Chapter 25 Clues
"Go inside!"
Qiu Shuang reached out and pushed Shen Panyan inside, tossing her a set of linen clothes and mockingly saying, "You're not some high-ranking princess anymore. No one will serve you. If you don't want to die, change yourself."
Shen Panyan staggered, and before she could regain her balance, her face was covered by a linen dress. Then, with a "bang," the door slammed shut, the sound of the lock clicking echoed, and the entire room was plunged into darkness.
Shen Panyan could no longer hold back her tears. She slowly squatted down and sobbed softly. Gradually, her crying grew louder and louder until she released all the fear, pain and anxiety in her heart before she finally stopped.
Shen Panyan wiped away her tears, sobbing as she picked up the linen dress from the ground and changed out of her wet clothes.
She was wearing thick winter clothes, and the lake water soaked her to the bone, clinging heavily to her body like ice, making her shiver uncontrollably. But there were no extra clothes for her to change into, so she could only endure the cold.
The linen dress was neither warm nor soft, and it was itchy and uncomfortable to wear. Shen Panyan was very uncomfortable with it, and soon she scratched her skin until it bled. Fortunately, there was a bed in the room, so she huddled inside and wrapped herself in the blankets, which finally warmed her up a bit.
But there was nothing she could do about the itching from the linen dress; she could only endure it.
Shen Panyan knew she looked utterly pathetic without even looking in the bronze mirror, and the tears she had been holding back welled up again.
"Lin Xiao...where are you...?"
She had cried for so long without anyone paying attention to her, and now even less so. Cold and hungry, Shen Panyan trembled uncontrollably. She curled up into a ball and slowly drifted off to sleep.
"Wake up! Wake up!"
After an unknown amount of time, Shen Panyan suddenly felt her body being pushed forcefully.
Her eyelashes fluttered, and she slowly opened them, only to find it was Qiushuang.
"Drink this."
Qiu Shuang placed a bowl of cooled medicine in front of her.
"What, what is this?" Shen Panyan asked, only to find her throat was terribly hoarse.
"Medicine for a cold," Qiu Shuang said impatiently. "Drink it quickly!"
Shen Panyan carefully reached out and took the medicine bowl from her hand, then drank it in small sips.
The medicine was terribly bitter, but she dared not refuse to drink it.
A tear slid down her cheek and into the medicine bowl, mixing with the medicine as it went down her throat, making it even more bitter.
Seeing that she was sensible, Qiu Shuang's expression softened a bit. "Stay put, and you'll be able to leave here in a few days."
"Really? Is it true?" Shen Panyan couldn't believe it at all. The master behind Qiu Shuang went to such great lengths to capture her just to lock her up for a while?
What's the point?
"Believe it or not." Qiu Shuang rolled her eyes at her and turned to leave.
Qiu Shuang was indeed not lying to her.
After that, apart from being locked in this dark room with all four windows sealed off and unable to leave, Shen Panyan did not encounter anything else, as if she had been forgotten by everyone.
Qiu Shuang continued to take care of her as before, but apart from her, she could not see anyone else. Shen Panyan felt increasingly uneasy, as if something she did not know was secretly taking root and sprouting.
She wasn't stupid; she had long understood that the chaos at the lantern festival that day was aimed at her, with the goal of kidnapping her.
Is Consort Hui the person behind this?
wrong!
Shen Xu's marriage has been arranged, but the General's Mansion is using this as an excuse to delay and has not yet issued the marriage decree. Once the Emperor speaks up, their marriage will be a done deal. The General's Mansion would not disobey the Emperor's decree, and Consort Hui would have no reason to target her again.
Who could it be?
To dare to make a move in a busy city center, especially on New Year's Eve, requires extraordinary audacity from the person behind it, unless they are capable enough to handle the matter.
Shen Panyan suddenly remembered that day when she had just woken up. Qiu Shuang was frantically grabbing her neck and saying that she had ruined her. At the time, she didn't quite understand when she had ruined her, but now, she vaguely understood.
After Qiu Shuang disappeared, Lin Xiao interrogated a palace maid who was on good terms with her. From the maid, he learned that the Empress had promised Qiu Shuang something: that when she got married, she would marry her off to a guard in the imperial city.
With the Empress involved, the guard's rank must be quite high; he might very well be an Imperial Guard. No wonder Qiu Shuang has been so eager to marry him; now, the person behind her has come to light...
Lin Xiao had actually warned her, but at the time she refused to believe it or face it. Now that she had been kidnapped in the middle of the city, she had no choice but to believe it.
Shen Panyan knew from a young age that she was not favored by the Empress, but she thought it was because she was bad and often disobedient that the Empress disliked her.
But later, she secretly observed other concubines and discovered that they did not treat their children the same way, even adopted children, and they did not live the same way as her.
