Chapter 704 - Conspiracy
“Shhh——don’t be so loud! Didn’t you see that the last horse in the group was being ridden by the governor himself? The two people in front of him should be the noble individuals living in the guest residence. Perhaps one of them is even the great imperial envoy!” A young fellow whose aunt’s third nephew had a job at the neighborhood yamen spoke up in a quiet voice.
“The great imperial envoy can’t recklessly hurt people. How could it be okay if the horses rushing by trampled people?” The person who spoke up was a scholar dressed in appropriate attire.
The person with the relative at the yamen continued, “Perhaps it’s related to the recent spree of crimes. I heard that in the northwestern suburbs another family had been extinguished and it was a very bloody sight. These horrible criminals are too cruel. Stealing valuables is one thing but why do they need to kill off an entire family?”
“Is the governor riding fast through the marketplace related to that group of criminals?” Another passerby believed this was the truth.
No one complained anymore. Recently, all of the families that had a bit of wealth had been trembling with fear as they were afraid that they might become the next unlucky target. The earlier this band of criminals got caught, the earlier the people of Jinling could go back to their regular business and not be on tenterhooks.
The highly anxious Zhu Junyang felt like an eternity had passed before they arrived at the guest residence. He leapt off the speeding horse and pelted towards the gatehouse. He picked up the gatekeeper with both hands by the other man’s clothes and hurriedly asked, “Did the princess consort go out today?”
The gatekeeper was startled. After recognizing the person in front of him, he stammered, “Your Highness, the princess consort had been called out by one of the people from the experimental fields about half an hour before you got here…”
“What? She was called out by someone?!” Su Ran’s face turned icy cold and he gripped his hands so hard that they made crackling noises, scaring the people around him.
“Please calm down, my lords! Perhaps the great imperial envoy had truly been called over by Official Wu?” The gatekeeper wiped his forehead full of sweat as he silently prayed, ‘Please, let the princess consort be perfectly safe and sound ah!’
“Ming Xin, Ming Gui!” Zhu Junyang entered the residence and called towards a dark corner. A figure clothed entirely in black immediately answered and the prince asked, “Tell me, what exactly happened earlier?”
“Master, after you left, a small official under Official Wu hurried over, saying that the experimental fields were aflame and over a hundred fields were burning. When the princess consort heard this, she immediately changed clothing and left. Accompanying her were her two maidservants and the four special bodyguards. Ming Gui was also worried so he followed along…” Ming Xin knelt on the ground and concisely went over everything that had happened that day for his master.
“Go! We’re going to the fields!!” An ominous premonition settled into Zhu Junyang’s heart. If the experimental rice fields in Jinling had truly caught on fire, then there’d be smoke everywhere, billowing into the city. Currently, things were going on in the city like usual and not a single person was gossiping about the experimental fields burning up. What did this mean? This was a trap; it was a conspiracy that targeted his princess consort!
The group of people rushed over on horseback to the fields. Official Wu was currently leading the tenant farmers in harvesting the ripe rice. When he saw Imperial Prince Xu and the governor arrive, he went over to greet them and asked out of confusion, “Imperial Highness, why did you come over alone? Where’s the great imperial envoy?”
Zhu Junyang’s heart fell and he grabbed him to ask, “Where’s that assistant of yours that helps you record the field data?”
“Are you talking about Little Zhang ah? His mother got sick, so he asked for a day off to take her to Tongren Medicine Hall to get treated. What’s wrong? Are you looking for him?” Official Wu sensed that something was off about Imperial Prince Xu, so he stopped smiling and replied in a serious manner.
The look on Zhu Junyang’s face was so gloomy that it looked like a thunderstorm would start anytime. Either this Little Zhang had a problem or someone had impersonated him. They hadn’t seen any sign of Xiaocao or her servants on the way there, so the situation wasn’t optimistic anymore.
“Don’t worry, that lass Xiaocao is blessed by the heavens and nothing should have happened to her.” Su Ran was also very worried but he patted the other man’s shoulder in an attempt to console him, “That lass has always treated others with kindness and doesn’t have any real enemies. It’s likely that the group took her away for one motive——to control the two of us. No news is good news, so that lass should still be safe right now.”
Zhu Junyang’s phoenix eyes were full of fury as he growled out angrily, “It must be the evil remnants of the past dynasty again! They keep popping up like a bunch of cockroaches!! Let’s go, we need to investigate the road between the residence and the fields to see if there are any clues to be found.”
The two of them took the group back and they carefully investigated the roads. As expected, not far from the side of the road, they found a yellow jadeite bead that came off of Xiaocao’s bracelet hidden in dried up leaves. If they hadn’t been searching carefully, it would have been very easy to miss it.
“Judging by the tracks here, it looks like the enemy has a lot of people. Fortunately, I don’t see any signs of a struggle. That lass must have sensed that something was off and stopped Chunhua from fighting. It’s better that way. At least the lass wouldn’t get injured.” Su Ran inspected the clues carefully and made a very accurate assessment.
“I also see wheel tracks in the forest, which means that the enemy used carts to bring the people away. With so many people as well as horses and carts, they must have left some signs along the way. If we follow the wheel tracks along, we should be able to find them.” Su Ran looked at Zhu Junyang, asking him for his opinion on the matter.
Zhu Junyang inhaled deeply, forcing himself to calm down before finally voiced his opinion, “The fact that we could think of this means that the enemy probably has to. Let’s first follow these traces and look around a bit.”
