"Where is Ji Lingchuan? Tell him to come out and see me!"
Qi Lei was blocked by the black-armored soldiers on the periphery. With a furious look on his face, he shouted towards the inside.
Ji Lingchuan strode towards him. Hearing the sound, Qi Lei looked in his direction. When he saw Ji Lingchuan's appearance, he was momentarily stunned, and then became even more enraged.
"So it's you! So you're the heir of the Prince of Ning!"
Ji Lingchuan and Qi Lei had had contact before because of the old canal case. At that time, Ji Lingchuan said his surname was Ling and didn't tell Qi Lei his real name.
Qi Lei was just a commoner and had never seen the heir of the prestigious Prince of Ning. It was not until this moment that he connected the man in front of him with the famous God of War of the Yu State.
Qi Lei had originally just been acting to make Song Yihuan's "death" seem more realistic.
But now seeing Ji Lingchuan standing in front of him, real anger welled up in Qi Lei's heart. He forcefully shook off the black-armored soldiers who were blocking him and pointed at Ji Lingchuan's nose angrily.
"Good for you, the heir of the Prince of Ning. What kind of hero are you to bully a woman?!"
He was referring to the time when Song Yihuan was tricked into losing her virginity to Ji Lingchuan and was forced to replace Song Nanxin to consummate the marriage. Every time he remembered the scene of Song Yihuan tearfully telling him about this, his heart ached!
"You ruined her, but you didn't have the ability to protect her. You might as well not have bothered her in the first place! If it weren't for you, she and Xuan'er wouldn't have ended up in such a tragic state!"
Just because of this heir of the prince, Song Yihuan and Song Yixuan had one accident after another. It was really a curse!
Ji Lingchuan let Qi Lei vent his anger. He seemed to turn a deaf ear to what Qi Lei said and then opened his lips and said, "She's not dead."
Qi Lei was momentarily stunned. His heart skipped a beat. "What did you say?"
"I didn't find her body. As long as I can't find it for a single day, she's still alive." Ji Lingchuan said. "You're the person she respects the most. Compared to the Marquis of Ding'an, she'd rather regard you as her father in her heart. She must be very worried about you."
Qi Lei realized something and subconsciously took a step back, but it was too late. Ji Lingchuan raised his hand and waved. The black-armored soldiers surrounded him again and grabbed his hands.
"Ji Lingchuan, what are you doing? Are you crazy?" Qi Lei struggled and frowned at Ji Lingchuan. "Tell your men to let me go quickly!"
But Ji Lingchuan's eyes passed by him and looked behind him. He murmured to the air.
"Are you really that at ease with your relatives? I just don't believe it."
That night, several fast horses galloped from Laojun Mountain towards the capital. Qi Lei's hands were tied, and he rode on the same horse with Fuzhou. The cold wind blew on his face, freezing both his face and his heart.
He looked at the tall and imposing figure in the front and thought to himself in his heart: This heir of the Prince of Ning must be really crazy. He actually came up with the idea of using him as a hostage to force Miss Huan to show up.
He hoped that Miss Huan wouldn't be deceived. She should hide well in that mansion and find an opportunity to escape from the capital city.
After the incident of the Northern Di spies, this heir of the Prince of Ning was conferred the title of the Great General Protecting the Country and was in charge of the black-armored army, the capital army, and the imperial guard army. He was more powerful than before. And now she was the daughter of a criminal official. The two of them were destined not to be in the same world. Since they had already separated, it would be best if they never saw each other again!
Qi Lei was brought back to the Mansion of the Prince of Ning by Ji Lingchuan and was respectfully sent into a guest room.
If it weren't for the fact that his hands were still tied, Qi Lei would have believed that Ji Lingchuan really regarded him as a guest.
"Uncle Qi, you can stay in the Mansion of the Prince of Ning well in the following days. The Mansion of the Prince of Ning won't treat you badly. When she's had enough fun and is willing to come back, I'll naturally let you two father and daughter recognize each other."
Ji Lingchuan stood outside the door and said to Qi Lei.
"Ji Lingchuan, you crazy man! Don't delude yourself. She's already dead. She hated you in her heart for taking her innocence, for ruining her life, for breaking her wings and trying to keep her by your side. Even if she became a ghost, she'd never come back!"
The only answer Qi Lei got was Ji Lingchuan's back as he walked away quickly.
How could it be possible? How could she hate him?
She had clearly admitted it herself in that teahouse. She had always had feelings for him in her heart. It was also because Gu Yunzheng's calligraphy was like his that she had approached Gu Yunzheng, wasn't it?!
She had also been like a little wife, wanting to sew clothes for him, giving him a pair of rabbit fur wrist warmers, and would throw herself into his arms to cry and act coquettishly when she had a nightmare at night.
How could she hate him?
It was impossible!
Ji Lingchuan automatically forgot what Song Yihuan had said to him by the cliff that day and only remembered the most affectionate moments between them.
His steps paused. Ji Lingchuan frowned and looked ahead.
The Princess of Ning blocked his way, looking worried. "Chuan'er, it's so late. Where are you going again?"
There was a coldness on Ji Lingchuan's face that kept people at a distance. "Don't worry about me, Mother. Just take care of yourself."
After saying that, he was about to pass by the Princess of Ning. But the Princess of Ning spread her arms to block him. "You haven't slept for three days and three nights. If you keep going like this, you'll collapse!"
"I know you couldn't find her body, but the river under the cliff is flowing so fast. It's very likely that her body was washed downstream. Listen to your mother's advice. Let it go. If she fell from such a high place, there's only one outcome! She's already dead!"
With a "clang" sound, it was the sound of Ji Lingchuan drawing out his sword from his waist and slashing it hard at the pillar beside him. The force was so great that the sword was deeply embedded in the pillar, and his knuckles turned white.
The Princess of Ning was greatly startled by his action. Supported by Nanny Chen, she took two steps back, with an expression of disbelief on her face.
"If anyone says one more word that she's dead, even if it's a close relative, I won't let it go." He looked at the Princess of Ning and said coldly.
He retrieved his sword and left without looking back.
Looking at the mark he had just cut, the Princess of Ning covered her chest and was so angry that she almost fainted. "I really don't know what he's thinking. Didn't he refuse to even look at Song Yihuan before and said she wasn't worthy to be his concubine? Now he's even drawn his sword against his own close relatives for her!"
Nanny Chen sighed deeply and said, "I'm afraid we've all misjudged the heir's feelings for Miss Song Si before. The reason he refused to take Miss Song Si as his concubine was probably that he wanted her to be the heir's wife. The heir must be extremely in love with Miss Song Si."
The Princess of Ning gasped and looked in the direction where Ji Lingchuan had disappeared again.
This would explain all his strange behaviors now.
She closed her eyes tightly and said, "What a sin."
The plaque of the Marquis of Ding'an's Mansion had already been removed. All the valuable things in the mansion had also been confiscated. The once bustling mansion had become empty and desolate. But there was only one place that was still well taken care of.
In Qinghe Courtyard, Ji Lingchuan was sitting in the room, holding the unfinished robe in his hand and staring blankly.
Everything in the room remained the same as when Song Yihuan had left that day, as if she would push the door open and walk in the next moment, smiling and calling him "Your Highness".
Someone did come outside the house. Fuzhou knelt in front of him and held up today's search record with both hands and presented it to him.
"My lord, this is the result of today's search by the brothers in the city. Please take a look."