February 24th.

The evening of the seventh day after Lanqiao entered Beijing.

Xu Miaojin's birthday party arrived as scheduled.

Xiang Yixuan's house was decorated with lanterns and colorful decorations. In less than a day, it was decorated by hundreds of servants from all over the house in preparation for the visit of Miss Xu San and other high-ranking officials in the capital.

Before the sun went down, Liu Jing arrived first with Feng Zimo and Guo Zixi. Xiang Yixuan came to the house to greet him and chatted with him about daily life.

Not long after, Emperor Jianwen's two closest ministers, Qitai and Huang Zicheng, also arrived together. Then more and more guests came to celebrate Miss Xu San's birthday, and the congratulatory gifts were piled up like a hill in the courtyard. Even the maids of the Xiang Mansion

There were so many that I was so busy that I was dizzy for a while.

When it got dark, Wei Guogong took his third lady Miaojin, his brother Xu Zengshou, and a banquet convoy along the long street.

As soon as they appeared, they were immediately surrounded by guests. Some came to greet them, some presented gift lists, and some wanted to take the opportunity to see Miss Xu San's extraordinary beauty. It was very crowded and noisy.

The Lu sisters reported the noisy scene in front of the house to Lanyuan. Lan Qiao thought the time had come, and looked at each other with Hua Yuxi. The two climbed over the wall and left Xiang's house, heading for the Duke of Wei's house.

By the time we arrived at the gate of Duke Wei's mansion, it was already dark.

Lan Qiao looked at Tiancha Villa not far from the long street, and said with a warm heart: "It's rare to come back here, please wait for me for a moment, I will pick up something."

After saying that, he patted Hua Yuxi on the shoulder and left without waiting for her to agree.

Less than a quarter of an hour later, Lan Qiao came running back, holding a bunch of dark clothes in his hand.

"Young master, you have an extramarital affair, just to get such a tattered piece of clothing?" Hua Yuxi said dissatisfiedly.

"How can these be tattered clothes?" Lan Qiao was about to retort, but then sighed, "It's true that it's a little tattered, but this was the short robe I wore when I first met Xiao Shu. It was worn in many places at that time.

When it was cut, she re-sewed it for me."

Hua Yuxi asked curiously: "Where did you get this robe?"

"Of course it was Xiaoshu's mother, Princess Lin'an, who gave it to me. Fortunately, it was damaged and inconspicuous, so it was kept at Tiancha Villa for the past few days without being searched by Liu Yueyao or Liu Jing's people," Lan Qiao said.

Then she unfolded the short robe and showed it to Hua Yuxi, and said proudly, "When the princess handed it to me, she said that these seams were sewn by Xiao Shu herself. When Xiao Shu is found later, this can be used as a token.

It means that I was indeed entrusted by Princess Lin'an to rescue her."

"Princess is afraid that you won't work hard to find a girl for her and deliberately hinted that Miss Li has feelings for you." Hua Yuxi frowned and said, "You go in to find someone with such a big group of things. You are inconvenient. Aren't you afraid of the burden?

"

"It's not a burden." Lan Qiao said and put the robe on Hua Yuxi, and the short robe turned into a long robe. "Isn't this enough?"

Hua Yuxi gave him a big eye roll: "Young master put the token of love with Miss Li on my body. I'm not afraid of her being jealous or hurting my heart." She said it back, but she didn't take it off after all.

Return the robe to Lan Qiao.

Lan Qiao said helplessly: "It's more important to save people, we can't worry about so much more."

"Although the Duke of Wei's Mansion occupies an area not as large as that of the Xiang Mansion, it has two blocks vertically and horizontally. There are fifty or sixty pavilions, restaurants and pavilions inside the tall courtyard walls." Hua Yuxi's eyes turned back to the gate of the Duke of Wei's Mansion, "

The arrangement of these houses may seem haphazard, but in fact they are closely aligned with the principles of the Five Elements and Eight Trigrams. Even the maids who serve in the mansion can easily get lost when they first arrive."

"No wonder I went in a few times to explore, but couldn't go any further." Lan Qiao said suddenly, "At that time, I thought the guards were too tight. It turns out that the layout of this house is also mysterious."

"The guards are naturally tight, but today is an exception."

"What's the meaning?"

"Today is Miss Third's birthday. According to past practice, whenever Third Miss celebrates her birthday, she will divide some of her New Year's money and invite the servants of the house to have a drink and have fun with her. The cook has won Miss Third.

With the money, I can cook a few more delicious meat dishes and open a dozen jars of good wine. For the family members in the house, this day is simply happier than the Chinese New Year."

"But didn't they go to Xiang Mansion to celebrate their birthday this time?"

