No one in the capital city received the news of the Chu family's death, so no one went to pay their respects.

All the mansions in the capital saw the Chu family hanging up a white cloth and knew that there was a funeral in their family. The rest were unaware and there was a lot of speculation for a while. So the Chu family announced to the public that there were many things going on at home recently. Before Chu Lingyu died, he said that the funeral should be simple. In addition, the lady was ill, and the old lady was traumatized by the loss of her loved one, so she has been bedridden.

As a result, even Chu Yunyi was kept in the dark for several days. It was not until the seventh day of March that he learned about this matter.

At that moment, Chu Yunyi was a little surprised and hesitant. He wanted to go back to the Chu family to inquire about the situation, but he felt uncomfortable. He couldn't help but ask Yunzhan what he thought.

Yunzhan said, "Since they didn't call you, what are you going to do when you go back? Besides, what does this have to do with you?"

Chu Yunyi: “…”

Chu Yunyi thought about it carefully and felt that what Yunzhan said was very true.

What Yun Zhan said was actually his own feelings as a bastard. As long as the Yun family didn't come to call him, it was either nothing serious or they didn't want him to know at all, so he just had to pretend he didn't know.

Chu Lingyu's death didn't even cause a ripple. It just passed by without anyone caring or thinking about it.

Since Chu Lingyu was buried, the Chu family continued to close its doors to visitors.

The news of Chu Lingyu's burial also reached Shen Qianchen's ears.

As long as the Chu family doesn't bother his mother and brother, Shen Qianchen doesn't bother to care about the Chu family's affairs. He just asks Amber to be careful. Anyway, they have spies in the Chu family. If something big happens in the Chu family, those spies will see the opportunity to pass the news to Prince Chen's Mansion.

On this day, Shen Qianchen, who had been hiding in the house for a few days, rarely came out of his room and went to the side hall of Shaohua Hall to meet someone.

"Princess, I just came back from Yuzhou today, and this trip was quite rewarding." A lean middle-aged man in a green robe saluted Shen Qianchen solemnly.

He had an ordinary appearance, a medium build, neither fat nor thin. He was the kind of person who could blend in with the crowd. On his dark face, a pair of triangular eyes were bright and sharp.

Shen Qianchen looked at the other person with great interest. Jiang Yuan told her that this man was called Lao Dou, who was also retired from the army. He was a good at gathering information and used to be a spy in the army. That was why he was sent by Gu Jue to the Chu family's old house to do work.

Jiang Yuan said simply, "Dad, just tell me straight."

The old man responded respectfully, holding his fists in a fist, and reported in an orderly manner: "Princess, I have inquired in Changheng Town. When Concubine Jiang was three months pregnant, she was sent to Changheng Town in Yuzhou by the old marquis. At that time, the people who accompanied Concubine Jiang were Madam Cui and Madam Yu, who will later be your head madam."

"When Aunt Jiang arrived in Changheng Town, she traveled a long way. She was worried about the unstable fetal position, so she asked Dr. Li from the local Li's Medical Hall to check her pulse. After that, Dr. Li would check Aunt Jiang's pulse every ten days."

"According to several servants in the Chu family's old house, when Aunt Jiang first arrived there, she was very unhappy and kept to herself, rarely leaving the courtyard where she lived, so they didn't have much contact with her."

"However, Aunt Jiang attached great importance to the fetus in her belly. When she was six or seven months pregnant, she asked the nanny to ask the villagers in that area for a piece of cloth and made a piece of cloth for the child herself."

"It was not easy for Aunt Jiang to have a baby. When the baby was seven months old, the doctor and the midwife said that her belly was too big and they were worried that it would be difficult to give birth to the baby. They asked her to eat less and move more. At that time, people in the house often saw her maids and nannies helping her walk around in the garden."

"One evening in July, a month before the birth, Aunt Jiang slipped and fell in the garden. She fell hard and fell to the ground. Many people in the garden saw it and said that Aunt Jiang was bleeding and couldn't stop."

"Later, we asked the servants of the old house to invite a doctor, and the doctor was Doctor Li again." The old man said with a flash in his eyes and glanced at the princess's face.

Shen Qianchen didn't say anything either. He drank tea while listening to the other person talking. He seemed to be concentrating, yet also seemed to be nonchalant.

From time to time, the rustling sound of wind blowing through flowers and trees could be heard in the hall, and even the passage of time seemed to slow down.

