After dinner, a sudden downpour started.
In no time, the rainwater dripped down along the eaves. Mo Qinghuan was sitting in front of the writing desk, reading a book. The window was blown open by a gust of wind, and the howling wind rushed in. She couldn't help shivering.
Dan'er saw this and walked to the screen, took it down and put it on her. Shuang'er walked over and was about to close the window tightly.
Mo Qinghuan said, "Leave it open."
She looked out of the window. It had already gotten dark. The rain showed no sign of weakening; instead, it seemed to be getting heavier.
The courtyard was already shrouded in a thin white mist. The visibility was less than five meters at this moment.
She couldn't even see the entrance of the Yangyang Palace.
"Your Ladyship must be worried about the Prince," Dan'er said. Ignoring Mo Qinghuan's words, she still walked over and closed the window.
She sighed softly. She remembered that when Mu Yanming left in the morning, he seemed to say that he would be back soon. But for some reason, he still hadn't returned.
She didn't know why, but she always had a vague premonition of something bad.
She had never had this feeling before.
"Your Ladyship, don't worry. Bai Ke is guarding the Prince. He'll be fine."
Knock - knock. Suddenly, someone knocked on the door twice.
Mo Qinghuan looked in the direction of the door. "Who is it?"
"Reporting to the Princess. It's your subordinate. The Prince ordered your subordinate to come back and tell the Princess that the Prince won't be coming back tonight."
Mo Qinghuan got up from her seat, walked to the door and opened it. She sized Bai Ke up and down.
Most of Bai Ke's body was wet from the rain, and there was a layer of mist on his face.
"Where is the Prince?"
Bai Ke took a step forward and whispered, "The Prince doesn't allow your subordinate to tell the Princess."
Mo Qinghuan looked up at Bai Ke, clenched her fists, and smiled in a creepy way. "Tell me."
Bai Ke gave a sly smile. "Your Ladyship, the Prince of Rui is missing. The Prince has led people to look for him."
She looked at the sky. "Is it an order from the Emperor?"
Bai Ke nodded.
"Good for him! Knowing that Mu Yanming has a heart disease, on such a cold day and with such a heavy rain, asking him to lead people to look for the Prince of Rui personally is almost like taking half of his life! Fortunately, this illness is fake. Otherwise, it would be a disaster."
Bai Ke also looked indignant. "Who says it isn't! If even the Princess of Rui has left the mansion to look for the Prince of Rui, your subordinate would almost suspect that the disappearance of the Prince of Rui is fake."
Hearing what Bai Ke said, Mo Qinghuan nodded thoughtfully.
"The Emperor must have done it on purpose. Since that's the case, we can't just sit around doing nothing."
She turned to look at Dan'er. "Dan'er, bring my medicine box."
Seeing this, Bai Ke quickly reached out his hand to stop her. "Your Ladyship, what are you going to do?"
"I'm going to see your Prince. You go first later. You look like this..." She pulled Bai Ke down and whispered something in his ear. "Do you understand?"
Bai Ke shook his head. He slapped himself in annoyance. "No wonder the Prince specifically told your subordinate not to tell you the real situation. It seems that the Prince had already expected you to do this!"
"It's good that he expected it. Hurry up and lead the way."
Bai Ke shook his head firmly. "Your Ladyship, it's all your subordinate's fault for being too talkative. But today, your subordinate must not let you leave the main gate of the Yangyang Palace. Otherwise, tomorrow, the Prince will surely skin your subordinate alive."
Mo Qinghuan stepped forward with her chest out. Bai Ke was so scared that he took a big step back.
"Bai Ke, you surely don't want me to use extreme measures to make you take me there, do you?"
Mo Qinghuan didn't realize how worried she was about Mu Yanming at this moment. She only knew that Mu Yanming was pretending to be ill in front of the Emperor.
Since that was the case, when she learned that her husband with a heart disease was out in the rain, as his wife, she naturally couldn't act so calmly.
Otherwise, with the Emperor's suspicious nature, wouldn't their plan be in vain? Of course, the most important thing was that those needles Mu Yanming had taken would be in vain!
Seeing her so persistent, Bai Ke secretly cursed himself for being talkative. He vowed that he would never dare to disobey the Prince's orders again.
But he didn't dare not take her there either. So he had no choice but to lead the way reluctantly.
"Your Ladyship, let this servant go with you." Dan'er came out with an umbrella.
The sudden downpour immediately wet her hem and shoes.
Mo Qinghuan took the umbrella and pushed her under the corridor. "Go to bed early. I'll go by myself."
Dan'er knew that she had a stubborn temper. Arguing with her would only be in vain and would also delay her time. So she had no choice but to go back to the room and pick out the clothes for her and Mu Yanming.
When they came back later, they would surely be soaked all over. She also had to tell the people guarding the hot spring pool to prepare it. Maybe they would need it when they came back. It was always right to prepare in advance.
Mo Qinghuan followed Bai Ke. When she stepped onto the stairs of the Jujun Tower, she suddenly realized that she might have been tricked.
Bai Ke was so obedient to Mu Yanming. How could he dare to disobey Mu Yanming's order and tell her something she shouldn't know?
She followed Bai Ke step by step up to the second floor, waiting to see what tricks the master and servant were playing.
"Bai Ke, where is your Prince?"
Bai Ke paused for a moment. After adjusting his expression, he turned back to look at Mo Qinghuan. "Your Ladyship, please follow your subordinate into the room first and wait for the Prince. The Prince will come soon."
Saying this, he opened the door of a room. "Your Ladyship, please."
She walked in and looked around the room.
In the center of the room, there was a round table big enough for twelve or thirteen people to sit at. There was also a small round table for three or four people, placed near the door. On the left side of the room, there was a red silk curtain hanging down. Behind it was a guqin, and next to the guqin was an incense burner. At this moment, white smoke was rising from the incense burner.
She closed her eyes and sniffed gently. It smelled very nice, a faint herbal fragrance that was very soothing when burned.
She then looked at the right side of the room. On the right - hand wall, there was a landscape painting hanging. On both sides below the landscape painting, there were side tables respectively. The vases on the side tables were also painted with landscape paintings.
She was staring at the painting in a daze when the door behind her was opened.
She turned around and saw Mu Yanming looking at her in surprise.
- Why was he surprised? Could it be that she had guessed wrong and Bai Ke really dared to go against Mu Yanming's orders...
"Why did you come?"
Mu Yanming shook off the water mist on his body, walked to the small table and sat down. She quickly sat down too and poured him a cup of hot water.
Seeing that she didn't say a word, Mu Yanming asked again, "It's so late. Why did you leave the mansion?"
She propped her chin up and observed Mu Yanming's action of drinking tea.
- As expected, he was extremely elegant, like a flower on a high mountain, naturally exuding a noble air.
"Have they found the person?"
He blinked his eyes as an answer.
"Who did it? Is it the Emperor staging a self - directed play?"
Mu Yanming looked at her with a puzzled look in his eyes. He put down the teacup in his hand and looked into Mo Qinghuan's bright eyes.
"No. Someone deliberately kidnapped him."