Chongfei Manual

Around noon and after Wei Luo finished lunch, she had said she wanted to go to the rear courtyard to walk around. Jin Lu and Bai Lan had wanted to go with her, but she stopped them. She had said, “I’m just going to walk around for a little bit in the rear courtyard. I’ll come back soon. You don’t need to follow. The villa isn’t big. I won’t get lost. I just want to be alone for a while.”

At that time, the snow wasn’t falling as heavy as now. Jin Lu and Bai Lan couldn’t persuade her to change her mind, so they could only obediently agree.

They had originally thought Wei Luo would return soon. Unexpectedly, she still hadn’t come back after an hour. Jin Lu and Bai Lan felt anxious. Seeing that the snowstorm was getting worse, they brought umbrellas with them as they searched the rear courtyard. But, they still couldn’t find Wei Luo and they started sweating despite the cold temperature.

They asked the servants in the rear courtyard and one of the servants said he saw Wei Luo heading towards the backside of the mountain. The servant had originally wanted to call out to stop her, but she had disappeared in a blink of an eye.

It was only at this moment that Jin Lu and Bai Lan realized the seriousness of the situation.

If Wei Luo really went to the backside of the mountain, based on the current weather, it was extremely likely for her to have an accident… Seriously?! Why did she go to the backside of the mountain at this time?

Just as the two of them wanted to tell the steward to send people to the backside of the mountain to look for her, Zhao Jie returned.

Jin Lu and Bai Lan were both kneeling on the ground. Although they knew that they had made a mistake, they were more worried about Wei Luo’s safety.

“Your Highness, please send people to the backside of the mountain to look for the princess consort. It’ll be dark soon. The princess consort might meet danger… Everything is this servant’s fault. This servant failed to watch over the princess consort and is willing to suffer punishment.

Zhao Jie eyebrows were furrowed. He clenched his hand around a rosewood chair’s armrest. “When did Ah Luo leave?”

Jin Lu said, “It’s been two hours.”

It had been that long! Zhao Jie stood up and ordered Zhu Geng to summon the steward and all of the servants in the villa. After the situation was explained, most of the people were sent to look for Wei Luo in the backside of the mountain. When the servants found out that the princess consort was lost, they didn’t dare to view this lightly. Each of them rallied their spirits and methodically set out to the backside of the mountain.

As for Zhao Jie, he said these words one by one, “Lock these two people and the other servant girls that serve the princess consort into the woodshed. If anything happens to the princess consort, they’ll all be flogged to death.”

Jin Lu and Bai Lan’s face paled and their bodies felt weak.

But knowing that they had made a mistake first, they didn’t struggle as they were brought to the woodshed.

Zhao Jie walked out of the inner room. His face looked frosty as he took the umbrella that Zhu Geng handed to him. Although he tried to calm himself down, he couldn’t conceal the anxiousness in his behavior. “This prince will personally go the backside of the mountain to look. If there’s any news, inform this prince immediately.”

Shocked, Zhu Geng blurted out, “Your Highness, how can the respectable you go there? What if something happens? Let this subordinate go instead…”

Zhao Jie didn’t allow Zhu Geng to offer his opinion and interrupted him, “This prince told you to stay here. Do you not understand my words?”

He couldn’t just stand by and do nothing while Wei Luo was out there, much less wait in an empty room. If he waited and received bad news, he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself for the rest of his life.

Zhu Geng paused before giving in to Zhao Jie’s demand, “Understood. This subordinate will obey Your Highness’s order.”

Zhao Jie didn’t respond. He walked towards the rear courtyard. The rear courtyard had a direct path to the backside of the mountain. He had heard from the servants that Wei Luo had left using that path. When Zhao Jie left the villa, the wind and snow was blowing from all directions. His front view was just a blanket of white and it was hard to identify which direction he should go. He took two steps forward and the snow submerged his ankles.

In this type of situation, it wasn't possible to move quickly. Wei Luo shouldn’t have been able to walk far. Since she hadn’t come back, there were only two possibilities. One was that she had gotten lost nearby. The second possibility was the she had encountered something dangerous…

Zhao Jie didn’t dare to continue thinking about the second possibility. At this moment, he hated her to the point that his teeth felt itchy with the desire to bite her. Why didn’t she stay inside when the weather was like this? Why did she stubbornly run outside? If he found her, he would definitely press her down and give her a thorough beating.

An hour later, all the people that had gone out to look for Wei Luo had come back to the villa. No one had any news of Wei Luo.

Zhao Jie’s expression became increasingly ugly. He flung the cup of hot tea that a servant had brought and the hot liquid splashed onto the ground. “Continue searching! If you can’t find her tonight, then none of you will live to see tomorrow.”

As soon as these words were said, the servants could only search harder in order to keep theirs heads.

Zhao Jie’s clothes were completely soaked. He went inside, changed his clothes, and went back outside. Zhu Geng kneeled down in front of him and earnestly pleaded, “Your Highness, it’ll be dark soon. Please stay in the villa and wait to hear if there’s any news. It might be dangerous to go back out at this time.”

Zhao Jie completely ignored him and calmly walked past him.

At this time, the snowstorm had already stopped. However, the sky gradually got darker and even the afterglow from the setting sun was engulfed by the moonlight. Nightfall appeared quickly in the mountains without any transitional period. It had been daylight only fifteen minutes ago, but now they couldn’t even see their hands if they stretched them out.

There were wolves in the mountainside. Since they hadn’t been able to find Wei Luo yet, everything was pointing towards disaster.

Zhao Jie wasn’t the only one that felt someone was squeezing his heart. The servants in the villa also felt this way. After all, their lives were in the same basket as the princess consort’s right now. In light of Zhao Jie’s violent and tyrannical cruel behavior, no one had any hopes of living to see tomorrow if she wasn’t found tonight.

As the moon rose higher and higher, the people in the villa came back for the second time with their hearts turned to ashes. They all kneeled down outside to wait for Zhao Jie’s punishment.