The old man calmed down and continued with confidence: "I think this old doctor Li is worth investigating, so I sent someone to look for him."

"However, Doctor Li and his family moved away from Changheng Town ten years ago and moved to western Henan. This time, we took some effort to find him and bring him back to the capital from Yuzhou."

It wouldn't take more than a month to travel from the capital to Yuzhou and back. They were delayed for some time and came back so late because they were looking for Doctor Li.

Fortunately, they found Doctor Li, otherwise this trip to Yuzhou would have been a fruitless one and they would not be able to explain to the prince.

The old man was secretly rejoicing in his heart.

Shen Qianchen put down the teacup and asked, "Where is the person?"

"The person is waiting outside." Lao Dou replied quickly.

So, the old man went out and told the servant waiting outside the hall, and the servant quickly ran out of the courtyard and soon brought in a skinny, hunchbacked old man in gray.

The old man in gray looked to be in his sixties, with white hair and deep wrinkles all over his long face. He could not hide his fear and trepidation in his steps.

The temperature in March was pleasant, but his forehead and temples were covered with beads of sweat.

Doctor Li has never left Yuzhou in his life. Unexpectedly, at the age of sixty, he was taken to the capital city thousands of miles away to meet a nobleman.

Princess, such an unattainable noble person was someone he had never dared to think about in the past, and Doctor Li couldn't help feeling uneasy.

Doctor Li had just been warned, and he answered tremblingly, "At that time, Aunt Jiang fell down, and I... when I checked her pulse, I found that she had lost too much blood and her fetus was unstable... I was incompetent, so I said I couldn't do anything, and Aunt Jiang and the two maids beside her scolded me, and drove me away, saying they were going to find a better doctor somewhere else."

Doctor Li frowned and sighed, "Changheng Town is a small place. In those days, there were only two other famous clinics besides my Li's Clinic. However, I didn't know that the Chu family also invited the doctor from that clinic to come to their house."

"I never went to the Chu residence again after that."

Doctor Li became more and more nervous as he spoke, and couldn't help wiping the sweat from his forehead with his sleeve.

There was silence in the side hall for a moment.

Shen Qianchen drank another sip of tea, and then asked: "Doctor, do you still remember Aunt Jiang's pulse?"

"My princess..." Doctor Li swallowed.

Fifteen years had passed since this incident, and Doctor Li had long forgotten Aunt Jiang. After all, he had been practicing medicine for more than forty years and had met countless pregnant women. It was not until mid-February when someone from Prince Chen's Mansion came to his door that he recalled this past event.

Just as he said just now, Changheng Town is a small place, and the Chu family is the largest family there, so Doctor Li always has some impression of this matter.

At that time, he found out that the baby in Aunt Jiang's belly was most likely to die. He told the truth, and Aunt Jiang became very emotional, almost hysterical, which made Doctor Li panic. He was afraid that if the baby was gone, the Chu family would be angry with him and cause trouble for their clinic, so when he returned home from the Chu family's old house, he wrote down Aunt Jiang's pulse record, just in case.

But afterwards, there was no news from the Chu family. Later, he heard that the concubine of the Chu family had safely given birth to a child, so he felt relieved and put away the pulse record together with other pulse records that recorded difficult and complicated diseases.

This hiding lasted for fourteen years.

This time, people from Prince Chen's Mansion came to him and repeatedly asked him about what happened fifteen years ago regarding Aunt Jiang. He was also afraid, so he recalled it carefully and remembered the pulse case.

"I have found the pulse case from that year." Old Doctor Li said dryly. He did not dare to look directly at Shen Qianchen who was sitting at the top of the table. He just felt that the other party was very noble, which was very different from those daughters of small families he had met in the town before.

One is in heaven, the other is in hell, there is really no comparison. Old Doctor Li sighed inwardly and wiped the cold sweat off his forehead with his sleeves.

The pulse record was kept by the old man himself. At this time, he took out the pulse record and presented it to Amber.

After fifteen years, the paper of the pulse case has turned yellow, and there are some brown stains on one corner of the paper, but fortunately the ink on it is very clear.

Shen Qianchen looked at the pulse case carefully, word by word.

According to the records of Doctor Li, Aunt Jiang had a heavy pain in her lower abdomen and continuous bleeding in her lower body. The blood was bright red, her tongue was purple, and her pulse was stringy and slippery. Due to external trauma, the Chong and Ren meridians were damaged, and the fetus was not solid, which was a symptom of fetal leakage.

