At the end, Manager Li’s voice seed to be floating.
Even if the heir’s wife really went to the Great Buddha Temple to pray for blessings, the Prince Mansion shouldn’t have taken five or six days to notice.
Saying this makes the Prince Mansion look like it doesn’t value the heir’s wife enough.
But—
This was the heir’s wife’s instruction.
No one was allowed to disturb her praying, and the heir’s wife had plenty of money, and the Great Buddha Temple respectfully treated her, so there was no need for the Prince Mansion to send anything over.
Upon following instructions, the heir’s wife escaped.
The Emperor, upon hearing Manager Li’s report, was originally very angry, but once he heard that Manager Li was also deceived by Su Jin, he did not lose his temper with Manager Li.
What audacity to deceive him, the Emperor, for the sake of a Prince Consort.
The Emperor was even more upset with Xie Jingchen.
Xie Jingchen, "...."
Upon hearing that Manager Li had already sent people to bring back the heir’s wife, the Emperor told Manager Li to withdraw.
The Emperor, still not at ease, sent a Hidden Guard to find her.
When Manager Li left the Imperial Palace, it was already very late.
He was the Prince Zhenbei Mansion steward, rarely entering the palace; the Old Prince and the Prince of the Prince Zhenbei Mansion were at the border; Xie Jingchen had even encountered an incident.
In the Prince Mansion, the only masters who could alarm the Emperor were Princess Zhenbei and Princess Jin Ning.
For a ti, everyone speculated about what exactly had happened at the Prince Zhenbei Mansion.
The next day, Doctor Zhao, after hearing about Manager Li’s visit to the Emperor, was distracted all morning.
Finally, he braced himself to seek an audience with the Emperor.
His daughter ran away, and the Emperor had no appetite to eat.
When Doctor Zhao sought an audience, the Emperor casually said, "Let him in."
Doctor Zhao entered.
Just like yesterday with Manager Li, he insisted on having all the Palace Attendants retreat before reporting the matter.
Eunuch Fu couldn’t think of what matter Doctor Zhao had to report to the Emperor that needed such privacy.
But he still dismissed all the palace maids and eunuchs.
Only then did Doctor Zhao look at the Emperor and say, "Your Majesty, was the Princess Consort Zhenbei abducted or did she secretly go to the border?"
The Emperor furrowed his brow, "How does Doctor Zhao know about this?!"
Doctor Zhao said in trepidation, "Yesterday, the Old Duke Chong wasn’t feeling well, and I went to check his pulse...."
But Eunuch Fu objected, "This is not sothing Doctor Zhao should inquire into."
Doctor Zhao knew he shouldn’t have pried, but he was afraid that if he kept silent and an accident happened to the Princess Consort Zhenbei, the Emperor would have his head chopped off.
Doctor Zhao knelt and said, "When news of the Heir of Prince Zhenbei’s accident reached the Capital, the heir’s wife fainted from grief; the Prince Zhenbei Mansion asked to check her pulse, and the heir’s wife, she, she...."
"What about her?" the Emperor asked.
"The heir’s wife is pregnant."
It was supposed to be a great joy—the Emperor becoming a grandfather—but when Doctor Zhao reported it, his voice was as faint as a mosquito’s buzz.
This good news couldn’t have co at a worse ti.
Seeing the Emperor both joyful and irritated, Doctor Zhao quickly said, "I wanted to congratulate Your Majesty, but the heir’s wife strictly forbade from telling anyone, even including the Dongxiang Marquis’s wife."
"I was afraid sothing might happen, so I went against the heir’s wife’s instructions to report to Your Majesty."
It wasn’t that he was untruthful; it was the heir’s wife’s order not to tell.
As a re Imperial Physician, he was not on the sa standing as the heir’s wife, not even as knowledgeable in dical skill, so how could he dare disobey?
Seeing Doctor Zhao’s anxious face, Eunuch Fu felt a little sympathetic towards him.
Because he was all too familiar with that feeling, having been threatened by Marquis Dongxiang before, and he was in tornt just the sa.
In shared misery, Eunuch Fu spoke a few kind words for Doctor Zhao, "Indeed, no one dares disobey a Princess’s orders."
"Doctor Zhao inford the Emperor promptly, which is indeed comndable."
The Emperor also knew that Doctor Zhao was innocent.
Then, he was even more frustrated with Xie Jingchen.
He’s just a bit better looking than the average noble family descendant, yet he managed to entice his daughter to snatch him up on the street.
