Wan Ting left the capital and rode a fast horse overnight, she had one night, and she must not delay for a moment. Chen Mingyang couldn't sleep here, he remembered Wan Ting's smiling face, and thought of Wan Ting's red and tearful eyes, and he couldn't sleep. Finally, the sun slowly rose, and Chen Mingyang came to the Zhou family's courtyard again. The small courtyard was quiet, and Chen Mingyang looked around for a long time and didn't see anyone coming in or out, so he had to return disappointed and planned to come back in the afternoon. Here Wan Ting ran all night, and in the morning she only ate and went on the road again. The palace also gradually woke up, and Wan Ting's palace maid got up in the morning to ask the princess to freshen up, but from the crack in the door, she saw that Wan Ting was still sitting at the table with one hand on her cheek and thinking about things. After waiting for a long time, the palace maid felt that if she didn't come in again, she would miss the time to greet the queen, although the princess has not been going out recently, but the palace maids have to do things according to the rules.

"Your Royal Highness, Your Highness." The palace maid screamed a few times, but the princess still did not react, and a palace maid boldly walked up to the princess and looked at it when she was not the princess. The news soon reached the queen's ears, and the queen was angry and annoyed, "Why did this girl run away again!" ”

"Queen Mother, can this matter be reported to the emperor?"

"Where did the emperor go last night?"

"At Concubine Li's."

"You go and ask the emperor to come over."

The palace maid left in response, and when she arrived at Li Guifei's palace, Li Guifei was changing clothes for the emperor, and the palace maid was naturally turned away. "The slave has something important to ask to see the emperor."

"What?"

"The queen mother, please ask the emperor to come over."

"Yo, why did the queen mother have something to do in the morning? You go back and tell the queen that the emperor handled business last night, and he got up late this morning, and now he is in a hurry to go to the court, and he really can't go to the queen's palace. ”

"This sister, I bother you to report it, the queen mother is really in a hurry."

"Then you can wait." The palace maid went in and whispered to Li Guifei, although Li Guifei didn't like the queen, she still gave it back to the emperor.

"What's the urgency in the morning?"

"Your Majesty, the concubines don't know, but the time for the court is coming, why don't you go to the court first? There will never be any major events in this palace, and if there is really a big event, the queen mother will definitely come in person. ”

"Hmm." The emperor thought to himself: The most unstable thing in this palace is Huan Ting, she has been taken care of by herself, what else can happen? It is still important to go to the court, who knows that the ministers of the court have a lot of work, and it was not until noon that they had time to come to the queen's bedroom. "What's the matter with the Queen this morning?"

The queen cleared the people in the palace and knelt on the ground to plead guilty, "Your Majesty, the sixth princess has left the palace." ”

"What?" The emperor stood up at once, "When?" Who let her out? Don't you take my words as a deaf ear? ”

"The emperor is angry, Huanting may have left last night."

"Last night?"

"Wan Ting knocked out the palace maid and pretended to be thinking about things at the table, but she slipped away quietly."

"You left last night, why did you come to tell me now?"

"Your Majesty, the concubines only learned this morning, and they originally wanted to ask the emperor to come up and make a decision, but ......"

"Such a big matter, you, who are the queen, should come and tell me in person, you send a palace maid,

I don't think it matters. ”

"The emperor was angry, and the concubines thought that the six princesses were missing, and this matter was big or small. If the people of Xiliang knew that Huanting left the palace because she didn't want to marry Xiliang, it would be really unfavorable to the diplomatic relations between the two countries, so the concubines didn't dare to make a big fuss. ”

The emperor also calmed down when he heard this, "Who knows about this matter?" ”

"Back to the emperor, it's just a few people in the palace maids and concubines in the palace who know that they are all close people and absolutely reliable."

"These people, none of them can leave your sight until Wan Ting comes back."

"Yes."

"I'll send someone to look for her, so you don't have to worry too much, just pretend that Wan Ting has been in her own dormitory."

"Yes."

