On the way back, the secret guard reported the situation in detail.
Only then did Shen Dingzhu know that Xiao Langyan had been assassinated twice on his way to Nanzhou City.
Not long after he ascended the throne, the rebels and sycophants in the court had not been completely cleared away, so there would naturally be future troubles.
Logically speaking, he shouldn't leave Beijing at this time.
Shen Dingzhu did not expect that Xiao Langyan would take the risk of leaving Beijing in order to trace the 20,000 taels of disaster relief silver. The dangers along the way can be imagined.
The throne was unstable, and the rebels had long wanted his life.
And they found Chen Heng. They didn't know what the situation was now, let alone what kind of danger Chengcheng would encounter if he followed Chen Heng.
Xiao Langyan sent a team of secret guards to quickly support him.
After a while, a secret guard came back. He rode his horse parallel to the outside of the carriage and reported back: "Your Majesty, there are traces of fighting in the house. The humble servants followed the traces and chased them all the way to the back mountain."
"But the rain was getting heavier, the mountains were muddy, and the footprints were messy. Commander Chen's whereabouts were soon lost. There were two or three assassin corpses in the grass, and the blades were poisonous."
After Shen Dingzhu heard this, his breath suffocated and his face turned pale and trembled.
Xiao Langyan was a little calmer than her, and with a cold face, he ordered: "Keep looking! Seal the mountain, dig three feet into the ground, and I will find it."
"Yes!" The secret guard wiped the rain off his face and hurriedly galloped his horse forward.
Shen Dingzhu didn't dare to think that the assassin's knife was poisoned, and Chen Heng was carrying Cheng Cheng with him. The two of them were in the messy mountain forest, with their lives and deaths uncertain!
Her face was too pale, her lips had lost their color, and her eyes were like helpless water drops.
Xiao Langyan stretched out his hand and held her in his arms: "Don't be afraid."
His cold voice actually had a soothing power, and the cold fragrance of bamboo silk on his robe made Shen Dingzhu gradually calm down.
"I will find Chengcheng." His seemingly indifferent words turned out to be a promise weighing more than a thousand pounds.
Shen Dingzhu burst into tears and her fingers were cold from fear, so she allowed herself to briefly lean on Xiao Langyan's broad and hard chest to absorb a little warmth.
The carriage quickly arrived at the foot of the back mountain. Shen Dingzhu was about to jump out of the carriage, but Xiao Langyan held him down: "You wait in the car, I'll go."
His voice was deep and irresistible.
However, Shen Dingzhu shook his head firmly: "I must go. If I don't see Chengcheng's safety with my own eyes, I will feel like sitting on pins and needles here."
Xiao Langyan saw her eyes were red and frowned, then nodded slightly: "Okay."
The secret guards he brought were divided into three teams and went in three different directions. The rain became heavier. Shen Dingzhu ignored the dripping water stains on his face and kept looking forward with a pair of anxious beautiful eyes.
The secret guard took Xiao Langyan to the place where Chen Heng had completely lost his trace. This was the junction of the deep forest. Going further in, even experienced hunters would lose their way.
Xiao Langyan sniffed it and frowned: "If it smells like blood, come with me."
Due to finch blindness since childhood, his other senses of smell and senses are more sensitive than ordinary people.
Xiao Langyan grabbed Shen Dingzhu's hand and led the secret guard eastward. They stepped through the dense shrubs and walked for a while. Suddenly, the secret guard pointed forward: "Your Majesty, that is Commander Chen's sword!"
Everyone hurried forward and Xiao Langyan leaned over to take a look.
The sword fell on the bloody puddle, and the cold blade reflected Shen Dingzhu's pale and worried face.
"What should I do? If Chen Hengjian is lost, has something unexpected happened?" Shen Dingzhu's voice was trembling, feeling deeply uneasy.
Xiao Langyan's eyes were as deep as the sea and extremely cold. He raised his head and looked around his surroundings. No longer hesitating, he ordered: "Continue to divide into three columns and search in three directions. If there is any situation, send off the smoke signal."
