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That night, Xue Rui rushed to Huixing Street and told the sedan bearers to wait by the side of the street. He walked into the alleyway, thinking about what to say when he saw Yu Shu's people. One, to explain why he hadn't come looking for her in the past few days, and two, to convince that stubborn girl to accept his help so that she could complete the Strange Arts exam.
However, when he arrived at Yu Shu's door, before he could knock, he saw a lock on the door. The sky was dark and he was unclear. Xue Rui touched the lock and felt a layer of dust on it.
After a moment of hesitation, he realized that the people in the courtyard had moved away.
How could that be? Didn't Zhao Miao say that she saw her the day before yesterday?
Xue Rui didn't give up and knocked on the door, shouting a few times. However, the only response he got was the muffled sound of the door and the wind in the alleyway.
Xue Rui's face was a little dark. He thought about the night before he left and Yu Shu's mindless words to him. He subconsciously thought that she quietly moved away because she was hiding from him.
He didn't know whether to laugh or cry. Was he that scary?
Standing outside the tightly locked door, Xue Rui felt a wave of defeat. He just happened to have a good impression of a girl, but before he could express anything, she was scared away.
After standing in front of the door for a while, Xue Rui ignored the unhappiness in his heart and went to knock on the neighbor's door, wanting to find out where the family moved to. Unfortunately, the neighbor also couldn't explain clearly. Yu Shu and her brother seemed to have moved early in the morning without informing anyone. Oh, and that Jing. Thinking of that unknown Jianghu person, Xue Rui couldn't help but furrow his brows. First, he was worried, and second, he felt a little unfair. How could it be that they were both men, but that heartless girl could have completely different attitudes. She didn't have any suspicions towards that person, but guarded against him like she was guarding against a thief.
Even though it was unfair, Xue Rui was not really angry to the point where he wanted to wash his hands of Yu Shu. He pondered over the fact that he still had to find her and bring her to meet Prince Xiang so that she would have a higher chance of success in this case.
Sitting on the sedan, Xue Rui temporarily returned to the Xue manor. He thought about going to Bai Chuan Academy the next morning. Even if he couldn't catch the big one, he could still catch the small one.
Moreover, Yu Shu spent two days and two nights to complete the incomplete set of eight characters she got from the housekeeper of Prince Xiang's residence. Using the Law of Time of Calamity, she deduced two pairs of birthdays that were most likely to be Prince Xiang's. Then, she substituted them into the calculation symbols and listed out the few times when Prince Xiang was most likely to have lost the painting.
For the past two days, other than going to the toilet, she didn't even step out of her room. She had worn out seven or eight charcoal pens. Due to excessive calculations, her knuckles were also rubbed into water calluses. It hurt when she touched them. However, to Yu Shu, as long as she could make some progress on the exam, it was all worth it.
Now, all she had to do was wait until tomorrow when she went to Xiang Wang's manor again and asked the old housekeeper about the few times she had calculated. Then, she could basically confirm where he lost the picture scroll. Even though she wasn't 100% sure, but as the saying goes, man proposes, God disposes. Yu Shu admitted that she couldn't be compared to the almighty Yi Zi from ancient times. Being able to calculate to this step was already her limit.
She sorted out the notes that she had to ask tomorrow. In order to avoid any accidents, she made three copies. One copy was kept at the bottom and the other two were kept in the pockets of the clothes that she had to wear tomorrow. After finishing her preparations, Yu Shu stretched her back and drank the remaining water in the teapot. She got up and left the study table to go outside to get some fresh air.
It was late at night and the courtyard was very cold. Zhao Hui and the rest had already gone to bed. A crescent moon hung in the sky. Yu Shu unknowingly walked to the entrance of Jing Chen's courtyard. She took a look inside and saw that the candles had already been extinguished. She didn't enter again.
These past two days, she had been busy from dawn to dusk. Even though they were under the same roof, she didn't even have the time to look at him. She couldn't help but feel a little ashamed.
'Let's wait until tomorrow. We'll have breakfast together in the morning, and then I'll ask him about the recovery of his memory.' Yu Shu thought to herself as she returned to her room. As soon as she laid down on the bed, the exhaustion from the past few days hit her, and she quickly fell into a deep sleep.
She didn't know how deep it was in the night, but a silhouette was cast on the frosted window. In the night, it slowly disappeared. It was late winter and the morning was extremely cold. Yu Shu sneezed twice when she got up. She hadn't covered herself properly with the blankets last night and had slept for an entire night. Her two feet were actually exposed.
As she sniffled, Yu Shu quickly put on a cotton-padded jacket under the blankets. She turned around and got out of bed. Looking at the bronze mirror, she tied her hair into a scholar's bun and wrapped a handkerchief around it. She went outside to fetch water to wash her face.
Zhao Hui's family had just settled down in Jing and the residence hadn't added any servants yet. Thus, Yu Shu hadn't been assigned a servant girl to serve her. She still had to do everything herself.
"Miss, you're up early," Zhao Hui's servant girl, Yun Dou, came out with tea. Seeing Yu Shu standing at the door and splashing water to wash her face, she greeted her.
Yu Shu smiled at her: "Is Aunt Huei up?"
Yun Dou said: "Yes, she's up. She was about to ask nubi to see if you're up or not. Miss, are you hungry? I'll go to the kitchen to see if breakfast is ready. Should I bring it in for you?"
Yu Shu refused: "You do what you need to do, I'll go by myself."
Yu Shu put the basin back in the room and went to the kitchen. Pei Jing had brought two chefs from Yangzhou. He Fangzhi was afraid that Zhao Hui's pregnant tastes wouldn't be good, so he asked to borrow one. Breakfast was a southern style, plain porridge and side dishes.
