bookrebus Chapter 414
Chapter 414
Meanwhile, Shangguan Yun had originally wanted to find Shangguan Mu to ask if she could go out for a stroll.However, after searching for quite a while, there was no sign of him.
"Strange, where did he go?" Shangguan Yun asked in displeasure.
"Princess, His Highness might have gone out on business," Anan, the maid beside her, quickly replied.
"Hmph, good for him, going out to have fun all by himself!" Shangguan Yun grumbled. After all, she had been sitting in a carriage for days, and her bones felt like they were falling apart.
"Let's go out and take a look too." Shangguan Yun was still very curious about the capital of Lannuo Kingdom.
Anan was equally curious about the capital.
The master and servant were about to head out when they were blocked by the guards at the door.
"Step aside, I am going out," Shangguan Yun said with a frown.
"Princess, without His Highness's permission, you cannot leave." The guard crossed his spear, blocking Shangguan Yun's path directly.
"How insolent! Who gave you the right to stop the Princess?" Hearing this, Anan stepped forward angrily and scolded them.
"Forgive us, Princess, but this is the Third Prince's order," the guard said respectfully.
"How long has my third brother been gone?" Shangguan Yun asked, frowning.
"Princess, your subordinate does not know. Please return to your room." The guard was Shangguan Mu's man, so naturally, he would not reveal Shangguan Mu's whereabouts to her.
"Princess, what should we do?" Anan peeked outside. She wanted to go out but was blocked.
She felt a bit anxious. In the past, back in the imperial palace, no one had ever dared to stop them like this.
"Anan, you go out and buy me some local snacks from Lannuo Kingdom." Shangguan Yun was incredibly annoyed.
She figured that even if Shangguan Mu wouldn't let her out, surely he wouldn't stop Anan?
"Your Highness, the Third Prince has ordered that without his permission, no one is allowed to step half a pace outside these doors!" the guard said coldly.
"I'm not going out!" Shangguan Yun was furious.
"I'm just having Anan go buy me something. Surely that's allowed?" Shangguan Yun tried to persuade the two men.
"Without the Third Prince's orders, no one can step half a pace out of here."
"How bold! This is our esteemed Ninth Princess. Is that how you speak to her?" Anan said in dissatisfaction.
The two guards turned a deaf ear to Anan's words.
In truth, Shangguan Mu did this to protect them. After all, if they went out looking the way they did, people would easily recognize that they were not from Lannuo Kingdom.
"Forget it, Anan, let's go back for now!" Shangguan Yun knew these men wouldn't let them out.
She could only wait until Shangguan Mu returned to talk to him properly.
"Since neither I nor Anan can go out, you two go buy some food and bring it back. I am hungry!" Shangguan Yun looked at the two guards with a face full of displeasure.
The two guards looked at each other but made no move.
"Ninth Princess, without the Third Prince's orders, we cannot leave our posts!" they said in unison.
"Are you deaf and dumb?" Shangguan Yun was furious. It was 'Third Prince' this and 'Third Prince' that!
Unable to leave herself, and unable to make them leave either, Shangguan Yun could only huff back to her room in anger.
Prince Lanhuai's Manor
"Go send a message to Prince An's Manor." Prince Lanhuai thought it over and over, feeling that something was amiss.
He had captured Prince An's son, so why wasn't Prince An anxious at all? It had been so many days, yet Prince An hadn't come looking for him.
"Your Highness, should we have Prince An come to the manor?" Recalling how Prince An had barged in last time, Eunuch Wu wondered if they should invite him over again.
"To the City God Temple!" Prince Lanhuai didn't dare let Xu Heming come to his door again.
Who knew if his good nephew would start suspecting him if Xu Heming visited too often?
"Yes!" Hearing this, Eunuch Wu prepared to go notify Prince An.
"Come back. Have someone also notify Zhou Zuo to bring Prince An's heir along." Prince Lanhuai figured that the reason Prince An wasn't anxious was probably because he hadn't seen his son yet.
Inside a residence in the capital.
"I want to eat chicken legs!" the chubby boy shouted loudly at Zhou Zuo.
"You brat, behave yourself!" Zhou Zuo was furious. Over the past few days, this damn fatty had been demanding to eat one thing after another.
If he wasn't given what he wanted, he would throw a tantrum.
Anyone who didn't know better would think he really was Prince An's heir.
"If you don't give me food, I'll tell that man that you tricked him and that I'm not his son!" Qian Yaozu said with a smug look on his face.
"Boss, what should we do? This guy keeps complaining he's hungry. If we don't resolve this, we'll be discovered." A subordinate nearby felt indignant watching how much Qian Yaozu ate.
Where was the slightest resemblance to a hostage?
He yelled all day long, as if afraid others wouldn't notice him.
"Give him some medicine," Zhou Zuo said, his brows tightly furrowed.
Otherwise, if he kept eating like this...
He would be eaten into poverty by this damn kid before he even received a reward from the Prince.
"Yes!" Hearing this, the servant quickly went to fetch the drug.
After all, he had been annoyed to death by this brat over the past few days.
Zhou Zuo, however, narrowed his eyes and looked at the chubby boy in front of him.
He didn't understand. As soon as Xu Heming saw this fatty, he would definitely know that this wasn't his son.
But why didn't he expose the lie?
Thinking of this, Zhou Zuo felt his heart leap into his throat, caught in a state of uneasy suspense.
"Go call the Second Master here." After mulling it over, Zhou Zuo decided to ask about the situation regarding the two people they had captured from Prince An's Manor at the time.
Could it be that those two weren't actually from Prince An's Manor either?
Qingyu Pavilion
"Your Highness." Shangguan Mu sat by the table, his mind filled with the image of Li Zhiwei, whom he had just seen.
Just moments ago, his hand had wrapped around her soft, slender waist.
At the thought of this, Shangguan Mu sniffed his hand, feeling as though the lingering fragrance of the beauty still remained on it.
Shangguan Mu waved his hand backward.
"Have you found the person?" Shangguan Mu asked the attendant beside him.
"Your Highness, our men haven't returned yet," the attendant quickly replied.
"Tell them to search thoroughly! Do not lose track of her," Shangguan Mu said, tapping one hand against the tabletop.
"Your Highness, the people in this capital have unclear identities. It would be best if we do not interact with them rashly," a man sitting opposite Shangguan Mu advised cautiously.
"Pan Chong, I do not need you to teach me how to do things. Do you know why Lannuo Kingdom hasn't paid us tribute?" Shangguan Mu was highly displeased by the remark, but remembering the purpose of his trip, he quickly changed the subject.
After all, wasn't he in Lannuo Kingdom precisely for those tributes?
Could it be that the current Lannuo Kingdom was so poor they couldn't even afford to eat?
Thinking of this, Shangguan Mu wondered who he should marry Shangguan Yun off to so that she could become a great asset for them in Lannuo Kingdom.
"Your Highness, it seems the Emperor stated that the hundred-year pact has expired, and there is no longer a need to pay tribute to Qinling Kingdom," Pan Chong thought for a moment and said carefully.
"Hmph! The hundred-year pact doesn't just end because he says it ends."