"Does Zhou Qi have any letters lately?"

"Back to the emperor, there has never been."

"Don't write to him lately, I'm for his safety."

"Your Majesty."

"Say."

"Your Majesty, the concubine knows that you want to exercise Zhou Qi. But now that the situation is delicate, why not call him back. Their brothers and sisters are all outside, and I, the queen mother, really don't feel at ease. ”

"You don't have to worry about Zhou Qi's affairs, just be your queen." After saying that, the emperor left without questioning.

In the afternoon of the same day, the prime minister knew about Wan Ting's disappearance, "Dad, what is the emperor's intention when he said that he would not call Zhou Qi back at noon?" ”

As one of the few people who knew Zhou Qi's whereabouts, Prime Minister Xu naturally knew why the emperor didn't call Zhou Qi back, but the sudden death of the person he sent a while ago really worried him, but he wouldn't tell the queen. "The emperor wants to exercise Zhou Qi, maybe he thinks he still needs to exercise."

"Wan Ting, this girl, I don't know where she went."

"Queen Mother, since the emperor already knows that he will send someone to look for her, you just need to hide the matter of Huanting leaving the palace, and she will be safe outside."

The three princes here remembered Wan Ting's words yesterday, and they couldn't help but feel uneasy. "How did she know?"

"I don't know, but I definitely do."

"The sixth princess is in the palace every day, how can she know about your affairs outside? Will it lie to you? ”

"Lie to me? Mother, that Huanting is too smart, right? Why didn't she talk about other businesses but about gambling houses? How could she, a princess, easily guess this gambling house? ”

"That's weird. But since she knew, why didn't she go to your father to denounce you? ”

"It's strange to say, yesterday Wan Ting said that if I messed up the palace, she would thank me."

"Cut, do you believe that? The mouths of the women in the palace are the most untrustworthy, and I still tell the queen every day that I am happy and convinced. ”

"Yo, isn't the affectionate concubine convinced?"

"You kid! It's okay to joke about what your mother does? Let's think about Wan Ting, she now knows that she has to marry Xiliang, which is equivalent to having no scruples in Beijing, so let's be careful. ”

"By the way, the mother concubine, why did the father suddenly seal the palace of Huanting, no one

Let it in? ”

"I also wondered, I heard that it was sealed yesterday afternoon, and the heavy guards couldn't even fly in. If I want to know, I won't say that last night. ”

"What did the concubine say?"

"Hey, I can't get it back now, but it's out of the way. Your father, the emperor, is now the first two big ones for Wan Ting, and he shouldn't let her come out for a while. ”

"That's good, she can't get out of it, so I can clean up the gambling house."

"Well, dispose of it as soon as possible, and don't touch your father's mold at this time."

After this discussion, the third prince closed the gambling house on the same day. Chen Mingyang received the news that afternoon, the shopkeeper of the gambling house was looking for another customer, Chen Mingyang felt strange, but he never thought that it was the reason for Wan Ting. Chen Mingyang came to the Zhou family's courtyard again, different from the previous two times, this time the door of the Zhou's courtyard opened, and two people who looked like family members stood at the door. Chen Mingyang stepped forward to pay his respects and was ushered in by the old janitor. Chen Mingyang thought that Huanting wanted to see him, but as soon as he entered the door, he saw an old man in his fifties with his hands behind his back, looking at the plaque in the house and thinking about things.

Chen Mingyang clenched his fists, "Dare to ask?" ”

The emperor turned around and saw that the person who had come was tall and had a long neck, high cheekbones, and thick lips, not like a southerner. "You're a friend of Wan Ting?"

"Yes, dare to ask Miss Zhou?"

"You sent a message to Wan Ting yesterday?"

"Yes, what do you call the old man?"

"What does it mean to go? Where to go? ”

"Old man, Grace her?"

"She's gone."

"Gone?"

"Aren't you going to take her away?"

