Qi Yang and the others didn't care about King Wei's safety. After all, the friendship between the two sides was not that good. But at this eventful time, he really can't let him have an accident easily, otherwise the influence will follow one after another, and no one knows what will happen.
The most important point is that the safety of this hunting ground is the responsibility of the Crown Prince—although the eldest grandson was the first to be attacked by a tiger, he was not hurt when he met Qi Yang, and instead won the emperor’s reward for shooting a tiger—now the hunting ground is out. The problem, even if King Wei's fault is entirely his own, there is no guarantee that someone won't turn right and wrong and throw dirty water on the crown prince.
Qi Yang felt a headache when he thought about it, and Lu Qipei also felt that he couldn't sit still. Therefore, after the two returned to the camp, they looked at the map and analyzed it, and roughly deduced the possible location of King Wei.
After a while, Qi Yang looked at the map sketched by Lu Qipei and said, "There should be Yulin searching nearby, but I'm not at ease. Let's send some people over to look for it. If you find someone early, everyone will be fine. Peace of mind."
Lu Qipei nodded, thought about it but said, "I want to go there in person."
Qi Yang frowned immediately when he heard the words, grabbed her hand and said, "It's dark outside, and there are other dangers in the hunting ground. What are you going to do?" She said, lowering her voice slightly: "Wei How can you be important to the king!"
Lu Qipei didn't want her to say such a thing, he was slightly surprised, and then his eyes were filled with a warm smile. It's just that although the smile climbed up her eyebrows, she insisted: "It doesn't matter, I'll take more people. It's unusual for King Wei to have an accident. They are all busy looking for people, maybe they won't care about other things, I'll go and see. See what clues you might find."
After speaking, seeing Qi Yang's face still full of disapproval, Lu Qipei held Qi Yang's hand with his backhand, his eyes seemed to be shining under the candlelight: "A Ning, trust me, I think this time I will find something."
She was so persistent that it was almost impossible to refuse.
In the past, Lu Qipei always indulged Qi Yang, and she agreed to whatever she said. But now, Qi Yang can't seem to refuse Lu Qipei who has become firm, so she finally lowered her eyebrows and compromised: "If that's the case, then let's go."
Lu Qipei's brows loosened when he heard the words, but he didn't say anything, but he heard Qi Yang continue: "I'll accompany you."
This is very bad. Lu Qipei, who had just vowed to say that there was nothing to do in the middle of the night, dared to enter the hunting ground with some people, suddenly became worried, and he would refuse to hold Qi Yang. In the end, before she could speak, Qi Yang covered her mouth: "I'll be with you, otherwise no one will go!"
Lu Qipei looked at her, and Her Royal Highness's eyes were no less firm than before. Knowing that this is probably Qi Yang's bottom line, Lu Qipei was a little hesitant. After a long time, he reached out and pulled Qi Yang's hand down, nodded and said, "Let's go together then."
Only then did Qi Yang smile, and the whole person relaxed. However, looking at Lu Qipei's resolute appearance, Qi Yang vaguely felt that she was probably sure of going out, but she wondered where her confidence came from
I wanted to ask, but after hesitating, I decided to come back.
The regulations of the Princess Mansion are that you can have 800 armored soldiers, and no one will bring all the guards in the home just out for hunting. Qi Yang and Lu Qipei only brought dozens of attendants on this trip, and then excluding those injured by the tiger at noon, they finally gathered fifty people to accompany them.
The group lit the torches and headed for the hunting ground in a mighty manner, which naturally alarmed many people. However, Qiyang and the others walked fast, and today, many people have entered the hunting ground to find King Wei, and there is no Yulin blocking the way outside the hunting ground. When the emperor got the news and sent someone to stop it, the group had already entered the forest and could not easily catch up.
The night was deep, the tree shadows were heavy, and the howls of beasts came from time to time, and the hunting grounds at night were a bit scary.
Qi Yang and Lu Qipei rode on horses and were carefully guarded by the attendants in the middle. After entering the hunting grounds, the group had a clear goal, and they did not delay on the road, and went straight to the place that Lu Qipei had marked on the map before.
Halfway through the journey, they bumped into two groups of people, both of whom were looking for King Wei. They were a little surprised to see Princess Qiyang and her concubine. !
When they got to the depths of the forest, there were many people looking for Yulin and all parties. In addition, it was dark in the forest, but no one noticed them.
Qi Yang and Lu Qipei didn't care about this either. The two rushed all the way to the place where King Wei and his attendants were separated, and went to the nearby Yulin to confirm. After Lu Qipei got a positive answer, he turned over and dismounted, and then held a torch and searched the neighborhood bit by bit.
One of the attendants was unclear, so he asked his companion in a low voice, "What is the concubine looking for for this blind man?"
The companion stared at Lu Qipei's movements, his eyes were bright, and he whispered back to him: "Probably looking for some clues. Our concubine is the Shaoqing of Dali Temple, and he is the best at investigating cases. He must be looking for the trace of King Wei. So many people are looking for it, but no one has been found so far, so we still have to have a clue and target."
