Chapter 704: Conspiracy (1/2)

“Shhh——don’t be so loud! Didn’t you see that the last horse in the group was being ridden by the governor himself? The two people in front of him should be the noble individuals living in the guest residence. Perhaps one of them is even the great imperial envoy!” A young fellow whose aunt’s third nephew had a job at the neighborhood yamen spoke up in a quiet voice.

“The great imperial envoy can’t recklessly hurt people. How could it be okay if the horses rushing by trampled people?” The person who spoke up was a scholar dressed in appropriate attire.

The person with the relative at the yamen continued, “Perhaps it’s related to the recent spree of crimes. I heard that in the northwestern suburbs another family had been extinguished and it was a very bloody sight. These horrible criminals are too cruel. Stealing valuables is one thing but why do they need to kill off an entire family?”

“Is the governor riding fast through the marketplace related to that group of criminals?” Another passerby believed this was the truth.

No one complained anymore. Recently, all of the families that had a bit of wealth had been trembling with fear as they were afraid that they might become the next unlucky target. The earlier this band of criminals got caught, the earlier the people of Jinling could go back to their regular business and not be on tenterhooks.

The highly anxious Zhu Junyang felt like an eternity had passed before they arrived at the guest residence. He leapt off the speeding horse and pelted towards the gatehouse. He picked up the gatekeeper with both hands by the other man’s clothes and hurriedly asked, “Did the princess consort go out today?”

The gatekeeper was startled. After recognizing the person in front of him, he stammered, “Your Highness, the princess consort had been called out by one of the people from the experimental fields about half an hour before you got here…”

“What? She was called out by someone?!” Su Ran’s face turned icy cold and he gripped his hands so hard that they made crackling noises, scaring the people around him.

“Please calm down, my lords! Perhaps the great imperial envoy had truly been called over by Official Wu?” The gatekeeper wiped his forehead full of sweat as he silently prayed, ‘Please, let the princess consort be perfectly safe and sound ah!’

“Ming Xin, Ming Gui!” Zhu Junyang entered the residence and called towards a dark corner. A figure clothed entirely in black immediately answered and the prince asked, “Tell me, what exactly happened earlier?”

“Master, after you left, a small official under Official Wu hurried over, saying that the experimental fields were aflame and over a hundred fields were burning. When the princess consort heard this, she immediately changed clothing and left. Accompanying her were her two maidservants and the four special bodyguards. Ming Gui was also worried so he followed along…” Ming Xin knelt on the ground and concisely went over everything that had happened that day for his master.

“Go! We’re going to the fields!!” An ominous premonition settled into Zhu Junyang’s heart. If the experimental rice fields in Jinling had truly caught on fire, then there’d be smoke everywhere, billowing into the city. Currently, things were going on in the city like usual and not a single person was gossiping about the experimental fields burning up. What did this mean? This was a trap; it was a conspiracy that targeted his princess consort!

The group of people rushed over on horseback to the fields. Official Wu was currently leading the tenant farmers in harvesting the ripe rice. When he saw Imperial Prince Xu and the governor arrive, he went over to greet them and asked out of confusion, “Imperial Highness, why did you come over alone? Where’s the great imperial envoy?”

Zhu Junyang’s heart fell and he grabbed him to ask, “Where’s that assistant of yours that helps you record the field data?”

“Are you talking about Little Zhang ah? His mother got sick, so he asked for a day off to take her to Tongren Medicine Hall to get treated. What’s wrong? Are you looking for him?” Official Wu sensed that something was off about Imperial Prince Xu, so he stopped smiling and replied in a serious manner.

The look on Zhu Junyang’s face was so gloomy that it looked like a thunderstorm would start anytime. Either this Little Zhang had a problem or someone had impersonated him. They hadn’t seen any sign of Xiaocao or her servants on the way there, so the situation wasn’t optimistic anymore.

“Don’t worry, that lass Xiaocao is blessed by the heavens and nothing should have happened to her.” Su Ran was also very worried but he patted the other man’s shoulder in an attempt to console him, “That lass has always treated others with kindness and doesn’t have any real enemies. It’s likely that the group took her away for one motive——to control the two of us. No news is good news, so that lass should still be safe right now.”

Zhu Junyang’s phoenix eyes were full of fury as he growled out angrily, “It must be the evil remnants of the past dynasty again! They keep popping up like a bunch of cockroaches!! Let’s go, we need to investigate the road between the residence and the fields to see if there are any clues to be found.”

The two of them took the group back and they carefully investigated the roads. As expected, not far from the side of the road, they found a yellow jadeite bead that came off of Xiaocao’s bracelet hidden in dried up leaves. If they hadn’t been searching carefully, it would have been very easy to miss it.

“Judging by the tracks here, it looks like the enemy has a lot of people. Fortunately, I don’t see any signs of a struggle. That lass must have sensed that something was off and stopped Chunhua from fighting. It’s better that way. At least the lass wouldn’t get injured.” Su Ran inspected the clues carefully and made a very accurate assessment.

“I also see wheel tracks in the forest, which means that the enemy used carts to bring the people away. With so many people as well as horses and carts, they must have left some signs along the way. If we follow the wheel tracks along, we should be able to find them.” Su Ran looked at Zhu Junyang, asking him for his opinion on the matter.

Zhu Junyang inhaled deeply, forcing himself to calm down before finally voiced his opinion, “The fact that we could think of this means that the enemy probably has to. Let’s first follow these traces and look around a bit.”