But Shen was gone.
Lin Xie turned his room upside down but couldn't find him, so he quickly walked to the back room and pulled Xu Yuanzhi, who was still sleeping, out of bed.
Yuanzhi opened his eyes in a daze, and saw who it was clearly, but he felt a little confused. This gentleman usually went to his master's room when he came. Except for the last time when he caught him to boil water for Chen Que, Yuanzhi had never contacted him again.
But he had a feeling that something might have happened to his parents, so he stammered, "Master, are you looking for me?"
Lin Xie didn't waste any more time talking to him and asked straight to the point, "Where's Chen Que?"
The child opened his round eyes, which showed a bit of confusion: "Isn't he in the house? Oh, by the way... the adults told me this morning that he had something important to do outside and might be back late, so I don't need to wait for him."
Lin Xie's expression suddenly turned cold: "When did he leave?"
Yuan Zhi thought for a moment, and then said, "When we return from the training ground, it should be around 3:30 in the morning."
Looking at Lin Xie's expression, Yuan Zhi felt a little flustered for some reason: "What happened to the lord? Has he not returned home yet?"
It was already the middle of the night. Even if he had gone out of town to do some business, he should have been back by now. Besides, His Highness did not remember having asked Shen Que to go out of the house to do anything this morning.
This mute has always been obedient. He would not go out easily without his instructions.
Lin Xie had a cold face and said nothing. He carried Yuanzhi straight to the main house and then threw him casually on the open space inside the house.
Yuanzhi almost lost his balance and felt dizzy. Suddenly, he heard a voice from behind: "Go and see if anything is missing from his room."
The voice was cold and deep, not like Lin Xie's, but as if it was a different person.
Yuanzhi subconsciously turned around to look, only to see that the man behind him had peeled off the entire skin from his face, and behind the mask was the face of the master he feared most in this palace.
King Yan, His Highness King Yan?
Perhaps the scene before him was too bizarre, Yuanzhi really couldn't help but screamed "Ah" in a suppressed voice, and then staggered back as if he had seen a ghost.
"You...how could you be..." Yuanzhi was almost incoherent.
But the King of Yan opened his mouth again, his eyes seemed to hold a knife that could kill people: "Did you not hear what I just said?"
Yuanzhi turned around quickly and ran towards the direction of the suitcase. He walked too fast and his left foot accidentally tripped over his right foot. He almost fell down. Fortunately, he was quick to grab the table where the suitcase was placed and managed to stabilize himself.
Then he used some leverage and knelt on the edge of the table. He hurriedly checked the suitcase, only to find that the wooden box had been opened. All the clean clothes that had been washed on weekdays were collected by him for Chen Que, so Yuanzhi already knew how many sets of clothes were in the suitcase.
Yuan Zhi only flipped through it lightly and found something wrong. He subconsciously said "Huh", and then hesitantly said: "Okay, it seems that two sets of uniforms are missing, both are casual clothes."
Xie Shiguan, who was standing behind him, seemed to have expected this. He raised his chin and pointed to the bottom of the bed: "Bring out the broken box where he hid his money."
However, Chen did not hide it from anyone, even Yuanzhi knew it. He hid his monthly allowance and bonus money, which he could not spend at the moment, in the lacquered wooden box under the bed.
The child crawled in and easily pulled out the box, which was not hidden very deeply. When he opened it, he found that there was nothing inside, not even a trace of the silver.
Yuan Zhi's heart also sank, as if he suddenly realized something, and he quickly explained: "All the money that the master saved before was spent by Jiang Shaoxiong. He only saved a little in the past two months. Add to that the two small gold ingots that you rewarded me on New Year's Eve, and there is actually not much left. Maybe, maybe you let the master use it to buy something..."
Unexpectedly, His Royal Highness Prince Yan didn't seem to be listening to him. He had kicked several tables in the room to pieces a few days ago, and now only a few lonely round stools were left.
Xie Shiguan condescended to sit down on the hard bench, his face gloomy and uncertain, and the knuckles that were holding the folding fan turned white.
After a while, he opened his mouth and ordered him: "Go, call Shen Xiangzhi, and ask him to wake up everyone in Chonghua Courtyard, and have them all roll over here for me!"
Shen Xiangzhi led a group of personal guards to search for Shen Que for a whole night, but Shen Que had actually been on the run for a whole day and a night.
He did not dare to rest along the way, for fear of exposing his whereabouts. He walked wherever the road was difficult to walk on. When he was hungry, he ate dry food with cold water. Even when his heels were worn out, he refused to stop.
On the way, he passed by a tea stall. The water in his water bag was finished. Chen felt tired and thirsty, so he stopped and bought a bowl of tea from the tea stall.
