“Maybe Xiao Wei went out?” Bo Hua said.
“Don’t you know how many people want to kill him in the capital right now?” Luo Zhi Qiu had already paced around the hall with his hand behind his back many times now, “And Xiao Wei never goes out without telling anyone!”
Bo Hua tried to calm him, “Ze Er already went to look for him, why don’t you sit down and wait.”
“What kind of mother are you?” This was the first time that Luo Zhi Qiu had gotten his temper up at his wife, “Are you not worried for him at all?!”
Bo Hua was shocked at first, staring at Luo Zhi Qiu, but quickly fell into sobs. How could he yell at her in front of their daughter in laws like this?
Xu Yun Miao watched the situation develop and quickly got up, “Mother, let’s go wait in your room.”
Bo Hua got up and left.
Luo Qi gave Ye Xiu a look, and Ye Xiu quickly followed them out.
Luo Zhi Qiu didn’t have any energy to worry about his wife’s feelings right now, “I need to go see His Imperial Majesty.”
Luo Qi suddenly thought of how Luo Wei broke Liu Shuang Shi’s faction. Who knows how many people who were allied with the junior chancellor wanted him dead. His heart felt cold every time he thought of this, and he couldn’t possibly sit still at home, “I’ll go out to look for him too.”
The head of the household servants entered right then with a doorkeeper.
“Chancellor, first young master,” This doorkeeper stuttered with nerves, “Yesterday, just before dawn, a few servants left through the servant’s pa.s.sageway with a big wooden chest.”
Luo Zhi Qiu quickly asked, “What big wooden chest?”
The doorkeeper answered, “A black chest, the cart they pushed it out on is what we usually use for firewood.”
Luo Qi asked, “Is that the time we usually get firewood delivered?”
The doorkeeper replied, “We usually keep the servant’s pa.s.sageway open at that time of day for firewood and food.”
Luo Zhi Qiu followed, “What was the wooden chest for?”
The doorkeeper shook his head, “I don’t know.”
Luo Zhi Qiu thought about it for a moment, then asked, “Was the chest big enough for a person?”
The doorkeeper nodded, “Yes.”
There was no time to waste, Luo Zhi Qiu immediately headed for the palace to see Emperor Xing Wu.
On this day, people in the capital went about their daily lives at usual. The only thing that caught their attention was that there were more patrols on the streets.
The emperor didn’t sleep for an entire night in the Hall of Eternal Light. If he could, he would be out there in the capital looking for Luo Wei too.
Luo Zhi Qiu didn’t sleep the night before either. He arrived at the palace to deliver the bad news to Emperor Xing Wu: Luo Wei had still not been found.
Emperor Xing Wu couldn’t hold his temper anymore, “Have they searched the entire city?”
Luo Zhi Qiu sighed. The capital was huge. A single person can easily be hidden away somewhere, but to find them again was a task beyond reckoning.
“Go search Liu Shuang Shi’s bunch,” Emperor Xing Wu ground his teeth, “Go find all of his disciples in court, search every single family!”
How were they supposed to go about this? Luo Zhi Qiu stared at the emperor, dumbfounded.
“Just use the excuse that we’re rounding up all of his faction,” Emperor Xing Wu explained, “You’re going to lead them personally, I want you to search every estate you can!”
“Your Imperial Majesty,” Luo Zhi Qiu replied hurriedly, “If it was a minister a court, do you think they would hide him at their estate?” Besides, if Emperor Xing Wu moved on them in this manner, it was basically forcing the culprit’s hand, giving them no option but kill and bury Luo Wei!
Emperor Xing Wu closed his eyes to calm himself, “If he’s not being held at an estate, where else?” He asked Luo Zhi Qiu.
Luo Zhi Qiu shook his head. Yesterday, they’d searched everywhere they could search.
“Then spread out and search street by street!” In the end, the emperor felt that this stupid and slow tactic was the only one they had left, “No matter if it’s a civilian’s home or a federal building, they all have to be searched! I’m a.s.signing all the capital’s guards to you.”
Luo Zhi Qiu was beyond the point of caring about disturbing the peace of the citizenry by now. He accepted the edict, left the Hall of Eternal Light, and immediately ordered a servant to go and acquire soldiers from Luo Ze’s camp.
“By my imperial edict,” Emperor Xing Wu said to Zhao Fu after Luo Zhi Qiu left, “The second prince, Long Xuan, is to not allowed to leave the grounds of the Hall of Literary Transcendence.” If Luo Wei really was kidnapped by someone from Liu Shuang Shi’s faction, the news of Long Xuan’s house arrest might encourage them to not harm Luo Wei. Even lost in worry and anxiety, the emperor was still able to come up with an plan to keep Luo Wei alive.