The young eunuch was one of Si Fangzheng's godsons. He was smart, capable, and calm. Si Fangzheng had never seen him so flustered before, so he immediately frowned and scolded him, "If you have something to say, please talk nicely. It's not proper to be so flustered. If you startle the emperor, you'll lose your head."
But the young eunuch obviously no longer took his head seriously. After being scolded by his godfather, he still looked panicked and fell to the ground, reporting: "Your Majesty, something really happened. The crown prince, no, Song, Song Jingxing, no, is missing!"
Song Jingxing is missing
Everyone present was suddenly startled and their expressions changed.
Even Su Jincheng, who usually had a blank expression on his face, was moved.
Song Wanji stood up from the sedan chair abruptly and shook his body twice: "What do you mean by missing?"
Zhao Jingyu, on the contrary, did not show much shock. He reached out his hand to support Song Wanji, and then looked at the young eunuch steadily.
The young eunuch stammered, "He just disappeared suddenly. The locks of the cell doors were intact. The man is gone. No one knows when he disappeared. The warden of the prison has ordered a comprehensive search and requested the emperor to order the city gates to be sealed and the imperial guards to be dispatched to search the entire city."
"Ha!" Song Wanji sneered, his face filled with anger. "In the prison of heaven, a living person in shackles could actually disappear out of thin air. This is probably the funniest joke I have ever heard in my life!"
Everyone felt the emperor's anger and they all bowed their heads and remained silent.
Zhao Jingyu advised, "Now that things have come to this, Your Majesty, there is no need to get so angry. Please first order a city closure and search, and we can deal with the rest when we return."
Song Wanji nodded solemnly, no longer riding on the sedan chair, and returned to the upper study at great speed. He issued several emergency orders in succession and summoned relevant officials to the upper study for discussions.
Zhao Jingyu asked him for permission and personally led a group of imperial guards to the city to search for Song Jingxing's whereabouts.
At this time in the capital, the carnival was still going on, and the streets and alleys were filled with a constant stream of people. Finding a person who was deliberately hiding among them was almost harder than climbing to the sky.
What's more, even the people in Tianlao didn't know when Song Jingxing escaped. Maybe he took advantage of the chaos at the beginning of the enthronement ceremony to flee the capital.
In short, no matter what, Song Jingxing would never be able to escape from the heavily guarded prison by himself. Both internal and external support are essential.
It seems that the prison break was premeditated. Song Jingxing had been the crown prince for twenty years, and there must be many people who were loyal to him. Moreover, there were Queen Meng and Prime Minister Meng who had been planning for many years. As long as the plan was proper, it would not be difficult to rescue him from the prison.
Moreover, they chose today as the date, obviously after careful consideration, because everyone's attention is on the enthronement ceremony today, and omissions are inevitable in other places. In addition, there are so many people outside that if they can escape, it will be like a grain of sand sinking into the sea, and there will be no trace at all.
As for which group of people collaborated internally and externally to rescue Song Jingxing, Song Wanji and other officials would investigate it. Zhao Jingyu didn't care about these things. The only thing he cared about now was what Song Jingxing wanted to do.
Does he simply not want to be exiled to the North, or does he plan to make a comeback and take back his position
If it is the former, there is nothing to be afraid of. If it is the latter, it means that he has troops or allies. If he escapes, the consequences will be disastrous.
Where the troops are and who the allies are are key issues that need to be clarified urgently.
Zhao Jingyu was riding on his horse, looking at the people in the streets celebrating his enthronement ceremony. For the first time, he felt the burden on his shoulders was so heavy.
These are the people of the Great Zhou, and they are also his subjects. He has the responsibility and obligation to keep them safe and prevent them from being separated from their families and displaced by war.
Besides, in this city, there are his family, his friends, and his beloved girl.
Thinking of Xie Nanjia, he couldn't help but admire Xie Nanjia's foresight. She had asked him to remind the emperor a long time ago that if he didn't make a decision, he would suffer the consequences. Now it seems that she was right.
What would be her first reaction if she learned that Song Jingxing had escaped
Would she have an expression of "Just as I expected", curl her lips and say calmly: "Look, I told you so!"
Zhao Jingyu thought about it and couldn't help but smile bitterly. He pulled the reins and said to the leader of the imperial guards beside him, "You lead the search first. I'll go to the Zhenguo Mansion."
He felt that Xie Nanjia must have a different opinion on this matter than others, and might be able to analyze Song Jingxing's whereabouts and motives.
So, he couldn't wait to meet her.
There were many people on the street and the horse was not moving very fast. In addition, the sun was scorching in the afternoon. When Zhao Jingyu arrived at the Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion, he was drenched in sweat.
When the guard at the door saw him coming, he hurried forward and knelt to greet him.
As soon as the enthronement ceremony was over, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince came to find the young lady, which shows how important the young lady is in his heart.
The guard thought about it, secretly feeling happy for his young lady. He respectfully helped the Crown Prince off the horse and led him inside.
Wei Jun and Huangfu followed behind and dismounted their horses on their own. Huangfu stayed outside the door to watch the horses, while Wei Jun followed Zhao Jingyu into the mansion.
When Sheng Qingyun heard that the Crown Prince had suddenly come to visit, he hurriedly brought people out to greet him. Facing the son-in-law whom he had once despised, he didn't know who should kneel.
Zhao Jingyu was anxious to see Xie Nanjia, and didn't bother with the formalities. He bowed and said, "Young Madam, how are you? I have something urgent to see Xiu'er. Please allow me."
