When Yang Ning entered the yard, she had an ominous premonition. When she kicked open the door, she just hoped that she had guessed wrong, entered the house, glanced over, and found that Gu Qinghan was not in the room.
This room is not big, and it is clear at a glance. On the bed above the bed, the brocade quilt is lifted aside, and you can see at a glance that there is no one in the room.
Although Gu Qinghan was not there, her dress was hanging aside. Yang Ning had a serious look on her face. She quickly walked over and touched the brocade quilt. It was cold and had no temperature inside. In other words, Gu Qinghan He is no longer in this room.
Looking back, I saw the two maids standing at the door. Seeing that there was no trace of Gu Qinghan in the room, they both looked frightened.
"Let me ask you, are these the clothes that the third lady changed last night?" Yang Ning pointed to those dresses.
A maid hurriedly said: "We served the third lady to bathe and change clothes last night. These are the clothes that the third lady changed last night."
Yang Ning's heart sank even more.
Although he had prepared the worst, he still hoped that everything would not be as he thought. He hoped that Gu Qinghan would just go out by himself, but with these changes of clothes here, this possibility was almost non-existent.
There was no way that Gu Qinghan would just walk out of the room without wearing a dress.
"You were guarding the yard last night and didn't hear any movement in this room?" Yang Ning stared at the two maids and said solemnly: "Besides you, who else came last night?"
The two maids had already knelt on the ground and said in horror: "Sir, the third lady went to bed very early last night. The third lady blew out the lights in the room herself. We took turns to guard outside, and no one else came. "He added: "The room has been very quiet all the time. When we invited the third lady to have dinner in the morning, the third lady did not agree."
Yang Ning knew that it was the transition season between autumn and winter, and it was quite cold at night. It was impossible for Gu Qinghan to sleep without a quilt at night. If she had not been away for a long time, there must still be warmth in the quilt, but now the quilt was cold, which could only mean that Gu Qinghan had left last night.
Just now he kicked open the door, and it was obvious that the door was bolted from the inside, so it was naturally impossible for Gu Qinghan to leave through the door.
He looked around. The front window was tightly closed and locked from the inside. Naturally, it was impossible to leave through the front window. He walked to the back window. This was a high-sliding window. Normally, it needed to be propped up with a wooden stick to open it. The stick was dropped on the ground, but the window latch was not locked. Yang Ning pushed the window slightly and took a closer look at the window edge. He found some fine powder on the window sill, slightly yellow in color. He dipped his finger in it and put it to the tip of his nose to smell it. Smell, there is a faint fragrance, the taste is already very light, but when it enters the nose, Yang Ning feels a little dizzy.
There was a chill in his eyes.
In an instant, he understood that this powder was most likely the incense that made people unconscious. The incense powder was left on the windowsill. The incense from last night was naturally used to deal with Gu Qinghan.
Gu Qinghan must have been invaded by the incense and lost consciousness, and then was secretly taken away through the back window.
He climbed out of the window and squatted down to check the ground. There were indeed footprints in the soil behind him. Although they were very shallow, you could still see them if you looked closely.
Yang Ning followed the footprints and searched for a while. The footprints became fainter and fainter. In the end, they were no longer visible, and the clue was lost.
Yang Ning was silent for a moment, then stood up and returned to the house. Seeing that the two maids were still there, she ordered: "Go and call everyone in the old house to the lobby now."
The maid hurriedly left and went to summon everyone in the old house.
Yang Ning searched the house and found no other clues. He knew that at this time, he should stay absolutely calm.
Gu Qinghan was kidnapped. There were various possibilities for what the purpose was, but one thing he was sure of was that this strange situation must be related to the old house.
Although he had a general understanding of the Qi family, as a large family, he didn't know much about the past grievances and resentments of the Qi family.
The Qi family has a wide network of contacts in the military, which is naturally the Qi family's advantage. However, the two generations of Jinyihou are veterans of the battlefield, and they have no plan to kill, and they have countless grudges, even in the land of Jiangling. , although it is called the foundation of the Qi family, it may not have any enemies.
He only hoped that the enemy who kidnapped Gu Qinghan was just for money or even other benefits, not for coveting Gu Qinghan's beauty. With Gu Qinghan's temperament, once she was humiliated, she would definitely not survive if others did not kill her.
Since the opponent only kidnapped Gu Qinghan, it shows that Gu Qinghan's life should not be in danger for a moment. Otherwise, if the other party wants to kill someone, there is no need to go to all the troubles to take Gu Qinghan away. Since he can enter the house and kidnap Gu Qinghan, then kill him here. It was also easy for her.
When Yang Ning arrived at the lobby, more than a dozen people in the old house were waiting. However, the three guards who followed Yang Ning to Jiangling all had swords on their bodies and were standing outside the door.
Seeing Yang Ning come in, everyone knelt down. Yang Ning glanced at everyone. They were all maids and servants. Only Zhao Yuan, the accountant, looked special. He said straight to the point: "The third lady is missing. Have any of you seen her today?"
Everyone was stunned. Yang Ning raised his hand to signal everyone to get up. After everyone got up, they all lowered their heads and did not dare to speak. Yang Ning frowned and said coldly: "I ask you, has anyone seen the third lady today? ?”
