Prince Jing’s disappearance was very sudden. These days, he either went home or to the Ministry of Industry’s workshops to research new things. He had absolutely no interest in anything else.
He was abducted while fetching materials from a storage warehouse.
His guards were posted outside the door, and Prince Jing had only taken two men in with him to carry supplies. Who would have thought villains were lying in wait inside, having even dug a secret tunnel?
By the time the guards outside sensed trouble and went in to search, it was impossible to know how long he had been missing.
Upon receiving the news, Xiao Lv immediately ordered a city-wide lockdown.
But a full day passed with no news.
It wasn’t until that afternoon that Xiao Lv remembered Xu Xingchen and requested his help in the search.
Xiao Yang asked, “Where is Xu Xingchen now?”
Xiao Lv replied, “I’m not sure at the moment. He should be with one of the search parties.”
Xiao Lv knew the Emperor had returned, so he had made a special trip to the palace to report the situation. As soon as he was done, he left again to rejoin the search.
Xiao Yang didn’t go out. With no leads, she would just be running around like a headless chicken. Everyone who could be dispatched had already been sent. All she could do now was wait.
Xiao Yang went to wash up. Exhausted from her travels, all she wanted now was a good rest.
Rong Yin arrived and coaxed her into eating a little something.
“Prince Jing’s status is special. They won’t kill him, so his life isn’t in immediate danger. Your Majesty shouldn’t worry too much.”
Xiao Yang said, “My uncle’s status isn’t the only thing that’s special. His mind is filled with coveted knowledge.”
Whether those inventions were Prince Jing’s own ideas or ones Xiao Yang guided him toward, they were ultimately built by his hands. No one knew better than him how to make them.
Using him to threaten the Emperor would be the least effective strategy. Forcing Prince Jing to build those weapons for them—now *that* would give them the leverage to challenge the Emperor.
So, Prince Jing wouldn’t die. But if he refused to cooperate, he was sure to suffer.
Rong Yin lifted her into his arms, carried her to the bed, removed her shoes, and tucked her in.
“Don’t worry. You have us. Go to sleep, Your Majesty. I’ll wake you if there’s any news.”
Three days after Prince Jing’s disappearance, the news could no longer be contained, and the entire imperial court knew.
Xiao Yang presided over the court without making any official statement. But with her and Xiao Lv’s steady presence, the incident’s impact was somewhat contained.
Over these three days, the most exhausted person was, without a doubt, Xu Xingchen.
He scoured every lead, every scrap of a clue, desperate to find Prince Jing’s whereabouts.
But his opponents were well-prepared. Often, there were no clues to be found, forcing him to constantly draw maps, connect disparate pieces of information, and ultimately predict their movements.
Several times, he relied on his extraordinary intuition to pinpoint their location, but each time his team arrived, they were just one step behind, finding nothing.
On the fourth day, Xu Xingchen found their trail once more.
“Your Majesty, Mr. Xu found them! The kidnappers are at the Imperial Mausoleum.”
Xiao Yang frowned. ‘The Imperial Mausoleum? Surely this has nothing to do with Gu Sheng, right?’
‘Gu Sheng has already departed for his new post, but he took few people with him, and the journey is long. It would be entirely possible for him to turn back.’
‘I was willing to let him off the hook, but does he insist on rushing to his own death?’
Gu Sheng: …He just knew he’d end up being the scapegoat.
When Xiao Yang arrived at the Imperial Mausoleum, she saw Xu Xingchen on the main road.
Having barely closed his eyes for three days, he looked utterly haggard, his face a deathly white.
Xiao Yang reached out, catching him as he swayed. “Can you still stand?”
Xu Xingchen, who had been struggling to keep his back ramrod straight just a moment ago, now leaned over and rested his head on Xiao Yang’s shoulder. Hearing her gentle question, he wished he could simply melt into her arms and let go of everything.
But they had come this far. He couldn’t let all his effort go to waste.
“I’m fine,” he murmured. “A hug from Your Majesty will fix everything.”
Xiao Yang raised a hand to his lips, pressing a piece of candy into his mouth, followed by a light kiss.