If other princesses fell ill, the people serving them would be punished. But her maids often chose inappropriate clothes for her, causing her to be either too cold or too hot, and sometimes she would get an upset stomach that would last all day.
Whenever she was in pain, her father would come to see her, stroking her head with a pained expression and a sigh, while the empress beside her also looked anxious.
I still remember that when she was little, the sentence her father said to her most often was: "Don't be naughty and willful anymore, or you will make your mother worry about you so much."
But she has always been the most obedient and sensible, and has never acted recklessly or willfully.
The palace maids around her changed batch after batch, so quickly that she couldn't remember their faces at all, only having a vague impression. It wasn't until she was older that the Empress forced her to learn all sorts of female precepts and rules, music, chess, calligraphy, and painting, and she had to be better than other princesses in every aspect. Only when she received praise from her father did she start to do better.
"Although Mingyue was a bit willful when she was young, she has become more obedient and sensible now that she is older, and she studies her lessons diligently. I can finally breathe a sigh of relief. Otherwise, if I were to meet Consort Shu again a hundred years from now, I would truly have no words to face her."
"You have the best relationship with Consort Shu, how could she blame you? Over the years, you have taken meticulous care of Mingyue, not letting anyone else interfere... Lingyi, you have worked so hard!"
These words were always etched in Shen Panyan's heart. In fact, she had long understood that the Empress did not love her and had no feelings for her whatsoever. To her, she was just a tool, a tool to please her father.
She just refused to believe it.
Moreover, did the Emperor really not know what the Empress had done?
Shen Panyan was unaware of the details, but when she was ten years old, she developed a high fever due to practicing the zither and nearly died. After being sent to the royal villa to recuperate, Shen Panyan clearly understood that her father probably knew about it.
He simply didn't care.
From the very beginning, she was an unwanted child.
Her real mother was dead; she died on the day she was born. No one in this world would truly love her.
Thinking of this, Shen Panyan could no longer hold back her tears, curled up into a ball, and sobbed softly.
Sometimes, she would think of her mother, the former Consort Shu. If she were still alive, would she have ended up like this?
Shenpanyan was unaware.
But she thought that she must have loved herself, otherwise she wouldn't have asked her father for the title of "Bright Moon" before she died.
Having a title from birth is unique in the history of Zhaoyan Kingdom.
Her mother must have loved her very much, right?
But she had never seen her, not even a portrait of her.
Shen Panyan felt terrible, so bad that she could hardly breathe.
But she didn't want to die. She wanted the truth, the truth about why the empress was targeting her.
If she wanted her to die, there were plenty of children in the harem who died young. Why didn't she let her die young, but instead let her live to this day?
Shen Panyan couldn't understand it. With trembling fingertips, she took out a small porcelain bottle and shakily put it into her mouth.
The pills were bitter, but they melted in my mouth, and the palpitations that followed gradually subsided.
The pills were given to her by Lin Xiao, and she always carried them with her, as did the dagger he gave her.
She had never forgotten Lin Xiao's kindness, and during her time living in the capital, she had always felt uneasy, so she always carried it with her. In addition, she was dressed thickly in winter, so no one knew that she was hiding a dagger.
Holding the cold dagger, Shen Panyan felt a sense of peace in her heart.
Lin Xiao must be looking for her now; he will definitely find her.
Now, her most important task is to protect herself before Lin Xiao arrives.
After that, Shen Panyan was unusually quiet and obedient in everything she did, so Qiu Shuang didn't take it to heart.
She had been by her side for many years and knew her personality well. It would be strange if she made a big fuss.
In the blink of an eye, ten days have passed.
Lin Xiao had already found a clue on the day the princess disappeared, and the people from the General's Mansion followed the clue. However, after leaving the capital, the clue was lost.
This matter was not to be made public. Zhao Yun and Zhao Wenyao secretly ordered their people to search for the princess. The people below had no idea that the person they were looking for was a princess. They believed that it was a woman who had an old acquaintance with Zhao Wenyao. For a day or two, it was fine, but as time went on, no one took it seriously anymore.
Zhao Yun was being pestered by Princess Chengle, and in order to avoid her, he stayed in the General's Mansion every day. It was the New Year holiday, and Zhao Wenyao was not free all the time. She was going to get married after the New Year, so she was even busier.
The capital is currently under intense scrutiny due to the murder in the city center. Everyone coming and going in the capital is being thoroughly investigated, and the people of the capital are living in fear. Lin Xiao, the murdered person, is being summoned and questioned by the authorities repeatedly.
He didn't intend to reveal his true identity, which led to trouble. He was also worried about the princess's disappearance, so he simply handed the matter over to Zhao Wenyao and the other person to handle. With the strength of the General's Mansion, they wouldn't be unable to resolve it.
With the troublesome questioning from the authorities over, Lin Xiao followed the clues and traveled for ten days straight, finally discovering a trace related to the princess.
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