missing
The Xianwang Mansion was in an uproar again this morning.
After getting up and dressing in the morning, the concubine wanted to have breakfast with the prince, so she sent someone to invite the virtuous king. The servants knocked on the virtuous king's door several times, the noises becoming louder and louder, and the force becoming deeper and deeper, but no one answered.
The prince has always been strict with himself and always gets up at the hour of Mao. Could it be... There must not be any more accidents in the palace? The servant pushed open the door with an uneasy heart. The room was empty. The bedding had not been spread out. The official uniform was neatly folded on the bed. The official boots were also placed flat on the ground at the end of the bed with the toes facing outwards. There was no letter left on the table. The personal servant checked and found that a casual outfit was missing from the closet. It was the dark martial arts uniform that the prince often wore when practicing martial arts.
The servants immediately ordered people to search the entire mansion, but after a round, they found no trace of the prince. Also missing was Benlei, who was kept alone in the stable.
The servant was shocked and ran to report to the concubine, "The prince is missing!"
The concubine had just finished dressing up and was combing her hair in front of the mirror when she heard the servant's words. Her face turned pale and she stood up suddenly. She felt dizzy and was supported steadily by the maid beside her, so she did not faint.
Sun Zili was stunned when he received the report from Prince Xian's mansion. The Prince was a high-ranking general; who could possibly hold him hostage? The palace's guards had reported that the Prince had been shot and received a letter that night. How could that be related to this incident? Ben Lei had also disappeared. Could it be that the Prince had ridden away on horseback without informing anyone at the mansion and hadn't returned yet? This didn't align with the Prince's usual cautious nature. Every indication indicated that this was anything but ordinary. If they didn't act now to find the Prince, something terrible might happen!
Sun Zili immediately gathered people and wanted to go to the Ministry of Justice to notify Fang Duo to go together, but saw Zhong Yujing rushing over.
Zhong Yujing hurriedly bowed to his grandson and said, "Sun Shaoqing, I can help you find the virtuous king. There is no time to lose, we must set off immediately. If we are late, His Highness the virtuous king's life may be in danger. I will tell you the specific situation while we walk." The two of them led a group of people and set off immediately.
At the gate of the Dali Temple, Ben Lei had been waiting for a long time. Sun Zili jumped on his horse and wanted to take Zhong Yujing with him, but Zhong Yujing smiled and said, "No need, Sun Shaoqing. I can ride Ben Lei and it will take us to His Royal Highness the Wise King." After saying this, he flipped over and jumped on the horse. Sun Zili couldn't help but sigh, "Prince Jing is so heroic. She is truly as brave as a man."
Zhong Yujing smiled indifferently, lightly pushed the horse's belly with his feet, let out a long thunderous roar, and ran out.
Zhong Yujing and Sun Zili walked side by side, and told his intention to Sun Zili.
It turned out that after Zhong Yujing woke up in the morning, she heard the servants in the mansion talking about a horse that came to the door last night and kept banging its body against the door and neighing. No matter how the doorman tried to drive it away, it would not leave and even tried to break in.
Seeing the horse's agile build and armored body, the gatekeeper guessed that it was definitely not an ordinary horse. Moreover, although it could not speak, it seemed to understand his words and was quite intelligent. So the gatekeeper decided to lead it into the mansion and put it in the stable, and make a decision after reporting to the owner early the next morning.
Unexpectedly, the horse seemed to be in a hurry and was very restless in the stable. It made a fuss all night. It did not attack anyone, but just kept jumping around and calling the doorman, not letting him leave. The doorman was disturbed by it all night and complained to the servants in the morning with dark circles under his eyes.
Zhong Yujing went forward and took a look, and was shocked. The dog the doorman was holding was none other than Ben Lei. How did it get to the Zhong Mansion?
When Ben Lei saw Zhong Yujing, he shouted even more urgently, broke free from the reins in the doorman's hand, and ran towards Zhong Yujing. The servants were frightened and rushed forward to stop him, but they were not as fast as Ben Lei. He had already run in front of Zhong Yujing, opened his mouth, and spit out a white handkerchief, which fell into Zhong Yujing's hand.