Seeing the prince's anger, everyone shook their heads hurriedly. Wei Tong said: "Your Majesty, the third lady has not been seen coming out to eat since morning. She has been waiting in the kitchen. There are people watching at the front and back doors, but the third lady has not been seen going out."
Yang Ning pondered for a moment, then his eyes fell on Zhao Yuan, the accountant. Seeing that Zhao Yuan was still calm and calm at this moment, without any sign of panic, he asked coldly: "Mr. Zhao, how long have you been in the old house?"
"Hui Shizi, Zhao has been managing the accounts in the old house for three years." Zhao Yuan cupped his hands and said: "It was the busy season of autumn at that time, and the previous accountant was old, so General Manager Qi asked Zhao to come and help. Originally, he was just on the side. However, the old accountant was old and had limited energy, so Manager Qi gave him a sum of money and asked Zhao to take over the affairs of the accountant."
Yang Ning frowned, said "Oh" and said, "Are you hired by Qi Cheng?"
"Exactly!" Zhao Yuan said respectfully.
Yang Ning walked slowly to Zhao Yuan and looked him up and down. Suddenly, everyone saw a flash of sword light, and a gleaming sharp blade was pressed against Zhao Yuan's throat. Zhao Yuan turned pale in shock and lost his voice. : "Your Majesty, you...!" Others had never expected that the Crown Prince would suddenly take action, and they were all shocked.
"My prince has never liked nonsense." Yang Ning said lightly: "Mr. Zhao, please tell me where the third lady is now?"
"Third Madam?" Zhao Yuan looked frightened and said with a bitter smile: "Your Majesty, Zhao is just a cashier. He has food and accommodation in the cashier's house. Sometimes he doesn't go out for three to five days. From last night to just now, Zhao also did the same. Without leaving home, if the prince hadn't summoned him, Zhao might not have come out today, and Zhao doesn't know how to predict yin and yang, so how can he know where the third lady is?"
Wei Tong said from the side: "Your Majesty, Mr. Zhao really does not leave home on weekdays."
"Mr. Zhao's psychological quality is indeed good." Yang Ning ignored him and simply said: "Ordinary people who are suddenly held up by a knife will never react as calmly as you."
Zhao Yuan sighed: "The Crown Prince praised me. If Zhao did something wrong, the Crown Prince would punish him, but like this...!" He glanced down and smiled bitterly: "I really don't know what the Crown Prince means. Does the prince think that the disappearance of the third lady has something to do with my mere accountant?"
"I suddenly thought of a very strange question." Yang Ning stared at Zhao Yuan, "The third lady spent almost a whole day in the accounting room yesterday, checking the accounts of the past few years. According to the third lady, among these accounts, there is no Found a glitch.”
Zhao Yuan said: "Is it wrong for Zhao to be loyal to his duties?"
"You know, no one is perfect, and the accounts are never perfect." Yang Ning said slowly: "The accounts you did are so clean that even a shrewd person like the Third Madam cannot find a single mistake. This prince is very suspicious. The Qi family has 3,000 households and hundreds of hectares of land. The annual expenses are so complicated. Although there are two people in the accounting room, you are the only one who mainly handles the accounts. It is hard for me to believe that you alone can do this. Handle the accounts so cleanly?"
In fact, Yang Ning heard Gu Qinghan mention that there were no flaws in the accounts yesterday. She didn't pay much attention to it at first, but when she thought about it later, she found it really unbelievable.
This is not two accounts for one store, but a large account related to many money and food expenses. He used to do business, and even if he was a professional accountant of that era, there would be some errors in the accounts. Like the large accounts of the Qi family, if there are some errors in the middle It is normal to have flaws, but it seems strange that there are no flaws.
He already felt that the old house was very strange, and Qi Cheng's failure to return last night made Yang Ning even more suspicious. Gu Qinghan disappeared strangely today, and he vaguely felt that it was related to the people in the old house.
Mr. Zhao was one of his suspects.
Hearing that Mr. Zhao claimed that he had only been in this old house for three years and was still hired by Qi Cheng, Yang Ning felt that Mr. Zhao's origins were unknown and there must be a secret behind it.
Although it was just a suspicion and he could not be sure that Gu Qinghan's mysterious disappearance was related to Mr. Zhao, he suddenly attacked, hoping to scare Mr. Zhao and get some clues from him. After all, the other party was just a literati who had no power to restrain a chicken. If this person really has a secret, he may not be forced to reveal it.
"Your Majesty is wrong!" A rough voice suddenly came from outside the door, and the guard shouted: "Who is it, stop!"
Yang Ning frowned and saw a burly middle-aged man standing outside the door. He was tall and wearing a cloth shirt and was stopped by the guards guarding the door.
"Yes, it's Master Cheng!" Wei Tong glanced at it and shouted: "Your Majesty, Cheng... Manager Qi is back!"
Yang Ning didn't want Qi Cheng to come back suddenly at this time, with a stern look on his face, he said in a deep voice: "Qi Cheng, come in!"
The middle-aged man then entered the house, saluted Yang Ning and said, "Young man Qi Cheng, pay your respects to the Crown Prince!"