Shen Qianchen twitched his eyebrows.

If Doctor Li had not misjudged the pulse, then Aunt Jiang's baby would most likely have not been saved. At least, this was not something an ordinary doctor could do. Even in the capital, several imperial physicians who were good at gynecology in the Imperial Medical Service might not have been able to save the fetus.

Shen Qianchen left the pulse report and said to Doctor Li in a gentle tone: "Thank you, Doctor Li, for making you travel all the way to the capital."

As she spoke, she instructed Jiang Yuan to prepare a thank-you gift for the other party, as he couldn't let the trip go in vain.

Doctor Li hurriedly said no, no, and he finally breathed a sigh of relief.

Jiang Yuan personally invited the old doctor Li to leave, gave him five hundred taels of silver as a thank-you gift, and found two guards from the palace to escort the old man back to Yuzhou in two days.

Doctor Li went out, but Lao Dou stayed. He had to continue to report the following events:

"After Aunt Jiang fell in July of that year, she announced that she was trying to protect the fetus and never left the house again. It wasn't until August 20th that the baby's cry was heard."

The old man's eyes flickered and his expression was very complicated.

They also spent a lot of energy. After all, fifteen years have passed, and many people have either died or left, and many people's memories are blurred. They asked everyone they could, and it was because the old patriarch of the Chu family passed away that year, and the Chu family held a large buffet during the funeral. Many people in the town went to eat the buffet, so some people barely remembered the date.

Finally, the old man said, "Princess, this is all I have found."

He was a smart man and could guess what the princess might be suspicious of, but he had no evidence.

Shen Qianchen was not too disappointed and his expression remained normal.

After all, it has been so many years, and what they were able to find out about this old doctor Li was much more detailed than what Duke Mu's Mansion did last year.

"Thank you for your hard work." Shen Qianchen said with a smile, and sent his old man away, letting him go down and rest.

She sat alone in the side hall, thinking quietly.

August 20th is her birthday, or rather, it is what she always thought was her birthday in her previous life. Could the crying baby that those people in her hometown were talking about be Chu Qianhuang, or herself who was taken away by Chu Lingxiao?

“Meow!”

The black cat, which had been wandering outside the hall for a long time, saw that there was finally no one in the house, and ran into the hall while meowing happily.

The black cat had no idea what its owner was worried about. It rubbed the hem of her skirt carefreely and then jumped lightly onto her lap. Accidentally, sharp hooks extended from its four snow-white paws and hooked her skirt.

Amber felt very sad when she saw this. Although the skirt was not new, the princess had only worn it a few times and it was damaged by this stupid cat.

The black cat was completely unaware of Amber's anger and called out in a baby voice several times, asking for petting.

"Bad thing!" Shen Qianchen stretched out his finger and flicked the black cat's brow lightly, envying the bad cat's heartlessness.

"Princess," Amber saw that Shen Qianchen was worried and couldn't help but ask, "Do you suspect that Aunt Jiang actually..." had a miscarriage?

If it is said that Aunt Jiang had a miscarriage due to a fall in the garden on that July evening fifteen years ago, then where did Chu Qianhuang come from?

Amber swallowed her saliva and stammered, "Isn't the eldest girl..." Aunt Jiang's biological daughter? Shen Qianchen paused for a moment while touching the cat's right hand, and this pause was equivalent to answering Amber's guess.

The reason why Shen Qianchen asked Gu Jue to send someone to investigate was because he felt that Aunt Jiang's attitude towards Chu Qianhuang was very strange. Unlike her, she was really good to Chu Yunyi and loved him from the bottom of her heart without any selfish motives. It was the love a mother has for her child.

When it comes to Chu Yunyi, Aunt Jiang is a qualified biological mother.

But whether towards herself or Chu Qianhuang, Aunt Jiang's attitude was very subtle. There was no love or sympathy, no protection, and she didn't even hope for the best for her daughter.

Even those mothers who prefer sons to daughters mostly hope that their daughters can live a good life.

Aunt Jiang was more inclined to take advantage of Chu Qianhuang and more inclined to take revenge on herself.

If Chu Qianhuang was not her biological daughter, then her "cold-hearted" treatment of Chu Qianhuang could be explained.