The attendant nodded when he heard the words and agreed, and looked at Lu Qipei with two more anticipation and reverence.
The conversation between the two was not loud, but it was silent in the middle of the night, and everyone around heard it. Including Qi Yang, who was not too close, she took a few steps forward to Lu Qipei, and when she got to her side, she asked in a low voice, "What are you looking for?"
Lu Qipei had already used the torch to illuminate the nearby ground once, and was sniffing a little dirt on the ground at this time. Hearing Qi Yang's words, she raised her head and was about to say something, but she saw dozens of pairs of eyes staring at her with burning eyes.
When it reached his mouth, he swallowed it again. Lu Qipei threw away the dirt in his hand and stood up, raised his hand and pointed forward, and said, "Let's go, let's look in this direction."
Qi Yang has a tacit understanding with her, and seeing her like this, he knows that there are things that are not good to say in front of outsiders. Of course she wouldn't ask again, she just pretended that she didn't say anything before, after taking the reins handed by the attendant, she turned over and jumped onto the horse's back.
Lu Qipei led the way, followed by a group of people, walking and stopping.
Seeing that Lu Qipei had walked for a while, one of the attendants dismounted from the horse to investigate, and occasionally picked up the soil to smell it, so he also got off the horse and secretly squeezed a pinch of soil out of curiosity. It's a pity that I can only smell a little earthy smell and the smell of rotten leaves, but I can't find anything else.
The group was so confused, and as Lu Qipei drifted further away, they gradually got out of the scope of everyone's search.
I don't know how long and how far they walked. When Lu Qipei stopped the horse again, suddenly a servant with good eyesight said, "Is there something on the ground in front?"
When everyone heard the words, they raised their eyes to take a closer look. Sure enough, they saw an unusual black shadow under the big tree in front of them.
In this late-night hunting ground, everyone's mind is actually tense. After all, the danger of encountering a tiger in the afternoon is a wake-up call. Who knows what kind of danger lurks in the mountains and forests at night
Therefore, when they found the dark shadow, the attendants raised their bows and held their knives, and some even stepped forward to protect the princess and the concubine, and they were fully defensive.
After waiting for a while, there was no movement. Lu Qipei took the initiative and threw the torch in his hand towards the front.
The torch fell to the ground, sparks splashed around, and soon a leaf was lit ablaze. After that, the black shadow also revealed the true face of Mount Lu. It really wasn't a tree root or rock, but a dead horse!
There's nothing to fear about a dead horse, especially if that piece is already on fire. The attendants were relieved when they saw the calm in the distance, and immediately separated two people and stepped forward, jumped off the back of the horse and stepped on the flames that had not yet reached a certain level, and held the torches to check the dead horse. Finally, he hurried back to report: "That dead horse seems to be the mount of King Wei!"
The story of King Wei riding a prairie alien and throwing off his attendants has long since spread. And the difference between this cross-bred horse and ordinary horses is also quite obvious. Not to mention the other, the bald head is about a circle bigger, which is very easy to identify.
Qi Yang's heart froze when he heard the words, and he immediately stepped forward, first glanced at the dead horse on the ground, and then looked around: "Let's go and see if King Wei is nearby!"
The attendants agreed and quickly dispersed, and sporadic firelight illuminated the dark forests around them.
Lu Qipei also came to the dead horse. She got off the horse and picked up the torches on the ground. She carefully checked the dead horse. Finally, she raised her head and said to Qi Yang, "Poisoned to death."
The unsurprising answer made Qi Yang's face even more difficult to look at. She looked around and saw that the attendants were far away, so she lowered her voice and asked Lu Qipei, "Do you know what's going on?"
Lu Qipei also looked around, but said softly, "Go back and talk to you in detail."
Qi Yang was so curious in his heart, but he pressed down and didn't ask anything. Lu Qipei checked the vicinity for a while, and the attendants who had scattered to look for people all came back, but unfortunately the results were not satisfactory. They did not find any trace of King Wei at all.
Lu Qipei got on his horse first, then pulled the reins and said, "Go back the same way."
Before Lu Qipei was able to search all the way to find this dead horse, everyone was convinced of her, and now they followed suit without saying a word. But this time, there was no need for her to remind them, everyone knew that they had to slow down and observe the route.
Probably because of the clear goal, the servants of the Princess Palace also have sharp eyes, and they found an abnormality after only half an hour. The attendant immediately stopped everyone, Qi Yang and Lu Qipei also dismounted to check, and finally found that there was a steep slope under the bushes by the roadside. The bushes have traces of being crushed, but they are not conspicuous in the dark, but they are very conspicuous when they are illuminated by torches.
Qi Yang took two steps forward and subconsciously looked down the steep slope.
Lu Qipei was startled, and hurriedly stretched out his hand to hold her: "Be careful, Your Highness, don't fall!"
Qi Yang was pulled back by her, but it didn't make any difference whether she saw it or not. Qi Yang reassured Lu Qipei, turned his head and instructed the attendant, "Go down and have a look with the two of you, be careful."
The attendant responded, and soon prepared to push aside the bushes and descend to the bottom of the slope.