Hong Family Hollow was a small village tucked between two mountains, occupying a sizable area with a swift river flowing by the side of the hollow. It was home to seven or eight families, nestled against the mountains and by the water.
Because Song Jiyun had offered a substantial reward, most of the residents of Hong Family Hollow had also entered the mountains, leaving only two girls around ten years old, watching over about ten toddlers, barely taller than a table, playing in the threshing ground.
Upon seeing Song Jiyun and Zheng Quan, the two girls timidly kept the toddlers close, though a plucky little boy ran over, sucking his finger and blinking his big round eyes, and asked Song Jiyun articulately, "Did you also come to our hollow to look for someone?"
Song Jiyun liked the child’s bright appearance and wanted to give him candy, but, unfortunately, she hadn’t brought any, so she simply had Zheng Quan give him two copper coins and smiled, "Take this to buy some candy."
The little boy took the money and ran to one of the ten-year-old girls, shouting, "Sister," and handed her the money, "Buy me some candy."
The girl bit her lip and looked at Song Jiyun with a baffled face.
Song Jiyun gave her a kind nod.
Three men came over to greet Song Jiyun and Zheng Quan with a bow.
Zheng Quan said, "These three men are the ones who found the markers."
The eldest of the three men bowed respectfully and greeted Song Jiyun again, addressing her as "Boss Song," then recounted the discovery of the markers, "It was late at night, we couldn’t see the path clearly and fell into a gully. Only when we went for help did we find that several trees were tied with silk ribbons... I loved listening to storytelling in the tea houses when I was young and felt these were left as markers... I then called Steward Zheng to confirm, and Steward Zheng said they were indeed markers... He alone gave us ten silver pieces as a reward."
Song Jiyun nodded and asked, "Any other discoveries?"
The three men shook their heads, and the eldest said, "We searched all the way and found those markers only in the dense forest to the east of Hong Mountain Hollow."
Zheng Quan accompanied her as he drew the surrounding terrain for her.
"It’s all centered around this spot," he said. "I divided the men into ten groups, focusing on searching this area. We also dispatched some who are very familiar with the local mountains and forests to search the nearby caves. In the latest, another hour, we should have covered this entire geographical boundary."
It was impossible not to find anyone.
Yet, Song Jiyun still wanted to visit the scene herself.
"Lead the way," she told the three men, "let’s go to where the markers were first discovered."
The three men obediently responded with a "Yes."
Zheng Quan knew she would not rest until her objective was met, and did not persuade her otherwise, accompanying her to the location where the markers were first discovered.
It was an inconspicuous mixed forest; in the morning light, it had neither a visible path nor any footprints on the ground.
How could Yuan Yunzhong have come here?
Song Jiyun stood there, watching the dawn slowly staining the clouds with rosy hues, and asked Zheng Quan, "How much longer until an hour is up?"
Zheng Quan was about to reply when a distant cheer could be heard from the woods.
Song Jiyun’s heart skipped a beat, and she said urgently to Zheng Quan, "Let’s go check it out."
Zheng Quan also showed excitement and helped Song Jiyun towards the source of the cheering.
Along the way, they occasionally encountered difficult slopes or dense forests, relying entirely on Zheng Quan’s skill to either pull her up the slopes or clear the branches blocking her path.
A cheer came through again. 𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎
Even someone as calm and composed as Song Jiyun, upon hearing it, was filled with hope of finding Yuan Yunzhong.
The two quickened their pace and soon located the source of the cheering.
About a dozen young men stood around a cave entrance, exuberantly discussing, "Now each of us should also get ten pieces of reward silver, right?"
Song Jiyun’s heart pounded as she hurried over.
The group, hearing the noise, turned around one after another.
While they did not recognize Song Jiyun, they recognized Zheng Quan.
"Steward Zheng, there’s a new discovery," the crowd bowed to Zheng Quan and exclaimed excitedly, "We also found markers nearby."
Weren’t they supposed to find a person?
Song Jiyun was hugely disappointed.
