The prince's personal bodyguard

The leader of the imperial guards, Xia Yang, immediately surrounded the Kunning Palace.

Someone immediately reported this to the Queen, who was furious and walked out of the palace: "Whose orders did you follow to actually surround my Kunning Palace? You are so bold."

"The Ninth Princess is missing. We are following the Emperor's orders to investigate all the palaces. We hope the Empress will cooperate. Sorry for the inconvenience!" Xia Yang clasped his hands together, neither humble nor arrogant.

"The Emperor's order? He actually..." The Queen sneered and felt a little disappointed. She actually overestimated her position in his heart.

"If you can't find anything in my palace, don't blame me for being ruthless!" His father, General Changsun Di, had 300,000 troops under his command, and it was possible for him to dethrone the emperor. Thinking back to sixteen years ago, he did not make up his mind to dethrone the emperor in one fell swoop because of his childhood sweetheart relationship. It was a mistake.

The imperial guards immediately rushed into the Queen's Kunning Palace and started searching from the main hall, leaving no inch untouched.

People were also sent to search palaces elsewhere in the imperial palace.

Suddenly, the whole palace was in chaos, and after an hour, nothing was found.

The queen sat in her own palace, drinking tea and playing with her fingernails. From time to time, she looked up with a sarcastic look on her face: "Humph! What can you find out with just a bunch of you? As long as there is no evidence, what can you do to me?" Thinking of this, a hint of pride appeared on the corner of her mouth.

Shangguan Qing, the Minister of Dali Temple, was knocking with a small hammer to see if there were any secret compartments in the floor and whether the walls could be used to hide people.

To be honest, this palace has gone through two dynasties and has been rebuilt many times. He, the Minister of Dali Temple, would not believe that there are no secret passages or secret rooms.

Shangguan Qing has been very busy these days. Just as there was some progress in the case of Minister Bu's family, the emperor ordered an investigation into the case of Minister Huangfu's first wife. Before the case was solved, the ninth princess disappeared again.

Shangguan Qing was so busy that blisters appeared on the corners of his mouth.

If the trace is found later, it means Bai Xinyin will be in more danger.

All the gates of Kyoto have been closed and no one is allowed to travel.

Mu Yunxiao went out of the palace for a while, called Qingyun out to arrange some things, and then returned to the palace.

According to Dong Yang, who was beside the Queen Mother, the last time he saw the Ninth Princess was when he saw Qiu Bai taking her to the Imperial Garden.

The sky was getting dark and the lights were on everywhere in the palace. At this time, the investigation had made no progress.

Mu Yunxiao led his men straight into the imperial garden without caring whether there were any concubines visiting.

The imperial guards lit the pine oil lamps, and the entire imperial garden was as bright as day.

The Imperial Garden is full of flowers. At this time, some kinds of chrysanthemums are in full bloom, emitting bursts of fragrance.

Mu Yunxiao took a general look at the scenery in various places in the Imperial Garden, then walked towards a secluded path in the Imperial Garden and stopped at a rockery at the end of the path in the Imperial Garden.

This rockery has a unique shape, with a rugged and irregular surface. It looks as if it is made up of countless strange stones. It is said that when the garden was built, they were shipped from Jiangnan by ship and then assembled piece by piece.

Perhaps this place is located at the end of the Imperial Garden and few people come here. The surface of the rockery is covered with a thick layer of moss, giving people an ancient and mysterious feeling.

Mu Yunxiao held the torch and shone it on every inch of moss, but found nothing and was about to leave.

Suddenly, a big bird flew across the sky, and Guo Qing, the deputy commander of the imperial guards, looked up.

"Pah" a large amount of white stuff flowed down his forehead.

"Fuck his ancestors! Damn, what kind of shitty luck is this!" Guo Qing closed his eyes and cursed.

Because he stopped suddenly, the imperial guards walking behind him lowered their heads and bumped into him. He was busy wiping the bird droppings on his forehead with his eyes closed, and he lost his balance and bumped into the rockery, getting his head covered in moss.

Mu Yunxiao was in front of him. When he heard the voice, he frowned and turned to look at him.

It didn't matter what he saw. He showed surprise on his face and reached out to touch the moss on his forehead.

"No need, Your Highness. I can do it myself." Guo Qing was flattered.

