Tang Zhen had yet to investigate the matter concerning the embezzlement of medicinal herbs when news of Ye Zhen’s disappearance reached him. He quickly handed over the investigation to his subordinates and personally returned to the capital to report this matter to the emperor.
Mo Rongzhan had already asked the Ministry of Internal Affairs to prepare for the sealing of the empress. He had wanted Yaoyao to come back, hear her secret, and then untie the knot in her heart. Only then would she be willing to marry him. However, little did he expect to hear the news of her disappearance while waiting for all these.
“You said that she has gone missing because she wanted to leave, and not because she was captured?” Mo Rongzhan suppressed the panic in his heart and felt that there was more than met the eye in Yaoyao’s sudden departure this time.
Tang Zhen presented a letter. “Your Majesty, this was left behind by the princess. She even asked her servant to return to the capital”
Mo Rongzhan took a deep breath, somewhat unwilling to open the letter. “Where did she go?”
“I… This Minister… I don’t know.” Tang Zhen guessed that the reason Ye Zhen had secretly left Huaijiang City was probably related to Ye Yaoyao being in the palace, but how could he tell this to the emperor? If the emperor truly intended to make Ye Yaoyao his concubine, would he think her too childish and naive because of it?
“What happened in Huaijiang City? Tell me in detail, do not hide anything.” Mo Rongzhan opened the note Ye Zhen left behind. There was only one sentence on it.
The world is big, and I yearn for it.
What the hell is this? The world is big, and I yearn for it? Does she want to travel all over the world, and not come back at all?
Tang Zhen sighed in his heart and told Mo Rongzhan everything that had happened after he arrived in Huaijiang City. “Xu Ji wanted to burn the village on the pretext of preventing the spread of plague. The princess and Mister Huangfu were in the village. When this minister came to look for the princess, the princess asked the minister something. Yes… It was about—”
When Mo Rongzhan heard that the little girl could cure all the patients in Huaijiang City, he was so excited that he felt that she was indeed a powerful girl. When he heard that she had actually entered the village of the plague, his heart stirred. When he found out that Xu Ji was trying to burn the village without regard for her life, he almost became furious. As he took in the range of emotions the emperor displayed, Tang Zhen became hesitant.
“Yaoyao asked you about what?” Mo Rongzhan frowned.
“Her Highness asked me about Miss Ye.” Tang Zhen lowered his head. “She seemed a little unhappy.”
Mo Rongzhan’s face was as gloomy as the darkest cloud and his voice was like ice. “How did Yaoyao know about Ye Yaoyao?”
“Before this minister arrived, Her Highness already knew about this matter. I’m not sure who specifically informed her of this matter,” Tang Zhen whispered. He felt that Yaoyao’s departure from Huaijiang must have something to do with this.
“So what if she knew about this? Why did she leave Huaijiang silently? She even refused to come back to the capital?” Mo Rongzhan didn’t understand what the little girl was feeling awkward about. He had looked for Ye Yaoyao and thought that if she was the little girl of the past, she couldn’t continue to be used by others. He had told Shen Yi to investigate all the women who had been to Baihua Garden in the past. There was indeed a family surnamed Ye who went to those parts. Later on, their entire family died inexplicably in the shipwreck, leaving only a lone girl, Ye Yaoyao.
However, after Lu Wushuang’s example, he did not believe that Ye Yaoyao was that little girl. He wanted to know if Lu Lingzhi really had nothing to do with this. If he pretended to believe that Ye Yaoyao was the person he was looking for, what would the Lu family do next?
Tang Zhen raised his head and looked at Mo Rongzhan in surprise. How could the emperor not understand the girl’s thoughts? “Your Majesty, perhaps…The princess thought that you were going to make Miss Ye a concubine since she is living in the palace—”
So Yaoyao is jealous? Mo Rongzhan’s heart went from cold to hot, and then from hot to scorching. Just by placing Ye Yaoyao in the palace, that little girl had already disappeared without regard for danger. Would she not allow him to keep a concubine in the future?
Mo Rongzhan felt that he should be enraged by Yaoyao’s little temper tantrum, but his heart only ached slightly. He didn’t know where she would go or if she would be imprisoned in the mountains like last time. If he couldn’t find her this time, would he lose her forever?
“Did Yaoyao tell you she has objections to me keeping Ye Yaoyao in the palace?” Mo Rongzhan asked in a hoarse voice. If he knew that Yaoyao would care so much, he would not have brought Ye Yaoyao into the palace.
Tang Zhen hesitated. “Her Highness, she… She didn’t say that. She didn’t want to talk about it. It’s my guess that her departure is related to this matter.”
Mo Rongzhan imagined Yaoyao’s mood as she left Huaijiang City. She must have been very decisive and did not want to meet him again! He shook his head with a bitter smile. Before he found Ye Yaoyao, he had always felt that if he found her someday, he would definitely not care about Yaoyao as much as before. He had always felt that he was treating Yaoyao as a substitute for that young girl back then. Only now did he realize that compared to Ye Yaoyao, he cared more about Yaoyao.
Even if Ye Yaoyao was the little girl from back then, he didn’t think that he would be tempted by her.
“When Yaoyao left, didn’t anyone notice her departure? In which direction did she go? Who did she go with?” Mo Rongzhan was now clear about his feelings and could not wait to see the girl.
Tang Zhen shook his head and said, “I was in Huainan investigating the matter of the embezzlement of the disaster funds and the medicinal herbs. It was too late to return after hearing the news. No one knows where the princess went.”
Mo Rongzhan took a deep breath. “Go to Huainan and continue to investigate Zhang Qian’s embezzlement charges. I will send someone to find Yaoyao.”
“Your Majesty, because I was worried that the princess’ disappearance is related to Xu Ji, I captured and brought him back to the capital.” Tang Zhen lowered his head. “Your Majesty, please forgive me, I was reckless.”
“Humph, you did well to catch him! Even if you hadn’t captured him, I would have gotten someone to punish him! Regardless of whether he really did it for the epidemic or with the intention to kill Yaoyao, he would not be let off.
“Your Majesty, Xu Ji is Xu Xianfei’s brother,” Tang Zhen reminded in a low voice.
Mo Rongzhan narrowed his eyes with a dangerous light. “How did Xu Ji know that Ye Yaoyao lives in the palace?”
“This minister… Yes, someone sent him a message from the capital,” Tang Zhen said. Xu Ji’s news was even more sensitive than his. Other than the people in the palace, who else could have known so quickly that Ye Yaoyao lived in Kunning Palace?
“Looks like it’s time to interrogate him properly.” Mo Rongzhan sneered. “You can go now.”
Mo Rongzhan sat alone in the imperial study for a long time after Tang Zhen left, before asking Eunuch Fu to summon Cai Jing Gao of the Court of Supervision into the palace and hand over the matter of interrogating Xu Ji to him. He was the only one who was unafraid of Prime Minister Xu’s power and influence.
He then summoned Wu Chong and asked him to take twenty secret guards to look for the princess.
It was time for him to deal with the matter of Ye Yaoyao, since Yaoyao did not like it, naturally, he could not allow Ye Yaoyao to live in the palace any longer. He would wait to find out her identity and then take another decision.
If Yaoyao learned that I have sent Ye Yaoyao out of the palace, would she understand my heart?
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