Su Qing ordered people to look for Xiao Tuo, but found out that no one knew where he had gone.
I asked Xiao Tuo's servant, and he said that Xia Zian had come to see him before Xiao Tuo disappeared.
Su Qing felt that things were getting serious. Didn't this mean that Zi'an and Xiao Tuo were missing together
Either they met with an accident, or they went off to somewhere unknown.
But will it be possible
In order not to alarm Murong Jie, Su Qing sent people to search throughout the capital, and then ordered people to search outside the city, even to small courtyards outside the capital, but Zi'an and Xiao Tuo were not to be found.
As a last resort, Su Qing had to go find Chen Liuliu, but Chen Liuliu said she had never seen Zi'an.
I went to find Zhuangzhuang again, but Zhuangzhuang had been staying at home recently and had not been seeing visitors. Zi'an had never come to see him either.
When she heard Su Qing say that Zi'an and Xiao Tuo were missing, she also became worried, "Have you searched everywhere?"
"I've searched everywhere. I've searched all day, but I haven't found them."
Zhuangzhuang frowned, "If she is not in the epidemic area, where else can she go? She has signed a military order. Also, didn't the prince go to the epidemic area to check it out? Did he see Zi'an?"
"I didn't see him. Rouyao said that when the prince came, Zi'an had just left." Su Qing said.
Zhuangzhuang stood up, looking a little serious, "This is difficult to deal with. This happened two or three days ago, right? There is no movement from Master Liang?"
"It happened two or three days ago. Master Liang didn't say anything, nor did he send anyone in."
"That's because he has someone in the epidemic area, and he must have informed him of Zi'an's every word and action. Su Qing, Zi'an's disappearance at this time is not a good thing, and they will definitely make a big fuss about it."
Su Qing nodded and sighed, "I know, but the prince doesn't know about this yet."
"Go and tell the prince immediately that I'm going to the epidemic area." Zhuangzhuang immediately ordered someone to prepare the carriage.
"It's useless for you to go to the epidemic area. You might as well go to the palace to find the Queen Mother and prepare her mentally first, and then say a few words for them." Su Qing said.
Zhuangzhuang shook his head, "No, it's useless to say anything in the palace now. Zi'an has signed a military order. Counting the days, it will expire in five or six days. The Queen Mother has been anxiously waiting for news. If I tell her that Zi'an is missing now, she will definitely think that Zi'an escaped. If Taifu Liang wants to make a big deal about this, she will definitely send people to the epidemic area to verify. I am over there and can stop them."
Su Qing thought about it and it made sense. If Master Liang wanted to make a big fuss about Xia Zi'an's escape, he must find a neutral person to go to the epidemic area and let people see with their own eyes that Xia Zi'an was not in the epidemic area before he could make it public at the morning court.
"Alright, I'll go find the prince first. I don't know if Xiao Tuo is with Zi'an."
After Su Qing finished speaking, he turned around and left.
Zhuangzhuang went back to his room to change clothes. Honghua said softly, "Princess, aren't you going to stay at home for a while?"
Zhuangzhuang said calmly: "I won't go out, it's not that I can't go out."
Besides, there is no guarantee that you will ever see him.
What if I saw him? It's all over!
It had been three years. She hadn't seen him for three years. But it was more than three years. When he came back three years ago, she didn't see him. She just stood on the city wall and watched him ride away.
Just seeing a back, a back, cannot warm up three years of cold years.
Shaking her head, she strode out. There was nothing that could not be forgotten, unless she didn't want to.
Su Qing went to look for Murong Jie, but Murong Jie was not there. He had just received news that there was something unusual in Shitou Temple, so he went there in person.
Shitou Temple is located on a mountain to the north of Shitou Village. The mountain is not high, but there are many rocks, so there is not much vegetation. It is almost impossible to hide here, except in the temple.
There are only two nuns in this nunnery, and it is not very popular on weekdays. In the past, not many people from Shitou Village went to burn incense, but went to the Longmu Temple west of Shitou Village.
Therefore, the Stone Temple did not attract much attention. Zi'an also walked to the foot of the Stone Temple that day and saw a nun carrying firewood back. She also went forward to ask questions, but could not get anything out of her. The nun said that this place was isolated from the world and she did not know worldly affairs. If you want to worship Buddha, you can go in, otherwise, let her go.
Zi'an didn't suspect anything at the time, because from the outside, this stone temple seemed too simple to hide so many people.
Murong Jie led his men to the outside of Shitou Temple and looked at the terrain there.
The guard stepped forward and said, "Your Majesty, ever since I received your order to monitor the surroundings of Shitou Village, I have been keeping an eye on this nunnery, because there is almost no place to hide nearby except this nunnery. Just last night at midnight, I went out for inspection and saw someone sneaking in through the back door of the nunnery, about seven or eight people."
"Seven or eight people?" Murong Jie pondered for a moment. The number was almost the same as what Zi'an said. Among these seven or eight people, two or three should be the ones who brought them here.
"Have you gone in to explore?" Murong Jie asked.
"Not yet. Let's wait until we report back to the prince." The guard said, "We're afraid of alerting the enemy."
Murong Jie said, "I will not go in. You go in and look around."
The guard took the order and led the men in.
In less than a quarter of an hour, the guards came out with people and said in disappointment, "Your Majesty, we found nothing."
Murong Jie seemed to have known that he would return empty-handed, and said, "Order people to closely monitor this stone temple, and report any disturbances."
"Your Highness, but nothing was found here." The guard seemed puzzled. "It's really strange. Since someone went in last night, I have ordered people to keep an eye on it, but I haven't seen anyone come out."
Murong Jie curled his lips and sneered, "We can see everything about Shitou Temple once we go in. To hide so many people, they must be in a secret room. The secret room is underground. We will have to spend a lot of time looking for it, and we may not be able to find it. If there is a secret room in this mountain temple, there must be a lot of crisscrossing underneath. If there are really zombie patients inside, if we go in rashly, even if we can catch them all, we will definitely suffer a lot. Now that you have gone in and searched around, they will know that this place has attracted attention and will move to another place."
The guard suddenly realized, "So that's it."
Murong Jie ordered: "After I leave, you will start withdrawing your troops within half an hour. Let them think you are gone. They should be able to change their positions tonight."
"But if there are secret rooms and tunnels, they will evacuate underground."
Murong Jie glanced at him and said, "This mountain is nothing more than four directions: east, south, west and north. To the east is Stone Village. They won't go this way because there are people stationed there. To the south is a stream. The mountain is steep and there is no way to leave with people. So, there are only the north and west. Send more people and set up tight defenses. Once you find their whereabouts, take action immediately. It is better to act in the wild than in a secret room."
The guard took the order and said, "Yes, I obey your command!"
Murong Jie closed his eyes gently and smelled the scent carried by the wind.
There are several camphor trees on the north side. The strong fragrance of the camphor trees blocks out the occasional faint smell of rotting corpses in the air.
The stench from Shitou Village cannot blow here, it must be coming from nearby.
His sense of smell is more acute than others, and he can smell many odors that others cannot.
This is why he didn't go into the Stone Temple today, but came here instead.
He was certain that this stone temple was where the zombie patients were kept.
(End of this chapter)