285. There's news.
The little dumpling tugged at the little princess's sleeve and whispered, "Little Cloud, Sister Fufu meant well..."
The little princess belatedly realized she might have said something wrong, and looked helplessly at Lin Fuman's lonely figure: "I...I didn't mean that..."
Before she could catch up and explain, a series of urgent creaking sounds came from outside the courtyard wall.
Several squirrels anxiously jumped onto the wall, calling out frantically in the direction of the little ball of fur, with one of them constantly pointing in a certain direction with its paw.
It seems like they want to tell them some news.
The little dumpling suddenly turned around, her face tense, and called out into the house, "Brother Xie, Grand Tutor! The little squirrel is very anxious; it seems she has found someone!"
Qu Zijin suddenly stood up, his face pale: "Are they pursuers? Teacher, did they seem very scared?"
The little dumpling tried hard to understand the animals' reactions and said uncertainly, "The little squirrel looks very anxious, jumping around non-stop, but... it doesn't seem very scared, it just seems very eager to tell Yue'er something..."
Lin Fuman, disregarding her own grievances, immediately ran back and nervously grabbed the little dumpling's hand.
The little princess, however, wasn't afraid. She peeked around curiously, looking eager to try.
"It must be those villains, the Prince of Zhennan," the little princess said, rubbing her hands together excitedly. "Let's set off and defeat them!"
"No!" Qu Zijin immediately objected, his tone urgent: "No matter who comes, caution is paramount! We must retreat into the mountains immediately!"
However, Xie Wenling held the opposite opinion, pondering, "Don't rush to conclusions. If it were really a large group of pursuers, the small animals should have shown fear and scattered in all directions. Right now, they've just come anxiously to report the news, so the situation may not be that bad."
“It’s always better to be cautious,” Qu Zijin said worriedly. “After all, if we make the wrong judgment, we’ll all be doomed here.”
Xie Wenling looked up at him, his tone still calm: "What if it's His Majesty's search party? If we run away, wouldn't we miss the best rescue opportunity? Running around in these deep mountains is even more dangerous."
"What if they're from the Prince of Zhennan's men? Are we just going to stay here and wait to be arrested?"
Xie Wenling ignored him and turned her gaze to the little dumpling: "Princess, could you ask them to help us send a message to the people coming from outside?"
"Deliver a message?" The little dumpling blinked.
“Yes,” Xie Wenling explained, “They don’t need to understand the content. We write a note or prepare a token, have them take it, and throw it on the road those people are bound to take, trying to get their attention.”
Lin Fuman immediately understood, her eyes lighting up: "I get it! Just like how I tried to use explosives to attract attention, but this is much more discreet. If they're bad guys, they'll be suspicious when they see the note and will search, which will buy us time. If they're good guys, they'll know we're nearby when they see the note!"
The little princess understood: "This is a good idea! It's smarter than just running away!"
Qu Zijin looked at the three girls and Xie Wenling who had reached an agreement in an instant, opened his mouth, and finally sighed helplessly: "...Fine, fine, we'll do as you say. But we must be prepared to evacuate at any time."
The plan was thus finalized.
Next, you should think about what to write or what token to prepare.
“We need words or tokens that the Prince of Zhennan’s men won’t understand, but His Majesty’s men can recognize,” Xie Wenling said.
The group looked at each other, at a loss for what to do.
Xie Wenling silently shifted his gaze to the little princess.
The little princess felt her hair stand on end from his gaze and hid behind Qu Zijin.
Qu Zijin stared at Xie Wenling as if he were a thief: "You're not thinking of sending the princess over there, are you?"
It's understandable that he thinks that way, because it is indeed quite feasible.
The Prince of Zhennan's men didn't recognize the little princess, but the people sent by the emperor certainly did.
In addition, Xie Wenling had just proposed such a vicious plan not long ago...
Qu Zijin felt that his idea of using the little princess as bait was very reasonable, extremely reasonable.
Xie Wenling was somewhat speechless: "What I mean is, isn't Her Highness wearing a tribute snow fox fur coat? Only she and the prince have it, right?"
Qu Zijin realized what was going on: "You mean, use this snow fox fur coat to identify it?"