I had only finished half of my tea when I heard two men who were also drinking tea at the next table start talking in a casual tone.
"Have you heard that a treasure seems to have been lost in the Prince Yan's mansion in Kyoto? They didn't say what the treasure was, but said that it was taken away by a guard. If you report the news, you will be rewarded with 20 silver coins. If you can capture the person alive, you will get a house, beautiful concubines, and everything else."
The person on the other side also sighed after hearing this: "What kind of treasure is that?"
After a pause, the man asked again, "Tsk, who is this guard? Do you have a portrait of him?"
"It's posted right under the city gate. Some quick hands have copied a few of them. I heard that he's a mute, tall, and used to using a scimitar. There's nothing else about him."
He paused, and then seemed to suddenly remember something: "Oh, yes, there is a note below that only alive people are allowed to be captured. If half a finger is missing, the palace will not give any money..."
However, Shen didn't even listen to them finish their words, and didn't dare to drink the remaining half bowl of tea. He hurriedly went to the stall owner to pay a few copper coins, then turned around and left.
The stall owner realized it belatedly, and looked at the direction where Shen Que left slowly, and said to the two tea drinkers: "The guy just now... seemed to be a mute. I just asked him what kind of tea he wanted, but he didn't say anything, so I just served him a bowl at random."
Upon hearing this, the two tea drinkers stood up immediately and shouted, "Hey you, whoever you are, stop right there!"
Then they ran after him, but the tea stall was in a remote place, surrounded by farmlands and thatched cottages, and there was a forest not far away. The two of them were not as fast as Shen Que and they lost sight of him in a few seconds.
At the same time, behind a low slope.
Shen was holding a brick in his hand, alertly feeling the movements around him. At the slightest sign of trouble, he would immediately tighten the brick he had picked up.
Most of these people were farmers in the countryside. He didn't want to kill them, so he didn't touch his scimitar.
But after a long while, there was no movement. It seemed that the two men had not been able to find this place, but he could not stay here for long. In order to get the reward of 20 taels of silver, those people would definitely report this clue. As long as the people in the palace arrived here, he would never be able to escape.
He had to get out of here immediately.
Unfortunately, the baby in his belly seemed to suddenly get angry and started to feel pain in waves. He had just eaten half a bowl of tea and dry food, but he vomited it all under the tree as soon as he stood up.
After vomiting, his hands and feet became weak, but Chen walked slower and slower. If he continued like this, it was only a matter of time before he was caught up.
Shen had no choice but to enter a village and quietly inquire about the conditions in the village houses and courtyards. After searching around, he finally found a courtyard with a donkey cart parked in it.
He bravely walked up and knocked on the door, praying in his heart that the owner of the house had never seen the reward list. When the door opened, he saw that there was nothing unusual on the man's face, so Shen pointed to the donkey cart in the yard.
The man immediately understood: "You want to buy my donkey?"
Shen nodded.
"That won't do. This donkey cart of ours is for going to the market in town. If I sell it to you, won't our legs be broken when we go to town next time?"
The woman who was feeding the chickens in the yard heard the noise and hurriedly walked behind her husband, poked his arm, and said softly: "It's not that we can't sell it, but the price is..."
After saying that, she winked at the man again. The eldest son in their family has reached school age this year, but he has no money to support himself now. Besides, the donkey at home is old. If he can sell it for a good price, why not?
"How about this, you tell me a number," the man said after his wife reminded him, "I'll discuss it with my wife."
Shen Que usually followed the prince closely and never asked about these trivial matters. He only knew that the market price of the donkey should be two taels of silver, so he raised his hand and stretched out two fingers.
The couple looked at each other and then expressed an embarrassment: "Young Master, a donkey in the town is sold for two taels of silver, but we have a cart following behind us. Can you give us another tael? Three taels of silver, we will definitely give you one without hesitation."
Shen was now in a hurry to get on with his journey, and was afraid that if he delayed any further, something unexpected would happen, so he stopped bargaining and readily took out three taels of silver to buy the donkey cart.
He refused to hire a car in Kyoto because he did not have enough money and he did not know how long he would be on the run, so he had to save money. Besides, if he had a car, it would be difficult for him to go deep into the mountains. He would have to take the side roads, which would increase the chances of being caught.
But he couldn't care less now. He felt a sharp pain in his stomach from time to time. If he didn't buy a car, he would not be able to walk.
The donkey cart was wobbly and bumpy as it moved, but fortunately the speed was not too fast and was still within Shen's tolerance.
Perhaps because he hadn't slept for several days, Shen was extremely tired. With the thin bag in his arms, he leaned over and fell into a daze and fell asleep.
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