Suddenly, Shen Qianchen remembered what Master Juehui said to Chu Qianhuang at Baiyun Temple that day: "Come from where you came from, go to where you are going, cause and effect are cyclical."

She always felt that this sentence hinted that the real Chu Qianhuang might still come back.

Most of the time, Shen Qianchen believed that human will prevail, but in this matter, she seemed to be unable to do anything.

Shen Qianchen sighed silently.

The Chu Qianhuang that Shen Zhi raised personally was definitely not like the one now.

It would be great if the original Chu Qianhuang could come back! Although Shen Qianchen had a lot of vague memories of her previous life in the Chu family, she was sure that the Chu Qianhuang of the previous life should have been usurped by the current person.

Therefore, in the previous life, when Mu Ge'er fell from the rockery, it was Chu Qianhuang who covered for Madam Cui, and Madam Cui escaped without anyone suspecting Madam Cui; therefore, even when Shen Zhi passed away, Chu Qianhuang did not seem too sad;

Therefore, when his reputation was suspected to be tarnished just because of a mere wallet, Chu Qianhuang did not stand up to speak for himself.

…

Thinking of Chu Qianhuang, Shen Qianchen couldn't help but look at the sky outside. The sky was blue, and white clouds were slowly drifting to the south with the wind. The clouds were changing unpredictably.

Shen Qianchen knew that Chu Qianhuang could not go to Hao Country. Gu Jue would not hide the pigeon messages he received from her. Prince Rui and his men should be returning to Beijing soon.

Shen Qianchen happily rubbed the cat's back a few times, his lips curved, his eyes sparkling, and his smile as bright as the rising sun.

After Chu Qianhuang returns to Beijing, some things that need to be settled need to be settled quickly, otherwise this matter has been delayed for even longer.

"Meow!" The black cat narrowed its eyes and called out with satisfaction, as if agreeing with Shen Qianchen.

Shen Qianchen was in a good mood, but Prince Rui, who was far away in Yuzhou, was having a headache.

After he stood up, the first thing he said was, "Has Deputy Commander Xu returned from Changjing Town?"

At this moment, Prince Rui and his entourage were in Yuan'an County, more than ten miles away from Changjing Town. They had been in this small county for quite a few days.

"Your Highness, Deputy Commander Xu has not returned yet." The attendant shook his head.

Prince Rui: “…”

Prince Rui looked extremely ugly. In just a few days, he had lost a lot of weight and had many more white hairs on his temples due to worry.

He raised his hand and rubbed his temple. He even lost his appetite for breakfast. He looked through the window towards Changjing Town with a dazed look in his eyes.

Until now, Prince Rui is still confused. At dusk that day, not long after they and the Prince of Andaman and his entourage entered Changjing Town, they all fainted.

By the time Prince Rui woke up in his carriage, it was already the next morning. They returned to the entrance of Changjing Town. Others were lying on the ground or unconscious in the carriage. They all woke up one after another at about the same time.

At first, Prince Rui thought they were being robbed, but all the Qi people in the team were intact, including Yuan Zhitong.

Only the Prince of Andaman and his entourage were missing.

At that moment, Prince Rui sent the Jinwu Guards to investigate the whereabouts of Prince Andaman and his companions. However, the Jinwu Guards searched the entire Changjing Town but could not find Andaman and his companions.

Over the next three days, the Jinwu Guards searched the town several times, digging deep underground but found nothing. There was neither blood nor corpses in the town.

Andaman and the others seemed to have disappeared out of thin air and are nowhere to be found.

For a time, people were in confusion and speculation.

This matter was really too unbelievable. Prince Rui roughly guessed that the Prince of Andaman and his men had most likely encountered some kind of accident...

"Your Majesty, Princess Anxing requests to see you." At this time, the voice of the attendant woke Prince Rui from his thoughts.

The long-servant looked at his master worriedly, knowing that the prince had not slept much last night.

Prince Rui frowned slightly, thinking that these little girls were young but petty, so he dismissed them casually, "Tell her that I have official business!"

The attendant responded and left.

Prince Rui clenched his right fist and tapped it on the table impatiently, and couldn't help but think of Chu Qianhuang.

They couldn't find any trace of Andaman in Changjing Town, and Prince Rui ordered to return to the capital immediately. At that time, it was Chu Qianhuang who dissuaded him and asked him to stay for a few more days.

Chu Qianhuang said: "Your Majesty, I think it is not appropriate to return to the capital now."