Zhong Yujing opened the handkerchief, and found a piece of jade wrapped inside. There were two incomprehensible characters engraved on the jade, which sounded like some ancient language. When Zhong Yujing saw the texture of the jade pendant and the pendant on it, she felt that it looked familiar.
After a moment's thought, she realized it was Shangguan Yichen's personal jade pendant. And that white handkerchief, embroidered with a lotus flower and a single word, "Jing," on the corner, was the one she had dropped some time ago.
All of Zhong Yujing's handkerchiefs were embroidered with lotus flowers and her name. Unexpectedly, this unnoticed handkerchief was picked up by the virtuous king. Even more unexpectedly, Ben Lei would follow the scent to find the owner of the handkerchief and become the medium to find the virtuous king at this moment.
Zhong Yujing immediately felt that something was wrong and vaguely realized that the virtuous king must be in trouble and needed help, so he rode on Benlei and headed to the Dali Temple.
When Ben Lei found her and realized that the message had been conveyed, he stopped chirping and just cooperated with Zhong Yujing by running all the way. When he arrived at the gate of Dali Temple, he had just dismounted when he heard the yamen runner come to report that the Xian Wang was missing. Zhong Yujing realized that her suspicion was true and it was not an unfounded worry. The Xian Wang was indeed trapped and his life was in danger.
After hearing this, Sun Zili couldn't help but sigh with relief: "Ben Lei is truly a spirit horse! I'm so lucky to have him this time."
Ben Lei seemed to understand, and he let out a long roar and ran even faster, as fast as lightning.
Led by Ben Lei, the men and horses arrived in front of the mountain. Sun Zili looked closely, his brows suddenly furrowed, his face gloomy, he immediately reined in his horses and ordered all the men and horses to stop.
Zhong Yujing also pulled Benlei's rope tightly. Benlei stopped unexpectedly and raised his front hooves. Zhong Yujing stood up and almost fell backwards. "What's the matter?" he asked doubtfully.
"The forest ahead is the soul-breaking Yinfeng Forest!" Sun Zili was stunned, his pupils widened, and he exclaimed in surprise.
Zhong Yujing was also startled. This place was a desperate place; anyone who entered would never return. However, the current situation was too critical to consider. The virtuous king was in the forest. Even if there were wolves and tigers waiting there, they had to move forward. There was no way back.
Both of them knew what was going on. They paused for a moment, looked at each other, spurred their horses and continued to lead the team into the forest.
Ben Lei was walking through the forest covered with morning dew, with the people and horses behind him following closely. The forest, which was already like a maze, was covered by fog and moisture, making it impossible to tell the way back and the direction to go. Zhong Yujing understood the feelings of those who were trapped in the forest and could only wait for death in despair. She felt even more grateful to Ben Lei and hugged its neck.
Ben Lei stopped in a valley. The terrain here was relatively flat and surrounded by mountains. Strangely, the thick fog was completely blocked outside by the surrounding mountains. The air in the valley was fresh and the view was broad.
Ben Lei surveyed the surroundings, taking tentative steps, and stopped in front of a bush between two mountains. Zhong Yujing stepped forward and parted the branches, revealing a path carved by years of trampling. Surprised, she turned back to Sun Zili and the others and said, "There's a hidden path!"
A group of people entered the woods. The dark road was narrow and only allowed one person to pass. They lined up and walked carefully into the depths of the forest. The road was winding and there were dense weeds under their feet. They took one deep step and one shallow step, and it was easy for them to trip and get scratched. They didn't know how far they had walked. At the end of the road, a hidden door appeared on the right. The door was covered with vines and branches, making it very hidden. They didn't notice that there was no space on the bolt, which showed that people came here often.
Zhong Yujing and Sun Zili looked at each other and nodded. They retreated to both sides of the door in tacit understanding. Sun Zili winked at the yamen runners behind him. The leading yamen runner also nodded. He held his sword in his hand, waited for the right moment, waved his hand, and led a group of yamen runners to break through the door and rush in. Zhong Yujing and Sun Zili followed closely behind.
