Dongfang Yuan turned his head and glanced at Feng Yunshu. His expression froze for a moment.
Feng Yunshu felt the sudden awkwardness in the air. Dongfang Qi frowned, sized Feng Yunshu up and down, and then took a step back.
"How could there be such a servant in the palace? It's really an ill omen! Third brother, quickly take this maid away. If Father and the concubines smell this stench, even if you had ten heads, they wouldn't be enough to be chopped off!"
Dongfang Qi's attitude did a complete 180 - degree turn. After flinging out those words, he strode away as if fleeing.
Feng Yunshu stuck out her tongue at Dongfang Qi's hurriedly retreating back. It was really satisfying, and she couldn't help making a face.
As Dongfang Yuan turned his head, Feng Yunshu's face - making expression came into view.
"Pfft..."
Dongfang Yuan couldn't help laughing. "Yunshu, why do I feel that you seem different from before?"
Feng Yunshu's heart skipped a beat. She quickly put away the face and forced a laugh. "Your Highness, what are you talking about? I've always been like this."
"I think you've become more... lively than before?"
"It's an illusion. It must be an illusion."
Feng Yunshu kept her eyes on her nose and her nose on her heart, planning to play dumb.
Just then, a voice suddenly rang out in her mind: Master, come and save Xiaoling quickly!
Feng Yunshu was startled. "Your Highness, you go and do your own things first. I can handle the rest myself."
"Can you find that spiritual beast?"
Dongfang Yuan was obviously worried. "The palace is heavily guarded. If you act recklessly and expose yourself, the consequences will be unimaginable. Even I may not be able to protect you then."
"We agreed before. Your Highness, you help me this last time, and then we'll owe each other nothing. The past is like floating clouds. I know what to do next."
"Yunshu, you..."
Dongfang Yuan was a bit anxious and wanted to say something more. Just then, a noble - looking concubine walked in this direction from afar. Dongfang Yuan immediately turned to assume the proper posture of a prince.
Taking advantage of the moment when he was saluting the concubine, Feng Yunshu turned around and quickly slipped away.
After leaving, with the cover of the dim night and the surrounding rockeries and trees, Feng Yunshu soon found a secluded corner. Then she sat cross - legged and concentrated to sense Xiaoling.
Feng Yunshu's method of sensing was very simple. She released her aura like a net, spreading it continuously around with herself as the center.
Although she had no spiritual power, she had signed a master - servant contract with Xiaoling in her previous life, so she could naturally sense each other's existence.
Soon, Feng Yunshu's search yielded results.
Right below the main hall not far away, probably in a place like a dungeon basement, Xiaoling was there.
After confirming the target, Feng Yunshu stood up and patted the grass off her body, getting ready to act.
Before taking action, she quietly walked to the lake to wash the medicinal powder off her hands. Otherwise, before she even got close, the strong smell of fox would probably expose her soon.
After the medicinal powder was washed off, the smell of fox quickly dissipated.
Feng Yunshu saw several tall and strong guards holding weapons in front of the main hall. It wouldn't be so easy to get in.
Although she still knew some hypnosis techniques, there were so many guards at once, and Feng Yunshu wasn't sure she could succeed in one go.
After observing the surroundings, she decided to find another way and set her sights on the gilded roof of the magnificent hall.
Soon, using a tall silk tree beside the hall, Feng Yunshu rolled up her sleeves, tucked up the corners of her skirt, and after a bit of warm - up exercises, she started to show her ancestral trait - climbing the tree!
While climbing the tree, Feng Yunshu remembered that in her previous life, she had climbed a tree to avoid punishment after her master found out that she had secretly gone down the mountain to buy roast chicken. Now it seemed that everything had been preparing her for this moment.
Fortunately, everything went smoothly. Feng Yunshu successfully climbed onto the roof and inched forward bit by bit according to the position she had sensed before.
After much effort, she finally reached the right position. Now came the crucial step: how to get down.
Feng Yunshu lifted a few glazed tiles and peeked down quietly. The hall was empty at the moment. It was the perfect time!
Feng Yunshu took out a coil of rope from her waist, found a suitable place to tie it, and then climbed in along the rope.
Just as she feared, a white cat suddenly jumped onto the roof. It stared at Feng Yunshu, the uninvited guest, with its big round eyes.
Feeling a gaze on her, Feng Yunshu turned to look. The cat quickly scurried over and started scratching at the rope Feng Yunshu had tied, as if it had found a very interesting toy in its cat life and was having a great time.
Watching the rope about to be scratched to pieces by the cat's claws, Feng Yunshu's heart was pounding. "Hey! Hey!"
She tried to call out in a low voice, but the cat just kept playing. Feng Yunshu remembered the silver in her waist. She took out some silver pieces and threw them at the cat, trying to scare it away.
The silver flew quickly and hit the cat's paw accurately. The cat did jump away, but then it quickly turned around and stepped on the glazed tiles, making a cracking sound -
"Someone on the roof?!"
Hearing the suspicion of the guards at the door, Feng Yunshu felt a chill down her back. Oh no! Now she had alerted the guards!
"Meow, meow..."
Relying on her years of survival experience, Feng Yunshu calmly lay on the glazed tiles and started meowing.
"Is it a cat meowing? Maybe a cat jumped up there?"
Feng Yunshu lay there with a racing heart. She couldn't jump down from the roof right away. She would either die or be seriously injured. She could only silently pray that her master in heaven would bless everything to go smoothly.
She didn't know what was going on below. Gradually, the sound died down. Feng Yunshu didn't relax until she was sure that the person had left. Then she quickly slid into the hall along the rope.
It seemed that her master in heaven was really looking after her. Feng Yunshu felt secretly happy.
However, she didn't know that at this moment, the following conversation between a master and his servant took place in the study of the He Lan Prince's Mansion.
"Master, your subordinate has, as you ordered, knocked out all the guards around the main hall, including those in the dungeon."
"Okay."
He Lan Yanting was sitting in front of the chessboard, playing against himself. "Keep an eye on her and report at any time."
Yan Liu really didn't understand. "Master, the princess is very strange in her behavior. It's almost night, and she's still with the Third Highness. Her actions are very mysterious. Your subordinate thinks the princess has complicated intentions. Why do you still secretly protect her?"
Hearing this, He Lan Yanting rarely raised his eyebrows and looked at Yan Liu playfully. "What? Should I protect you instead of my own princess?"
Yan Liu immediately felt embarrassed. "Master, Yan Liu didn't mean that..."
"What a boring life it would be if such an interesting cat disappeared so easily? Go and do your job. I know what I'm doing."
"Yes, Master."
Yan Liu walked out of the study in a daze. Seeing Yan Qi in the yard, he couldn't help but go up to him to complain.
"Yan Qi, haven't you noticed that the master has changed a bit recently compared to before?"