"Prince Andaman is missing now. If you return to the capital now, I'm afraid it will be difficult to explain to the emperor!"

"Your Highness, it's impossible for so many people to disappear out of thin air. Since we can't find them in Changjing Town or the dock, should we look for them in other towns near Changjing Town?"

"Even if something really happened to Haoren, we have to see the body."

At that time, the words Chu Qianhuang said still echo clearly in Prince Rui's ears.

Prince Rui actually had no idea at all. This matter was too bizarre. He didn't even know how to write the memorial. After all, he couldn't explain to the emperor why Prince Andaman disappeared, let alone whether Andaman and the other Hao people were dead or alive.

To put it bluntly, if the person is alive, it's fine, but if he dies in the territory of Da Qi, things will be troublesome. How should Da Qi explain to Emperor Hao Wuhadula? !

Therefore, after hearing what Chu Qianhuang said, Prince Rui changed his mind again. He ordered his troops to be stationed in Yuan'an County for a few days and asked Commander Xu of the Jinwu Guard to lead his troops to continue searching for the whereabouts of Andaman and other Hao people near Changjing Town.

The search has continued to this day.

If he still couldn't find the person, should he continue looking? Prince Rui was in a dilemma again.

The attendant had already arrived outside the house and politely said to Yuan Zhitong, who was waiting under the eaves: "Your Highness Princess Anxing, the prince is busy, please go back."

Yuan Zhitong smiled gently. Although he was rejected here, he still maintained a friendly attitude. After responding a few words appropriately, he turned around.

The next moment, the corners of her lips curled up uncontrollably, and the joy in the corners of her eyes and eyebrows could not be concealed.

No news is the best news!

Last month, when they arrived at Changjing Town, Yuan Zhitong had already accepted his fate, but he didn't expect that there would be a sudden turn of events at the last minute.

Andaman is missing, so she doesn't have to go to Nanhao! When Yuan Zhitong walked out of the small courtyard where Prince Rui lived, she happened to pass by a tall and mighty middle-aged man. She nodded slightly to him: "Deputy Commander Xu!"

Deputy Commander Xu had a solemn look on his face. He saluted Yuan Zhitong absentmindedly, then said he was going to report to Prince Rui and left in a hurry.

If it was a real princess, Prince Rui and Deputy Commander Xu would not be so disrespectful, but everyone knew that Yuan Zhitong was just the emperor's adopted daughter, just a sacrifice. Not worth mentioning.

However, Yuan Zhitong didn't care about their disrespect at all. What she cared about was that Deputy Commander Xu obviously still hadn't found the person.

Yuan Zhitong and the head maid exchanged a glance calmly, and the cheeks of both the master and servant were flushed like peach blossoms.

If possible, who would want to leave their hometown and go to a foreign country!

God has mercy on her, she can go back to the capital! Yuan Zhitong's eyes were faintly filled with tears, and she was so excited that she was about to cry.

She turned around and watched Deputy Commander Xu enter the house and then continue walking forward. She thought: It's just a matter of staying here for a few more days, it's no big deal.

On the other side, Deputy Commander Xu followed the captain into the room. His expression was so serious that Prince Rui's heart skipped a beat.

He originally thought that the mission of the bride escort was simple, just escorting Yuan Zhitong and the two concubines to Hao State, but he did not expect that such a simple mission would encounter such a bizarre change! Prince Rui felt that the vegetable and shredded chicken porridge in his mouth had lost its taste.

Deputy Commander Xu said straight to the point: "Your Majesty, we just found a lot of unidentified bodies in a mass grave about five miles away from Changjing Town. But they are not the bodies of Hao people, but the bodies of Daqi people. There are hundreds of them."

"Judging from the degree of decay of the bodies, it should be at least half a year. Judging from the wounds, they must have been massacred!"

As he spoke, Deputy Commander Xu frowned deeply, his face as gloomy as water.

He had also wondered where the disappeared residents of Changjing Town had gone, and now he finally found the answer.

Prince Rui: “…”

When Prince Rui heard the other party talking about corpses and decay, his appetite disappeared again and he could not eat the porridge. He picked up a handkerchief and wiped his mouth.

The attendant quickly handed Prince Rui a cup of tea for him to rinse his mouth.

Prince Rui drank his tea absentmindedly, with a huge rock pressing on his heart.

How could such a good town be massacred? !

(End of this chapter)