"Has the prince come up the mountain?"
Chu Chu nodded repeatedly, "He arrived before dusk and still hadn't returned by dinner time!"
"Who did the prince come with?"
"Just by himself!"
The guard frowned slightly. With the prince's physical condition, he definitely couldn't have climbed this mountain path alone. Even if he had managed with great difficulty, the guard would have noticed some commotion. The guard said solemnly, "Imperial Concubine, please return first. I'll search here."
"I'll search with you!"
"No need... Perhaps the prince has already returned. You should go back first, don't make the prince worry... As long as the prince is in these mountains, I'll definitely find him quickly."
"Alright... If you find him, send him to the yamen immediately!"
"Yes."
Chu Chu stumbled down the mountain, not caring that her clothes were torn by rocks and branches, her knees and arms sore from falls. She ran back to the yamen at top speed, and by the time she arrived, dawn was nearly breaking.
The lamp in the room at the back of the yamen was lit, casting a human silhouette on the window paper.
The silhouette was seated, bent over a table examining something.
Overjoyed, Chu Chu pushed the door open and rushed in.
"Wang Ye!"
The person at the table looked up in surprise, and only then did Chu Chu see clearly that although this person was also dressed in white, it wasn't the same white clothing that Xiao Jin Yu wore.
Jing Yi looked astonished at Chu Chu's disheveled appearance, as if she had just escaped from prison, "What... happened to you?"
Jing Yi's question made Chu Chu burst into tears, "Brother Jing, the prince is lost!"
Jing Yi quickly stood up and came out from behind the desk, patting Chu Chu's shoulder, "Don't cry, don't cry... What do you mean he's lost?"
"It means we can't find him!"
Jing Yi was momentarily stunned. The reason he had appeared in this room ahead of schedule was because he had suddenly received a message from Xiao Jin Yu - just two words on a piece of paper: Return quickly.
He had received the message only that morning, and without any explanation of why he was being summoned back, where could Xiao Jin Yu have gone?
Jing Yi asked patiently, "When did he go missing?"
"It was... he said in the morning he was going to the winery to check on the wine, and promised to return for dinner... When he didn't come back in the evening, I went to the winery to look for him. Uncle Qin said he had gone up the mountain... I went up the mountain to search for him, and the guard said he hadn't seen him..."
The first part left Jing Yi confused, but the last sentence made him slightly alarmed, "His guard doesn't know where he went either?"
"Yes... The guard is still in the mountains. He told me to come back first, saying the prince might have returned already... He's still searching in the mountains..."
Based on Jing Yi's understanding of Xiao Jin Yu, there would always be one guard stationed at the Prince of Wu's Estate. If the other guard was still in the mountains, that meant... Xiao Jin Yu had gone out alone, and no one knew where he had gone!
Remembering the two words Xiao Jin Yu had sent him, Jing Yi felt a vague unease in his heart.
He probably already understood why Xiao Jin Yu had summoned him back.
☆、58 Four Happiness Meatballs (Seventeen)
When Jing Yi wasn't smiling, he had an unusually serious and earnest demeanor. Chu Chu looked at him through her tears, "Brother Jing, what has the prince been doing? It's already been a whole night..."
She didn't know if he had eaten anything all day, if he had slept at night, if his stomach was hurting again, or if his rheumatism had flared up...
If he had fallen ill in the mountains, there would be no one to bring him a cup of warm water, no one to fetch his medicine, no one to massage his aches...Since leaving the capital, she had never been separated from him for this long, and now he was alone...
Chu Chu felt so anxious her internal organs seemed to be burning, while missing him made her heart twist into knots, yet she could do absolutely nothing about it.
Jing Yi was momentarily at a loss for words seeing her pitiful appearance - he had never been so tongue-tied before a woman.
Before he could figure out how to respond, a cold gust swept into the room as the guard assigned to watch the cave appeared with a grave expression. Noticing Jing Yi in the room, he paused in surprise.
In that moment of hesitation, Chu Chu had already grabbed his arm.
The guard had returned alone, yet Chu Chu still clung to a sliver of hope.
"Brother Guard, did you find Wang Ye?"
Under Chu Chu's expectant gaze, the guard lowered his head and whispered, "I've searched the entire mountain - Wang Ye never went up... I also checked along the streets and alleys, but Wang Ye left no markers."
The guard's words suddenly jolted Jing Yi awake. "Chu Chu, you just told me that Uncle Qin said Wang Ye went up the mountain... which Uncle Qin?"
Hearing the guard's negative report, Chu Chu's heart sank. When Jing Yi questioned her, she answered distractedly, "It's... it's Uncle Qin from Qin's Clinic..."
Jing Yi raised an eyebrow. "He's a doctor?"
Chu Chu nodded absently. "Everyone calls him Qin Langzhong."
"What's his full name?"
"Qin Ye... as in 'achieving success' Ye. That's how I heard him introduce himself to others."
This name... it seemed familiar, very familiar - he had just seen it among the documents on the table.
Jing Yi rushed back to the table and frantically shuffled through the papers until he pulled out one particular page.
Seeing Jing Yi's unusually serious expression, the guard frowned and said gravely, "This person... Old Fifth mentioned him when reporting about Prince of Wu's Estate on the first day of the month. On the thirtieth night, this same Qin Ye helped Prince of Wu Commandery with a woman..."
Jing Yi looked up in astonishment. "What was that woman's name?"
"Old Fifth hadn't investigated that far when Wang Ye ordered all investigations stopped, only allowing surveillance to continue."
Jing Yi knitted his brows while looking at the paper in his hand. "Have you investigated someone called Xiu Niang?"
The guard shook his head, but the name immediately snapped Chu Chu back to attention. "I know a Xiu Niang! I saw her at Prince of Wu's Estate, and Wang Ye saw her too..." Chu Chu's eyes suddenly lit up. "Maybe Wang Ye went to Prince of Wu Commandery!" Before Jing Yi could respond, the light in Chu Chu's eyes dimmed again. She lowered her head, pursed her lips, her voice full of dejection. "No... Wang Ye said he wouldn't go see him again..."
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