Chapter 585 - 588: Prison Break
Li Ji planned to start with Mr. Du.
However, when he rushed to the Ministry of Justice, he saw only an empty cell.
Mr. Du, who should have been locked in the cell, was nowhere to be found.
The prison guards knelt on the ground, kowtowing and begging for mercy.
"We saw the prisoner safe in his cell when we delivered his lunch. We don’t know how he disappeared. We beg the Prince to spare our lives!"
The Minister of the Ministry of Justice rushed over when he heard the news, trembling with fear.
He relentlessly berated the prison guards.
"There are so many of you, and you couldn’t even watch a single prisoner? What’s the use of keeping you around? A bunch of useless good-for-nothings!"
’Ugly’ was not a strong enough word to describe the expression on Li Ji’s face.
He spun around abruptly, his cloak carving a sharp arc through the air.
"Search the prison. Interrogate every single guard. If you haven’t found the spy by dawn tomorrow, every official in the Ministry of Justice will be demoted three ranks!"
The Minister of the Ministry of Justice’s face paled.
’Just for losing one prisoner, the entire Ministry of Justice has to be punished.’
But when he saw the Regent King’s grim and ruthless expression, the Minister of the Ministry of Justice didn’t dare to argue and quickly complied.
"I will investigate at once!"
After leaving the Ministry of Justice, Li Ji ordered all the city gates to be sealed.
From this day on, all city gates were open for entry only, not for exit.
All outsiders in the city were to be strictly interrogated.
When the Empress Dowager in the palace heard that the Yulin Guards she had sent to pick someone up had been attacked, her first reaction was to suspect the Regent King. After all, he was the only person in the world who would dare to openly defy her imperial decree.
Later, when she heard that Li Xun had been abducted and that the Regent King was searching the city like a madman, she realized she had been mistaken.
’This must be the work of another group.’
The Empress Dowager wasn’t concerned about whether the Heir of the Regent King lived or died; she was more worried that the Regent King would shift his anger onto her.
After all, she was the one who had sent people out of the palace to fetch Li Xun.
If it hadn’t been for that, perhaps Li Xun wouldn’t have been abducted by villains.
Meanwhile, Princess Consort Zhen also heard the news of Li Xun’s abduction. Frantic with worry, she immediately sent people out of the palace to investigate and find out what was happening.
「A day passed quickly.」
The Ministry of Justice worked through the night and finally discovered how Mr. Du had managed to escape.
He had bribed a prison guard and then disguised himself as one to sneak out of the prison.
The guard knew it would be impossible to remain at the Ministry of Justice after this, so he went home early, quickly packed his bags, and prepared to flee Tianjing that very night.
But the city gates had been sealed.
He couldn’t get out, so he could only disguise himself and hide in an inn.
In the end, however, he was dragged out by the soldiers in charge of the search.
After being caught, the prison guard knew he couldn’t escape his fate. Without even needing to be tortured, he confessed everything.
He had recently taken up gambling and lost a lot of money, racking up a huge debt.
The debt collectors came to his door every day, threatening to chop off his hands and feet if he didn’t pay up.
He was terrified.
Just then, someone offered to pay off his gambling debts and even give him an extra one thousand taels of silver, as long as he helped get someone out of prison.
The person they wanted him to rescue was, of course, Mr. Du.
Under their threats and temptations, the prison guard agreed to help.
He had originally planned to take the one thousand taels of silver and flee after the job was done, find a place where no one knew him, and start a new life.
But the arm of the law is long, and he was eventually caught.
The officials from the Ministry of Justice presented the confession to the Regent King.
Li Ji stared at the confession before him, his brow furrowed in thought.
’Clearly, the guard’s sudden interest in gambling was no coincidence. Someone had deliberately led him into it.’
’The debt collectors who showed up at his door were likely also part of a deliberate arrangement.’
’The prison guard had unwittingly fallen into someone else’s trap and become a pawn in their hands.’
’In other words, the mastermind had begun laying their plans long ago.’
’They went to such great lengths to abduct Li Xun and Hua Manman; they certainly wouldn’t be obediently waiting around in the Celestial Capital.’
「Dawn had broken.」
Chen Wangbei strode in and cupped his fist in a salute.
"Reporting to the Prince, all the men from the various government offices have been mobilized. They searched Shangjing City all night but found no trace of the men from Yu Royal Mansion."
He paused here and asked cautiously.
"Does the Prince wish to continue the search?"
Li Ji said in a low voice, "Tell them to keep searching. I’m going out of the city."
Chen Wangbei was surprised. "Where is the Prince going?"
Li Ji looked to the southeast and grimly uttered two words.
"Longdong County."
Longdong County was the fiefdom under Prince Yu’s name. It was extremely far from Tianjing, a journey of at least two months between the two.
At that very moment, Hua Manman was on her way to Longdong County.
She sat in a carriage, her hands tied behind her back, her eyes fixed on the man in blue robes sitting across from her.
"Mr. Du, what exactly do you want?"
After she left with Ban Ren yesterday, they had gone straight out of the city. Men from the Yu Royal Mansion were already waiting outside the walls. The moment she appeared, they pushed her into a carriage, where she found Mr. Du sitting upright inside.
The driver cracked the whip, and the carriage sped forward, its wheels grinding over the gravel road, leaving two ruts in its wake.
Mr. Du fanned himself with a folding fan and smiled lightly.
"I, of course, found a way to escape from the Ministry of Justice Prison."
The Ministry of Justice Prison was certainly heavily guarded, but it wasn’t impregnable. It just required a little more effort.
Hua Manman demanded, "What about Li Xun? What have you done to him?"
Mr. Du said slowly and deliberately.
"Don’t worry, the young prince is fine."
Hua Manman didn’t believe him.
She suddenly lifted her leg and kicked at Mr. Du!
In the cramped carriage, Mr. Du had nowhere to dodge. With a SNAP, he closed his folding fan and used it to block.
The fan struck Hua Manman’s leg, and it hurt a lot.
But she didn’t make a sound and immediately followed up with another kick!
This time, Mr. Du failed to dodge and took the full force of the kick.
The pain made his face turn pale.
Hearing the commotion, the driver couldn’t help but slow down.
Ban Ren also rode his horse closer and asked, "Mr. Du, what happened?"
Mr. Du clutched his aching stomach, the smile completely gone from his face.
He said in a low voice, "Stop the carriage!"
The carriage stopped immediately.
Ban Ren also raised his hand, signaling a halt.
Seeing this, the men following behind all stopped as well.
Mr. Du pushed open the carriage window and said to Ban Ren.
"Go bring the young prince over."
Without hesitation, Ban Ren rode his horse to a carriage further back.
He dragged a child out of the carriage.
That child was none other than Li Xun.
His hands and feet were all tied, and his mouth was gagged with a cloth. Even so, he struggled with all his might, his eyes glaring viciously at Ban Ren like a fierce wolf pup.
Through the wide-open carriage window, Hua Manman saw the child being held in the man’s grasp.
She immediately forgot everything else, lunging toward the window ledge and shouting.
"Gou Dan!"