"Don't move. Why is there no mud on the moss here and it's so dry?" Mu Yunxiao asked in confusion.

"Your Highness, what do you think? You'll be happy only if I get mud on my face. I haven't got any mud on my face, but I have bird droppings on my forehead. Are you satisfied?" Guo Qing muttered to himself.

Mu Yunxiao stopped and took up the torch to carefully illuminate every part of the rockery. He found that the moss on the rockery was very moist, except for the part where Guo Qing touched, where the moss felt very dry.

Moreover, the moss not far away seemed to have been touched by someone, and there were still fresh traces.

Who is it? Why is he touching the moss here?

Besides, isn't moss moist? Why is this piece so dry?

So he took out a dagger from his sleeve and prepared to cut off a piece, and found that there was no mud under the moss, but a piece of something similar to animal fur, which was coated with green fake moss. If you didn't look closely, you could mistake it for the real thing.

Mu Yunxiao pulled up the fake moss with his hands, revealing a switch.

Everyone looked surprised.

Mu Yunxiao lightly turned on the switch, and a crack slowly opened on the other side of the rockery, just enough for one person to pass through.

Chang Li came over quickly: "Master, let me go check it out first."

Mu Yunxiao warned: "Be careful!"

The cave entrance was very small, and Changli was tall. He squeezed in with a long sword in his right hand and a torch in his left.

After a while, the sound of fighting seemed to be heard from inside.

Everyone was waiting at the cave entrance, extremely anxious.

Guo Qing wanted to go in and take a look, but was stopped by the prince.

Not long after, Chang Li came out, his left hand seemed injured, and the torch was gone. A torch beside him immediately shone on it, and sure enough, there was a cut on his left hand, bleeding, but fortunately it didn't seem to be poisonous.

Everyone gathered around and asked questions, and someone bandaged Changli with the gauze they carried with them.

"What's going on? Is there someone inside?" Guo Qing stretched his neck and asked Chang Li.

Chang Li took a breath and reported to Mu Yunxiao: "This is a secret passage. We don't know where it leads to yet. There is a person inside who seems to be moving something. It seems to be a person. I went down and disturbed him. The person threw two hidden weapons at me. I dodged one and the other was deflected by the sword and hit my left hand."

"I chased him and started fighting with him, but the cave was too small, only two people could walk side by side. I couldn't move quickly and he ran away. I didn't know the situation in the cave, so I didn't dare to chase him rashly. I had to withdraw and report the situation first."

When they heard that the man was moving things and seemed to be a person, everyone's heart rose to their throat.

When Mu Yunxiao heard this, he took another torch from the imperial guard and went in without any hesitation.

"Your Highness, Your Highness, wait for me!" Guo Qing had wiped the bird droppings and hurriedly followed. If anything happened to the prince, he would be to blame.

The two entered the secret passage one after the other, and then several imperial guards followed them in. As Changli said, only two people could pass side by side. After walking a short distance, they saw a person lying on the ground, who seemed to be a woman.

When Mu Yunxiao saw the color of the clothes, he felt that it was difficult to breathe, and staggered a few steps to the front. The woman was lying on the ground, with her long black hair scattered behind her head.

Mu Yunxiao closed his eyes and felt his heart beating uncontrollably.

Guo Qing walked closer and turned the person over: "Huh? Miss Qiubai beside the Queen Mother."

When Mu Yunxiao heard this, he felt his heart start beating again.

Guo Qing felt Qiu Bai's nose and found that she was still breathing, so he quickly asked the people behind him to carry her out, and then ordered someone to report to the emperor.

The rest of the people continued to move forward. There was a stale smell in the secret passage. After walking about two or three hundred meters, the front opened up and seemed to be a slightly larger cave.

The two men walked closer, raised their torches and saw that there were twelve boxes of different sizes placed here, but they were all locked.

Mu Yunxiao took off the hairpin from her head and opened the lock with a "click".

"Wow, the prince also knows this trick!" Guo Qing exclaimed.

Mu Yunxiao remained silent.

Guo Qing opened the box and saw that he had made a fortune. The box was filled with gold, silver, and countless jewelry and treasures.

Mu Yunxiao opened eleven boxes in a row. They were all filled with gold, silver and jewelry. There were whole boxes of silver and whole boxes of gold, all neatly stacked.

When Mu Yunxiao opened the last box, he looked inside and gasped in shock.