The legitimate daughter was reborn, and the emperor’s little Jiaojiao went crazy.

Chapter 935: Hong Que Disappeared Again

Yu Sujun denied it while looking at the face hidden in the painting. Thinking about what happened last night, even the tips of her ears turned red.

But the niece answered her seriously, "Like, I can tell at a glance." Her eyes blossomed with a smile, "Aunt's writing style is engraved in her bones, does my uncle know?"

Yu Sujun was teased by her niece and ran away, shouting, "No, I was just drawing casually."

Bei Hui looked at Yu Sujun's back and couldn't help laughing, "Madam, I'm afraid you won't see the first lady for a long time."

Shi Anxia was thinking that the thirty-third face was clearly a painting of her mother, Tang Chujun.

With the princess in charge, the whole Lingzhou's dispatch went very smoothly. Officials who usually shirked their responsibilities had to pull their hair out and no longer dared to make excuses.

Every day, officials came to report the disaster situation in various cities to Qiu Zhiyan. After compiling and summarizing the information, he discussed the dispatch plan with the prefect Wu Da, and then submitted it to the princess for review and finally distributed it for execution.

At this critical moment, a shocking news suddenly came - Hongque was missing again.

According to Mu Sang, she went out with her sister Hong Que in the early morning to buy candies and fruits from Zhou Ji. However, when they went out, there were two sisters, but when they returned, she was the only one left.

Mu Sang was trembling as she stumbled back to report the news. The nightmare from her childhood came again. This was the second time her sister disappeared right before her eyes.

"There were a lot of people queuing up..." Mu Sang's teeth kept chattering, and his voice was fragmented. "I was afraid that my sister would get tired, so I asked her to sit in the lobby of Zhouji and wait. Later, she came out and told me that she wanted to go next door to buy some steamed cheese to cheer up Miss Xue'er."

She clutched the corner of her clothes tightly, her knuckles turning white. "I saw that there weren't many people over there, so... I agreed... She said she would come back to see me after buying it... But after I bought the candies and fruits, she didn't come back."

Mu Sang collapsed and covered her face, hot tears seeping out from between her fingers and falling to the ground, "I went to look for her, but I couldn't find her no matter how hard I looked... I even wondered if she came back first. But... No, no one has seen my sister..."

She hated herself for being so incompetent that she couldn't even protect her dearest sister. It happened once, and twice.

When Shi Anxia heard this, a ball of anger suddenly rose in his chest, "Why didn't you bring guards with you when you went out?"

Mu Sang was speechless.

Why bring protection when buying sweets and fruits? It wasn't that she went out without protection today. She and her sister had gone out to buy things before, and nothing had ever happened.

She was speechless and secretly regretted it. She should have brought a guard with her. No, she shouldn't have gone out at all.

I'm scared! Really scared. I won't dare go out again.

Shi Anxia realized that her tone might be rubbing salt into Mu Sang's heart. This girl was already living on thin ice, trembling with fear.

But at this moment, she had no intention of comforting anyone.

She forced herself to calm down. She couldn't panic at this moment. If she panicked, she might miss the best opportunity to find the red magpie.

"Mu Sang," Shi Anxia said in a steady voice, gently pressing down on the other's trembling shoulders with both hands, "Tell me the whole story from beginning to end. Don't leave out any details - are there any special people around? What unusual things happened?"

Mu Sang held back her tears and recounted the incident three times.

Every time I recall, new details emerge: an old man with gray hair and beard arrogantly cut in line to buy candies and fruits, causing a commotion in the crowd; there was a woman wearing a veil hat who walked up to praise the two sisters for being "more beautiful than the beauties in the paintings."

Shi Anxia listened attentively, and immediately issued three orders in a swift and decisive manner.

First, give Hong Que's clothes to Dabai to smell, and immediately have someone take Dabai to track Hong Que's scent.

Second, all the guards in the post station were divided into twelve teams, with Zhouji as the center and three miles as the boundary, to search every street and every house.

Third, she asked Yu Sujun to draw several portraits, post them all over Gongcheng, and announce a large reward.

The notice read, "A maidservant of our family has gone missing. Anyone who finds her will be rewarded with 100 taels of silver, and anyone who provides clues will be rewarded with 50 taels of silver." It did not mention anything else.

Yu Sujun painted as she was told. Shi Anxue stood beside her mother, her small body tense, not daring to breathe, tears welling up in her eyes.

How dare she say that before going to bed last night she had pulled Hongque's sleeve and acted coquettishly, saying, I'm so hungry, I want to eat Zhouji's candied fruits.

What she didn't expect was that Hongque actually took these words to heart and went out early in the morning to buy it for her.

The little girl's heart felt like it was torn apart. After Ye Bao'er disappeared, she once again experienced the pain of separation.

When Shi Anxue saw the portrait of the red magpie gradually taking shape under her mother's pen, she could no longer hold back and rushed into Shi Anxia's yard holding the little white dog.

"Sister Xia'er," she sobbed and threw herself into Shi Anxia's arms, "Sister Hongque disappeared because she wanted to buy me some sweets and fruits."

The little white dog was squeezed between the two people, tilting its neck and twisting its body restlessly.

Shi Anxue raised her tearful eyes and said with a sob, "If Sister Hongque can come back, I will give Dabai to her. I will never fight with her for Dabai again."

This is the most precious promise the little girl could think of.

Bei Hui waited until An Xue left, then asked worriedly, "Madam, do you think it could be the young master of the Xie family?"

Shi Anxia shook his head slowly, as if thinking about something, "Not likely. He shouldn't cause trouble at this moment..."

Before he finished speaking, there was a sudden sound of hurried footsteps outside the door. A dusty figure rushed in, with unmelted snow still on his dark suit.

"Which young master of the Xie family?" Tang Xinghe stood at the door, his voice as cold as ice.

As soon as they entered the city, they saw missing person notices all over the city. The familiar face in the painting made his eyes red instantly.

This young man, who had been silent and patient for a long time, now exuded a terrifying murderous aura. He took two steps at a time and walked into the house, with frost between his brows and blazing anger in his eyes, and he was like a sharp sword drawn from its sheath.

Bei Hui was so frightened by his appearance that she took a half step back.

Shi Anxia looked up and saw that the boy's knuckles were white when he clenched his fists, veins bulged on the back of his hands, and even his breathing was trembling.

"Cousin Xinghe, you..."

"Who is it?" Tang Xinghe interrupted word by word, his voice hoarse, "Have you found out who took Hong Que away? Any clues?"

As soon as he finished speaking, Ma Chuyang and Chi Shuang came in. They greeted each other and sat down.

Bei Hui swiftly repeated the circumstances of Hong Que's disappearance, and at the end, he said, "With Da Bai here, there should be news soon."

Tang Xinghe asked again, "Who is the young master of the Xie family? Is he familiar with Hong Que? Where is this person?"

Nan Yan just came in to report, "Madam, Mr. Xie wants to see you."