Sheng Qingyun was stunned and asked in surprise: "Didn't Xiu'er get invited by His Royal Highness the Crown Prince to watch the ceremony?"
Zhao Jingyu's heart skipped a beat, his sweaty back suddenly felt cold, and he shivered.
"Who invited you?" he asked, his tone a little unstable.
"Two eunuchs and two female officials said they were newly transferred to serve you. They followed your orders to pick Xiu'er up to watch the ceremony in the palace. Her father, brother, and uncles had already left the palace. I didn't ask much and just let her go with them..." Sheng Qingyun realized something was wrong as he spoke, and his voice began to tremble. "Could it be that someone was impersonating me? I saw that the sedan chair they brought was indeed of the palace standard..."
"Oh my God, is someone trying to cheat us?" The third and fourth wives were both frightened.
"I don't know whether it was a scam or not, but I certainly didn't ask anyone to pick her up. There are so many people here today, and I just hope she stays at home and doesn't go out." Zhao Jingyu said.
Sheng Qingyun's face turned pale and he was so anxious that tears came to his eyes.
"It's all my fault for being careless. What should I do now?" she said, rubbing her hands.
"Hurry up and call the masters back, and then send someone out to look for him." said the Third Lady.
"Should we also inform the old lady?" asked the Fourth Lady.
The women were in a panic and Zhao Jingyu had no time to comfort them. He asked in detail about the characteristics of those people, then hurriedly said goodbye with Wei Jun.
Sheng Qingyun walked him out the door and wiped his tears with his sleeve: "Your Highness, please find our Xiu'er back."
"Don't worry, Madam. I will." Zhao Jingyu said, jumped on the horse and galloped away.
Huangfu followed behind on horseback, and asked Wei Jun in confusion, "What's going on?"
Wei Jun looked solemn: "Miss Xiu'er was deceived and taken away."
"She was tricked away?" Huangfu raised his voice in disbelief. "Miss Xiu'er is so smart, how could she be tricked away? If you said she was kidnapped, I would believe it."
Wei Jun was startled, and hurriedly spurred his horse to catch up with Zhao Jingyu, walking side by side with him, and whispered, "Second Master, Miss Xiu'er is very smart, would she be easily fooled by others?"
Zhao Jingyu was anxious and was stunned when he heard this. He murmured, "Yes, will she be easily deceived?"
But no matter what, it is absolutely true that the person is missing now, and the top priority is definitely to find him or her first.
As for Song Jingxing, a hundred of them are not as important as one Xie Nanjia.
The Duke of Zhenguo's Mansion quickly notified the four masters and the brothers of the Su family to return home, and the news was also sent to the General's Mansion at the same time.
Xie Nanfeng had just returned home after the celebration, taken a shower, and was about to go to bed for a nap when the messenger arrived.
When Sheng Qingluan heard that her daughter had been deceived by the bad guys, her heart immediately rose to her throat. She didn't care that her son hadn't slept well for several days. She hurriedly called him out of bed and urged him to inform his father and find a way to bring her daughter back.
When Xie Nanfeng heard the news, he was completely stunned. Without saying a word, he changed his clothes and went to the palace to find his father.
When he entered the palace, he met his father outside the upper study. Before he could say anything, his father told him that Song Jingxing had escaped from prison.
Xie Nanfeng's head was buzzing, and he thought to himself what a bunch of useless people the Imperial Observatory had. Wasn't it said that today was a rare auspicious day, but even though it was so auspicious, all the troubles came piled up.
But then again, could Song Jingxing’s jailbreak be related to his sister being abducted
The more Xie Nanfeng thought about it, the more he felt that this was possible, so he immediately told his father about his sister.
Xie Zhanting was also panicked when he heard this, and said angrily: "How could your aunt be so careless that she lost the child in her own home? Can't she be more careful?"
Su Jincheng happened to pass by them and stopped when he heard the words: "Who did uncle say was missing?"
"Your sister!" Xie Zhanting said unhappily, "Why does your family always do this? If you really can't take care of the child, let her live in the general's mansion when you find her. We have raised ten..."
He wanted to say that we have raised it for more than ten years and it has never been lost, but Xie Nanfeng stopped him in time: "Father, it's useless to complain now, let's find a way to find someone!"
The father and son left in a hurry, leaving Su Jincheng standing there stiffly with cold hands and feet.
This news was like a nightmare to him. He had been living in this nightmare for the past twelve years. He had finally woken up from it, but now he fell into it again.
After he came to his senses, he had no intention of doing his job, so he switched shifts with someone else, hurried back home, and led a dozen brothers and servants to look for his sister.
Marquis Dingyuan also received the news later and immediately sent out all the available personnel in the mansion to look for someone.
Zhao Jingping also led the troops from the Five Cities Army to join them.
Song Wan was already worried about Song Jingxing's affairs. When he heard that his daughter-in-law was missing, he became even more angry. On the one hand, he sent more people to look for her, and on the other hand, he ordered everyone not to let the empress dowager know, so as to prevent her from getting hurt.
An hour later, the capital was filled with imperial guards, soldiers, imperial guards, and servants. It was unclear whether they were arresting or looking for someone.
Although the news was strictly blocked, some of it was inevitably leaked out, and soon, rumors about the mysterious disappearance of the Crown Princess and the former Crown Prince spread throughout the city.
The sky gradually darkened, and the last rays of sunset faded away. The people in charge of the search searched the capital city thoroughly, but there was still no news of Song Jingxing and Xie Nanjia.
(End of this chapter)