The gatekeeper's young servant, carrying a lantern, finally came to open the door after a long wait.
He sized up the yamen runner from head to toe, frowning, "No, who are you looking for at this late hour? It's so late, why aren't you asleep..."
The yamen runner, with a bitter expression, tremblingly took out a letter from his chest, "Quick, quick, give this letter to the Prefect!"
"Who are you?" the servant asked.
This person was disheveled and dusty, clearly having traveled a long distance to reach Shuo'an City...
"I am a yamen runner sent by Prefect Chen of Heyang County. I have urgent matters to report to the Prefect!" The yamen runner, exhausted and drowsy, could barely speak coherently.
The servant scratched his head, "But, but sir has already retired for the night. How about this, you wait here, and I'll go inform the steward!"
The yamen runner: "..."
After all this fuss, dawn was about to break. He didn't have time to waste here.
"Move aside, I'll go see the Prefect myself!" The yamen runner pushed the servant aside and sprinted into the courtyard.
"Hey, hey, hey, what are you doing? Stop! Someone, catch the thief!" The servant shrieked, attracting many guards and household retainers.
The yamen runner didn't know which courtyard Prefect Qin resided in. The Prefect's mansion was too vast. In his frantic running, he stumbled into a privy...
"Whoa, what a smell!" As he retreated, he was struck on the head with a club.
"You scoundrel, daring to trespass into the Prefect's mansion, you must be tired of living!" The servant kicked him.
"Huh? He has a token hanging from his waist. He really seems to be from the county yamen!" a sharp-eyed guard remarked.
He took off the token, then looked at the letter clutched in the yamen runner's hand, and was suddenly startled, "Oh dear, he might indeed have urgent matters..."
Thus, Prefect Qin, who had just fallen asleep, was roused and arrived at the reception hall with a grim expression.
"What is it, has Heyang County been hit by floods again?" Prefect Qin yawned, picked up his teacup, and rinsed his mouth.
The yamen runner rubbed the back of his head, speaking hazily, "Once the Prefect reads the letter, he will naturally understand..."
Prefect Qin snorted, took the letter, and impatiently tore it open, muttering, "This Prefect Chen can't even manage his own county, always causing trouble!"
Previously, he had been severely reprimanded by the young prince over the matter of the Agarwood Forest.
Furthermore, Gu Mingyan had also given him a stern warning.
In Heyang County, the two people he cared about most were Xiao Jinheng and Xiao Xitian...
As for the remaining populace, Prefect Chen was there to look after them, so he didn't need to worry.
Prefect Chen glanced at the letter, as if disbelieving, and quickly rubbed his eyes, reading it again.
"Thump!~"
He slumped onto the chair, stunned, and couldn't recover for a long time.
The young prince and Sweet Baby had been abducted by human traffickers?
This was simply catastrophic news...
If Marquis Pingyang, Gu Mingyan, were to find out about this, he would surely flay Prefect Chen alive.
And he wouldn't escape unscathed either.
"Wh-when did this happen?" Prefect Qin stammered.
The yamen runner said, "I took two days to travel here. Counting the time, it's been four or five days!"
"Oh dear, Prefect Chen is truly a muddle-headed fool, utterly useless. Why didn't he inform me sooner? Can he keep this quiet? What a blockhead..."
Prefect Qin's torrent of complaints made the yamen runner afraid to even breathe loudly.
"Did he send people to search? And how are there human traffickers in the mountains? This matter is definitely not that simple!"
Prefect Qin stood up, pacing back and forth in the hall with his hands behind his back...
The yamen runner lowered his head and mumbled, "They have already searched. When Young Master Xiao and Little Sweet Baby were swept away by the flood, Prefect Chen sent constables into the mountains to search for a day and a night, but they didn't even find a trace of the two children!"
"It was the guards accompanying Young Master Xiao who tracked down a clue, stating that the two young masters were bound onto a boat and headed towards the prefectural city."
"Therefore, Prefect Chen requests that you arrange for personnel to strengthen defenses along the riverbanks around the prefectural city, and simultaneously search every household within the city to ensure the two young masters are found..."
Upon hearing this, Prefect Qin was so enraged that he kicked over a high stand. A delicate vase tumbled down and shattered with a 'crash'.
"Good for him, telling this King to find them! Who lost them? Isn't it his own incompetence?"
Prefect Qin was extremely annoyed by the word 'must'.
It was as if he was being ordered to find them...
"It's been four or five days, who can guarantee they will definitely come to the prefectural city?" Prefect Qin frowned deeply.
He instructed the steward to bring a map of the Heyang County area and examined it carefully, "Only this large river leads to the prefectural city. Based on the time, they should still be on the boat!"
As long as the target and route could be confirmed, the people would surely be found...
"You've traveled a long way, you should get some rest!" Prefect Qin put away the map and told the steward to find a guest room for the yamen runner.
"No, no, no, I want to go with Your Lordship to find the two young masters!" The yamen runner refused to rest.
Prefect Qin sighed, "As you wish!"
Sleep if you want to sleep.
But where could he find people in the middle of the night? Everything would have to wait until dawn to mobilize personnel and assign tasks...
Prefect Qin returned to his bedroom with a heavy heart, sighing incessantly as he got into bed.
"My Lord, what's wrong?" Madam Xue sat up.
Why did he look so troubled after going out?
Prefect Qin turned over, not looking at her, and mumbled dejectedly, "The young prince and Sweet Baby are lost!"
"Huh?" Madam Xue's eyes widened. She pinched his waist, "Then you still have the leisure to sleep? Hurry and call people to search..."
"Ow, why are you pinching me?" Prefect Qin glared at her irritably, "It's pitch dark outside right now, and the city guards are all lazy. Even if I order them, they won't search properly!"
"So you're not going to do anything? You're the Prefect, not a village chief. It's just a word, why are you dawdling here?"
Madam Xue had lost all desire to sleep...
She knew that Little Sweet Baby was a very intelligent and adorable little girl. Madam Xue liked her from the bottom of her heart.
If this child were lost, the Yun family would fall apart.
She was soft-hearted and could not bear to see such a tragedy occur.
"I'm not dawdling, don't things have to wait until dawn?" Prefect Qin pulled the quilt over himself, sulking.
Madam Xue kicked him, "If you don't go look, I'll write to my father right now and have him deal with you..."
Madam Xue's father was the Minister of War in the imperial court. In terms of rank and title, he completely overshadowed Prefect Qin.
"You always run to your father whenever there's trouble!" Prefect Qin grumbled, sitting up and giving her a shove, "Fine, I'll go look. Honestly, you weren't even this worried when your own daughter went missing."
That damned old hag...
Prefect Qin put on his clothes and stomped out angrily.