It turned out to be Xia Hou Jing and her daughter!
Bai Yuheng's heart was shocked. After hearing the sound coming from the cave, he hurriedly stopped, held his breath, and listened attentively to every move in the cave.
He wondered, could something have happened in Prince You's mansion? Otherwise, how could these two men, who should have been imprisoned in the dungeon, appear here at this moment? Even more coincidental, they chose this cave where he was temporarily staying?
"Mother Queen, Youzhou City is now heavily guarded, and we can no longer go to Lengyue Kingdom in the northeast. What should we do next?" Inside the cave, Xiahou Yu, sitting next to the campfire, had a worried look on his face.
Xia Houjing's eyes lightly swept over Ye Maochun, who was lying on the side with his hands and feet bound and his mouth gagged. After a moment's silence, she slowly said, "Yu'er, there is always a way out. Now that we have Ye Maochun's amulet in our hands, we will definitely be able to find a way to escape."
Xiahou Yu nodded slightly in agreement. "Mother, it is you who are more foresighted and decisive in capturing the adopted father of this princess. Only then can we have a smooth journey..."
Outside the cave, Bai Yuheng was about to turn around and leave, heading to the city to relay the news to Hua Qingcheng. But just then, a faint sound, like someone muzzling someone, reached his ears. It turned out that Ye Maochun had indeed been abducted by Xia Houjing and her daughter.
Bai Yuheng was startled and stopped in his tracks. He frowned, wondering what to do next. After careful consideration, he decided to stay put for the time being, closely monitoring the activities within the cave while searching for a suitable opportunity to infiltrate and rescue Ye Maochun.
At the same time, Xiahou Jing in the cave gave Xiahou Yu an order: "Yu'er, give him some water and food. Don't let him starve to death!"
Although he was a little reluctant, Xia Houyu still responded respectfully: "Yes, mother."
Then, Xia Houyu slowly walked towards Ye Maochun, her steps seeming a bit heavy. When she got close, she bent down, roughly removed the rag stuffed in Ye Maochun's mouth, and put a bamboo tube filled with clear water to his lips.
However, the moment his mouth was free again, Ye Maochun did not drink water immediately. Instead, he turned his head away, suppressing his inner fear and shouting angrily: "You...what on earth do you want to do? Quickly...quickly let me go! Otherwise...otherwise Qingcheng will never let you go!"
In the silent night, Ye Maochun's voice echoed in the empty cave, with a hint of despair and unwillingness.
Upon hearing this, Xiahou Yu was furious and roared, "You are such a jerk, Ye Maochun! I, the princess, have condescended to feed you personally, and not only are you ungrateful, but you even dare to speak so arrogantly?! Do you believe that with this kick from the princess, you and the bastard in your belly will die instantly?!"
Just as Xiahou Yu pretended to kick someone, Xiahou Jing, who was confused about the situation, hurriedly shouted, "No, Yu'er, keeping Ye Maochun alive is more useful."
She really couldn't tell whether her daughter was speaking in anger or truthfully. If she hit someone too hard and killed them, it would be very bad...
Outside the cave, Bai Yuheng, who was about to rush in to rescue people, couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief when he heard Xia Houjing's words.
At this moment, Xia Houjing's voice was heard from the cave again.
"Yu'er, as the saying goes, 'make the false appear real, and make the real appear false,' I've already thought of a countermeasure. For now, we might as well pretend to flee westward, creating the illusion that we're heading to Xilan City, then passing through Nanyue Kingdom, and finally heading east towards Zhaoyang Kingdom. While Nalan Qingcheng and his gang are hunting us, we can still proceed as planned, sailing south and then heading east to Zhaoyang Kingdom."
Xia Hou Jing curled the corners of her lips slightly, turned her head to look towards the east, and her deep eyes flashed with cunning and shrewdness.
"It's really great!" As soon as Xiahou Jing said this, she received flattering response from Xiahou Yu.
Even Bai Yuheng, standing outside the cave, couldn't help but secretly admire Xia Houjing, the old fox. Her mind was so deep and complex, like a maze that was difficult to fathom!
Just as Bai Yuheng was secretly thinking and preparing to wait for an opportunity to rescue the kidnapped Ye Maochun, the lights in Prince You's Mansion in the city were brightly lit, as bright as day.
"What should we do? Qingcheng, your father's belly is already so big. What if something happens to him?" Hua Rongsheng, who was waiting for news in the hall of Haitangyuan, felt very uneasy and worried about Ye Maochun.
Seeing this, Hua Qingcheng could only suppress her inner worries and gently comforted Hua Rongsheng, "Mother, King You has ordered the blockade of all passages in the east, south, west, north, as well as the docks and ports. He has also sent troops to search throughout Youzhou City. I believe there will be news of Dad soon."
"Oh, I hope so." Hua Rong sighed deeply, her heart filled with self-blame. She regretted not staying by Ye Maochun's side all the time...
However, several days passed, and neither Nalan Qiudi's guards, nor the soldiers of Youzhou government office, nor the troops led by Tianji found any trace of Ye Maochun.
On the seventh day of March, the weather was sunny and the sky was clear, but Hua Qingcheng and others were filled with gloom.
At noon on the third day after Ye Maochun's disappearance, Hua Qingcheng appeared in the government office of Youzhou City as the princess, facing the envoys sent by Lengyue Kingdom.
At this moment, enraged by Ye Maochun's disappearance, Hua Qingcheng abandoned Nalan Yunzhi's previous plan to have Lengyue Kingdom cede ten cities and decisively raised the stakes to a full fifteen! Ten of these cities were to be exchanged for their beloved Princess Gongyang Jieying; the remaining five were to rescue the trapped Prince Luo, Gongyang Jiezhen.
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