An Eight-year-old Princess

Chapter 180 Prince Jing Was Captured (Party One)

Numerous arrows burst around Prince Jing making it difficult for him to dodge. Prince Jing reacted

quickly. As soon as he saw the smoke, he knew that there must be something strange in it. He

promptly held his breath and leaped up, only to find a fine, dense net above him. Without pausing, he

reached for the net and tried to tear it, but he failed even with his Kung Fu.

"Ice silk?" Prince Jing frowned. Such a large net was made entirely of ice silk. His enemy had really put

in a great deal of effort to catch him.

Gradually, Prince Jing felt tired. He knew that it must be because he had accidentally inhaled some

smoke. He had intended to risk his life to identify his enemy. So he pretended to resist before

helplessly falling to the ground. Then he stood up slowly, leaned against the wall, and asked loudly,

"Who thinks so highly of me? You must have put a lot of thought into this trap. Can you come out?"

No one answered him. Then he closed his eyes and fell to the ground with a thud.

It was a while before a low voice said, "I am confident that no one can escape my gigantic net."

At the same time, four men in black jumped from the corner wall. They wore masks to hide their

identity. One of them bent over Prince Jing. The man lifted the Prince on his shoulder, and went into the

house.

"Your Majesty... Your Majesty... I have terrible news! Princess Hui Guo has been captured!" A sing-song

voice said from the front Hall, but it barely caught anyone's attention because of the clanging noise.

The eunuch ran to Emperor Ning and fell on his knees. Emperor Ning looked at him in surprise, raised

his hand and shouted, "Stop!"

The sound on the stage stopped abruptly. The eunuch hurriedly handed the hairpin to Emperor Ning

and said, "Your Majesty, Princess Hui Guo was taken from the backyard!"

Emperor Ning looked at the object in his hand, and recognized it as Yun Shang's hairpin. He paled and

asked, "What? What happened? Tell me in detail."

The eunuch answered quickly, "Prince Jing asked me to inform Your Majesty that while he was

enjoying the Chinese traditional opera, a maid brought him Princess Yun Shang's brocade

handkerchief and told him that Princess Yun Shang invited him to the backyard to discuss something.

When he arrived at the opposite side of Lingya Pavilion, he saw Princess Yun Shang sitting alone at

Lingya Pavilion. As he was about to walk to her, four men in gray clothes appeared and carried

Princess Yun Shang away! By the time Prince Jing arrived at the Pavilion, only this hairpin remained..."

"Where's Prince Jing?" Emperor Ning immediately asked the eunuch.

The eunuch bent forward and answered, "His Highness has gone after the evildoers."

Emperor Ning rose to his feet, and roared in anger, "Waste! The Imperial Commander is nothing but a

waste! Again and again evildoers come into the temporary imperial palace. This time they've taken Yun

Shang. Look for Princess Yun Shang, now!"

The Imperial Commander was the youngest son of Grand Councilor Li, so upon hearing Emperor

Ning's roar, Grand Councilor Li turned a little pale and quickly responded with a "yes."

However, when the Imperial Commander entered Yun Shang's yard with his guards, he saw Yun

Shang, with her sleeves rolled up, happily throwing arrows into the long-necked copper kettle on the

opposite side. The arrow hit the kettle and dropped to the ground. Yun Shang pursed her lips and said,

"I quit, I quit. I'm not good at it. You carry on."

Then she saw a line of armored guards in front of her. She was startled. She looked at them curiously

and asked, "Why are you here? This is where the ladies rest. You cannot be here."

The Imperial Commander was surprised. He gritted his teeth. He was sullen for being scolded for the

Princess's abduction and yet, here she stood, having a good time. Now was not the time to be angry.

So he answered stiffly, "Your Highness, just now a eunuch reported that you had been captured, and

His Majesty has sent guards looking for you. Prince Jing has also gone to find you!"

Yun Shang's brows lifted in confusion. She asked, "What are you talking about? I'm here!"

The Imperial Commander was puzzled as well. Emperor Ning had just scolded him and told him to

send people to look for Princess Yun Shang.

