Chapter 112

 

As the shadows of the sun grew longer, the wind gently blew the curtains of the tents at the edge of the woods, making the surroundings even quieter and more silent.

Yang Zai’en looked at the sun that was beginning to set, and called a eunuch who was standing nearby, telling him to pass on a message to all the followers who were still resting to prepare for the return journey. At this moment, he saw Li Wanwan, Li Hui, Guo Guo’er and others hurriedly walking towards him, so he went up to them, saluted with a smile, and was about to remind them to prepare to leave, but then heard Li Wanwan ask him if he had seen Lu Wenjun.

The two county princesses had a good relationship and liked to spend everything together. After leaving the princess in the afternoon, the two of them also rested in the same tent. Yang Zai’en had always thought that they were together, and hurriedly asked what happened. However, Li Wanwan seemed unwilling to elaborate, only saying that Lu Wenjun had been out for some time and had not come back. Just now, she called Li Hui, and the two siblings looked for her together, but couldn’t found her.

When Yang Zai’en heard this, his heart skipped a beat. He quickly called for people to search around the camp, but still could not find Lu Wenjun.

Although the Forbidden Garden was enclosed on all sides, with access restricted through its gates, only the areas around the palace pavilions, stables, and animal enclosures were regularly frequented. In contrast, the vast stretches of forest and open wilderness in the northwest—used as a hunting ground where they were now—were desolate, rarely visited by people, and teeming with insects and wild beasts.

And from what Li Wanwan said, it seems that Lu Wenjun didn’t bring anyone with her when she went out. What if something happened…

Yang Zai’en hurriedly ran towards the purple tent.

Pei Xiaoyuan and Xuyu had already stood up and were tidying up their clothes inside the tent.

The tent was thin, and it was broad daylight, with people outside, so how could Pei Xiaoyuan dare to do anything inappropriate? After he separated from Chengping and returned, he merely accompanied her for a short rest, and a brief affectionate moment. Now, having tidied himself up, he considered the evening chill in the open air and worried she might catch cold while riding. He draped a thick brocade cloak over her shoulders, fastening the ties securely. Just as he was about to step outside to call for someone, his gaze fell upon her delicate features, and for a moment, he found himself unable to look away. His fingers traced the smooth curve of her neck, gliding gently to her earlobe. Leaning in, he murmured against her ear, “My injury is almost healed…” Then, he whispered something else—something undoubtedly inappropriate. Xuyu did not respond but instead buried her face against his chest, stifling her laughter.

Not only that, but Pei Xiaoyuan also felt her lift her arms and wrap them around his waist. His heart wavered even more, and he nearly wished he could return to Xianliu Palace immediately and send the county princesses and the others away that very night.

He tried his best to suppress the overwhelming affection surging in his chest, and simply held her in quiet embrace for a moment longer.

Gradually, a chaotic sound of footsteps could be heard outside the tent. He raised his palm, gently lifted her chin, and pressed a light kiss on the little star mark on her forehead. Softly coaxing her, he murmured, “Alright now, when we return, I’ll let you hug me as much as you like. For now, let’s go out first, everyone should be waiting outside…”

Xuyu sneered: “Who wants to hug you!”

She pushed him away.

Pei Xiaoyuan smiled, and took the opportunity to grab her hand that was just about to be pulled back and squeezed it. He then let her go completely, turned around to step out. At this moment, he heard Yang Zai’en’ voice from outside the tent, saying that County Princess Danyang was missing.

The smile on Xuyu’s lips suddenly froze. She and Pei Xiaoyuan looked at each other, then hurried out of the tent. She saw Li Wanwan there too, looking frightened.

Li Wanwan no longer dared to hide anything from her and quickly told her the whole story.

