After refusing marriage, she was pampered by the prince who acted as a shield.

Chapter 481: Going into the Mountains

The guard nodded knowingly, then made up an excuse and left.

The county magistrate naturally didn't care about such a lowly person, calmly withdrew his gaze, and continued to tell Lin Rusi that Li Jingyang would definitely not be like that again.

Lin Rusi raised her hand wearily and rubbed it, wanting to rest for a while, when the other person's sharp voice entered her ears.

"what happened?"

"I've just remembered something and I might need to go out for a while. Would you like to rest again?"

Lin Rusi certainly wouldn't linger there; she got up and walked out.

However, before they had gone very far, the magistrate rushed forward and blocked the open gate.

Knowing what information he should have received, a mocking smile appeared on his face.

"Isn't the magistrate busy?"

"Yes, there are. But since we already know who those people are, we wanted to ask you."

Asking her what she did was just a formality to check on her.

Lin Rusi curled her lips into a smile and stepped back, whereupon the county magistrate stood in her way.

"The magistrate has nothing to say?"

"What does the Crown Princess mean by this? Why do you want to go to that dangerous Silin Mountain?"

His words were so passionate that he was spitting everywhere, which only made Lin Rusi even more disgusted.

But instead of retreating, she revealed a strange expression, which frightened the magistrate so much that he stood there dumbfounded.

"Feeling guilty?"

"Why would I feel guilty? It's just that the place is too dangerous, and we should have taken all necessary precautions before going to investigate."

"What is your so-called complete solution? Are you just leading my people around the courtyard?"

Having his thoughts exposed, the magistrate stood there dumbfounded.

But Lin Rusi didn't give him a chance, instead looking up in another direction.

"Judging by the time, it's about time. Do you think they'll be able to come back?"

"What do you mean? I can't quite hear what the Crown Princess is saying."

Seeing that the magistrate was still pretending to be stupid, Lin Rusi didn't want to waste her breath. Instead, she gave the guard a look and told him to go back to the room.

He was inexplicably pushed back to the table, and just as he was about to ask a question, a fair and slender hand appeared in his line of sight.

But the magistrate had no time to look at anything else; his eyes were fixed on the document he had picked up.

"No! This is unreasonable, Your Highness. Please do not touch these official documents."

"Is that so? But it's just a travelogue."

Upon hearing this, the magistrate realized that he had made a mistake due to excessive nervousness, and managed to get away with it by joking around.

"It was all my fault just now, I misunderstood you. I will send people to search everywhere, from inside the city to outside the city, leaving no place unsearched."

"That's right. You should know that Jingyang is the Crown Prince, so you should value him so much."

Lin Rusi only put the book on the table after the county magistrate summoned a large number of people to search for it.

"Just now you..."

"What just happened? I only sent someone back to get some things. Why is the magistrate so nervous?"

Which mountain does that thing need to go to?

The magistrate's face grew increasingly grim as he recalled the news he had received, but all of that disappeared when he looked up.

Although Lin Rusi didn't miss it, the brief thrill just now couldn't prove anything, so she could only silently remember it.

"Alright, it's getting late. I'll wait for your good news at the inn."

"Your Highness, rest assured, I will find the Crown Prince as quickly as possible."

Unable to discern the truth in the other person's words, Lin Rusi did not respond, but merely glanced at the other person out of the corner of her eye before quickly withdrawing her gaze.

Only after entering the inn room did she exhale a breath of stale air and look at the guards who were already standing in the room.

"Any discoveries?"

"The back mountain is so treacherous, yet there are still many people guarding it."

After a slight hesitation, the guard suddenly added another sentence.

"But one thing is very strange, that is, someone mentioned the county magistrate's name."

"It might just be someone with the same name; we can't immediately suspect them."

The other party took out a jade pendant from his pocket and presented it to Lin Rusi.

She was full of doubt before she could see it clearly, but her expression changed drastically when every detail of the item was compared.

Are you sure this wasn't forged?

"If it's a forgery, the craftsmanship must be superb. I've even met those people; otherwise, they wouldn't be able to make something exactly the same."

Lin Rusi thought of the letter she had seen in Li Jingyang's arms that described the owner of the jade pendant, and felt that this was not as simple as it seemed.

She might lose her life here if she's not careful.

Now that she was no longer alone, Lin Rusi naturally had to think things through carefully and couldn't afford to make any mistakes.

"Keep a close eye on the magistrate in secret, and absolutely do not let him make any further moves."

"My subordinates have already sent people to keep watch. As soon as those people make contact, they will immediately come back to make contact."

Lin Rusi then instructed them to strengthen the surrounding security before daring to close the door and crawl into the quilt that still retained a trace of Li Jingyang's scent.

But just as she closed her eyes, the jade pendant suddenly grabbed the blanket.

"If it really is a jade token from an enemy country, what should I do? Li Jingyang, you've really given me a lot of trouble."

Lin Rusi felt pain in her palm. She loosened the blanket and saw fingernail marks on it, but ignored them and looked towards the mountain again.

Another question is, why are there people from an enemy country there? Do they want to take advantage of the chaos to occupy this place, or do they have ulterior motives?

Lin Rusi knew nothing about any of this; all she could do was wait.

Fortunately, the earlier probing had frightened the magistrate, who was unwilling to wait a moment longer and went to find the group of people that very night.

After listening to the report from the secret guards, Lin Rusi naturally linked Li Jingyang's disappearance to the other party.

"What do you think is the best way to avenge Jingyang?"

"Now is probably not the time for revenge. After all, our master has disappeared in the mountains. If we really fall into his hands, he might use us as leverage to threaten the lady."

Lin Rusi had naturally thought of this as well, but she quickly figured it out and now told the others in the room the reason.

“If they really had him, the Crown Prince wouldn’t have disappeared. Instead, he would have kept in touch with the capital so that no one would notice anything amiss. So what we need to do now is to find him.”

"And we can't wait a moment longer; we must go into the mountains now."

"Now? It's the dead of night. If we provoke the wolves and tigers among them, I'm afraid..."

Ignoring his worries, Lin Rusi stuffed the medicine powder she had bought in the capital into his hand.

"If we wait any longer, Jingyang will really be in danger, or he may be reduced to ashes. Is that what you want to see?"

The guard shook his head vigorously, showing his unwillingness to see those scenes.

Lin Rusi increased the pressure of inserting the medicine again, but unexpectedly, the county magistrate's voice suddenly came from downstairs.

Thinking that the other party had already captured Li Jingyang, she rushed down without any hesitation.

"Madam, we have been searching the back mountain for a long time, but we still haven't found the Crown Prince. Please accept our condolences."

"Impossible, I will personally lead a team to search."