A while later, the Imperial Commander, who had left to find Lady Wen, rushed in. He knelt in front of Emperor Ning and reported, "Your Majesty, I didn't find Lady Wen. I saw Lady Wen's maid at the bathroom, and she said Lady Wen was inside. I received no response after I called to the Lady a few times. So I burst in and no one was inside."
"In that case, it was probably Lady Wen who has been taken away. Why did Lady Wen lure Prince Jing to the Pavilion? Any other findings?" Emperor Ning asked.
"Your Majesty, I found some signs of struggle in Qingsi House. My guess is that there was a fight there, " the Imperial Commander instantly replied.
"Let's go and take a look at Qingsi House, " Emperor Ning said as he hastily rose to his feet.
Then Yun Shang followed Emperor Ning to Qingsi House. Some arrows lay on the ground. However, the arrowheads were hollow, which was strange.
The others looked at the hollowed arrowheads for a long time but could not tell what they were for. Yun Shang knitted her brows. She noticed a strange, choking smell in the air.
"Something must have happened to Prince Jing, father, " said Yun Shang as she turned to Emperor Ning with a grave look.
Everyone's attention was on Yun Shang. She looked a little pale as she added, "I smell smoke in the yard, and it is choking. I think it's some kind of toxic smoke." Hearing this, Qian Yin who was standing beside Yun Shang, took out a small bottle of medicine from her sleeve. She quickly poured out some pills and gave one to each onlooker.
"My uncle gave me this medicine, just in case. The toxic smoke is very effective. Be careful." Yun Shang reminded everyone present.
As soon as she had finished speaking, she saw that some of the older people seemed to be getting dizzy. She immediately told Qian Yin to give them the medicine first. It took a while for those people to recover.
The rest, seeing what had happened, quickly swallowed the pills in their hands.
Yun Shang then continued, "I guess the hollow arrowhead is probably for the toxic smoke. I just observed that the arrowhead design is quite ingenious. Just blow the toxic smoke into the arrowhead, then gently twist it, and the toxic smoke is hidden inside. Besides, the arrowhead is so fragile that if it hits something hard, it will break. Then the toxic smoke is released. There are so many broken arrows here. If my uncle inhaled even a little bit of toxic smoke, he would soon lose consciousness."
At this time, Emperor Ning stared at Yun Shang with slight surprise and doubt. Yun Shang then realized that she had been so anxious about Prince Jing that she said a lot of things she shouldn't have said. As the others watched, she bent her head. In this case, the best thing to do was to stay quiet.
Before Emperor Ning could speak, the Imperial Commander said, "But the temporary imperial palace is heavily guarded..."
Emperor Ning interrupted him, "Heavily guarded? Humph, if it were really so heavily guarded, how could evildoers dare to set such a big trap here? And now, Prince Jing is in danger. Is that what you call heavily guarded?"
Yun Shang's mouth tightened slightly, and she sighed, "In this world, no matter how heavy the guard is, it can only protect against average criminals. If someone really wants to cause mischief, it would be impossible to stop them. If my uncle was unconscious, it would not be easy for the culprits to take him out of the temporary imperial palace. After all, father is in the palace, and there are many guards for a few miles. There are only three possibilities. The first is that they are still in the palace. The second is that there are secret passages in the palace." Yun Shang paused before going on, "The last possibility is that many of the guards have colluded with the criminals."
After listening to the analysis, Emperor Ning waved his hands in frustration. His veins throbbed on his forehead. He ordered in a cold tone, "Investigate it! Investigate it thoroughly at all costs!"
'Although Prince Jing guards the border all-year round, he is the eternal invincible protector in the hearts of the people. If news of his disappearance leaks out, I'm afraid...'
Emperor Ning's eyes?held?a stern look. 'I hope it's not that bad.'
Yun Shang remained silent for a moment before she said again, "Father, then... What about Lady Wen? It is not known whether she was mistaken for me and kidnapped or whether she was involved in the plot..."
Comments
The readers' comments on the novel: An Eight-year-old Princess