In the afternoon, after she and Lu Wenjun came out of Xuyu’s place, they rested in the same tent. While they were chatting, Lu Wenjun’s brother Lu Wenzhong came to find her, so she stepped out. It was unclear what the siblings spoke about outside, but when Lu Wenjun returned moments later, she had an upset look on her face. Li Wanwan asked her what happened. At first, she refused to say, but under Li Wanwan’s persistent questioning, she finally revealed the matter. Just now, Prince Kang went to found Lu Wenzhong and said that he had spent a great sum to acquire a purple crystal necklace from a Hu merchant. There was only one in Chang’an, and there was no jewelry of the same quality even in the palace treasury. He asked Lu Wenzhong to pass the necklace to Lu Wenjun, saying that he had something else to say to her and asked her to meet him in the forest. Before the accident at Qujiang Lake, Lu Wenzhong often played with Prince Kang and they had a good relationship. Given that the request came from an imperial prince, Lu Wenzhong dared not refuse and thus brought the necklace to his sister. However, this infuriated Lu Wenjun on the spot—she scolded her brother harshly and demanded that he return the item immediately. With a troubled expression, Lu Wenzhong left to return the necklace, while Lu Wenjun came back by herself.

“It’s all my fault. I teased her a little at the time, and she probably took it to heart. Even after I lay down, she kept tossing and turning beside me. She’s always been like this—her temper flares up quickly but fades just as fast. So I didn’t think much of it. I was a bit tired and ended up falling asleep. When I woke up, I realized she had already left. She even forbade the attendants outside from following her and went off alone. At first, I thought she was nearby, and I was afraid of disturbing my aunt, so I just took my brother to go look for her. When I couldn’t find her, I asked Eunuch Yang, but he hadn’t seen her either…”

“Could the County Princess be with Shizi Lu?” Yang Zaien interjected.

Just at that moment, Lu Wenzhong appeared, riding a horse with a few attendants trailing behind him. He swayed slightly in the saddle as he emerged from the open field across the woods.

Pei Xiaoyuan rushed forward and asked a few questions. Lu Wenzhong got off the horse and followed Pei Xiaoyuan to Xuyu, saying that he had not seen his sister.

“…She scolded me at that time, so I had to leave. On the way, I met the prince’s men and returned the item to them. But I was afraid that she would scold me again if I came back, it’s better to go hide first, so I went hunting by myself.

“My sister is alone, so where would she go?”

Lu Wenjun was the apple of grand princess’s eye. It was precisely because of the grand princess’s unbounded doting that she developed such an unruly temper. Thinking that something might happen to his sister, Lu Wenzhong was so scared that his face turned pale.

Xuyu looked around.

Dusk was approaching. Although the sun had not yet set, the heat from the day had gone away and the chill was getting heavier. Looking ahead, there was an endless plain in front and continuous woods behind.

It was getting dark. Where did Lu Wenjun go alone?

Pei Xiaoyuan then gathered all the dozens of people he had brought out in the morning, and ordered them to form pairs and immediately split up to look for people. Looking back, he saw Xuyu instructing Yang Zai’en to settle the county princess, and it was obvious that she also wanted to join in, so he went up to stop her.

“Don’t worry too much. Maybe she came out alone and got lost. Don’t go anywhere. Take the County Princess back before it gets dark and wait for the news. I’ll go find her.”

After he finished speaking, without waiting for Xuyu to respond, he called Li Hui and Guo Guo’er, who hurriedly came forward.

“You will go back with the Princess!”

The two of them answered in unison. Pei Xiaoyuan selected some guards and ordered them to escort the princess and her group to go back first. After arranging everything, he asked everyone to carry their fire sticks and then mounted their horses and left.

Xuyu also knew that she was not familiar with the surrounding environment, and if another accident happened, it would only cause more trouble. She could only suppress her uneasiness and take Li Wanwan back to Xianliu Palace first.

When something like this happened, how could they hide it from the grand princess?

As soon as she came back, Xuyu sent someone back to Chang’an to inform the grand princess of the incident. Then, she asked someone to call Yuan Zhi, who was the inspector of the Beifu Imperial Guards, and asked him to dispatch personnel nearby to help Pei Xiaoyuan find the person.

