The two fell into thought for a moment.
On the way back to the prince's mansion from the graveyard, they encountered Shi He waiting outside the city, riding towards them at full speed.
"Your Highness, Miss Xueyao has returned, but Princess Yumeng is nowhere to be seen."
Inside the carriage, upon hearing that her daughter was missing, Zhao Jiaqi felt dizzy.
"Return to the mansion at once."
Xiao Yang urged the horses and drove the carriage back to the prince's mansion at a breakneck speed.
From the moment she alighted the carriage to returning to the courtyard, she had stumbled several times and cried out in pain, yet she was oblivious. Her mind was solely consumed with how Yumeng could have gone missing, and what had become of the guards and personal escorts she had with her.
Arriving at Minghe Courtyard, she saw Xueyao sobbing. Looking at her wronged smiling face, Zhao Jiaqi's own expression could not soften. She couldn't force a smile and, worse, her mood grew irritable at the sound of Xueyao's crying.
Her complexion was not good, yet she tried her best to suppress her anger and said, "How did you return?"
Xueyao saw Zhao Jiaqi's grim expression and trembled. Then, remembering that Yumeng had been captured trying to save her...
She was so terrified that she dared not speak, instead hiding behind Wang Zhaodi, her eyes avoiding Zhao Jiaqi's cold gaze.
"You're afraid now? What were you doing before?" Zhao Jiaqi despised such timid dispositions.
She had the courage to elope, but not the courage to explain how she had returned.
Every moment of delay meant greater danger for Yumeng.
With fury in her heart, Zhao Jiaqi lunged forward, pulling Xueyao out from behind Wang Zhaodi, gripping her chin and forcing her to look at her.
"Yumeng followed you. Now you're back, where is Yumeng? What happened to her?"
For the first time, she spoke to Xueyao in a stern and severe tone. Her usual good temper had vanished completely.
Wang Zhaodi watched her daughter trembling in fear and felt a pang of heartache, yet she was also annoyed. She urged Xueyao, "Your aunt is asking you a question, hurry up and tell her! You're making me anxious to death."
Seeing Xueyao's face turn pale with fright, Fan Guangping also grew anxious and concerned.
He pried Zhao Jiaqi's hand away, rescuing his daughter from her grasp, and then blamed Zhao Jiaqi, "We are also worried about Yumeng's disappearance, but Xueyao is so terrified. Can't you let her recover first?"
"Let her recover? What about my daughter? Don't you know what will happen to my daughter if we delay any longer?"
Zhao Jiaqi retorted sharply, "She's just scared. She hasn't lost any limbs, nor has her tongue been injured. What harm can it do to speak a single word?"
In her desperation, Zhao Jiaqi spoke without her usual tact. She was burning with anxiety; only Xueyao could now provide clarity on Yumeng's situation.
Otherwise, how could Xueyao have escaped from Yan Luo's clutches on her own?
If Yan Luo had let her return, then why was she crying?
Seeing the adults so distressed because of her, Xueyao stood up, trembling, and tearfully recounted the events: "Yumeng caught up with me and Yan Ge, telling me that Yan Luo was very likely the murderer of Grandmother. Yan Ge saw that the matter could not be concealed and grabbed me as a threat."
"Sob sob sob... I was terrified. I begged Yan Ge to let me go, but Yan Luo used my life to threaten Yumeng, forcing Yumeng to leave with him, or he would kill me."
As she spoke, Xueyao's tears streamed down her face. Clutching her chest, she sobbed heartbrokenly, "Yan Ge said he had never liked me from the beginning. He liked Yumeng, but he couldn't win Yumeng's favor, so he used me..."
The rest was unsaid, yet Zhao Jiaqi understood perfectly. At this moment, she didn't want to hear about love affairs, nor did she care who Yan Luo liked.
Irritated, she interrupted Xueyao's words, "I'm asking you, where was Yumeng taken by Yan Luo?"
Xueyao blinked in confusion and, after a moment of recollection, replied uncertainly, "We were heading east. It was very cold there. In the villages, every household ate preserved fish. I saw dried fish in the yards too. I don't know the name of the village. Yan D-Yan Luo blindfolded me when he sent me away from the village."
The conclusion was that she had no idea where they had gone.
However, the fact that every household made a living by fishing clearly indicated they were near the sea.
Seeing that she could not extract any more information, Zhao Jiaqi turned and left Minghe Courtyard.
She went to the study, found a map, and searched the coastal areas. The Yun Kingdom had many coastal regions. Eliminating the west, north, and south directions, only one place remained in the east.
She circled a spot on the map: Mingde Prefecture, by the sea, where the entire prefecture's livelihood depended on fishing.
With an address, she gained a renewed sense of purpose. She mobilized the remaining elite soldiers and set out with them to find her daughter.
Halfway there, she encountered Fan Zehao, returning with Xiao Ce and the Chief. The other special forces soldiers had hidden themselves upon entering the city.
Seeing the dust-covered figure return safely, Zhao Jiaqi felt an inexpressible joy, mixed with worry.
Fan Zehao rode his horse forward, his eyes full of suspicion. He swept a glance at the people behind her and, parting his cracked lips, asked hoarsely, "Where are you going?"
She wanted to conceal it, but knew she couldn't keep it hidden for long. She also knew that if she kept the disappearance of his child from him, he would go regardless of his health.
Rather than have him be consumed by anxiety later, it was better to tell him the truth.
"Yan Luo has kidnapped Yumeng. I am leading these men to rescue her."
This statement nearly cost Fan Zehao half his life. After a moment of stunned silence, he reacted. He took out a brocade box from his embrace and handed it to her: "This Ice Silkworm. You know what to do with the rest. I will go rescue her; you go home and wait patiently."
Without allowing her to protest, a brocade box was placed in her hand. Turning around, he led his men away, disappearing on the road without even returning home.
Zhao Jiaqi lowered the carriage curtain, looking at the brocade box in her hand, still slightly warm. Tears welled in her eyes. She instructed Xiao Yang to drive the carriage to the graveyard.
The antidote was found, but the mastermind had escaped. Not only had he escaped, but her own daughter had also been kidnapped by him.
Thinking of this, her heart shattered into a million pieces.
The cold wind howled, yet it could not match the desolation in her heart.
In a wooden hut deep in the forest, Qi Xuan was carefully preparing the antidote with the extremely precious Ice Silkworm. Zhao Jiaqi, meanwhile, kept vigil by her mother-in-law's side, her nerves taut.
Time trickled by, yet it felt agonizingly slow. Finally, Qi Xuan finished brewing the antidote. Watching the precious liquid being slowly spooned into her mother-in-law's mouth, her heart pounded with anxiety.
She prayed for her mother-in-law to recover quickly, so that her husband's arduous journey to Snow Country for the antidote would not have been in vain.
Outside, the sky darkened, and a light snow began to fall, chilling the air.
Inside the house, a kerosene lamp cast its glow on the eight-immortal table. Beside the bed, a brazier of glowing charcoal was placed. Qi Xuan and Zhao Jiaqi sat by the bed, one on each side, both staring at the person on the bed, their eyes unblinking, fearful of missing any subtle change.