Once an incident occurred, his daughter ignored her own safety to rush to the border for him.
If Xie Jingchen were around, the Emperor could hardly restrain himself from having him dragged out and beaten with twenty boards first.
"Send more people to find the Princess," the Emperor instructed.
"If anyone dares to leak the news that the Princess snuck out of the Capital, they shall be executed without rcy!"
Prince Qi and Duke Chong in the shadows are like two venomous snakes lying in wait to strike.
If they found out Su Jin left the Capital, and that she wasn’t well-protected, they would surely spare no effort in capturing her.
Eunuch Fu advised the Emperor to calm down, "Your Majesty, the heir’s wife is wise and clever. Without absolute certainty, she wouldn’t leave the Capital for the border, rest assured."
From the spectacular showdown where the heir’s wife toppled the Empress and the Empress Dowager, there are not many n in this world who could compare to her.
Eunuch Fu had great confidence in the heir’s wife’s skills in leaving the Capital.
He believed that those who dared to sche against the heir’s wife would ultimately end up handing her money.
Doctor Zhao wiped the cold sweat from his forehead and exited the Imperial Study.
This matter had weighed heavily on his heart for days; now that he had spoken, he felt lighter, as if he had narrowly escaped death.
He wondered what the heir’s wife might be doing at that mont?
At this very mont, although Su Jin had been away from the Capital for six days, she wasn’t far from the Capital, rely one hundred and sixty miles away.
That day when she defeated the Empress Dowager and the Empress, on the way back to the mansion, the carriage jostled, and she began to have morning sickness.
Although she was eager to go to the border, her body wouldn’t cooperate.
The carriage would jostle, making her dizzy and unable to suppress the urge to vomit.
Along the way, Su Jin lost count of how many tis she got off the carriage to vomit on the side. She couldn’t keep anything down, and even she couldn’t bear it, let alone head to the border.
Xingxing tried countless tis to persuade her to return to the Capital, but Su Jin felt that she had deceitfully left the Capital with great difficulty; going back would make it much harder to leave again.
Furthermore, she wasn’t one to give up easily.
As long as she went slowly, she would eventually reach the border.
However, at her current pace, she would either not make it to the border and be caught and brought back halfway, or by the ti she reached the border, Xie Jingchen would have already been found.
Su Jin, "...".
Su Jin looked up at the sky and sighed lightly.
There’s no possibility of rushing the journey; her eagerness to find her husband had been forcibly twisted into a leisurely sightseeing trip by her morning sickness.
Xingxing wasn’t worried about the young lord; she was concerned her lady wasn’t getting enough to eat, even starving the little master in her belly.
Everywhere they stopped, she would ask around about which place had the best food, then return to tell Su Jin, "Miss, ahead not far there’s Li Family Restaurant with pretty good food; shall we stop to eat?"
Su Jin had no appetite, and everything tasted bland, "Let’s buy so sour plums first."
Xingxing ran ahead, finding a small stall selling sour plums and bought a packet.
She tasted one and nearly teared up from the sourness.
She looked at the vendor, "Aren’t these plums too sour?"
The vendor laughed, "Young master doesn’t like sour things? My sour plums are the best in town; many pregnant ladies buy them."
It’s not like she dislikes sour things—in fact, she likes sour, spicy, and salty things.
But these sour plums were overly sour, though her lady recently craved sour things, insisting on the sourest stuff.
Xingxing bought a large bag, paid with silver, and happily carried the sour plums back when she saw soone riding swiftly towards her.
The person was none other than the Hidden Guard sent by Su Jin to deliver the butterfly lure to the border.
Upon seeing him, Xingxing excitedly opened her mouth to call out, waving a hand, "Hey, hey, over here!"
Xingxing waved, but the Hidden Guard didn’t see her.
The Hidden Guard hadn’t anticipated Su Jin and Xingxing would be here, especially disguised as servants.
Moreover, the street was noisy, filled with constant shouts from vendors.
Xingxing chased after with the sour plums in tow, "Servant!"
"Servant!"
Heaven help her, it wasn’t that she wasn’t shouting his na, but in her haste, she couldn’t recall it.
Xingxing watched helplessly as the Hidden Guard disappeared into the distance.
Frustrated, she stomped her foot and ran to Su Jin, "Miss, did you see the young master’s servant?"
Su Jin lightly responded with a hum.
Xingxing pouted, "Miss sent him to the border with things, why did he return?"
"Maybe the butterfly died," Su Jin sighed.
"...."
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