"I don't know what's going on either. I'm just following orders. Now that Your Highness is all right,

please go to the front Hall and explain to His Majesty in detail."

Yun Shang nodded, turned to the ladies and said, "I've got something to do. You can play here. I'll

leave my personal maid Qin Yi here. In case you need anything, you can tell her."

The ladies were aware that something must have happened. They also knew that they were not in a

position to ask about matters pertaining to the royal family. So they nodded in agreement.

As Yun Shang followed the Imperial Commander into the front Hall, she saw Emperor Ning sitting on

the throne. He wore an angry frown. Yun Shang walked to him and raised her voice to ask, "Father,

what on earth happened? Why did the Imperial Commander say I was captured? I was playing games

with the ladies..."

Emperor Ning was shocked and raised his eyes to look at Yun Shang. Then he hurriedly got up, went

to her and grabbed her arms before asking, "Yun Shang, are you all right?"

Yun Shang nodded but confusion reflected in her eyes. "Yes, I'm all right. I'm fine. Father. Tell me what

happened?"

Though somewhat surprised, Emperor Ning was glad to see that Yun Shang was safe. Moments later

he realized that there seemed to be something strange about the incident. He took Yun Shang to his

throne and sat down. Then he took out the hairpin and handed it to Yun Shang. "Look, is this hairpin

yours?"

Yun Shang took the hairpin and examined it carefully. She then nodded and said, "It is my hairpin. But I

had given it to Lady Wen, the daughter of the Deputy Minister of Revenue. Why is it here?"

"Prince Jing asked a eunuch to give me it. Somebody took your brocade handkerchief and told Prince

Jing that you were waiting for him in the backyard. However, when he arrived at Lingya Pavilion, he Contentt bel0ngs to N0ve/lDrâ/ma.O(r)g!

saw someone who matched your figure. An instant later, four men in gray clothes took you away. He

ran over and found the hairpin. He hurriedly sent the eunuch to give it to me before chasing after the

four people." Emperor Ning attentively told Yun Shang.

"Someone used my name to trick my uncle to meet in the backyard? And took my brocade

handkerchief? She looked like me?" Yun Shang reflected for a while before adding, "Father, I think, the

woman is very likely Lady Wen. Wen Ruyu."

"Oh?" Emperor Ning raised his brows. 'The Wen Clan again?'

Yun Shang nodded. "Lady Wen seemed to be in a very low mood because of the incident with her

father and brother, so I gave her the hairpin. Besides, it rained a while ago, and the ladies got wet. I

asked them to change into my old clothes. The color of the dress Lady Wen chose was somewhat

similar to the color of the official dress I had worn earlier today. Lady Wen is similar to me in shape.

With this hairpin, she would look like me from the back."

Emperor Ning gave an approving nod before turning to the Imperial Commander. Then he ordered,

"Bring Lady Wen here."

The Imperial Commander nodded and left with his guards. Yun Shang asked uneasily, "Father, my

uncle has gone after those people. Is he in danger? The evildoers managed to trick him into the

backyard. Lady Wen is probably just bait. I'm afraid their real target is my uncle."

Knowing Yun Shang had a point, Emperor Ning was silent for a moment before he said, "Don't worry,

your uncle has outstanding Kung Fu abilities, and he is smart. He will be fine."

Yun Shang kept her head down. After a long time, she bit her lip and looked up. Tears flooded her

eyes. She said, "Father, my uncle may not be as powerful as you think. Shortly before uncle's birthday

feast, he was seriously injured. He didn't want to worry you, so he didn't tell you. I'm afraid these

culprits are the same people who had hurt him the last time. In that case my uncle would be in great

danger."

Emperor Ning was amazed at what Yun Shang told him. 'Prince Jing was hurt some time ago? Why did

I not hear of this before...' Emperor Ning's eyes darkened as he formed a plan.

"It's no use worrying about him. Now we'll just have to wait and see if we can find anything." Emperor

Ning soothed Yun Shang in a low voice.

Yun Shang nodded. She clutched the hem of her long sleeve before lowering her head. She didn't

argue with the Emperor any further.