Chen Mingyang paused for a moment, "Since Miss Huanting is not here, Chen will come back another day." Saying that, Chen Mingyang hugged his fists and retreated, and as soon as he turned around, he was stopped by two guards, Chen Mingyang looked at the two of them dressed up, but they looked at their stature and practiced martial arts, so they didn't dare to make a mistake. What does this mean, old man? ”

"Where's Wan Ting?"

"I don't know." As he spoke, the two guards behind him got closer to Chen Mingyang.

"Where's Wan Ting?" The Emperor's voice was noticeably lowered, but his majesty remained.

"Old man, Xiaosheng really doesn't know."

The emperor lost patience, and the guards came up to arrest Chen Mingyang, how could Chen Mingyang be captured at will, the two people moved, and as soon as Chen Mingyang fought against him, he knew that he was not an opponent, and he couldn't even beat a person, and he was soon defeated and taken down. Chen Mingyang was pressed to the ground by the two, and the emperor walked up, "Where is Huanting?" ”

"I really don't know, you guys caught the wrong person!"

"What's your name?"

"Xiaosheng Chen Mingyang."

"Where's home?"

"Old man, I'm just ordinary friends with Huanting, I really don't know where she went."

"Take him down."

Chen Mingyang felt inexplicable, "You let me go, what law did I violate?" Why are you arresting me? But there is still Chen Mingyang shouting, and the guards will never let him go. He was pressed by the two of them, and he didn't avoid people all the way through the streets and alleys, Chen Mingyang was wondering that he was actually detained in Shuntian Mansion. "Who the hell are you, you're back!" shun

Tianfu did not dare to delay when he received Liu Xi's rumor, but he came to the cell for personal interrogation in half a pillar of incense.

"I really don't know where Wanting went! You've caught the wrong person! ”

"You don't know? And what did you say to the girl? ”

"I just said that so she could see me, and I didn't mean anything else."

"Are you Chen Mingyang?"

"Well, yes."

"You're Chen Ji's young owner, right?"

"My lord, I really haven't done anything wrong."

"The Chen family's business is all over Da Zhou, if something happens to you, the young owner, your business may be ......."

"My lord, my lord, I am wronged, I know Miss Zhou Huanting, but where she is now, I really don't know."

Shuntianfu is under pressure, and he must get the news of Huanting today. "Shaodong, young people are righteous, this official can understand, but you know that the Zhou Huanting you know is not the Miss Zhou you know, she is not someone you can hide. Shaodong, for the sake of your Chen family, there are more than 100 people, and you Chen Ji thousands of guys, you should also tell the truth. ”

"My lord, I'm telling the truth, I really don't know."

"It seems that you don't cry when you don't see the coffin, Cheng, come here."

Chen Mingyang was controlled by Shuntianfu, Chen Ji didn't see Shaodong's family for a long time, so he naturally came to Shuntianfu to report the case, and Shuntianfu Yixuan immediately ordered someone to take the shopkeeper to see Chen Mingyang. At this time, Chen Mingyang had been tortured, and the shopkeeper saw the old tears. "Young owner, what's wrong? Our Chen Ji has always abided by the law, how could he commit any major crime and have to punish the young owner? ”

"Don't tell my dad."

"This, this, Shaodong, what the hell is going on?"

Shuntianfu didn't want to give the two too much time, so he ordered someone to bring up the shopkeeper. "Are you the treasurer of Chen Ji?"

"Yes, my lord, we have always been law-abiding."

"Obeying the law? What should you be guilty of abducting a girl who has not left the cabinet? ”

"Well, where does this begin? How could our young owner abduct a girl who has not left the cabinet? ”

"You ask you to go to the young owner!"

"Your Excellency."

Shuntianfu put the shopkeeper in again, but Chen Mingyang still didn't know, Shuntianfu couldn't do it, so he blasted the shopkeeper out and continued to torture Chen Mingyang. The shopkeeper did not dare to delay, bought off the official post station, and went all the way to the official post to transmit the news of Chen Mingyang's arrest back to Huizhou.

(End of chapter)