Chapter 261
Chapter 261
"Go and search! Even if you have to dig three feet into the ground, you must find Nuonuo for me! Until the child is found, no one is to leave!" The Grand Princess thought of her precious granddaughter missing, and felt that all the ladies and young misses present were also under suspicion.
Until the child was returned, she was unwilling to let anyone off.
"Your Highness, this servant will go search immediately!" The guards instantly vanished, all going to search for the person.
The Grand Princess's face was dark with anger. She cursed inwardly, wondering which damned soul dared to lay hands on her adorable little granddaughter.
"Mother-in-law, please don't worry. Nuonuo has your protection as her grandmother; she is sure to turn danger into safety." Although He Yushan was secretly overjoyed,
she still stepped forward with a sympathetic and understanding demeanor to comfort the Grand Princess.
"Grandmother, even without little sister, you still have me and big brother!" Little Gu Shaoyu didn't understand why that annoying little sister had suddenly disappeared.
However, he was still very happy.
Because this way, the child Grandmother liked best would surely be him.
"What nonsense are you talking? My Nuonuo cannot be in danger!" Ruan Jinge, upon hearing this, shouted.
Her child!
The last thing she could bear to hear was talk of her child being gone.
"Sister-in-law, the child meant no harm. Speaking like that will frighten him." He Yushan stepped forward with a dissatisfied look, shielding Gu Shaoyu, while also insinuating with some darkness in her tone that Ruan Jinge was taking her words out on a child.
The Grand Princess massaged her temples with a headache.
The child was lost, right under her own nose. This matter was also a humiliation to her.
"Enough, He-shi, take the child away for now!" The Grand Princess had a splitting headache at the moment, how could she have the mind to deal with a child?
"Yes!" He Yushan hadn't expected her mother-in-law to react this way. Her heart immediately sank with disappointment, and she secretly prayed even more fervently that the child... she hoped, would not be found.
Otherwise, in the future, what good days would be left for her and her two sons under the Grand Princess's roof?
I'm afraid everything would go to the second branch of the family, wouldn't it?
"What's going on?" The Princess Consort hurried in with his two sons.
"Grandfather!" Gu Shaoyu stepped forward and tugged at the hem of Princess Consort Gu Xiangnan's robe, wanting his grandfather to pick him up as usual.
"He-shi? Why haven't you taken the child away yet!" Seeing this scene, the Grand Princess felt even more displeased.
"What are you standing there for? Take the child back!" The Grand Princess's eldest son, Gu Yunfan, said displeasedly to his wife.
A flash of humiliation crossed He Yushan's face.
Nevertheless, she curtseyed and left with the two children.
Gu Shaoyu wanted to struggle, but He Yushan didn't speak, only tightly gripping her son's hand.
"Little brother, be good." The older Gu Shaoting naturally sensed his mother's unhappiness.
And Grandmother's obvious displeasure at seeing them just now.
"Mother, what happened?" Gu Yunfan waited until the children had left before stepping forward to ask.
"Mother, Jinge, where is Nuonuo?" Gu Yunshu scanned the room but didn't see his little daughter, and couldn't help feeling somewhat displeased.
His Nuonuo was such a small child, why weren't they keeping her by their side?
"Wuwuwu..." As soon as Ruan Jinge heard her husband's words, she started crying sorrowfully again.
"The child is missing!" The Grand Princess had a terrible headache. It just so happened that the missing child was Ruan Jinge's. The child's mother crying a few words after her child went missing was not unreasonable.
"What? How could the child disappear for no reason? Where were the servants?" Gu Yunshu became very agitated upon hearing this.
"Bring them in!" At the Grand Princess's order, the four maids, two nannies, and two wet nurses originally tasked with watching Gu Nuonuo were all brought in.
"Grand Princess, spare us!"
"Grand Princess, have mercy!"
"Grand Princess, spare our lives!"
...
Everyone kept kowtowing to the Grand Princess, begging for mercy.
"Where were all of you when the child went missing?" Gu Xiangnan asked the group of maids and nannies with a cold face.
"This servant, Cailing, at the time, along with Jianzhu, by the Grand Princess's command, took the young mistress to the nearest Fulutang Hall to rest. However, as soon as Jianzhu and I arrived at Fulutang Hall, the young mistress wet her clothes. I returned to Shuxiang Courtyard to fetch a change of clothes for the young mistress." Cailing quickly knelt and explained.
"This servant, Jianzhu, after Cailing left to fetch clothes for the young mistress, stayed at Fulutang Hall watching over the young mistress. However, I suddenly had a stomach ache, so I asked the wet nurse Hongchun to watch her while I went to the latrine. When I returned, I couldn't find the young mistress, and wet nurse Hongchun..." Jianzhu said, glancing at Hongchun beside her, finding it difficult to continue.
"What was Hongchun doing?" The Grand Princess slapped the table beside her angrily and demanded.
"Grand Princess, have mercy!" Hongchun was so frightened she kept kowtowing incessantly.
That day was the little one's full moon banquet, with people coming and going. Her man had taken advantage of the opportunity to sneak into the mansion to meet her secretly.
She thought that Jianzhu was just going to the latrine and would be back soon.
She and her man would just exchange a few simple words, it wouldn't be a problem.
However, they hadn't seen each other for a long time, and for some reason, her man started getting hands with her after just a short while. The two of them, like dry wood meeting a fierce fire, lost control.
Who would have thought that when Jianzhu returned, instead of finding the young mistress, she saw her and the man in the act of intimacy.
And now, she was also scared out of her wits.
If the young mistress was lost because of her moment of reckless passion, her own life wouldn't be spared either.
"What was she doing?" The Grand Princess looked at Hongchun with a chilling gaze.
"This servant saw her... with a man... engaged in that act!" Jianzhu had no intention of covering up for Hongchun either.
If the young mistress were still here, she would have at most warned her, but wouldn't have reported it. However, because of this, she lost sight of the young mistress. She bore some responsibility for this matter, but she couldn't shoulder all the blame.
"Someone, take her down and interrogate her thoroughly!" At the Grand Princess's command, someone dragged Hongchun away.
"Grand Princess, spare me!" Hongchun was terrified, filled with deep regret.
Upon hearing this, Jianzhu directly knelt before the Grand Princess, also extremely frightened.
"At that time, in Fulutang Hall, did you see anyone else?" Gu Xiangnan looked at Jianzhu and asked.
"This servant did not see anyone else in Fulutang Hall." Jianzhu thought for a moment and shook her head.
"However, this servant seemed to have heard the sound of children talking." Jianzhu thought again and added.
But she only heard the sound of children talking, didn't see anyone.
She wasn't sure if she had misheard.
"Children? Whose children came today? Go find them and ask if any children went to Fulutang Hall." The Grand Princess instructed Nanny Qi beside her.
Her mind was also carefully recalling whether she had seen any family's children come today.
"Mother, could those two children be Shaoting and Shaoyu?" Ruan Jinge, however, thought of Gu Shaoyu's words earlier that day and felt a sliver of suspicion.