Denghuangtai

Yun Zheng, who had been cold and aloof, was now gently and carefully helping Pei Qingyan up from the bed.

Yun Zheng sat on the edge of the bed, letting Pei Qingyan lean against him. He held Pei Qingyan in his arms, picked up the medicine cup with both hands, scooped up a spoonful with a porcelain spoon, blew on it to cool it down, and then placed it to Pei Qingyan's lips.

The movements were gentle and slow; where was the former "Living Yama's" skill?

The beggar clicked his tongue inwardly and tiptoed to close the door.

Inside the room, Yun Zheng fed Pei Qingyan medicine spoonful by spoonful, his mind replaying the past events that had just been interrupted.

Back then, Yun Zheng galloped all the way to the place where the two had hidden their horses, and then rode his horse at breakneck speed towards Chang'an City.

Although Yun Zheng lacked martial arts skills, his horsemanship was quite impressive, and he entered Chang'an City in about the time it takes for an incense stick to burn. However, by the time he found the then-Minister of Justice, at least another incense stick's time had passed since he entered the city.

Concerned about Pei Qingyan's safety, he briefly explained the incident that had occurred to the two of them in the outskirts of the capital upon meeting the Imperial Censor, and then urged the Imperial Censor to send people to provide support in the outskirts of the capital.

However, no matter how much he urged him, the court official stubbornly refused to give the order, and kept going in circles with Yun Zheng. Yun Zheng tried every means to persuade him, but he still couldn't change the court official's mind.

There was nothing he could do; at the time, he was just a thirteen-year-old child, and the Chief Justice of the Court of Justice, thinking himself mature, refused to believe the words of a few children.

Yun Zheng's attempts to persuade him failed, so he left in anger and went to the palace to see the late emperor.

By the time he led the Imperial Guards to the outskirts, at least two hours had passed since he and Pei Qingyan parted ways.

Afterwards, whenever Yun Zheng thought about this incident, he wished he could slap himself. How could he have been so blinded by his own narrow-mindedness and had to waste his breath arguing with that Minister of Justice? If he had gone to the palace to see the late emperor as soon as he returned to Chang'an, he wouldn't have wasted time and almost ended up doing something he would regret for the rest of his life.

When Yun Zheng arrived with the Imperial Guards, the place where Pei Qingyan had been hiding was already empty, and there were signs of a fight all around.

Upon seeing this, Yun Zheng panicked and almost stumbled off his horse. He bent down to look and saw several bandits' corpses lying in the grass, all with their throats slit, killed instantly. Although he didn't know why the fight had broken out here, judging from the outcome, Pei Qingyan seemed to have the upper hand.

Yun Zheng composed himself and led the Imperial Guards to explore the residence.

The house was wide open, and there was no one inside. The group searched the house inside and out, but found nothing suspicious.

Finally, Yun Zheng discovered the clue in the study.

The study appeared simply furnished, but Yun Zheng sensed something was off as soon as he entered. He walked around the room several times, inside and out, and finally figured out the mystery.

The number of steps from the east wall to the west wall is not the same whether you are inside or outside the house.

The house has a secret room.

The general leading the group was skeptical upon hearing this, so he ordered his men to break down the east wall.

After some effort, the guards finally broke through the wall, and just as Yun Zheng had predicted, a whole new world lay behind it.

Inside the dark room, more than a dozen young children huddled together, their eyes filled with fear as they watched the crowd burst in. They all huddled together, trembling.

Yun Zheng scanned the secret room but found no trace of Pei Qingyan.

In an instant, a bad thought popped into Yun Zheng's mind—had Pei Qingyan been kidnapped by those people?

Yun Zheng's face turned deathly pale; he was completely panicked.

"Report!"

Just then, the Imperial Guards who had been searching outside the mansion rushed in, "Reporting to the General, we have found this item outside."

The imperial guard opened his hand, revealing a white jade hairpin in his palm.

Yun Zheng recognized it at a glance; it belonged to Pei Qingyan.

"Take me to the place where this was found," Yun Zheng immediately ordered.

The imperial guards led him to a spot, a small path leading down the mountain. It had rained the day before, and the path was in a remote location, with vegetation blocking the view, so the soil wasn't completely dry. There were messy footprints all around, it was unclear whether they were left by the bandits or accidentally left by the imperial guards who were checking the area.

Yun Zheng squatted on the ground and patiently checked the footprints in every direction along the path. Finally, he found a clear direction from the mess.

"Leave a few people to continue searching here, the rest of you come with me," Yun Zheng immediately ordered.

He led the group westward along the footprints down the mountain.

Down the mountain, the official road had long since dried up, leaving no trace of footprints; the clues had vanished.

As Yun Zheng looked in two directions, one to the south and one to the north, at a loss for what to do, a shiny object in the grass beside the official road caught his eye.

Upon closer inspection, it turned out to be a gold ring.

Yun Zheng recognized at a glance that these were also the items Pei Qingyan was wearing today. It seemed that the ring and the jade hairpin were both secret signals left by Pei Qingyan to guide everyone. This indicated that she should be relatively safe for the time being.

Thinking of this, Yun Zheng felt a little more at ease, and he led his men to continue tracking in the direction of the ring.

Everything seemed to be going extremely smoothly...

But if things really went that smoothly, Yun Zheng wouldn't have felt regret and fear for so many years.

Yun Zheng followed along, picking up the accessories Pei Qingyan had left behind. At first, he was full of confidence, thinking he would soon reunite with Pei Qingyan.

The more they picked up the items, the more suspicious they became. As they continued their pursuit, they drifted further and further away from Chang'an City. By nightfall, they were still in the woods on the outskirts of the city.

Now, even if Yun Zheng continued to deceive himself, he had to realize that these items were not left behind by Pei Qingyan at all. Instead, someone had deliberately removed Pei Qingyan's belongings to set up a deceptive illusion to mislead them.

Now that things had come to this, Yun Zheng knew that this was no longer something he could resolve with just a few imperial guards. He made a decisive move: he returned to the capital to apologize to the late emperor and asked him to send people to search for Pei Qingyan.

The late emperor was furious when he heard about this. He knew that Pei Xuan was still on a campaign in the northwest. If something happened to his daughter, Pei Qingyan, what would Pei Xuan think? What would the soldiers fighting on the front lines think?

Do they feel that while they are risking their lives to expand the territory of the Great Zhao Dynasty, the emperor cannot even protect the families of his soldiers?

Wouldn't this demoralize the soldiers?

The late emperor immediately ordered the imperial guards to conduct a large-scale search in Chang'an and the surrounding counties to find Pei Qingyan.

Originally, the late emperor did not intend to involve Yun Zheng again, but Yun Zheng was adamant, and the late emperor finally relented for the sake of Empress Yun.

After searching for two days and two nights, just when everyone thought Pei Qingyan was in grave danger, things took a turn for the better.