"The whole piece isn't necessary; just a small piece will suffice. If it's someone sent by His Majesty, they'll surely recognize it."
Qu Zijin finally breathed a sigh of relief.
Fortunately, Xie Wenling wasn't that depraved.
He looked at the little princess for her opinion: "Your Highness, is it alright?"
Hearing that she wasn't being sent there, the little princess breathed a huge sigh of relief: "Okay."
The little princess generously contributed a small piece.
"Now, who should we ask to deliver the message?" Qu Zijin asked, looking at the small animals in the yard.
The little dumpling already had an idea. She squatted down and whispered instructions to the most clever weasel.
The weasel tilted its head, its dark eyes looking at the fox fur and then at the little dumpling, seemingly trying to understand this complicated task.
The weasel rubbed its nose against the fox fur, gently snatched it in its mouth, and then quietly slipped out of the yard.
"Okay," the little dumpling stood up, "it seems to understand!"
-
"Boss, we've been searching for ages and haven't found a soul. Are Princess, Lady Fukang, Grand Tutor Qu, and Lord Xie not here?" A young guard complained to Qian Qinfeng, who was sitting on a rock with a furrowed brow, while munching on his dry rations.
This small team of about ten people was one of those secretly ordered to search for the whereabouts of the little princess, Xiao Tuanzi, and two important officials in the south, led by the imperial guards commander Qin Fengsong.
Qin Fengsong glared at the young guard: "Shut your mouth. Her Highness the Princess, Princess Fukang, Grand Tutor Qu, and Lord Xie are all safe and sound. Search carefully, don't overlook any clues!"
Even so, Qin Fengsong himself felt heavy-hearted.
They have searched the area repeatedly, but have found nothing except a few vague traces.
With each passing moment, the princess and the two officials faced increasing danger.
Suddenly, a cry of surprise rang out: "Boss, look what that is!"
The group looked in the direction of the sound and saw a white weasel that was almost blending into the snow, seemingly carrying something in its mouth, silently appearing beside the bushes not far from their resting place.
The weasel tilted its head, scrutinizing them with its intelligent eyes. Then, it actually took a few steps forward and gently placed the object it was carrying in its beak in a conspicuous spot in the open space.
After putting down the things, the weasel did not leave immediately, but stood there, still watching them.
"Hey, has this weasel become a spirit? It's even giving us gifts!" someone exclaimed in surprise.
Qin Fengsong was also filled with doubt and uncertainty. He signaled to everyone not to make any rash moves, while he slowly got up, remaining vigilant, and walked step by step toward the object that the weasel had placed on the ground.
As he got closer, he could see that it appeared to be a small piece of clothing.
He crouched down and carefully used the tip of his sword to pick up the fragment.
The fragments were small, with jagged edges, as if they had been cut off with a knife, and their color was the extremely rare and precious silver-white unique to snow fox fur.
Qin Fengsong's pupils suddenly contracted.
The color, the material... he could never mistake it!
This is clearly the material from the snow fox fur cloak that His Majesty specially bestowed upon the little princess this winter!
A thought flashed through Qin Fengsong's mind like lightning.
This is no coincidence!
This weasel was acting under someone's orders!
Her Highness and the others must be nearby, and they may have encountered trouble and are unable to show themselves directly, so they can only send messages in this way!
He stood up abruptly, looked around at the dense forest, his heart pounding with excitement, but his voice was very low, filled with unbelievable joy and urgency: "It's Your Highness! The princess must be nearby! This weasel has come to deliver a message to us!"
"What?!" Upon hearing this, all the guards gathered around in shock. "Boss, are you sure? Just this piece of rag?"
"What do you know!" Qin Fengsong carefully clutched the precious fragment in his palm, his tone resolute. "This is a snow fox fur coat personally bestowed upon the princess by His Majesty, a rare find in the world! The fact that this material appeared here, and was even delivered by a strange-behaving weasel, is no coincidence!"
He immediately gave the order: "Listen up, everyone! Search carefully outwards in a fan shape, centering on this location! Watch out for any suspicious traces, move quietly, and don't alert the enemy who may also be searching!"
"Yes!" Although the guards found the search method a bit bizarre, seeing their commander's determination, they immediately perked up and quickly got to work.
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