Yu Shu chatted with the chef for a bit and found a food box in the cupboard. She filled it with two portions of breakfast and went to Jing Chen's courtyard, planning to eat breakfast with him.
The doors and windows were closed and she didn't hear any movement in the room. Yu Shu found it strange that Jing Chen hadn't woken up at this time. She knocked on the door twice and the door opened by itself.
"Tsk, did you not lock the door when you slept last night?" Yu Shu muttered to herself and simply pushed the door into the small living room. She put down the food box and took out the breakfast as she shouted towards the bedroom in the room: "Jing Chen, you still haven't woken up? Quickly get up, breakfast is ready, let's eat together."
She placed the porridge and dishes, but there was still no response in the room. Yu Shu felt that something was wrong. She put down the chopsticks and turned to walk to the bedroom door. She raised her hand and pushed the door lightly. With a "creak", the door slid inwards, revealing the scene in the room.
On the bed, the bedding was still there, but there was no shadow.
"Jing Chen!"
Yu Shu's eyelids suddenly twitched. She strode forward and lifted the quilt. At a glance, she saw a small lump of coagulated brownish-red on the apricot-yellow pillow.
She panicked, grabbed the pillow and smelled it. It was really the smell of blood.
Yu Shu's face changed greatly. She put down the pillow and ran out, shouting Jing Chen's name. She searched the house and asked if anyone had seen Jing Chen, but no one had seen him. Even the gatekeeper said that he didn't see him go out last night and this morning.
Yu Shu returned to Jing Chen's room with a livid face. When she entered his bedroom, she found that the rusted sword that he always hung on the bedside table was gone. His boots were not in the room, the quilt was no longer warm, and a Biography of Liu Yi was on the desk.
All the signs showed that he had left.
Yu Shu clenched her teeth and clenched the book. She was annoyed and angry. She had no doubt that Jing Chen had regained his memory. Otherwise, how could he suddenly disappear?
She was afraid that after he remembered, he would leave without saying goodbye. She had prepared a precaution in advance, tricked him into writing a contract, and coaxed him to express his feelings, but he still left without saying a word!
Standing in the empty room, Yu Shu's heart seemed to have a fire burning. She felt wronged, angry, and worried.
She turned her head and stared at the brownish-red blood on the pillow at the foot of the bed. Her face changed several times. In the end, she couldn't harden her heart to leave this treacherous guy alive.
She turned around and walked out of the bedroom. As soon as she reached the door, Yu Shu met Zhao Hui and He Fangzhi, who had heard the news, and Yu Xiaoxiu. They had obviously heard from the servants that Jing Chen had disappeared.
"Xiao Yu, what happened? I heard from the servants that you were looking for Young Master Jing all over the courtyard. Is he not in the room?" Zhao Hui looked at Yu Shu with a worried expression.
Yu Shu shook her head and showed the pillow in her hand to He Fangzhi. "Uncle He, look."
Seeing the blood on the pillow, Zhao Hui let out a low cry. Yu Xiaoxiu was dumbfounded. He Fangzhi frowned, touched the dried blood, and sniffed it. After thinking for a moment, he said to Yu Shu, "It's extravasated blood. It seems that Young Master Jing's meridians have been cleared. If I'm not wrong, his memory should have recovered. However, his body is still weak at the moment. I need to make another diagnosis to be sure. Xiao Yu, do you know where he went?"
Yu Shu was upset and couldn't calm down. How could she have the mind to think about where Jing Chen went? She immediately said to them, "I'll go out and find him."
As she said that, she stuffed the pillow into Yu Xiaoxiu's hands and ran out. Zhao Hui couldn't stop him and urged Doctor He to chase after her. Fortunately, He Fangzhi was rational. He patted Yu Xiaoxiu and told him to follow his sister. He turned to Zhao Hui and said, "Go back to the room and rest first. Don't worry. I'll arrange for the servants in the courtyard to go out and find him."
Zhao Hui knew that she was pregnant and couldn't help, so she didn't want him to worry. She went back to the room with the servant and waited for news.
Yu Shu said that she was looking for Jing Chen, but when she went out, she had no destination in mind. She stood at the door in the cold wind and sneezed a few times. She had been frozen last night, so when the wind blew, she felt a little dizzy.
Yu Xiaoxiu caught up to her, "Sis, sis, wait for me!"
Yu Shu calmed herself down and pointed to the east road. She said to him, "Xiaoxiu, you go there and find him. I'll go to the other side. Your Jing Dage has never left the house and doesn't know the roads around here. Maybe he didn't go far. If you see him, bring him back for me."
Yu Xiaoxiu nodded. He saw that Yu Shu's face was pale and knew that she was worried about Jing Chen. He comforted her, "Sis, maybe Jing Dage just went out for a walk. He'll be fine."
"Mhmm, let's split up and look." Yu Shu didn't want this child to worry about her. She reluctantly nodded to him and patted his shoulder. Then she took the lead and went west.
Zhao Hui's house was in the east of the city. There were residential houses nearby. Two streets away, there was a bustling market. There were people doing business early in the morning. Yu Shu asked the passers-by along the way. Jing Chen's appearance was outstanding and easy to recognize. When he walked on the street, he should leave an impression. She thought that if someone saw Jing Chen, they would know which direction he went.
"Uncle, have you seen a man in white clothes? He is so tall and handsome. He is holding a sword in his hand."
"Auntie, did you see a young man with a sword? He's so tall, and he looks very handsome. After searching for an entire morning and running seven or eight streets, Yu Shu didn't find anything. Jing Chen seemed to have disappeared into thin air. No one saw him.
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