But after letting Zheng Quan confirm that the markers were not fake, she still distributed ten silver pieces to each person as previously promised and personally walked the area where the markers were discovered.
She was even more disappointed.
The cave was overgrown with moss, and there were no signs of anyone having stayed here.
It was close to where the trail marks were first discovered, so it couldn’t be ruled out that Yuan Yunzhong had merely passed by here.
She stood on the large bluestone in front of the cave, gazing at the dense mountains, worrying in her heart.
Even the thought "rather than being uncertain about life and death, it would be better to fall into Prince Ning’s hands" flashed through her mind for a moment.
Someone called out, "Miss Song."
Song Jiyun turned around.
She didn’t know when, but Magistrate Jiang and Shao Qing had appeared in front of the cave, looking exhausted.
"Have you discovered any trace of Yunzhong here?" Magistrate Jiang asked, his expression barely hiding his anxiety.
Obviously, meeting with Prince Ning had not achieved their goal, and the situation might have even worsened.
Song Jiyun’s heart sank, and with the help of Zheng Quan, she stepped down from the bluestone and said, "We found some trail marks. But we have not found Young Master Yuan so far."
Listening to this, Shao Qing, uncontrollably angry, stomped on the bluestone beside him, breaking it in half.
He said fiercely, "If anything happens to the young master, he won’t be able to disassociate himself from it!"
Everyone present knew who he was talking about.
Magistrate Jiang coughed twice, almost as if warningly, then looked into the cave and asked about the trail marks.
Zheng Quan answered everything.
The weariness in his expression grew heavier, and as he and Song Jiyun walked back toward Hong Mountain Hollow, he spoke of their visit to Prince Ning: "We were only allowed to meet Prince Ning after presenting Master Jinghu’s name card. It turned out he had been staying on a boat at South Gate Crossing all along. He naturally denied any involvement with Yunzhong’s matter."
At this point, he snorted coldly, "But what we’ve investigated isn’t so easy for him to deny. However, if we corner him and he becomes desperate enough to make a reckless move, it would be of no benefit to finding Yunzhong; I decided to take my leave tactfully and secretly arranged for someone to watch him—he knows what we have uncovered and cannot remain indifferent."
Song Jiyun nodded, talking to Magistrate Jiang under the large cypress at the entrance to Hong Mountain Hollow village: "That Min Fu, can he be bribed?"
Magistrate Jiang hesitated.
Song Jiyun said, "Everything has a price. If we can’t buy him, then there’s definitely something wrong either with how we are offering the price or the price we are offering."
Her face was as exquisite as jade, her expression stern, and in the morning light, she looked as sharp and gleaming as carved ice, sending a chill through anyone who beheld her.
In Magistrate Jiang’s mind flashed the first time he’d seen Song Jiyun, when she was all smiles and radiantly cordial.
This was entirely different from now.
Was this perhaps her true nature?
No wonder even someone like Yuan Yunzhong could talk of abandoning her.
He felt a kinship with her—he had known from a young age what he wanted, and to achieve it, he too had had to give up much.
Perhaps only someone as distinguished as Yuan Yunzhong could truly put emotions first.
After mulling this over to himself, he couldn’t help but applaud Song Jiyun’s reasoning, saying, "Miss Song makes a good point. I will send someone to look into Min Fu right away."
Song Jiyun didn’t think it would be easy to get Min Fu to talk quickly.
They were currently short on time.
Just thinking about this made her increasingly restless.
She looked up again at the distant mountains, but out of the corner of her eye, she noticed the little girl from Hong Mountain Hollow who her brother had given a copper coin, holding her brother’s hand and peeking at her.
Having no mood to interact with these children, she instructed Zheng Quan, "Go and have someone bring some candies or pastries to deal with these kids."
Lest their parents, because of her, venture into the mountains searching for someone, and the children wander off and get into trouble.
Zheng Quan complied and left.
The little girl, mustering her courage, walked up to Song Jiyun with her brother, and nervously said, "Boss Song, are you, are you looking for someone?"
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