, he could only take the two of them to find Gu Junze first.
The three of them did not stop and hurried through the slightly depressing streets of the capital.
As they reached the city gate, a group of soldiers slowly approached from the front.
The team was solemn and their steps were heavy.
In the middle of the team, several soldiers were carrying a stretcher covered tightly with a white cloth.
The white cloth rose and fell slightly with the bumps of walking, and underneath it was a vague outline of a human figure.
The air seemed to be stagnant at this moment, and an ominous premonition hung over my heart.
Ying Qing's eyes focused and instantly locked onto the familiar figure at the front of the team.
It’s the prince.
But at this moment, Gu Junze no longer had the high spirits of the past.
His clothes were stained with mud and grass.
His face was so pale that there was not a trace of blood, and in his eyes there was bottomless fatigue and some kind of indescribable emptiness.
It was as if the soul had been sucked out of the whole person, leaving only a walking shell.
"Prince!"
Ying Qing shouted hurriedly, with anxiety in her voice.
When Chu Yueshu heard the word "Crown Prince", her originally dim eyes suddenly brightened, as if a drowning person saw a piece of driftwood.
“Brother-in-law!”
She almost stumbled as she ran over a few steps ahead, her voice filled with tears and a last glimmer of hope.
"Brother-in-law, you are finally back. Have you found my sister?"
Her voice was trembling, filled with concern for her sister's safety.
Before she finished speaking, her gaze passed Gu Junze and involuntarily fixed on the stretcher covered with white cloth behind him.
The color of the white cloth was so dazzling that it made her feel uneasy.
Who could be lying down there...?
A terrible guess, like an icy poisonous snake, instantly grabbed her heart.
“Sister——!”
A shrill cry tore through the silence of the street, full of despair and disbelief.
Chu Yueshu's legs went weak and she almost collapsed to the ground, but fortunately she was supported by Song Ruyan who was following closely behind her.
Her tears flowed out like beads from a broken string, blurring her vision in an instant, and her whole body was shaking violently.
This sudden blow made her completely collapse.
The surrounding officers, soldiers and passers-by were startled by the miserable crying and looked sideways, and the atmosphere became increasingly heavy.
Gu Junze slowly turned his head.
His movements were somewhat stiff, like a rusty machine.
Those eyes that were once sharp and bright were now covered with a thick layer of gray, and no emotion could be seen.
He looked at Chu Yueshu, who was crying and almost fainting. His lips moved and his voice was very hoarse.
"Is she...really Han'er?"
The question was light and airy, but it was like a huge rock thrown into a calm lake, stirring up huge waves.
Ying Qing and Song Ruyan were both stunned.
Chu Yueshu suddenly raised her tearful face and looked at Gu Junze blankly, as if she didn't understand why he asked such a question.
Then she nodded even harder, choking, and every word seemed to be squeezed out of her throat.
"It's my sister... It's my sister..."
"Who else could it be except my sister..."
She just thought that her brother-in-law asked such a puzzling question because he witnessed his sister's miserable condition and was extremely sad and in a trance.
After all, the person on the stretcher was wearing the same dress that my sister had worn before she disappeared.
Gu Junze's hands subconsciously covered his chest without him knowing when.
But why...
His heart, however, just felt heavy and oppressive, without the expected pain of losing his lover.
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