Chaos in other places

Meanwhile at the princess manor, Nuo Nuo and Lan'er were panicking because Zhao Xing was gone.

"Has this ever happened before?" Xiao Qi was out of her mind she paced back and forth, almost grabbing her hair in frustration. She would never have thought she'd have to go through this one day. She racked her brains wondering where her temporary 'mistress' could have run off to.

Nuo Nuo and Lan'er kept silent, they suddenly remembered something. Zhao Xing told them everything and hardly hid things from them, if she wanted to go anywhere, she'd either tell them, or leave a message. But they had searched the whole room, and found nothing, all her clothes, jewelry, even her favorite things were still present, only Zhao Xing was gone, as if she had disappeared into thin air.

'Just like…'

Before Zhao Xing would mysteriously disappear and that, very frequently, their master would also not say anything about it and just tell them to get her things ready for when she would come back. So they never asked about it after all the primary rule serving under their master was to never question him. Whenever Zhao Xing left she would always return, after a while they got used to it. When she did return, she would either bring weird books, or strange stories along with her. Because of this, they speculated that Zhao Xing might have special origins, they didn't dare guess though. She always talked about another world where she came from. It was their Master that brought her he alone might know where exactly Zhao Xing comes from.

The two maidservants had in mind that Xiao Qi was kept in the dark about many things concerning Zhao Xing and thought against mentioning a word of it to her. They might have to meet the Crown Prince.

Xiao Qi was still up in her head thinking of a solution, and didn't notice their expressions. They hadn't announced it yet, and because, Zhao Xing rarely summoned any of the servants in the house and solely relied on her two personal servants, none of them came to check on her and were currently doing their own jobs.

"But we monitored her as she slept, for three days! How come she suddenly…" Realization dawned on her and a frightening thought came to her mind. 'Could it be that the Fourth Prince has already started making his move?'

When this thought came into her head, she shivered unconsciously. If the Fourth Prince had indeed made a move, how formidable was the person that came to take away Zhao Xing under her careful protection. She had made sure that the security in the manor was reinforced in accordance with the Crown Prince's instruction, but now… She might have to report to the Crown Prince first before taking any actions. In the meantime, they absolutely had to keep her disappearance under covers, she had just been speculating just now. She was worried that it might make a fuss and give the enemy more opportunities if she announced it.

"You two stay here, I'll make a move first, and see the Crown Prince. This time it was my negligence that she was taken away under my watch. You two stay here and guard this room with your lives. No one must know your mistress is missing, alright?"

Nuo Nuo and Lan'er had no objections, after all they were pretty much powerless when it came to handling such matters.

At the General's manor, Yang Chenning had just returned from meeting the Crown Prince. The Fourth Prince became impatient, the coup he had been planning all these years, it seemed he was getting ready to execute his plan which would do them no good.

In court, those in favor of the Crown Prince were indeed more than that of the Fourth Prince and though the Crown Prince also had troops under him, it was inferior to that of the Fourth Prince not only that, her even gained the Emperor's favor, they really couldn't take this gamble. They had to turn the tides before it was too late.

Though Zhang Zhengyang had tried all possible to weaken the Fourth Prince's strength, nothing seemed to work.

He always felt he was missing something. That the Fourth Prince might not be alone, and someone powerful was behind him.

They had both speculated that this person might be the Third Prince. But this was just a speculation. Though they had had him monitored for some months now, they couldn't find proof that he might be the one. His days were spend idly, he had indeed lied that he was afraid of crowds, and he would occasionally visit the brothel.

Yang Chenning was deep in thought as he mulled over this matter. Trying to figure out what exactly he was missing.

He didn't enter the manor and stood at the gate with furrowed brows he did so for some minutes.

"Master?" his servant stood by his side and had been patiently waiting, but his master needed to rest now that he was home, it was not good for him to remain standing there.

Yang Chenning came back to himself, and nodded, "let's go."

"Yes."

Yang Chenning went straight to his study, the whole way there, he felt very unsettled in himself, he didn't know when the Fourth Prince would strike. He could only secretly ask for the reinforcement of security around the Emperor. Nothing should happen to him.

"Welcome, husband" Gu Anxi came and greeted him with a sweet smile on her face, she had heard that he returned, and so she took food to him. Since the time she had fallen into the water, she had caught a cold and stayed in bed most of the time. Even her food was delivered to her. Her mother in-law exempted her from certain work as to not strain her.

During this time her husband took the opportunity to not eat with her. If her mother in-law realized it wouldn't it cause more trouble? Her role as wife had to be played flawlessly. And so she wasn't going to let Yang Chenning have his way and ruin her hard earned reputation.

The bright smile, was a stark contrast with his frowning face.

"Um." He responded coldly. He really didn't expect she'd chase him here when he had been avoiding her for the past few days. If he didn't know better he would have thought she was trying to seduce him. But Gu Anxi wasn't such a simple person. Her schemes ran deep, and were unfathomable, if not she wouldn't be standing so strongly as the third in command in the manor, even having servants and masters listen to her every word.

"Immediately I heard husband had returned I rushed to have your food brought so we can eat together." Her eyes looked very innocent, but to him it gave people chills.

His brows creased the more. "Aren't you unwell? Why are you running about doing such trivial things? Just ask the servants to do so."

Gu Anxi shook her head, "I know husband cares about me, but it's what I have to do, I don't consider it trivial at all."

'Who cares about you?' Yang Chenning was speechless at her shamelessness. He had no way to reject her. If he bluntly refused her and his mother found out, he wouldn't hear the end of it.

"Alright, then." He finally replied.

Gu Anxi was happy that her plan had worked, she inwardly heaved a sigh of relief.