CH 107.1

Chapter 107.1 – Poisoned to Death

Qi Yang’s group did not really care about King Wei’s safety, after all, their relationship wasn’t that good. But in this troubled time, they really could not let him get into trouble easily. Otherwise, the aftermath would continue coming one after the other, and no one knew what it could lead to.

The most important point was that the safety of the hunting ground was the Crown Prince’s responsibility. Although the Eldest Grandson was the first one to be attacked by a fierce tiger, he met Qi Yang and was not harmed, and instead received a reward from the Emperor for shooting a tiger.

Now that something wrong had happened in the hunting ground, even if it was entirely King Wei’s own fault, it was difficult to guarantee that no one would flip the facts and pour the dirty water on the Crown Prince.

Qi Yang felt her head hurt when she thought about it, and Lu Qipei also felt that she couldn’t just sit by idly. After the two of them returned to the camp, they first looked at the map and analyzed it, roughly deducing King Wei’s possible location.

After a while, Qi Yang looked at the map Lu Qipei was drawing an outline on and said, “There should be some royal guards searching nearby, but I’m still very worried. I’ll send some people over to search as well. The sooner we find him, the sooner everyone can feel at ease.”

Lu Qipei nodded. She thought for a moment, then said, “I want to go there myself.”

When she heard this, Qi Yang furrowed her brow and grabbed her hand, saying, “It’s already dark outside, and we don’t know if there are other dangers in the hunting ground. What are you going to do?” She slightly lowered her voice and said, “King Wei is not as important as you!”

Lu Qipei didn’t expect her to actually say something like this. She was slightly surprised, then a warm smile immediately appeared on her eyes. Even so, she still insisted, “It’s alright. I’ll just bring more people with me. King Wei’s incident is unusual, and everyone is busy looking for him, so they probably don’t care about other things. I’ll go and see if I can find any clues.”

After saying that, seeing that Qi Yang’s face was still full of disapproval, Lu Qipei turned her hand and grasped the latter’s hand. Her eyes seemed to flicker under the candlelight as she said, “Ah Ning, trust me. I think will definitely find something this time.”

She was so persistent it was almost impossible to refuse her.

In the past, Lu Qipei would always indulge Qi Yang and agree to everything she said. But now, it seemed that Qi Yang could not refuse a determined Lu Qipei either, so in the end, she lowered her eyebrows and made a compromise. “Since that’s the case, then go.”

Lu Qipei’s brows loosened when she heard this, but before she could say anything, Qi Yang continued, “I’m coming with you.”

It was very bad. Lu Qipei, who had just sworn that there was no problem with going at night and dared to enter the hunting ground with some people, suddenly became worried. She wanted to refuse Qi Yang, but before she could say anything, Qi Yang covered her mouth and said, “I’m coming with you, or no one is going!”

Lu Qipei looked at her, and saw that the determination in Her Royal Highness The Princess’s eyes had not diminished. Knowing that this was probably Qi Yang’s bottom line, Lu Qipei hesitated a bit. After a long time, she stretched out her hand and pulled Qi Yang’s hand off her face, and nodded as she said, “Then, let’s go together.”

Only then did Qi Yang smile and relax. Still, looking at Lu Qipei’s determined looked, Qi Yang vaguely felt that she was probably feeling confident in their trip. But just where did her confidence come from?

She wanted to ask, but after some hesitation, she decided to talk about it once they came back.

Based on the regulations, a princess’s mansion could have 800 soldiers, but no one would bring all the guards in their home when they went out for a hunt. Qi Yang and Lu Qipei only brought a few tens of attendants on this trip, and after excluding those who were injured by the tiger at noon, they finally gathered fifty people to accompany them.

The group of people lit torches and marched towards the hunting ground in a grand manner, naturally startling many people. But they moved quickly, and there were already a lot of people entering the hunting ground today to search for King Wei. There was no royal guard outside that stopped her.

By the time the Emperor received the news and sent someone to stop her, the group had already entered the mountains, and it was hard to catch up to them.

The night was deep, and filled with the shadows of the trees. Occasionally, the howls of wild animals could be heard. The hunting ground at night was somewhat terrifying.

Qi Yang and Lu Qipei rode their horses and were carefully guarded by the attendants in the middle. The group entered the hunting ground with a clear goal; they did not delay on the road and headed straight towards the area marked out on the map by Lu Qipei before.

Halfway through the journey, they ran into two groups of people, both also searching for King Wei. Encountering Princess Qi Yang and her prince consort, they were somewhat surprised. After the group left, they were still wondering in their hearts – when did Her Highness Qi Yang’s relationship with King Wei become so good, that she would even come to search for him so late at night!?

When they reached the depths of the forest, there were more royal guards and other groups searching for King Wei. Combined with the forest’s darkness, no one paid attention to Qi Yang’s group.

Qi Yang and Lu Qipei didn’t care about it either. They rushed all the way to the place where King Wei and his attendants were separated, and then checked with the nearby royal guards. After getting a confirmation, Lu Qipei got off her horse, then held up a torch to search around nearby little by little.

One of the attendants wasn’t sure what she was doing and whispered to his companion, “What is the Prince Consort looking for in this darkness?”

The companion was staring at Lu Qipei’s movements with sparkling eyes, and whispered back to him, “Probably looking for some clues. Our Prince Consort is the Vice Minister of the Court of Judicial Review, and he’s the best at investigating cases. He must be looking for traces of King Wei. Don’t you see that there’s so many people looking for him, but they’re disorganized and haven’t found anyone yet? It’s better to have a trail to follow.”

The attendant nodded at the words, deeply impressed, and then looked at Lu Qipei with a hint of anticipation and respect.