The Grand Princess personally interrogated the young maid.
She didn't know much.
But fortunately, she remembered her superior.
So the Grand Princess followed one lead after another, person by person, pulling them all out like peeling an onion.
And as expected, she got an answer she had long known but dared not believe.
"I'm so foolish. Since there were already signs, I shouldn't have hesitated back then. I should have driven him out sooner..."
If it weren't for Hui An, Baoge'er would have been in real danger this time.
After all, who would have thought that besides the detestable old woman, Granny Gui, there was also a young maid hidden by his side?
With one person after another by her side having problems, the Grand Princess no longer knew who to trust.
She loosened her clenched fist, then tightened it, tightened then loosened, her legs trembling.
She was both angry and heartbroken.
"I thought even without marital affection, we wouldn't have come to this point.
As husband and wife, how could he be so heartless? What is he after?"
This was what the Grand Princess couldn't understand, and it was precisely this doubt that made her, in the investigations of previous incidents, initially grasp the situation but repeatedly let him off the hook intentionally.
By rights, their husband and wife shared honor and disgrace. Moreover, Baoge'er was his own son, and his blood was the blood of the Liu family.
What could he gain by harming Baoge'er?
Su Xiaoqi hesitated, she had to tell her: "I've heard that some men are naturally cold-blooded and fickle.
When they love someone, they think everything about that person is good.
But when the novelty wears off, or when they have someone else in their heart, they find their old wife by their side unbearable to look at.
Even the children born with that person are seen as obstacles."
Su Xiaoqi's words were somewhat vague. Fearing the Grand Princess wouldn't believe her, she specifically gave an example:
"In our place, there was once a couple. They were talented and beautiful, a perfect match. After marriage, oh, not marriage, but shortly after they were wed, they had a son and a daughter.
As the children grew, the man began to have ill intentions and got involved with a young lady from a wealthy official's family in the area.
She liked the man's looks but was unwilling to accept that he already had children.
So, the two of them conspired to... the two children..."
"What happened?" The Grand Princess anxiously looked at Su Xiaoqi.
"The two children were pushed from a rock garden from a high place and were seriously injured. Fortunately, a maid by the children's maternal grandmother's side passed by and saved them."
"Heartless wretches, they deserve to die!" The Grand Princess slammed the table with a "bang," her exquisitely elegant face filled with rage.
How could such beasts exist in this world?
They were just two children, and he could still do that to them.
Thinking about it, the person by her side was no different.
As the Grand Princess thought, she asked Su Xiaoqi to take Hui An and Baoge'er back again and help her look after them for a while.
Su Xiaoqi knew she was about to initiate a major cleanup.
She expressed her understanding and comforted her not to rush, to take her time, and also to protect her own safety.
She didn't want to see the Grand Princess perish in her prime due to someone else's scheme, leaving behind two children, and ultimately not having a good end, just like in her past life.
After all, children who lost their mother's protection, what good could they expect from such heartless men?
The Grand Princess only let Madam Xu accompany Su Xiaoqi.
It wasn't that she was unwilling to assign someone, but she dared not.
She now suspected everyone around her.
She felt they were untrustworthy no matter how she looked at them.
Su Xiaoqi was also happy that they didn't bring anyone.
Baoge'er was initially a little reluctant to leave, but after Su Xiaoqi enticed him with all sorts of delicious food and fun toys, he was immediately moved.
He busily urged Madam Xu to pack his luggage for him.
However, Princess Hui An, after hearing some things she had never heard before, became even more silent than before.
Su Xiaoqi shook her head and sighed.
She would have to do a lot of psychological counseling for her in the coming days.
Alas, she could explain to the Grand Princess how terrifying a man could be once his heart changed.
But how could she explain that a father could be so cruel to his own children?
Headache!
Su Xiaoqi leaned against the carriage wall, the hard wall hurting her forehead.
She inexplicably missed Shen Yun.
She missed his broad embrace, how he would protect her wholeheartedly every time they took a carriage.
More than half a month had passed. She didn't know how his affairs in Jiangning Prefecture were going.
In a small alley in Jiangning Prefecture, in an ordinary residence.
Shen Yun was dressed in coarse cloth short attire, his head wrapped in a grey cloth scarf, his face smudged with dirt and black, completely concealing his handsome features. He looked drab.
Even Wang Enze, if he saw him, wouldn't have recognized him.
He looked in surprise at Shen Yun, who was dressed as a little beggar.
After looking for a while, it was only from his resolute and sharp gaze that he recognized him as Shen Yun, the Hanlin Academy scholar who had traveled south to Jiangning Prefecture with him but had gone missing midway due to an incident.
He had been missing for seven days, and upon reappearing, he looked like this.
He had also arranged for someone to lead him to this secluded residence. Wang Enze was very curious about what he had experienced in these few days.
"I've found the person," Shen Yun's opening words astonished Wang Enze. His narrow, long eyes squinted slightly, and his handsome eyebrows raised: "Who did you find?"
"The wife of the Duke of Yu," Shen Yun said.
Wang Enze remembered Shen Yun's closeness to the Duke of Yu's family and immediately understood.
However, he was slightly displeased: "You and I were sent south by imperial decree, not to find the Duke's wife. What about the matter of the Directorate of Weaving..."
A dark gleam flashed in Shen Yun's eyes, which he quickly suppressed: "If Master Wang knew how the Duke's wife went missing, he wouldn't say that."
When Wang Enze heard the implication in his words, he stopped being haughty and assumed a humble posture, inquiring about the reason.
Shen Yun had come to find him to ask for a favor, so he naturally hid nothing.
He started from the Duke of Yu's wife, Madam Wen, coming south to visit her sister.
Her sister, Madam Jiang, went missing because she knew something she shouldn't have, and was killed.
Madam Wen, upon seeing her sister's corpse, was extremely enraged and immediately dispatched her personal guards to investigate.
The perpetrator had not had time to cover their tracks after committing the murder when they were discovered by the capable guards of the Duke's mansion.
Madam Wen found the culprit and threatened to report him to the authorities for prosecution.
She personally led her people to the Jiangning Prefecture Magistrate's yamen.
Who knew that upon going there, she disappeared without a trace and never returned.
Her brother-in-law's family sent people to inquire with the authorities, but they only said she hadn't arrived.
No one had seen her on the road.
A living person just vanished like that.
Madam Wen's brother-in-law's family was terrified.
First, the mistress of their own household had died tragically, which was already a major event.
Who knew that a wife from the Duke's mansion would come and then mysteriously disappear.
They dared not conceal it and passed the news to the capital.
At the same time, they continuously organized people to search for her, but found nothing.
Wang Enze already knew all of this from the Magistrate's yamen, so he looked at Shen Yun with even more curiosity:
"How did you find her? Others searched with large numbers of people and couldn't find her, but you, looking like a little beggar, managed to find her?"