The eldest daughter's scheming, the crown prince's exclusive favor to the venomous concubi

Shangguan Jianyue narrowed her eyes slightly, not locking them, still unable to figure out who wanted to deal with the Qilin Pavilion. In everyone's eyes, the Qilin Pavilion was second only to the imperial court, and no one with a brain would dare to touch it.

Seeing Jian Yue's solemn expression, Shangguan Ruxing said, "Mother, there's no need to rush. This matter can't be rushed. The most important thing is to find my brother. Although he's smart, he's still too young. He can kill the Qilin Pavilion's secret guards, so he's not as easy to deal with as some street thugs."

Shangguan Jianyue nodded and said, "Mother understands. You stay and keep your sister company. I'll go and discuss it with your father first."

Shangguan Ruxing nodded and watched Shangguan Jianyue leave. Ruyu said, "Sister, once we find brother, we'll never be apart again."

Shangguan Ruxing snapped out of her daze, smiled slightly, and brushed her hair aside, saying with a laugh, "Yes, we won't separate anymore. If Rufeng tries to persuade you to leave again, I'll spank him."

Although Shangguan Ruxing was laughing and joking, her mood was heavy. Like Ruyu, she hadn't experienced much, but she was much more mature and understood just how serious this matter was.

Lu Nianzhe and Shangguan Wutong had not returned home all day, and Bai Jianan was also nowhere to be found. Only Shangguan Jianyue would occasionally come to see the two sisters and chat with them. After a while, she became bored.

Ru Yu's face had improved a lot, and many of the scabs had fallen off. Her naturally restless nature made her a little restless. One day, while Shangguan Ruxing went to the toilet, she left the room on her own and went to the kitchen to find something to eat.

She arrived at the kitchen, where everyone was busy at work. With Ru Yu's agility, no one noticed that there was an extra child there. Taking advantage of everyone's inattention, Ru Yu nimbly leaped up and landed on the roof beam.

Using a wire she had prepared beforehand, she used it to lift two chicken legs that had just been placed on the table and ate them with relish. Then she heard the people below talking amongst themselves.

"Have you heard? They say the young master of Qilin Pavilion is missing. They've sent everyone out to search for him, but it's been several days and they still haven't found him."

"Of course I've heard about it. Everything's in chaos right now. I really don't know who it is that has the guts to mess with the people from the Qilin Pavilion, let alone a master."

"Yeah, if they keep making such a fuss, even if they don't catch them now, they won't be able to hide for long. I really don't know what they're trying to achieve."

"Sigh, you haven't heard the latest news yet, have you? It's said that the Qilin Pavilion acted swiftly and decisively, and has already caught those people by the tail. It's said to be Chao En Ge from Tianlai Mountain."

"Chao'en Pavilion? Isn't that a security escort agency? How dare they do such a thing? Don't they know what kind of entity Qilin Pavilion is?"

"Who knows? They say their disciples didn't know their own limitations and took on the job on their own. Now the Qilin Pavilion has mobilized all its forces and blocked them on Tianlai Mountain. They dare not come down. The head of Chaoen Pavilion has tried everything he can, but he can't get the Qilin Pavilion to budge an inch."

"You're saying he's about to die, why hasn't he handed over the child yet? If the sect leader is protecting his subordinates, isn't he just asking for trouble? Is he a fool?"

"Who knows? They say they couldn't catch the child and are begging the Qilin Pavilion for forgiveness, but do you think the Qilin Pavilion will agree? The child is gone, do you think they'll let you go?"

The people around were gossiping, and the head chef, who had long been impatient, waved his ladle and yelled, "What are you all doing? Are you slacking off? Don't you want your wages? Instead of gossiping about other people's work, you should do more work. Get to work now!"

Everyone immediately fell silent, exchanged glances, and carried their food towards the front hall.

As the crowd dispersed, Ruyu tilted her head and glanced at the busy chef. She noticed that the pot was simmering with her favorite lion's head meatballs. Her eyes lit up, and she quickly placed the chicken leg on the beam next to her, staring intently at the chef, waiting for it to be ready.

Unexpectedly, the chef suddenly put down his spoon, clutched his stomach, and went out. Seeing this, Ruyu rubbed her hands together and was about to come down when the door opened again, and a middle-aged woman dressed in a floral print walked in.

After the middle-aged woman came in, she looked left and right, then walked to the pot, took out a paper packet from her bosom, opened it, sprinkled the powdery substance inside into the pot, stirred it with a spoon, put the packet back in her bosom, and left.

When Ruyu saw the woman's face, she was so frightened that she almost cried out.

She quickly covered her lips, trying to calm herself down. Her mother had told her that they had to learn to protect themselves, to stay calm, and to solve problems on their own when no one was there to help them.

After the man left, she patted her chest, wrapped the chicken leg in the oil paper she had prepared beforehand, put it in her bosom, climbed down from the roof beam, and left the kitchen through the window.

"Sister, sister, something terrible has happened! I saw the bad guy who gave me candy!"

