The noisy day gradually passed.
It's getting dark.
General Xuanwei Li Dalu rushed to the front door of his residence and saw two teams of palace servants holding lanterns and escorting a beautiful woman standing outside the door. He rushed forward, called out to the princess, and performed the etiquette of greeting: "It is my fault for keeping the princess waiting for so long!"
"I heard that the prince had an accident while practicing martial arts this morning and injured his arm. I brought the imperial physician to see him."
Li Dalu hurriedly bowed again and said, "How dare I trouble the princess to come here in person? Master Zhao has come here during the day, bestowed Your Majesty's rewards, brought good medicine from the palace, and conveyed Your Majesty's condolences. The Crown Prince and I are already very grateful. He is much better now, and I dare not trouble the princess anymore."
Xuyu looked inside and smiled, "It's okay, just take me there."
In the morning, the nephew suddenly injured himself and then withdrew from the archery ceremony. He casually bandaged his lower arm wound and stayed indoors. No matter how Li Dalu questioned him through the door, he remained silent. Even in the evening, when Zhao Zhongfang, who was beside the emperor, came with the imperial edict of reward, he did not come out. Li Dalu could only accept the reward on his behalf on the grounds that he was injured and asleep. Fortunately, Zhao Zhongfang seemed quite generous. Not only did he not blame him, but he asked Li Dalu to take good care of the prince and then left.
Li Dalu has been working in Yizhou in recent years, and he was not aware of the fact that Ye Zhongli and his grandson were staying in the Prince's Mansion, and he did not know that the young painter named Ye was the princess today. But he heard from his subordinates that the prince and the princess had exchanges in Chang'an and seemed to be very familiar with each other.
Although he still didn't understand why his nephew had injured himself without warning this morning and then quit the shooting, he could see that something was wrong. He was afraid that his nephew would offend him, and even more afraid that he would say something wrong. He didn't want the princess to visit his nephew. But seeing how she looked at the moment, she must see him. He had no choice but to welcome her in and lead her to her residence. He saw that the doors and windows were all closed and it was pitch black. He asked the maids waiting in the corridor and was told that there had been no movement in the house. He was afraid that he was hungry, so he knocked on the door but there was no response.
Li Dalu asked the princess to wait for a moment, and he went up the steps to knock on the door. He knocked several times, but there was no sound from inside the house. He then pushed the door again, but it was bolted. While hesitating, he suddenly heard the princess say behind him, "Go in and take a look!"
Li Dalu no longer hesitated, and answered, then forced the door open with his shoulder. The maid lit a lamp to illuminate the room, and Li Dalu entered. He saw the bedclothes were in disarray, and there were wound medicine and a few blood-stained bandages on the table, but his nephew was gone.
"The back window is open!" Suddenly the maid's voice came out.
Xuyu had also entered. Following the sound, I saw that, just as the maid had said, a window at the back of the bedroom was half open.
Obviously, Yuwen Zhi went out from here.
This place was built on the mountain, and it was one of the palaces attached to Cangshan Mountain. Behind the window was a forested area with lush vegetation, and there was no road in the middle. It was dark again, and there was no light around. I didn't know where Yuwen Zhi had gone.
The deceased Princess of the County was Li Dalu's biological sister, and the siblings had a deep relationship. Now that the Princess of the County was gone, he naturally wanted to help his only remaining nephew. Thinking of his nephew's strange behavior today and not knowing where he was now, he couldn't help but get anxious. He apologized to Xuyu and hurriedly asked people to look for him. Soon they searched the area around his residence, and dozens of people entered the forest with fire sticks, but to no avail.