The sun was about to set and the sky was getting dark. It was already dinnertime, but Li Hui and several guards had not yet arrived, so Zhao Xian sent someone to urge them.
The person who went there returned quickly and told Zhao Xian that the eldest prince had left the inn that afternoon and gone to the wilderness.
Even if they went to the wilderness, they should be back by now. Besides, what's so interesting about the wilderness? Zhao Xian was getting a little uneasy and ordered a few of his soldiers to go out and search.
A short while later, several guards returned with news that the eldest prince had found Xiao Hei near the farm. They led several guards to chase after him, but Xiao Hei escaped into the mountains, and the guards followed him into the mountains as well.
Zhao Xian was in a real bind. Just what he feared had come to pass. He had sent people to search for so long without finding Xiao Hei, but the First Prince had run into him the moment he stepped out. How could Xiao Hei be so unlucky?
Actually, it wasn't Xiao Hei who was unlucky this time, but the eldest prince, Li Hui. Yu Hong came up with the idea, and Xiao Hei was responsible for carrying it out. The two little guys' goal was to teach Li Hui a lesson.
Zhao Xian believed that Xiao Hei went into the mountains to escape the pursuit of the eldest prince and his companions.
Perhaps they should go find its parents. If the Crown Prince and his entourage encounter two mountain bears, their chances of survival are slim. Even if the guards are highly skilled, they will be torn to pieces by the bears.
There's no time to lose; we must quickly send people into the mountains to search for the eldest prince.
The sun had already set, and the sky was gradually getting dark.
Zhao Xian immediately went to find the village head and told him that the eldest prince had gone into the mountains and had not yet come down, probably because he was lost.
The village head was terrified. If something happened to the eldest prince, even if he had many heads, it wouldn't be enough to pay off.
Wang Lizheng immediately summoned all the hunters in the village, along with villagers familiar with the mountains, and set off with torches to search for the eldest prince.
Zhao Xian also wanted to go into the mountains to search, but the village headman didn't let him go. After all, Zhao Xian was a scholar and wasn't familiar with the situation in the mountains, so going there wouldn't be of much use.
But Zhao Xian insisted on going. He was now a sixth-rank official in the imperial court, and it was his responsibility to go into the mountains to find the eldest prince. There was no other way, so Zhao Cheng and Chen Daniu had to follow Zhao Xian, searching for the eldest prince while protecting him.
It was completely dark when they arrived. In the forest of the mountains, the light was even dimmer, but fortunately they had brought a lot of torches, enough to last them for a while.
"Your Highness, Your Highness..." The group called out as they walked.
The mountains were silent in the darkness, and the shouts carried far. If the Crown Prince were nearby, he would surely have heard them.
Wang Lizheng held a wood-chopping knife in his hand, making a few cuts on the trees along the way to leave a mark. This was how the older generation of mountain people used to go into the mountains, leaving marks so that they would never get lost, no matter how far they went.
Although it's no longer cold this season, the situation is different deep in the mountains.
Especially at night, the temperature is very low. Li Hui was already shivering from the cold. When he went out in the afternoon, the temperature was not low, and he did not wear many clothes.
They've been searching for a long time but haven't been able to find their way back. It seems they won't be able to get out of the mountains tonight. They might as well find a place to rest.
Li Hui knew that if he didn't go back, Zhao Xian would definitely send people to look for them, and it was hard to say when they would be found.
Just before nightfall, they discovered a cave. Several guards shouted at the entrance, but found no movement inside. They figured there were no wild animals hiding there, so they could go in and rest.
By this time, it was completely dark, and nothing could be seen in the cave. The guards groped around in the cave for a while and found that it was not very big. They thought that they could rest there for the night without any problem.
When Li Hui and his group went out in the afternoon, they brought neither food nor fire starter, so it seemed they would have to endure it all by themselves.
The group strained their ears, listening intently to the sounds outside, hoping to hear the shouts of rescuers.
But then a wind began to rise in the mountains. Although it wasn't very strong, the mountain wind blew through the treetops, making a piercing sound that was like a raging storm or the roar of a wild beast.
In this situation, they cannot hear the rescuers' shouts unless they are very close.
Li Hui had never experienced anything like this before, and apart from berating the guards for their incompetence, he was completely helpless.
At this moment, the guards were also quite frustrated. This mountain was too strange. They were clearly heading back, but they were just going around in circles in this forest.
The master insisted on chasing the black bear in order to get his bear paw, and now he's trapped here instead of catching the bear.
Li Hui was exhausted and hungry, but there was nothing he could do but endure it and wait for rescue.
The searchers searched the deep mountains for more than two hours without any results. By this time, they had few torches left. Once the torches ran out, they would be unable to continue the search and rescue and might even be trapped in the mountains.
The only thing to do now is to get down the mountain as soon as there is still light, and then go back up to search for the missing person early tomorrow morning.
Searching at night is too difficult; it's much easier during the day. We can recruit more people and expand the search area, which should help us find the eldest prince.
Zhao Xian was very worried, as there were many wild animals in the mountains, and he hoped that the eldest prince and his party would not encounter any wild animals.
When the search and rescue team returned, it was already late at night. The family was relieved to see Zhao Xian return, but the fact that they had not found the eldest prince made them worried again.
After a sleepless night, the village head led a large group of villagers into the mountains at the crack of dawn the next day. They split into several groups to search for the eldest prince.
Zhao Xian ordered all his soldiers to split into several groups and follow the villagers into the mountains, bringing plenty of food and water. The eldest prince and his companions had not eaten for so long and must be very hungry and thirsty.
At the confluence of the two mountains, the group split up to search. According to an older hunter, the prince and his companions were probably lost and didn't know how to get out of the mountains.
The place where it's easiest to get lost is a place called Sanjiewan. It's a large forest with complex terrain, and once people go in, they can't tell which way to go and it's very difficult to get out.
Some hunters in the village dare not come here to hunt easily, for fear of getting lost in these mountains and forests. This elderly hunter has not gone into the mountains to hunt for a long time.
The situation was critical, so Wang Lizheng asked him to go out and help search for the eldest prince in the mountains.
Zhao Xian led a group of men, following the old hunter, toward Sanjie Bay, and had his men shout as they walked.
Li Hui and several guards stayed in the cave all night, finally making it to dawn.
They waited until dawn before emerging from the cave.
"Your Highness, the beehive!" a guard exclaimed excitedly.
Following the sound, everyone looked up and saw a huge cluster of beehives on a rock above the cave entrance. The beehives were golden-orange, and the honey inside seemed to be dripping out.
This was clearly a wild beehive, an absolute must-have for the hungry men, whose mouths watered at the sight of it.
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