“Hold on a little longer,” she whispered. “And I’ll give you a reward.”
Xu Xingchen smiled, the sweetness from the candy seeping into his very heart.
The Black Dragon Guards surrounded the Imperial Mausoleum and searched every inch of it, but they couldn’t find a single trace of the kidnappers.
After several sweeps, many began to doubt Xu Xingchen’s judgment.
Kidnapping Prince Jing and hiding out in the Imperial Mausoleum—wasn’t that just asking for death?
“I’m not wrong.”
Recharged by her comfort, Xu Xingchen was full of vigor again. His gaze was resolute as he stared at the burial mounds that housed the emperors of old.
“They are right here,” he insisted.
He glanced back at Xiao Yang. Without a word, she simply raised her hand. “Search again.”
Xu Xingchen was a bit of a neurotic, genius psycho. A person like that might have his flaws, but in his specific field of expertise, you just had to trust him.
Xu Xingchen personally led a team inside to search. Nearly four hours later, he finally pinpointed their location: the Empress Dowager’s tomb.
The answer was right before them, but everyone hesitated, daring not to act.
Regardless of who the Empress Dowager was in life, she was still the Emperor’s birth mother. The dead deserve to rest in peace.
Were they really going to have to excavate her tomb?
As desperate as Xiao Lv and Xiao Hong were to save their father, they still had to be mindful of the Emperor.
Xiao Yang gazed at the tall memorial stele. “The kidnappers hid here precisely because they knew you wouldn’t dare to excavate it.”
The thought of the Empress Dowager made Xiao Yang’s skin crawl.
But with so many people watching…
Xiao Yang stepped forward, lifted the hem of her robes, and knelt. She then performed three heavy kowtows.
Her mother’s sins in life were one thing, but the dead deserved respect. These kowtows were not for the Empress Dowager; they were a performance for the onlookers.
After finishing, she rose to her feet. “Open the tomb!”
The brothers Xiao Lv and Xiao Hong had their men follow suit, also performing three kowtows before moving forward to open the tomb.
However, just as they moved to do so, Xu Xingchen suddenly shouted, “There are explosives inside!”
The words had barely left his mouth when—BOOM!—the Empress Dowager’s tomb erupted.
Li Wei grabbed Xiao Yang and pulled her behind a stone statue, just barely saving her from the blast.
Once the explosion ended, they looked back.
The stone doors and the memorial stele were completely destroyed.
The men at the front were reduced to a bloody mess. Xiao Hong and Xiao Lv lay on the ground; Xiao Lv, blood streaming from a head wound, managed to sit up, but Xiao Hong was unconscious.
The guards rushed forward to help, hastily carrying the injured off the stone platform, fearful of a second explosion.
Meanwhile, Xiao Yang and the others kept their eyes fixed on the gaping hole blown into the tomb.
As the smoke and dust at the cave’s entrance cleared, a group of men in black emerged. At their center, a blade held to his neck, was none other than Prince Jing.
Prince Jing was a pathetic sight, covered in dust with his hair in disarray.
Upon seeing Xiao Yang and her entourage, before his captors could utter a single word, he burst into loud wails.
“Your Majesty, help me! The bastard who kidnapped me is Liu Zhongwen! He won’t let me sleep! He keeps forcing me to draw blueprints for his cannons, and… WAAAAAH!”
The kidnappers: “…” A miscalculation. They’d forgotten to gag him.
They scrambled to find a strip of cloth and hastily tied it around his mouth.
They had been holding this man for three days, and his mouth hadn’t stopped moving for a second. He was either complaining about his surroundings or cursing them for being inhuman. He constantly demanded food and drink, throwing a tantrum if he didn’t get his way. They had had enough.
You might think he was a coward, but he never stopped making demands. He was fussy, difficult, and even nitpicked his own kidnappers.
But if you tried to call him brave—the moment they threatened him or flashed a blade, he’d immediately pick up a brush and start drawing. He had no spine when it came to keeping secrets, only a profound dedication to saving his own skin.
A supposedly dignified prince, acting like a blustering coward. He didn’t even seem to feel the shame.