Behind the door was a courtyard. Although it was not large, it had green tiles and white walls, and the layout was exquisite, dignified and orderly. The courtyard was clean everywhere, and it was obvious that someone had lived there for a long time. The bailiff found the virtuous king in the back room of the main hall.
Zhong Yujing and Sun Zili entered the back room and saw the virtuous king lying flat on a large bed in the back room, with his head resting on a green jade lotus pillow. He was wearing the dark casual clothes that the servant in the mansion found missing from the closet. He had his hands on his abdomen, his face calm, and his breathing even.
The bed where the virtuous king lay was hung with gauze curtains, and the bedding was all brocade quilts embroidered with gold thread. There was a square table under the window on the north side of the house, with a gilded bronze mirror on top and a bamboo dressing box next to it. When it was opened, it was found to be filled with women's cosmetics, jewelry and other items. There was also a carved wooden comb under the bronze mirror, with a long black hair caught in the teeth of the comb. Walking west along the window, there was a square corner cabinet against the wall, with women's clothes neatly stacked inside.
The whole back room was filled with fragrance, the air was filled with the scent of a woman. This was a room where a woman lived for a long time.
Sun Zili glanced at the virtuous king lying on the bed with his hat straightened up, and took out a medicine bottle from his arms, "This is a gift from a medical officer I know. When you go out to investigate a case, you may encounter all kinds of strange tricks. The medical officer said that if you are accidentally poisoned and fainted, regardless of whether your internal organs are damaged, you can smell this medicine first, and you will wake up instantly. I think the virtuous king looks like he has been drugged, so let's try this medicine on him first." Then he put the medicine bottle under the virtuous king's nose and shook it. Sure enough, the virtuous king's eyelids trembled slightly, his eyeballs moved around, and he opened his eyes.
Shangguan Yichen opened his heavy eyelids, and the princess's crimson gauze curtain came into view. The soft and silky touch under his body and the strong fragrance in the air made his head dizzy. He supported his forehead with his hand, straightened his upper body, sat up, and looked up to see Zhong Yujing and Sun Zili standing by the bed, looking at him nervously, with a group of yamen runners standing behind them.
"Prime Minister Jing, Shaoqing Sun, why are you here? Where...is this?" He shook his head, as if it was filled with a heavy weight, which made his thoughts stuck and not flow smoothly. He could not remember anything.
Sun Zili stepped forward and saluted, saying, "Your Highness, do you still remember who brought you here?"
Shangguan Yichen frowned and closed his eyes, trying hard to recall. Suddenly, he opened his eyes, stood up, and asked, "Did you see anyone else when you came in?"
Zhong Yujing, Sun Zili, and the yamen runners all looked at each other and shook their heads.
Shangguan Yichen pressed on: "Have you never seen a man?"
Everyone shook their heads again. Sun Zili clasped his fists and said, "Your Highness, when we broke into the courtyard, it was quiet and deserted. We found Your Highness lying on a couch inside this room, seemingly drugged. We used the antidote we carried with us and had him inhale it, which woke him up. That's it."
Shangguan Yichen pursed his lips and frowned in deep thought.
Sun Zili continued, "I have checked everywhere and found that this is probably where a woman lived for a long time. No trace of a man was found."
Shangguan Yichen nodded, still looking down in thought.
Suddenly, a door creaked open in the outer courtyard, and the sound of footsteps approached from afar...
The yamen runners quickly drew their swords and stood in front of the three men. Everyone stared in the direction of the footsteps, holding their breath. Shangguan Yichen calmly pulled Zhong Yujing behind him.
The visitor walked slowly from the front hall to the back room. She was wearing indigo cloud-embroidered shoes and a turquoise dress. Shen Qingci took off the mask on her face and smiled. "I didn't know there would be so many distinguished guests visiting today. I'm sorry for not welcoming you. I'm sorry for being so rude. Please forgive me."
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