Immediately afterwards, Xiao Langyan led four secret guards and Shen Dingzhu to continue searching westward.
The dense forest was getting deeper and deeper, and the raindrops were almost soaking Shen Dingzhu's clothes. Xiao Langyan took off his robe and said, "You put it on."
She was stunned. She should have refused out of concern for his health, but finding the child was more important at this time, so Shen Dingzhu didn't talk nonsense to him.
The group searched for a long time, but finally had no clue.
At this time, Shen Dingzhu suddenly noticed a scratch at the root of a tree not far away.
She hurriedly stepped forward to touch and confirm: "It was left by Chengcheng!"
Xiao Langyan frowned: "How can she stay?"
"I am alone with my child, and I am most afraid of getting separated from the child, so I taught Chengcheng when she was young that if she gets lost, she should leave traces on the wall, tree or ground so that I can find her."
"The two silver bells I gave her to wear on her hands, take them off when necessary and you'll find silver pieces that can cut scratches!" Shen Dingzhu's eyes burst with hope, and he hurriedly searched for them at the roots of each big tree.
Xiao Langyan immediately asked the secret guards to help, and he also walked to the roots of the surrounding trees to confirm.
Although Su Xincheng was young, he was very smart. Not only did he remember what Shen Dingzhu taught him, but he also knew how to squat down and mark the hidden tree roots to avoid being found by assassins.
Finally, Shen Dingzhu followed the marks and found a remote cave. This cave was hidden among the broken walls of dense woods. He needed to jump down from the top to successfully enter the cave.
Shen Dingzhu fell down without hesitation, but when he saw a flash of cold light in the cave, Xiao Langyan hurriedly swooped up and grabbed her to avoid it.
In this flash of lightning, the person ambushing in the cave was exhausted and fell to his knees heavily on the ground.
The knife in his hand seemed to have been snatched away. It fell to the ground, and the blade was missing a notch.
Shen Dingzhu looked down and saw that this person was Chen Heng who was covered in blood! There were countless wounds all over his body, and he was already a bloody man.
She hurriedly asked: "Chen Heng, where is my daughter? Where is my daughter!"
From inside the cave, cries grew louder and louder: "Mother, I am here."
Shen Dingzhu hurriedly walked into the cave. The cave was really narrow. Su Xincheng was covered in stones, and her small body was hidden behind a stone.
She was trembling with fear, her eyes were filled with tears, and her face was already pale with fear.
Shen Dingzhu quickly held her in his arms and comforted her: "Don't be afraid, Chengcheng, mother is here."
When Su Xincheng saw her family, she dared to sob and cry: "Brother Chen was seriously injured, and a group of bad guys in black clothes chased us. We fled all the way here, and Chengcheng thought she would never see her mother again. "
Shen Dingzhu hugged her daughter, feeling extremely distressed: "It's okay now. Isn't mother here? Chengcheng is really great. He knows how to leave a mark for mother along the way, right?"
After Su Xincheng was praised, she finally gained some courage again. She sniffed and nodded heavily, her nasal voice still thick.
"Yeah! Chengcheng removed the silver bell, otherwise it would always ring and attract bad people."
Shen Dingzhu kissed her little face, praised her for doing a good job, and checked her body by the way. There was only a minor scratch on her body, and Shen Dingzhu breathed a sigh of relief.
She thought of Xiao Langyan and looked back. Outside the cave entrance, Xiao Langyan and the secret guards had worked together to carry the unconscious Chen Heng in.
Later, Xiao Langyan took out a medicine bottle and gave Chen Heng a pill.
He turned his eyes and saw that to his surprise, Su Xincheng took the initiative to open his hands, ran towards him with little feet, and rushed straight into Xiao Langyan's arms.
"Abba, Abba." Her childish voice was filled with tears, and she shouted one after another. Her little head rubbed back and forth in his arms, releasing all her fear and confusion into her father's arms. .
Xiao Langyan and Shen Dingzhu were startled at the same time.
