Chapter 334

Hearing this, the servant stood to the side, at a loss for what to do.

He had no idea when the people had disappeared either.

“I am asking you, where are they?” Zhou Zuo stepped forward furiously and slapped the servant several times.

“Master, your servant truly does not know how they disappeared,” the servant said, trembling with fear.

He had thought that with the room’s door closed, there was no way they could escape.

Besides, he had not heard a single sound, nor had he seen anyone leave.

Thinking of this, the servant was completely baffled. Just when did those people leave?

“I asked you to watch them, and you could not even do that right!” Zhou Zuo was so angry he could die.

To think that his prize had managed to slip right through his fingers.

The servant only dared to keep his head down.

“Why are you not hurrying to find them?” Zhou Zuo was incredibly exasperated.

“This little one will go look right away, right away!” The servant hurriedly went to search the courtyard.

Unfortunately, after searching for a long time, he still did not see a trace of them.

“Where are they? Did you find them?” Zhou Zuo furiously pointed at the servant’s nose and demanded.

“Master, your servant really does not know when they disappeared,” the servant said, hastily dropping to his knees in terror.

“Useless trash!” Zhou Zuo fumed with rage, but the fact remained that they were gone.

For the moment, he had no idea what to do.

If he had to blame someone, he could only blame his own carelessness. He never expected that the old man and the little boy could actually escape.

Zhou Zuo let out a long sigh.

In ​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​​‌‌​​​​​​‌‌​‌​‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌​‌‌‌​​‌‌​‌‌​​​‌‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​​‌​‌‌​​‌​‌​​‌‌‌​​​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌‌​​‌​​‌‌​​​‌​​​‌‌​‌​​​‌‌​​‌‌​​​‌‌​​​‌​​‌‌​​‌​‍his heart, he was entirely unsure of how to proceed.

Meanwhile, Li Tianyou and Xu Qingshi were leisurely roasting fish by the river.

“Grandfather, when will we reach the capital?” Xu Qingshi asked, drooling as he stared at the fish Li Tianyou was roasting.

However, they had slept out in the wilderness last night, and it had not been a pleasant experience. He missed his comfortable large bed.

“We should be there after walking a bit more, right?” At this moment, Li Tianyou was also somewhat unsure of their exact location.

What they did not know, however, was that the two of them were heading in the complete opposite direction of the capital.

“But I am so tired!” Xu Qingshi pouted, looking rather unhappy.

“Your father is also useless. We have been out for so long, and he still has not come looking for us,” Li Tianyou grumbled with some dissatisfaction.

“Grandfather, could we have taken the wrong path?” Xu Qingshi asked with a frown.

“I do not think so?” Li Tianyou looked at their surroundings. Why did it feel somewhat familiar?

“But Grandfather, we have already walked past this spot three times,” Xu Qingshi said in frustration.

“Have we?” Li Tianyou looked back and thought about it. Probably not, right?

Xu Qingshi must have remembered incorrectly.

“Hurry up and eat. You will only have the strength to travel once you are full.” Li Tianyou handed a freshly roasted fish to Xu Qingshi.

Inwardly, he was also getting a bit anxious.

After all, he had not returned home all night, and he did not know if his wife and daughter would be worried about him.

Furthermore, he had missed the morning court session today, and he did not know if the Emperor would blame him for it.

Thinking of this, Li Tianyou let out a long sigh.

Once he returned, he had no idea how he would explain everything to everyone.

After all, dressing up in disguise with a child like Xu Qingshi just to fetch something was, no matter how one looked at it, rather embarrassing.

Especially since they had ended up getting kidnapped.

“Grandfather, do you think this can summon my father?” Xu Qingshi suddenly pulled a signal flare from his robes and asked curiously.

“What is that?” Li Tianyou was originally just a merchant and had never seen a signal flare before.

Now, even though he was an official in the Ministry of Revenue, he had no need for such things, so for a moment, he truly did not know how to use the gadget.

