“Ah— someone suddenly popped out!”
Suddenly, a person lunged out from the grass by the roadside. Running into the middle of the road, the carriage was about to crash into them. Ying’er screamed in panic, completely flustered and at a loss.
Seeing the carriage about to hit the person who had suddenly appeared, Huangfu Yue quickly reached out to grab the reins from Ying’er, stopping the horse in time to avoid hitting the person.
Ying’er’s heart, which had stopped for a moment, began to beat again. She let out a sigh of relief and patted her chest, “Thank goodness, thank goodness, we didn’t hit anyone. That scared me to death!”
“Why did this person suddenly appear! It’s a good thing we didn’t hit her, otherwise, she would have been crippled if not dead… truly Buddha’s blessing, Amitabha!”
Yang Wanqian, who was timid in the carriage, was also badly shaken. She patted her chest, still startled, and clasped her hands together.
“Are you trying to find death, you shrew! To suddenly pop out and run over here, do you know that if my young lady hadn’t stopped the horses in time, you would have been crippled if not killed by the impact!”
Feng Maoyuan, who had also been startled and stunned, snapped back to his senses. He frowned, glaring at the young woman who had suddenly appeared and, judging by her attire, looked like a village woman.
“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, please forgive me, sir, madam, young ladies. I didn’t mean to… My son was snatched away by a black ape. I couldn’t catch it to get my son back. I saw your carriage and thought I’d come to you for help, so I suddenly ran over.” The woman quickly knelt and apologized, her face filled with anxiety.
It turned out she had run to stop the carriage to ask Huangfu Yue and the others for help.
“Sir, madam, young ladies, I beg you to be kind and quickly help me chase that ape and get my son back. If I’m late, I fear that ape might harm my son, or eat him!” The woman pleaded with Huangfu Yue and the others, her eyes teary, her voice choked with sobs, looking pitiful.
Huangfu Yue, always kind-hearted, immediately decided to help the woman.
“Madam, please don’t cry. I will go and help you get your son back immediately. Which way did that ape take your son?” Huangfu Yue asked as she jumped down from the carriage and walked towards the woman.
“Thank you, young lady. The ape took my son that way,” the woman said gratefully, pointing in a direction.
“Master Feng, I’m going to help this lady find her son. Please stay here and wait for me. Please ensure my family is protected,” Huangfu Yue instructed Feng Maoyuan.
“Should I send someone to accompany you to help, young lady?” Feng Maoyuan asked after nodding.
“No, I’m enough on my own,” Huangfu Yue waved her hand and simultaneously instructed Xiao Hei in her heart, “Xiao Hei, stay and watch over the people from the Prince’s Mansion.”
Through Xiao Hei’s vision, she could see herself and Feng Maoyuan. Xiao Hei had already returned and was now about ten zhang away. By having Xiao Hei stay here, although it couldn’t protect the people of the Prince’s Mansion, she could see everything here through its eyes. If anything happened, she would know immediately and could rush back.
“Yes.” Xiao Hei immediately agreed and accelerated its flight, disappearing into the sky above Huangfu Yue and the others in the blink of an eye.
“Let’s go, find that black ape, and save your son,” Huangfu Yue said to the woman, then ducked into the grass by the roadside and ran in the direction the woman had pointed.
The woman quickly followed Huangfu Yue. Watching their retreating backs, Ying’er said, “I hope young lady can find that black ape quickly and rescue the person.”
“I’ll go and inform the people behind about the eldest young lady going to help rescue someone. We’ll have to wait here for a while until the eldest young lady returns after rescuing the person,” Feng Ruoyuan said to Ying’er and Yang Wanqian in the carriage.
“No need to tell us. We’ve already heard. Drive the carriage to the side of the road and wait for Yue’er to return,” Zheng Taifei’s voice came from behind.
“Yes.” Feng Maoyuan immediately responded, then asked Ying’er to pull Yang Wanqian’s carriage to the side of the road. The other carriages behind also drove to the side of the road and stopped, driven by their coachmen.
“This Huangfu Yue is really meddling in other people’s business. She’s suddenly running off to help someone find their son for no reason. She’s just asking for trouble, what a busybody!” Xu Yuqing complained indignantly. However, she was afraid of being overheard, so she spoke very softly, so softly that Huangfu Yue, sitting in her lap, didn’t hear her. But Jiang Shangyun, who was sitting in the front as the coachman, had practiced martial arts and had better hearing than ordinary people, and he heard her.
Jiang Shangyun glanced at Xu Yuqing in the carriage, his brows subtly moving. This woman’s mouth… Was she so used to scolding Huangfu Yue that she did it habitually, or was it something else… He really couldn’t stand it. However, as she said, Huangfu Yue was indeed meddling. She was asking for trouble. A woman suddenly appeared asking for help, and without a second thought, she immediately agreed to help, not afraid of causing trouble. Fortunately, it was just a black ape snatching a child. With her martial prowess, catching up to the black ape and getting the child back should be a piece of cake. She should be back soon and wouldn’t make them wait here for too long, delaying their journey.
Huangfu Yue thought the same. She also felt that with her martial prowess, catching up to the black ape and getting the child back would be easy, and she would return to meet the people from the Prince’s Mansion quickly, without delaying their journey much. But she soon realized she was wrong.
Because after following in the direction the woman pointed for a while, she still couldn’t see the black ape. She turned to look at the woman behind her, who was struggling to keep up and running with sweat pouring down her face and panting.
“Are you sure the black ape ran in this direction? We’ve been running for a while, but why haven’t we found any trace of the black ape?” Huangfu Yue asked, lowering her head to look around, trying to find any clues left by the black ape.
“I’m sure. It’s possible that it was running very fast and has already gone far… Although that beast is very tall, it’s not clumsy at all. Its body is very agile, and it runs very fast,” the woman said, panting.
A discovery!
As Huangfu Yue was about to ask the woman something after hearing her words, her beautiful eyes lit up. A black animal hair caught her eye. This should be the black ape’s hair. She quickly reached out and picked up the hair, examining it closely. She then frowned. She guessed that it wasn’t the black ape’s hair, but dog hair.
“How long has it been since that black ape snatched your son and ran away?” Huangfu Yue asked the woman, wanting to know the time to estimate how far the black ape had run by now.
“You crazy woman, you’re here!”