Her eyes piercing into the commander, Su Xi-er issued her next order. “Enough talk. Tie him up, gag him, and lock him in the room.”
Two men immediately came forward to carry out her command. Now that he had been gagged, the commander couldn’t even bite his own tongue to kill himself.
After he was taken away, Feng Changqing bowed and said, “Eldest Imperial Princess, the rest of the men are assisting Prince Hao and Commandery Prince Xie against the Third Imperial Prince. This subordinate had initially planned to work in secret, but Prince Hao noticed us.”
To be exact, Pei Qianhao had already noticed Su Xi-er’s followers before they had set off. He had simply chosen not to stop them.
Feng Changqing had separated his men into two groups, with one continuing to follow Pei Qianhao as he led the remainder here. It had taken them quite a while to navigate the compound since it seemed normal from outside, but was actually built like a maze.
Su Xi-er then said, “Search all the rooms. There’s a daozhang being held here.”
A few of the men spread out quickly to start the search.
“What’s the situation? Will we be able to subdue Situ Li by tonight?” Su Xi-er asked Feng Changqing.
“This subordinate is unsure of the specifics, but with Prince Hao’s abilities, it is highly likely the Third Imperial Prince will be subdued tonight.”
Su Xi-er gave a small frown. “Although that’s possible, Situ Li is no fool. He’s stayed hidden for so long, and it wouldn’t make sense for him to give up so easily. Let’s go, I want to verify things for myself.” She then waved for Feng Changqing to lead the way since the latter was much more skilled in finding his way around.
“This way please, Eldest Imperial Princess.” Feng Changqing gestured, and the majority of the men followed behind Su Xi-er as the rest continued searching. Before long, Daozhang Zixu was found and released.
Su Xi-er looked around her when she was out of the compound, realizing that it was located in an obscure area west of Beimin’s capital city. There were very few residential properties here, and a dilapidated temple was the closest building to this maze-like compound. There were no beggars in Beimin’s capital city, so the most common residents of these abandoned temples were travelers who needed a brief rest.
The moon hung high and bright in the sky tonight, and though the night breeze was chilly, Su Xi-er was warmly dressed in that red outfit of hers.
“Eldest Imperial Princess, we have to go out into the suburbs.”
Su Xi-er nodded, prompting Feng Changqing to whistle and bring two horses galloping their way. The two of them got onto the horses as the rest of the men followed them on foot.
Yuchi Mo was guarding the city gates, and upon seeing Su Xi-er approach, he signalled to his men to open the gates.
“Princess Consort, please be careful if you’re going north-east.” Yuchi Mo bowed and spoke respectfully.
“Commander Yuchi, I’ll leave the safety of the commoners in the capital city to you. Lead your men and investigate this particular compound located in the west, the one that’s closest to the abandoned temple.” Su Xi-er left immediately after giving her instructions, disappearing into the distance within seconds.
Yuchi Mo watched as she left, frowning at what he just heard. Does that compound belong to the Third Imperial Prince? We’ll have to go investigate immediately!
After giving instructions to close the city gates, he quickly rounded up a group of men to start his investigation.
However, just as the gates were about to be shut, a group of men in commoners’ clothes ran up. That being said, their clothes were the only thing common about them. Their expressions were deadly serious, and it was clear that they were all fit and healthy seeing as they had just run from who knows where to the city gate.
Finding them rather suspicious, Yuchi Mo stopped them from going any further.