"Although the location has changed, the third lady's mind will not change. Look at the two guards at the door, do they look drunk?"

Lan Qiao took a closer look and saw that the two big men guarding the door had blurry eyes and drunken looks on their faces. He admired Hua Yuxi but also said with some confusion: "You really know Miss Xu San well."

"That's right." Hua Yuxi said without humility, "The slave family knows a lot of people, especially beautiful women. If your wife is angry with you in the future, she might as well come to the slave family for advice."

The two of them walked outside a relatively secluded section of the courtyard wall. Lan Qiao lowered his body, letting Hua Yuxi step on his palm.

"You are taking advantage of me." Hua Yuxi said with a sweet smile, "How many times has this happened to us?"

Lan Qiao said angrily: "Stop talking nonsense." He pushed hard with his hand, and Huayixi soared into the sky like a swallow, and landed lightly on the wall.

She lowered her cross golden feathers, pulled Lan Qiao up to the wall, made a face at him, and said evilly: "If there was no slave family, would you be able to climb such a high wall by yourself? I still think the slave family is talkative."

Lan Qiao sneered and said: "According to traditional etiquette, how can a girl run outside without wearing shoes and socks every day and expose her feet to others? You blame me for taking advantage of you."

"Yes, yes, the slave family is not only shameless, they also kill people and set fires." Hua Yuxi glared at him and said, "I'm tired of hearing this kind of talk, so you should arrest me."

Lan Qiao knew that he couldn't argue with her, so he simply turned a deaf ear. He found a backlit roof and climbed up.

Hua Yuxi followed him like a shadow, grabbed him and said, "Don't go that way, there will be so many houses over there that they can hold a party."

Lan Qiao knew that if he just wandered around on his own, he would only return in vain like the previous two times. He snorted and said: "Then where should I go to find it? You lead the way."

Hua Yuxi's eyes flashed, and she pretended to be aggrieved: "Is the young master ordering me, this poor little slave, as a master?"

Lan Qiao was amused by her, and his nervous mood relaxed a little. He followed her words and said, "You know what you are asking, why don't you go and lead the way."

"As ordered." Hua Yuxi followed the example on the stage and clasped her fists in a salute. Then she couldn't help laughing, pointing to a corridor on the right: "This way."

Her memory of the layout of the Duke of Wei's mansion was indeed accurate, and she could accurately find bunkers to avoid the maids and generals who occasionally passed by the mansion. In less than half an hour, she had taken Lan Qiao to turn around the huge Duke of Wei's mansion.

One circle.

"I've searched all over, but I haven't found Miss Li." Hua Yuxi stopped on the roof of a two-story building, spread her hands and said with a smile, "Maybe you are overly worried, Miss Li was not taken away at all.

, but she ran away because of something. Anyway, it wasn’t the first time she left without saying goodbye.”

"Are you sure you have searched them all?" Lan Qiao looked down at the large and small houses shrouded in the night, and said worriedly, "If it's not here, where else could it be?"

"It's not advisable to stay in a dangerous place for a long time. Anyway, let's go out first." Hua Yuxi tugged on Lan Qiao's sleeves.

"Don't you still want to kill Chang Hong?" Lan Qiao frowned and jumped into the grass next to the small building, "No, there is still a place I haven't found yet."

"Are you more familiar with this than me?" Hua Yuxi couldn't do anything to him, so she jumped downstairs and followed him, squatting down and saying, "Chang Hong and a group of generals are drinking. If you go there at this time, you are looking for death."

"Look, this is the area we walked through." Lan Qiao picked up a thin branch, drew a circle on the ground and said, "Although I don't know the Xu Mansion as well as you do, I am familiar with the direction. There is a small place in the middle.

We went around the courtyard and didn’t go in.”

Hua Yuxi glanced at it and said, "That's the inner courtyard of the Xu Mansion. Miss Li's family can't be there."

Lan Qiao asked: "Where is the inner courtyard?"

"Why are you so fierce?" Hua Yuxi glared at him and said, "That's the courtyard where Mrs. Xu Huizu lives. What kind of man can hide his beauty in a golden house and let the captured beauty live with his wife?"

Lan Qiao heard someone mention Xu Huizu's wife for the first time and wondered: "Does Xu Huizu still have a wife?"

"Of course, not only my wife, but also a five-year-old child who also lives in the inner courtyard." Hua Yuxi explained, "But his wife has been seriously ill since giving birth five years ago and has been bedridden all year round."

Lan Qiao became suspicious and asked: "Perhaps Xu Huizu did the opposite and locked Xiao Shu in the inner courtyard and left her under the care of his wife?"

Hua Yuxi muttered: "Madam can't take care of herself, how can she have the energy to care about other people's affairs?"
Chapter completed!