In a study of Prince Ding"s Manor, Mo Xiu Yao looked at the open records in front of him indifferently. Looking up, he asked Feng Zhi Yao who was standing beside him: "Is there any news from the palace?"
Feng Zhi Yao answered seriously: "Yaohua Palace has been searched. It was built when the late emperor was on the throne. There isn"t any secret path in it. But its lotus pond isn"t artificial which is connected to the river that runs through the palace. The secret guards suspect that the princess was taken away by water. Besides... they suspect that she was taken away before the fire broke out..."
"What?"
"And though the bodies of Lady Ye of Bright Deportment and the sixth prince were burned beyond recognition, the secret guards who examined the bodies are sure that the female body doesn"t belong to Lady Ye of Bright Deportment. As for the sixth prince... if it is a false Lady Ye of Bright Deportment, I guess the sixth prince is probably alive as well."
Mo Xiu Yao sneered: "Great. Two died in the palace with another five missing, including Lady Ye of Bright Deportment and the sixth prince while my secret guards know nothing."
Feng Zhi Yao sighed to himself. Ever since the princess was missing, His Highness has become more and more frightening. Though His Highness hasn"t let out any anger while speaking, he makes him shiver anyway. No wonder no one dares to come near His Highness when he is pushed forward to suffer.
"Any news from the capital?"
"Mo Jing Qi is sending men out after the princess, too. I think he doesn"t know where she is either. Mo Jing Li has done nothing. He went directly back to his manor that day and he has acted as usual. No news from anyone else. There isn"t any suspicious person in or out of the capital recently." It was as if Ye Li had vanished out of thin air, nowhere to be found. Feng Zhi Yao felt frustrated since it never occurred to him someone would be so bold as to start a fire in the palace while taking away Princess Ding. It happened so abruptly that when they wanted to find something useful, they didn"t have a chance since all the clues were burned to ashes.
"If Ye Yue hasn"t died, she must still be in the palace. I want her in three days. It might not be difficult to hide a grown woman in the palace but not a baby who knows nothing." Mo Xiu Yao said solemnly.
"Yes, Your Highness." Feng Zhi Yao took the order with respect and hesitated before saying: "One more thing... the secret guards who work for the princess, Secret Guard No.1, 2, 3, and 4 all went missing."
Mo Xiu Yao was shocked. "Missing?"
Feng Zhi Yao nodded and said: "It happened a short while ago. After the princess went missing, they took punishment from their leader. But since the princess is still missing so no punishment is meted out. However, this morning all four of them were nowhere to be found."
Mo Xiu Yao pondered for a while with his eyes lowered and he said: "Leave them be for now."
"Yes, Your Highness."
At a secret house outside the capital of Chu, Ye Li, overcome with boredom, sat near a flower bed while staring blankly at the newly-planted peach tree. Two maids who she suspected were unable to speak were always around her in the past few days and were there to attend to her needs at any time.
Poking at a bud from the peach treed, Ye Li curled her lips and picked at those flowers and herbs near her. She had been here for five days and was taken good care of as Xiao Yun promised except that Xiao Yun continued to drug her food. But the fact that Xiao Yun needed to give her drugs at each meal meant that the effect of the drugs didn"t last long. Though Xiao Yun knew medicine well, she clearly didn"t know that there was a group of people whose ability to resist drugs was very strong. Or she might know that but didn"t consider Ye Li one of them. Even though Ye Li"s body had not gone through a professional drug resistance training as she did in her previous incarnation, knowing that she would become a member of a prince"s manor since she was little, she had trained and adjusted her body accordingly.
Apparently, neither Xiao Yun nor her lord intended to really hurt Ye Li so they had been giving her none-harmful drugs whose effects were bound to last a short amount of time. Though those drugs would have been enough to tackle an ordinary man. Right now, Ye Li had at least half an hour when she could act by herself after she was given the drugs. But she wasn"t in a hurry to run away. Though she only saw Xiao Yun and several maids who wouldn"t speak on a daily basis, she was keenly aware that more were watching her in the dark. It was a little difficult for her to run away with a body that just recovered after taking the drugs.
"Miss, I heard that you didn"t eat much today. Did you not like the food?" Xiao Yun appeared in the garden, her eyes twitched after seeing that Ye Li was picking at the herbs. "Miss, that..."
Ye Li lifted her head, waving the gra.s.s in her hand, and said: "Are you speaking of this? It will affect the peach tree here so I"m pulling them all up. I don"t have anything else to do anyway. What are you here for, Xiao Yun?"
Xiao Yun looked with pity at those gra.s.s that was thrown carelessly all over the ground by Ye Li and forced a smile: "Miss, if you don"t like them, I"ll have them cleaned away. You don"t need to pull them out yourself. I"ve asked the cook to make some dimsum. Would you like some?"
Ye Li shook her head and sighed slightly: "It"s so boring here. I couldn"t eat at all having nothing to do all day long. Can you tell your lord that I should leave after staying here for so long?"
Xiao Yun didn"t bat an eyelid and smiled: "My Lord isn"t here right now. I won"t dare slight his guest given the audacity. So, I"m afraid you have to wait until My Lord returns before you leave."
"I see." Ye Li said indifferently. "I have no appet.i.te recently. I"ll pa.s.s the dimsum. Xiao Yun, you can go and attend to your matters."
Xiao Yun looked at Ye Li for a good while as if she was evaluating whether Ye Li was telling the truth. She nodded eventually and said: "Well, you can ask them for dimsum when you are hungry, Miss. I"ll invite My Lord to meet you as soon as he"s back." After curtsying, Xiao Yun turned around and left.
Looking at Xiao Yun when she left, Ye Li"s eyes turned cold for a second and her hands moved faster as she pulled out those gra.s.s.
By the time that Ye Li nearly got rid of the gra.s.s of half a garden, Xiao Yun finally invited Ye Li to meet her lord, barely smiling. Ye Li threw away the gra.s.s in her hands quickly, patting the dust off her hands, she let herself be supported by two maids who followed Xiao Yun. Ye Li was taken to an empty room not far away from hers. As soon as she went inside, she saw a tall figure behind a diaphanous screen. After seating her in a chair, the two maids went out respectfully. Xiao Yun threw Ye Li an angry glare before she left who remembered to close the door. Ye Li couldn"t help laughing. She had guessed that Xiao Yun couldn"t put up with her for much longer. After all, she could have pulled out all her valuable herbs in the yard given another two days.