The cannon fodder heiress trembled with fear after being recognized as a member of her family.

After Han Yueshi finished speaking, the girls looked at Li Meiyun with unfriendly eyes.

"Miss Li, you really have a clever plan. In order to make a good impression on the two princes, you actually use so many of us as stepping stones for you. Is this how your Li family raises its daughters?"

"That's how the Li family is, otherwise how could three generations of girls know those shady ways?"

......

These girls were already impatient. They had walked this road many times, and now they were back in the same place. With Han Yueshi's instigation, their anger was directed at Li Meiyun.

"Exactly! It's not that this mountain has beautiful scenery and is good for hunting, but it's nowhere near as cool as Qingshuang Mountain!"

"Indeed! We shouldn't have listened to her. If we had followed Miss Han, with so many of us, they might have actually let us go upstairs for a look around..."

The girls vented all their resentment on Li Meiyun, and had long since lost the politeness they had shown her at the beginning.

"Alright, let's think about how to get out of here!" Lin Jiabao couldn't stand Han Yueshi's smugness, so she stepped in to help Li Meiyun out of the predicament.

"Could we be trapped in a ghost wall? The Ghost Festival is coming soon, could it be that it's started early in this forest?" A girl with an ordinary appearance whispered and hid behind Han Lingzhi.

They were all wearing riding and archery attire today, which clung tightly to their bodies, making them feel damp and sticky. It was also midday, a particularly uncomfortable time for them.

"Why are you hunting in the middle of summer, Miss Li? You invited us out for fun, but didn't you even have someone come and check in first?"

"Yes! Guards, didn't you notice anything amiss? When did our guards disappear?" Li Meiyun was eager to prove her innocence. "Those guards weren't just from the General's Mansion; what about the guards from each of your households?"

There were only these girls here; the guards who used to herd the prey for them had vanished without a trace.

The surroundings were quiet, without a single cicada's chirp or bird's song.

"We must have entered some kind of formation!" Han Yueshi rode her horse to Li Meiyun's side. "Miss Li, didn't your guards come to check beforehand? If there's any danger here, your Li family can't afford to take responsibility for so many people!"

These gentle words sounded like a death knell to Li Meiyun. "I...I don't know either! It was my aunt who arranged it~"

Having seen all sorts of things at home, the people around her were even more disgusted by her behavior.

“There are no noble young masters here, only daughters of noble families. Your seductive ways won’t work on us!” The speaker was a girl from a collateral branch of the Xu family, who had been following the Han sisters.

"Alright, let's not talk about that anymore. Now that we've entered the formation, we need to find a way to get out. I wonder what the person who set up the formation intends. Why don't we stop and rest for a while, eat something, and then make a plan?"

Han Yueshi dismounted, took down her prey, and began to prepare it.

Her actions not only startled Han Lingzhi, but also greatly surprised the other girls.

"Miss Han actually did it herself?" Lin Jiabao was also surprised to see Han Yueshi like this in private, which greatly changed her opinion of her.

"Without a maid, if you don't do anything yourself, are you just waiting to go hungry? Lingzhi, go and gather some firewood, and I'll make you something delicious in a bit."

Han Yueshi was also feeling apprehensive. She had finally managed to establish her authority, and she hoped that this younger sister wouldn't hold her back.

Han Lingzhi nodded and did as instructed without saying a word.

Meanwhile, the third prince sat on a tree branch, chewing on wild fruit. When he saw the horses approaching in the distance, he quickly jumped down.

"Second Brother, you're back? Are you any happier?" The Third Prince glanced behind the Second Prince, where the guards' horses were laden with game of varying sizes. "It seems my plan worked! But I noticed that Miss Li inside; she seems to have known your whereabouts all along and came here specifically to ambush you today."

The Third Prince, having been in the tree for so long, already knew what Li Meiyun was up to, and now he just wanted to see some fun.

The second prince still had a droopy face, with no expression.

"It's a good thing you came out of the palace, otherwise if you kept jumping around in front of Father with that icy face every day, people would think you were the royal ancestor!"

The Third Prince's mother was from the Xu family, and since Lady Xu entered the palace and gave birth to a princess, his position has become more secure.

However, his public persona was merely to comply with his mother's request; in private, he had the best relationship with the Second Prince.

He never thought of restraining himself in front of the Second Prince.

If Princess Shengmian hadn't gone missing, the Second Prince wouldn't be here right now.

The Second Prince and Princess Shengmian's mother died early, and the two relied on each other for survival in the palace.

Since Consort Xu took care of them, their relationship naturally became closer.

Without the support of his maternal clan, the second prince did not live as freely as the third and fourth princes, and he was not even as carefree as the first prince.

The eldest prince's mother was also of lowly status, but he took a knife for Emperor Chu Yuan, and that made him different from before.

The second prince, wanting a bright future for himself and his sister, excelled in both literary and martial arts.

Whether it's the sweltering heat of summer or the freezing cold of winter, he is the most hardworking one.

On the seventh day of the seventh lunar month, the siblings simply went out for a stroll, and then the accident happened.

Princess Seongmyeon was his younger sister.

She was to be married off to a foreign ruler; this was Emperor Chu Yuan's decision.

They cannot be changed.

To fulfill his younger sister's last wish before her marriage, the second prince turned down an invitation from a court official and specially accompanied his sister on a trip.

What happened that night has become a nightmare.

If it weren't for the carefree prince's intervention that night, he would have been killed as well.

"Sheng Mian, don't worry. Once our ancestor has a solution, he'll definitely be able to help you find the person." The Third Prince noticed that something was wrong with him again, so he quickly brought up Xu Tianyun. "I heard there's some kind of bloodline tracking technique. Once my ancestor learns it, he'll definitely be able to help you."

The second prince simply smiled and didn't say anything more.

"Ah~ There's a snake!" A girl inside the formation exclaimed in alarm, her face deathly pale, devoid of any color.

"Don't be afraid, it's not poisonous. It's perfect for adding to the dishes." Han Lingzhi, dressed in a green riding and archery uniform, looked dashing.

"Miss Han is truly amazing; her moves are incredibly swift!"

There were murmurs of praise all around, until Han Yueshi's chicken came out, its aroma filling the air.

"Oh my, this Miss Han is really good. This is so delicious. I didn't expect the meat inside this clod of earth to be just as she said. Come on, Second Brother, I'll remove the formation. Let's pretend to bump into each other and have a taste."

The third prince was eager to try, but just as he withdrew the array stones, those people were still trapped in the same spot, in a different environment than they were in.

......

As evening fell, Han Cuiyin returned to the Qingshuang Mountain Villa.

At the cold pool, she would lend a hand every night to help the wooden fish repair itself as quickly as possible.

Luo Jingqian did not return. Princess Changyun was feeling better, and his two younger sisters were happy, so he stayed to celebrate with them.

At midnight, the torches at the foot of the mountain resembled stars, and the noise was like a bustling marketplace.

Han Cuiyin paid no attention to any of this.

As Qinghe rowed his boat to the center of the cold pool, he said, “Miss Han, the Marquis needs help here!”

Han Cuiyin stopped exerting her strength. "Something happened?"

"The girls who went hunting in the mountains during the day have disappeared, along with two princes. People from the capital have been sent to search the mountains. Miss Yan has not returned home either!"

Everything was fine until Qinghe mentioned Yan Ruyi, at which point Han Cuiyin finally made a move.

She appeared on the small boat in an instant. "When did my cousin disappear?"

"It must have been before noon, but Miss Yan hadn't returned for lunch!"

Han Cuiyin went to Princess Changyun's place for lunch and was unaware of Yan Ruyi's situation.