Shangguan Ruxing was in a panic because of Ruyu's sudden disappearance and was about to go out to look for her when she saw Ruyu running back like a madwoman. She was startled and hurriedly asked, "What's wrong? What happened? Where did you go?"

Hearing this, Ruyu felt a little guilty, but still said, "I was hungry and went to the kitchen to find something to eat. I saw the person who gave me candy. Today, she was a woman, and she even put something in the braised lion's head meatballs."

Upon hearing this, Shangguan Ruling was shocked: "What did you say? Didn't you say the person who gave you the candy was a man? How come it's a woman again today?"

Ru Yu said firmly, "It must be him. I remember the scar on his face. He painted his face very white today, but the scar couldn't be covered at all. It's the same as Ru Yu's scar now, a very deep scar, except his scar is on his ear."

The man who gave Ruyutang appeared at the inn and even drugged the braised lion's head meatballs. After thinking for a moment, Shangguan Ruxing immediately said, "Damn it, he must know we're here and is planning to kill everyone in this inn. Damn it, I'm going to find Mother. You stay here and don't leave."

After Shangguan Ruxing finished speaking, she turned and ran away. Ruyu watched, carefully took out the chicken leg, and went back to bed to eat it.

Before she could even finish eating her chicken leg, Ru Yu noticed someone approaching from outside. It wasn't a familiar voice, and it seemed rather dangerous. She quickly got out of bed, kicked her shoes off the bed, and dashed to the dressing table. Taking advantage of her small size, she managed to squeeze into the small cabinet underneath.

The person pushed open the door and cautiously walked in. They searched the room thoroughly, looking under the bed and inside the closets, but deliberately avoided the dressing table area, since the small closet couldn't possibly hold a person.

He forgot that Ru Yu had learned the art of concealment and was naturally proficient in some bone-shrinking techniques.

The visitor, finding no one there, muttered annoyance and left. Ru Yu remained still. Just a few seconds after the visitor left, the door opened again, and the same aura entered, lingering in the room for a longer time. Finally, after confirming that the room was empty, it departed.

From beginning to end, Shangguan Ruxing and the others never returned. After such a long time, something must have happened.

Ruyu was young and still recovering from serious injuries. Her mother had told her that when she was unable to help others, the best thing to do was to protect herself, hide herself well, and wait for someone to come looking for her.

She stayed in the cupboard without moving. When she got hungry, she would nibble on a chicken leg. Finally, in the middle of the night, she vaguely heard her mother calling urgently. She weakly called out "Mother," then pushed open the cupboard door and slowly crawled out.

Upon seeing Ruyu, Shangguan Jianyue immediately felt relieved and quickly picked her up and placed her on the bed.

Ruyu had been squatting all day and her whole body ached. As soon as she relaxed, she became sleepy and only managed to say "sister" before falling into a deep sleep.

Shangguan Jianyue sighed. Lu Nianzhe nodded to her and turned to leave, while Jianyue stayed by Ruyu's side, never leaving her.

Fortunately, Shangguan Ruxing arrived in time today. The braised lion's head meatballs in the inn had not yet been served to the guests. Lu Nianzhe and Shangguan Wutong had just returned and were waiting to eat with her, and the braised lion's head meatballs were among the dishes.

After Ru Xing told them, they indeed found a deadly poison in the braised lion's head meatballs. It was colorless and odorless. If they hadn't known beforehand, they would all have been poisoned.

When the group learned that Ruyu was alone in the room, they immediately realized something was wrong and rushed back, but it was too late. There were still people in the inn who had eaten the braised lion's head meatballs, and the whole inn was in an uproar. Taking advantage of the chaos, those people surrounded them in a private room.

Shangguan Ruxing was anxious to go back to find Ruyu. Taking advantage of the assassin's inattention, she slipped out of the room. She thought she was with Ruyu, but now that Shangguan Jianyue and the others had escaped their confinement and returned, they only found Ruyu alone. They knew that Ruxing had also been in trouble.

But now, the children are getting into trouble one after another, all when they were negligent. Why is that? How did those people track their whereabouts?

"Whose child are you? What are you doing here? Have you gotten lost from your family?"

Chang Le looked at the child who was tightly clutching her clothes with curiosity in her eyes.

After being dumped by Lu Nianzhe, Chang Le was completely dejected. The days in the palace were also very boring. No one would point out her mistakes or say anything wrong like Lu Nianzhe did. Instead, they would flatter and fawn over her.

Meanwhile, He Xinle was under house arrest in her own palace, acting erratically. She went there twice, but then never wanted to go again. After thinking for a moment, she changed into commoner's clothes and left the palace once more.

He had only been wandering around the palace for an hour when he was entangled by this dirty little brat who wouldn't say a word but just kept tugging at his clothes.

Chang Le disliked children, thinking they were all terrifying monsters, especially little monsters who liked to cry. The child in front of her was only about ten years old, and he was filthy, with what looked like bloodstains on his body.

She should have been disgusted and pushed him away, but for some reason, she did nothing but patiently ask him questions.