Surviving in the General's Mansion - Chapter 118
Xiao Yaqing listened as the guard finished checking the tent and left, lowering the flap once more. She immediately pulled the phone she had received that very day from the pocket inside her underclothes.
Neither she nor Xia Heng had imagined that their first phone conversation would not be idle chatter or gossip, but a plea for rescue!
When Xiao Yaqing turned on the phone, she found three missed calls and several text messages. The latest had been sent only a short while ago.
She could not help feeling grateful that she had set the phone to silent. Even vibration might have alerted Huyan Lie.
Apart from the first message, in which Xia Heng complained about Deputy General Zhang, all the others asked about her whereabouts.
“Are you home?”
“Still not home?”
“Where are you? Wuyue says you haven’t come back and no one can find you!”
“Did something happen??? Reply as soon as you receive this!”
“Where are you? Send me a signal and I’ll come get you!”
Seeing the messages, Xiao Yaqing suddenly felt terribly aggrieved. She sniffed, hid the phone beneath the quilt, and began typing while keeping constant watch on the entrance.
“Huyan Lie kidnapped me. I’m at this location. [Image]”
“!!! Lie low and stay alive! Coming now!”
“And Zhuzi, my family’s driver. They knocked him out and dumped him beside the road. Have someone look for him.”
“Understood. Your location is more than five kilometers away, beyond the map’s search range. Are there any landmarks nearby?”
“Trees everywhere. They didn’t take the main road. It looks like we’re in the mountains.”
“All right. What condition are you in?”
“I’m fine. He says he’s taking me back to Tujue, so he probably won’t do anything to me for now.
“I left the shop near the end of the hour of the monkey. My phone says it’s now 11 p.m. I was drugged unconscious, so I don’t know how long the carriage traveled. I was already in a tent when I woke.”
“How many of them?”
“Twenty or thirty on watch and patrol. The others are asleep, so I don’t know yet. I’ll look tomorrow, but there are many tents.”
“All right. Be careful! I’m going to find help.”
“You too.”
After sending the messages, Xiao Yaqing returned the phone to the inner pocket of her underclothes.
*Grrrgle…*
Her stomach, empty since afternoon, began staging the Empty Fort Strategy once more.
Xiao Yaqing remembered the bowl of mutton soup Huyan Lie had taken away. Pouting, she pulled out the phone again.
“Bring me something to eat when you come. Hungry o(╥﹏╥)o”
“No problem!”
Only after receiving the affirmative reply did Xiao Yaqing put away the phone and close her eyes to rest.
The knockout drug had not completely worn off. Her head still felt heavy.
—
A servant from the Xiao Family had visited the General’s Mansion around the hour of the rooster to ask whether Xia Heng knew where Xiao Yaqing had gone.
After Xia Heng said Yaqing had gone to the shop, Wuyue frowned anxiously.
“The people at the shop said they put Miss into the carriage for home during the hour of the monkey, but she still hasn’t arrived!
“The trip from the shop to the mansion takes only half an hour. Where could Miss have gone?”
Xia Heng became worried too, though she also thought that since she had only given Xiao Yaqing the phone at noon, Yaqing would message her if something happened, wouldn’t she?
Xiao Yaqing had not answered the message Xia Heng sent that afternoon. Had she simply not seen it, or…
No. She could not think that way.
“Thank you for telling me, Miss Xia. I will search elsewhere,” Wuyue said, preparing to leave.
Xia Heng nodded.
“All right. If we hear anything here, we’ll send word to the Xiao Family too!”
The moment Xia Heng returned to her room, she pulled out her phone and messaged Xiao Yaqing. Two or three messages went unanswered. Growing frantic, she called her, but no one picked up.
Her heart chilled. Then she shook her head.
No, no. Perhaps Yaqing simply had not noticed!
She would send a few more messages.
By the hour of the dog, Cang Chuli had returned from the training grounds. Before long, Xiao Huan and Madam Xiao arrived at the mansion.
“Mingxu! Help Auntie. Something must have happened to Yaqing! That child has never disappeared for so long without a word!
“Zhuzi, the driver, has not returned either!”
Madam Xiao was so anxious that her words tumbled over one another. Xiao Huan stood beside her, stroking her back to help her breathe.
“Auntie Xiao, please don’t panic,” Cang Chuli said. “They have already told me. Rest here for a while. I’ll go out immediately.
“Mo Bai, tell the people in the mansion to spread out and search. Do not make a public spectacle. Say the Xiao Mansion has lost an object!”
“Yes!”
“Wife, wait here for news. I’ll go with Mingxu!” Xiao Huan told Madam Xiao.
“No! I’m going too. I’ll search with you!”
Chuqing and the others raced all over the capital, searching alleys and restaurants alike.
Xia Heng set her phone to vibrate and kept it against her body. Every so often, she found an empty corner and pulled it out to look.
Why was it not vibrating? Had it broken?
While they searched the streets, Dongfang Wei also received the news.
“You said Yaqing has disappeared?”
“Yes, Your Majesty. Servants from the Xiao Family are searching throughout the city, and the General’s Mansion of Northern Pacification has mobilized as well.
“They have not said they are looking for a person, however. They claim an object was lost,” Sixi replied, not daring to be careless.
Others might not know how much His Majesty cared about Miss Xiao, but how could he fail to know?
“Deploy two hundred shadow guards to search. I am leaving the palace now. Find me some clothes.”
“Your Majesty!”
“Hurry!”
When Xiao Yaqing’s message finally arrived, Xia Heng, Chuqing, and Qiulin had just kicked open the door of a private room in a brothel.
The two people inside were in the middle of coupling. Qiulin’s shout of “Looking for something!” frightened them pale, and neither dared move again.
There was no helping it. Xia Heng did not think they could overlook any place where the heroine might possibly appear.
Chuqing stared with wide-eyed curiosity until Qiulin pressed down on her head and pushed her outside.
It was at that moment that Xia Heng suddenly felt her phone vibrate.
“I need to answer nature’s call!”
Those were the only two words Xia Heng had time to shout. She grabbed the wailing brothel madam and demanded to know where the privy was.
Once given a direction, she vaulted over several railings to reach it.
This was one of the finest brothels in the capital, and even the privies were individual rooms.
The instant Xia Heng entered, she pulled out her phone. Only when she saw that Xiao Yaqing had finally replied did she release a breath.
After learning Huyan Lie had taken her, Xia Heng immediately confirmed the location with her. Their terse exchange took only moments.
Xia Heng pulled out the paper and writing implement she carried, opened the map screenshot Xiao Yaqing sent, and copied the approximate terrain.
Then she raced back to the private room.
The man inside was sitting under the quilt, cursing furiously, while Qiulin frowned deeply.
Xia Heng flashed the General’s Mansion pass token before his eyes.
“The General’s Mansion is investigating a case. Uninvolved persons, clear the room.”
The man saw something flicker past his face but could not make it out.
Had she said the General’s Mansion? The home of that terrifying general?
He immediately stopped protesting, pulled on his trousers, and went outside to argue with the madam.
He certainly would not pay. The business had not even been completed before these people ruined it!
The madam became furious. How could that be allowed? Did he think she ran a charity? And what did he mean it had not been completed? Ask the girl whether it had been completed!
Xia Heng tossed out a twenty-tael silver ingot. She had only taken it from her trunk before leaving today.
“Get out.”
The madam abandoned the man, picked up the silver with smiling eyes, and said, “Of course, of course. We’ll clear the room for you young ladies at once.”
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