“Hehe, this is a good item Brother Qingsong gave me. He said that as long as I open it, it will shoot up a firework with a whoosh,” Xu Qingshi said proudly.

“In broad daylight, even if you set off a firework, no one will be able to see it, right?” Li Tianyou looked at the small tube, then glanced up at the blazing sun overhead, feeling that it was rather unreliable.

“They probably could?” Xu Qingshi was not sure either. After all, he had never seen a daytime firework.

“Forget it. If you want to see this thing go off, we will watch it a bit later.” Li Tianyou handed the signal flare back to Xu Qingshi, not thinking much of the item.

“But Brother Qingsong said that as long as I take this out, no matter where I am, they will be able to find me. Grandfather, let us just try it. I do not want to walk anymore.” Xu Qingshi pouted in dissatisfaction.

He had been walking for a very long time.

Thinking of the delicious food back at the manor, the fish in his hands suddenly did not smell as appetizing anymore.

Hearing this, Li Tianyou furrowed his brows deeply.

He did not want to walk either, but if they did not, what if those people caught them and dragged them back?

“Why don’t we give it a try?” Li Tianyou thought to himself that he did not know if the gadget would work, but they might as well grasp at straws.

“Let’s try!” Xu Qingshi looked at Li Tianyou with sparkling eyes, full of anticipation.

Li Tianyou pulled the cap off the signal flare in his hand. With a sharp whoosh, it sounded as if something had shot up into the clouds.

Before Li Tianyou could even react, he only saw a few wisps of green smoke drifting up from the flare.

“Just like this? Are you sure your father will still be able to find us?” Li Tianyou said, even waving the smoking tube in his hand, trying to make the smoke drift higher.

Li Tianyou felt that this was definitely just a little trinket Qingsong had used to coax Xu Qingshi and make him happy.

Xu Qingshi, however, tilted his head to look up at the sky. Just a moment ago, he felt like he had seen something shoot into the heavens.

But looking back at the smoking tube in Li Tianyou’s hand.

Xu Qingshi was not sure either. Could his father really find him?

Far away in the capital, the hidden guards who saw the signal flare Xu Qingshi fired were momentarily stunned.

“Your Highness, a signal flare has been set off from a neighboring county in the outskirts,” Qing Chuan excitedly ran into Xu Heming’s study and reported.

Xu Heming was taken aback at first, but he could not recall who else would be sending a signal from outside.

“Your Highness, could it be the Heir?” Qing Chuan asked with excitement.

Xu Heming frowned. He had never given Xu Qingshi a signal flare.

It should not be him.

“Your Highness, this subordinate seems to have given the Heir one,” Qingsong finally remembered at this moment that he had previously given one to Xu Qingshi.

“Hurry and go find him!” Hearing this, Xu Heming stood up in pleasant surprise.

Prince Lanhuai returned to the Prince Lanhuai Manor with a dark and gloomy expression.

“Your Highness, you have finally returned.” Huo Yunzhi had heard early in the morning that Prince Lanhuai had gone to the Cheng family to buy a shop for her.

Right now, she was waiting in high spirits for Prince Lanhuai to hand over the title deed to the Qin Pavilion.

When that time came, never mind that Green Jade Pavilion refusing to let her enter; she would not even care to go there anyway.

“Mhm.” Prince Lanhuai was not in a good mood.

Whenever he thought about how he had kindly wanted to form a marriage alliance with the Cheng family, yet the Cheng family had actually refused to give him face.

Otherwise, why would Cheng Tianyuan have yielded the Qin Pavilion to him?

Was it not just because they felt he did not hold much power and looked down on him?

The moment he remembered that he had only gone to the Cheng family because of Huo Yunzhi, the look Prince Lanhuai directed at her was filled with dissatisfaction.

“Your Highness?” Huo Yunzhi frowned, unable to understand why Prince Lanhuai had such an expression.

Could it be that he had not managed to buy the shop?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep