In the mansion of员外 Chen, Xiao Yixuan swept all the teacups on the table to the ground with a wave of his hand and roared angrily, "You're all useless idiots! You managed to screw up something that was supposed to be foolproof. What good are you to me!"
An hour ago, they finally found the missing Young Master Chen. No one could have imagined that the body of Young Master Chen was hidden in the Chen family's mountain villa.
In that villa, only the body of Young Master Chen was found, but there was no sign of Crown Prince Xiao Jingcheng. There weren't even a single footprint left in the room.
Moreover, no useful clues were found regarding the funeral procession assembled today.
Xiao Yixuan was not willing to give up. He even sent people to ask the townspeople if they had heard any strange noises that night.
However, the Chen family had chosen a very late time for the burial that night. Most of the townspeople were already asleep. Some were woken up by the sound of the funeral and were too scared to go out, so they didn't see any suspicious figures at all.
It could be said that the clues were completely cut off. No one knew how Xiao Jingcheng's body had disappeared!
Just when they were about to achieve great success, something went wrong at this crucial moment. How could Xiao Yixuan not be filled with hatred!
员外 Chen knelt on the ground and said, "My lord, please calm your anger. The thief must not have gone far with such a large body. How about sending troops to search every corner within a thirty - mile radius? We will surely find the whereabouts of that person!"
"How can we search!" Xiao Yixuan was furious. "Tell me, what excuse can we use to search now? Under the guise of searching for your son's body for your Chen family? Mobilizing so many people just for your Chen family. What makes your Chen family so special? Are you afraid that others won't notice there's something fishy going on?"
"Also, can you do things more reliably and not leave any把柄 behind!" Xiao Yixuan pointed at 员外 Chen's nose and scolded, "If you wanted to get rid of your bastard son, couldn't you have used some other method? You actually strangled him to death directly. Now someone has reported to me that you murdered your own son. Do you think I should arrest you and send you to the government?"
员外 Chen was scolded harshly and felt a bit aggrieved in his heart.
Wasn't it because Prince Mu had been pressing so hard since he came to the town, and his lord had urged them to get things done quickly? That's why he had to do it this way.
Daoist Yuanqi stood up, bowed to Xiao Yixuan, and said, "My lord, please calm your anger. I still have a way. The magic jar in which I sealed that person's soul is still there. There's still some of his hair inside. I can use it to cast a divination and figure out where that person is at this moment. Then we can find him."
Xiao Yixuan's anger subsided a bit. "Then what are you still standing there for? Hurry up!"
Daoist Yuanqi had been staying in 员外 Chen's mansion for the past two days and hadn't returned to his own residence. So the clay pot had been kept there all the time.
He was eager to make contributions. After leaving the Chen mansion, he rushed back to his residence in a hurry. However, when he got home and pushed open the door, the clay pot that had originally been on the cabinet was nowhere to be seen!
Someone had sneaked into his room and stolen the clay pot!
A chill ran up from the soles of Daoist Yuanqi's feet to his head. Even though he was used to seeing big scenes, he couldn't help breaking out in a cold sweat.
If his lord found out that he had lost the clay pot because he hadn't taken good care of it, he would surely lose his life!
Should he just take this opportunity and run for his life?
The next moment, Daoist Yuanqi extinguished this thought.
No, he couldn't. Once he ran away, he would be going against the royal family. Running to the ends of the earth would be of no use.
Gritting his teeth, Daoist Yuanqi turned around and headed back to the Chen mansion. But just as he was approaching the Chen mansion, he suddenly stopped. After making sure there was no one around, he slapped himself hard on the chest.
He used all his strength in this slap. His complexion instantly turned worse. He coughed up a mouthful of fresh blood, and his body swayed unsteadily.
After stabilizing his figure, he staggered into the Chen mansion.
"My... my lord, it's bad. The clay pot... was... was snatched away!" Daoist Yuanqi knelt in front of Xiao Yixuan, coughing up blood as he said with difficulty, "When I got back to my room, I saw a black shadow sneak into the room and snatch the clay pot away!"
"I chased after him all the way. I was almost killed by him. I was afraid I couldn't handle it alone, so I had to come back immediately to report to you, my lord."
员外 Chen's face was distorted with anger. "It must be the mastermind who dug up the grave and took the crown prince's body! Daoist, did you see which way that person went?"
Daoist Yuanqi coughed up another mouthful of blood and lowered his eyelids. "He... went to the southern suburb."
Xiao Yixuan's face was grim. He immediately gave the order, "Send people south right away to chase! We must catch that person. Remember, don't let anyone notice that we're looking for the real crown prince's whereabouts!"
"Yes!"
...
It was already late at night. The owner of the Shilixiang Tavern saw off the last customer and happily closed the door to end business for the day.
In the bright moonlight, a man in a Taoist robe staggered along.
He carried three jars in his left hand and held a wine gourd in his right. As he hummed a song, he raised the wine gourd to his mouth and took a swig.
He didn't have a single copper coin left on him. He had spent it all on wine.
When he reached the only stone bridge in Dongli Town, the Taoist walked down the path beside the bridge. Because he was a bit drunk, he almost slipped and fell into the river. After stabilizing himself, he crawled into one of the bridge arches, sat down on the ground, and casually placed the wine jars he was carrying beside him.
In the clear moonlight, it could be seen that one of the wine jars was black. If you looked closely, it was painted with dense runes, and there was a yellow talisman pasted on the bottom.
The Taoist removed the yellow talisman, waved his hand, and the yellow talisman fluttered in the wind and landed in the river under the bridge. It was soon swallowed up by the river.
He gently patted the wine jar and sighed, "Senior brother, senior brother, I really didn't expect that you were making this kind of ill - gotten gains behind Master and Grand - Master's backs."
He took a sip of wine, took out the divination coins to cast a divination, and let out a "heh heh" laugh.
"However, the sky is about to change~"
...
The dirty middle - aged man that Ye Wanmian had picked up on the street didn't fully recover from the fever until Ye Wanmian gave him acupuncture for the fourth time the next afternoon.
The man, who had been unconscious and babbling incoherently, finally opened his eyes completely and regained consciousness.
"Where... is this?"
The man opened his cloudy eyes, looked around, and tried to prop himself up to sit up. But as a person who had just recovered from a serious illness, he didn't have the strength at all and fell back down again.
Ye Wanmian and Qi Wen were both in the room. Qi Wen glanced at him but didn't intend to go and help. Instead, he replied,
"This is Huichuntang Medical Hall. You were seriously ill and collapsed on the street yesterday. It was Dr. Jiang from our medical hall who saved you."
"Dr. Jiang?" The man coughed hard a few times. His throat was extremely hoarse. He shifted his gaze to Ye Wanmian, who had her back to him.
Ye Wanmian turned around. "You've just temporarily brought down the fever. Your illness isn't fully cured yet. You'd better lie in bed obediently and don't move around."
After the man saw her face clearly, his pupils suddenly shrank. He pressed his chest and coughed violently.