The Imperial Guards Office was not far from the Xianliu Palace, and there was a straight road in the middle. However, it took Yuan Zhi a whole incense stick of time to get there. Seeing that she looked anxious, he knelt down without waiting for her to speak, apologized for his delay, and then reported something to her.

“It’s not that this servant delaying on purpose, but this servant just received news that Prince Kang is missing.”

“What’s going on? Didn’t he leave early? He’s not in the city?” Xuyu was surprised.

In the afternoon, after failing to get any information from her, Prince Kang flattered her for a while before saying that he had other matters to attend to and needed to return to the city. Naturally, Xuyu did not insist on keeping him. As he was leaving, he happened to run into Pei Xiaoyuan outside the tent and exchanged a few polite words.

She saw Prince Kang leave with her own eyes, so how could he disappear?

Yuan Zhi reported that in the evening, the guards that Prince Kang brought out this morning came to find him, saying that the afternoon hunting was over, and Prince Kang sent them out of the Forbidden Garden first, and ordered them to wait for him outside the Yanqiu Gate in the southwest, saying that he would come out later. At the time, only one close attendant remained by his side. Not knowing what he intended to do, the guards dared not ask questions and simply obeyed. However, they waited until dusk but Prince Kang never came out. Sensing something was wrong, they re-entered the Forbidden Garden to inquire, only to find that no one had seen him. Panicked, they sought out Yuan Zhi for help.

How could Yuan Zhi dare to be negligent since it concerned the whereabouts of the prince? He thought that Prince Kang might have gone out from another gate of the Forbidden Garden, so he sent fast horses to Yong Gate, Yongtai Gate and other directions to inquire. As a result, the guards at each gate reported that they had never seen Prince Kang come out.

“This servant sent someone back to the city to inquire at the Prince Mansion, but His Highness did not returned there. The Prince Mansion’s chief secretary did not dare to alarm His Majesty yet, so he only sent someone to inform Minister Feng. The chief secretary’s people also came, and accompanied this servant to search everywhere. While searching, this servant heard that the Princess has summoned this servant, so this servant got away and rushed over here.”

After listening to this, Xuyu suddenly felt frightened for some reason, and a sense of foreboding arose.

Yuan Zhi was still kneeling at her feet. She calmed himself down, asked him to stand up, and told him about Lu Wenjun. As Yuan Zhi stared at her in astonishment, she ordered him to immediately mobilize all the nearby troops and send them to find the prince and the county princess as soon as possible.

Yuan Zhi came to his senses and nodded immediately: “Don’t worry, Princess! There are more than ten dogs with good smells in the dog farm. This servant will take them to help Prince Consort find the people!”

Yuan Zhi then hurriedly left.

In the northwest of the Forbidden Garden, fire sticks were lit everywhere. That night, all available units of the Imperial Guards, along with the Jinwu Guards who had rushed to assist upon hearing the news—totaling five to six thousand men—conducted a sweeping search under the command of Pei Xiaoyuan and Yuan Zhi.

At the end of the Xu hour (9-11 pm), the panicked grand princess also arrived by carriage. When she learned from Li Wanwan that Prince Kang had asked his son to arrange a meeting with her daughter, she immediately flew into a rage. She cursed Prince Kang on the spot, saying that he must have been unwilling to accept rejection and had deceived her daughter into leaving, hiding her away somewhere.

She had been deeply worried on the way and had already shed tears, but now, the more she thought about it, the more convinced she became of her reasoning. No longer crying, she paced back and forth in front of Xuyu and Li Wanwan, fuming with anger and cursing incessantly.

“I didn’t expect he would dare to do anything reckless! If he thinks that this will ruin Wenjun’s reputation, force my hand into accepting this humiliation, marry my daughter to him, and then help him—”

This was, after all, a great taboo. What’s more, when beating a dog, one must also consider its owner. No matter what, Prince Kang’s status could not be ignored.