Since there were no signs of a struggle, that meant Ming Gui hadn’t shown himself yet. The little lass was still safe for the moment. However, it also meant that the enemy had a lot of experts, so Ming Gui didn’t dare to confront them even though he was a commander of the hidden guards.
Hou Xiaoliang had been with his master this entire time and right now his heart was full of worries too. After a great amount of effort, he had finally obtained Wutong’s consent for marriage. They were planning on organizing their wedding once they and their masters got back to the capital. Now, they had encountered such a bad situation.
In order to lure the imperial prince, the criminals wouldn’t dare to harm the princess consort, but that didn't mean that they wouldn’t harm the people underneath her. If they wanted to intimidate her, it was very likely they would use one of her servants as an example. Couldn’t Wutong become an unlucky victim then? When he thought of this, sweat poured down Hou Xiaoliang’s body.
Around twenty-five kilometers away from Jinling, the wagon wheel tracks disappeared. An extremely ordinary horse cart had been abandoned at the side of the road. The road in front of them had split into three forks and they didn’t know which one the criminals went down.
“If that lass Xiaocao had been lucid the entire time, she likely would leave another clue for us.” Su Ran thought of that yellow jadeite bead and proposed the idea that the group split into three to search alongside the forks. If they weren’t able to find anything, they would regroup at the start of the fork and then look for another place to search.
Using his intuition, Zhu Junyang chose the left fork and brought Hou Xiaoliang along. Su Ran went down the middle and Governor Fan chose the rightmost fork.
Zhu Junyang commanded his horse to trot down the road as he opened his eyes wide as he sharply looked through the greenery at the sides of the road. Before long, he discovered another yellow jadeite bead on the ground.
“They went down this road! We need to hurry!!” Zhu Junyang spurred his horse faster. Hou Xiaoliang did his best to keep up and the two of them sped down the meandering trail on horseback.
Whenever they reached a fork in the trail, they would soon discover a little bead, telling them the right path to take. Whenever he saw a yellow jadeite bead appear, Zhu Junyang felt his heart relax a bit more——at least, the little lass had been aware this entire time. As long as she was fine, everything was good! Before long, the other two people who were on the search mission caught up with them and the four of them worked together to follow the clues that Xiaocao left behind for them.
“This group of criminals is very cunning!” After running around, Zhu Junyang discovered that the criminals went back to Jinling City. As expected, the criminals were following the saying: ‘the most dangerous place is the safest place’!
“We’ll be entering the city soon and there are a lot of people going to and fro. This makes it harder for us to find any clues.” Su Ran muttered. He frowned deeply and his well-defined eyebrows furrowed as he stared at the commoners and peddlers heading about their day.
“Your Highness, the criminals have a lot of people and it must have been obvious when they entered the city. This subordinate will go to the gate guards and ask if they saw a large group of people and horses entering in this morning.” Governor Fan clasped his fists together in a salute before he left. He arrived at the gate and found a few officials there. He asked them if they had seen any suspicious groups of people go through the gate that morning.
After getting all of the information, Lord Fan came back to report to Imperial Prince Xu, “Your Highness, this subordinate believes that there are three groups of people who went through today that are suspicious. One of them is the Chen Family’s merchant caravan who just got back, another one is the Wang Family’s string of carts that had traveled to Suzhou and Hangzhou to buy and sell silk, and the last is the ‘Formidable Goods Couriers’. These three groups all had a lot of people and horses and they all had many experts traveling with them. What do you think…”
Hou Xiaoliang interrupted, “Is it possible that the group of criminals split up outside the city before going in smaller groups?”
“Unlikely!” Su Ran replied with conviction, “They wouldn't have known when their pursuers would come after them. They have a lot of people and splitting them up takes time. It’s easier and faster for them to disguise themselves as a merchant caravan or armed couriers.”
“Then we’ll start with these three groups of people ah!” A red glow faintly flashed through Zhu Junyang’s eyes. If the lass had encountered something bad, he would make Jinling run with blood! Since this old bag of bones of his wasn’t able to protect her in this lifetime, then he would turn into a monster and clean up everything in this mortal world! If she wasn’t alive, then it was the same as throwing him into the depths of hell! Without her, he would transform this world into a purgatory to act as a living burial for her.
The three people next to him all felt the abrupt, violent change in his aura. Su Ran was the least affected out of the three and hurriedly interjected, “Imperial Prince Xu, please calm down for a moment! That lass Xiaocao is still waiting for you to rescue her ah!”
Dear gods ah! If this crazy fellow lost control of himself now, he wasn’t his opponent anymore, especially when Imperial Prince Xu transformed into his insane final boss form! He wouldn’t be able to hold the guy back ah! Fortunately, when he mentioned the lass Xiaocao, the aura around the prince decreased significantly but he still looked quite imposing and scary.
Hou Xiaoliang forcefully swallowed down some saliva as he said in a quiet voice, “Master, do you think the mistress might have left some clues for us in the city?”
“Hard to say! There are many people in the city, so it’s likely that anything she leaves behind might be picked up by a child. Furthermore, the criminals would be even more cautious after entering the city and wouldn’t give her the opportunity to do something.” Su Ran sighed.
Lord Fan cupped his hands together in obeisance and said, “Your Highness, this subordinate will send some people out. Even if we get some information, we still need to investigate the giant crime scene outside the city. What do you…”