Midway through her furious rant, the grand princess forcibly swallowed her words. Rage clouded her vision, making her head spin. She swayed unsteadily, the golden and jade hairpins and dangling ornaments in her hair trembling violently, their delicate chimes ringing incessantly.

Xuyu hurriedly supported her. When He shi, who was serving beside her, heard the grand princess’ words, she hurriedly dismissed all the maids.

Li Wanwan’s eyes were filled with tears. All this time, she had been blaming herself for being careless. After hearing this, she heaved a sigh of relief: “Is that really the case? If so, I expect Brother Prince will send people back tomorrow! It’s going to be fine!”

The grand princess closed her eyes tightly, her face pale. Xuyu signaled Li Wanwan to keep quiet, and together with He shi who came up quickly, she helped grand princess sit on the couch, and fed her a few sips of warm water.

“It’s my fault that I caused the disaster today. If I hadn’t brought Wenjun here, nothing like this would have happened.”

The grand princess finally took a breath and shook her head weakly: “It’s not your fault. Even if I were blind, I would still know that you meant well—that you truly care for Wenjun. Who could have expected such a thing to happen? If blame must be placed, then it should be on that—”

She abruptly stopped. The thought of her daughter likely unable to escape humiliation overwhelmed her. Tears welled up again, spilling down her face.

Xuyu felt extremely guilty and stayed with the grand princess for a while. Seeing that it was getting late, she finally sent the grand princess to a temporary bedroom to rest for a while. She asked Li Wanwan to go and rest as well, while she continued to wait for the news.

She stayed awake all night, waiting anxiously until dawn. At dawn, she finally saw He shi hurried in and whispered that prince consort had returned.

Xuyu tumbled off the couch, not even bothering to put on her shoes. She rushed out, her steps unsteady as she half-dragged her feet along.

Pei Xiaoyuan was standing alone on the steps outside the palace gate.

The cold wind in the early morning blew his clothes. His figure was reflected in the light blue sky outside the palace gate, looking bleak and solemn.

“What happened? Did you find them? Is everything alright?”

She ran out, grabbed his sleeve, and asked impatiently. After done asking, she looked at him with wide eyes.

He did not answer immediately. His eyes swept from her slightly messy bun, which had obviously not been undone all night, down to her bare foot. Then, without a word, he turned, walked to where her embroidered shoe had fallen near the palace threshold, picked it up, and returned. Kneeling before her, he reached out and gently lifted her cold, bare foot in his palm.

“What happened? Tell me now! Don’t worry about my shoes—”

Xuyu pulled her foot back from his hand and urged anxiously.

But he stubbornly reached out his hand, held her feet again, and carefully put on her shoes. After a pause, he slowly stood up from the ground.

“Prince Kang has been found.” He finally spoke.

“He is dead.”

He continued, his voice soft and even, trying not to add any tone, as if afraid of startling her.

“He was killed. The body was buried deep in the woods where we hunted yesterday. Someone found the jade pendant he was wearing when searching there. Then a dog sniffed it out and found his body and his attendant in a deep ditch nearby. They have already sent them back.”

Xuyu was stunned. When she came to her senses, she only felt the blood in her head rumbling in her eardrums and her heart pounding wildly.

“What about Wenjun? Wenjun, she—”

She didn’t dare to ask any more questions. Her voice trembled and she subconsciously took a step back.

“County Princess is fine!”

Pei Xiaoyuan spoke immediately. “We’ve searched the area multiple times to make sure nothing was overlooked. We just haven’t found her yet, but the search is still ongoing. I was afraid that you would worry too much, so I came back first to tell you.”

Xuyu stood there, staring blankly for a moment, and suddenly, she thought of someone.

“Father!”

She let out a low cry, turned around, rushed down the corridor steps, and ran towards the gate of the Forbidden Garden.

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