Rebirth of a Lost Nation: Princess, Please Respect Yourself

Chapter 232: Bo Hyun Disappears

Jiang Lige, who was still smiling playfully a moment ago, turned pale in an instant. Her hands hanging by her side trembled, and she asked again in a trembling voice, "Who?"

"His Royal Highness Boxuan."

Uneasy emotions quickly spread in her heart. Jiang Lige stumbled and almost lost her balance. Fortunately, Ning Yunxiao supported her in time and comforted her, "Don't be afraid."

Jiang Lige had lost her strength and relied entirely on Ning Yunxiao to support her as she walked. Tears welled up in her eyes as she asked in confusion, "You were studying at the academy, how could you disappear?"

Ning Yunxiao couldn't answer Jiang Lige's question, so he could only give orders while holding her in his arms and walking forward.

"If he's missing, go look for him. Even if I have to turn the capital upside down, I'll find him!"

The guard hurriedly said, "Yes! Don't worry, Your Highness, the brothers are already looking for him."

Seeing this, everyone in the Gu family also hurried forward and said, "The Imperial College is our Gu family's territory, and we will definitely be able to help Your Highness."

Ning Yunxiao didn't refuse and nodded, "Thank you."

After saying that, he helped Jiang Lige onto the carriage and quickly headed towards the Imperial College.

……

By the time the group arrived at the Imperial College, Jiang Boxuan's disappearance had already spread throughout the academy.

Old Grand Tutor Gu now also serves as the chief academic officer of the Imperial College. As soon as he entered the Imperial College, he summoned several deans to question him. Second Master Gu, along with the Gu family guards, started searching from the east gate.

Ning Yunxiao and Jiang Lige came to the place where Jiang Boxuan was last seen before he disappeared.

The student leading the way pointed to the Qingshui Garden ahead and said seriously, "Your Highness, this is where I saw him."

Ning Yunxiao looked around and asked, "What is he doing here?"

"This... I don't know either."

When Ning Yunxiao heard this, he knew that the student could not give any other answer, so he waved his hand and the Xuantian Guards would come up to send the student away to receive the reward.

"This place is called Qingshui Garden, and it is the most secluded place for studying in the academy. I dare to guess that His Highness Bo Hyun came here to study for some peace and quiet."

The girl's crisp voice rang out. Ning Yunxiao and Jiang Lige turned around and saw the girl who was standing next to Mr. Gu today walking towards them with a nimble step.

The girl had bright eyes and white teeth, and she was quite pretty. She was about the same age as Jiang Boxuan, but her aura was extraordinary. One could tell at a glance that she was a girl who had been brought up in a pampered manner.

The young woman knelt in greeting and explained her purpose. "I am Gu Wangyu, the daughter of Gu Yanjie. My father was worried that the Crown Prince was unfamiliar with the Imperial College, so he sent me here to help."

Ning Yunxiao nodded, accepting Mr. Gu's kindness, "Thank you."

Gu Wangyu smiled, took Jiang Lige's hand in a familiar manner, and introduced them as they walked into Qingshui Garden.

"Qingshui Garden is famous for its waterscape. There aren't many plants or rockeries there, making it difficult for thieves to hide. If someone really did commit a crime here, I think they'd be able to find some clues."

Ning Yunxiao thought for a moment after hearing this, then instructed everyone, "There's no deep water here, so the thieves can't escape by water. Let's search the ground first, and don't overlook any abnormalities."

"Yes!" Everyone took the order and spread out to search carefully.

After a short rest, Jiang Lige had recovered from his fear and regained his ability to think.

The layout of Qingshui Garden was just as Gu Wangyu had said, and one could see the bottom at a glance. Jiang Lige started looking from the northeast corner and found that there was almost no obstruction except for a few rockery that was one meter high.

Just when Jiang Lige's patience was about to run out, he keenly discovered that a small piece of brick-red mud was rubbed onto the protrusion at the foot of the rockery.

"Your Highness! This piece of mud is obviously not from Qingshui Garden!"

Jiang Lige's loud shout attracted Ning Yunxiao's attention. He quickly put down what he was doing and gathered over with a few people.

Ning Yunxiao squatted down, picked up some red mud with his hands, sniffed it, and nodded, saying, "This mud has a fishy smell. Although Qingshui Garden is a place for viewing waterscapes, it doesn't farm fish, so it shouldn't have such a strong fishy smell. Moreover, this mud has a special texture, and it's obviously different from the black soil here."

Others disagreed. "It's just a little dirt. It doesn't mean anything. Maybe it was just accidentally left there by the students?"

Jiang Lige scoffed and retorted, "Then may I ask this student, since Qingshui Garden is a place for enjoying the waterscape, why do you hide behind the rockery instead of looking at the waterscape?"

The man was stunned by Jiang Lige's question and couldn't think of any rebuttal for a moment, so he simply shut up.

Ning Yunxiao wasn't surprised by Jiang Lige's words and continued to analyze, "Red clay isn't common. Is there any place like this in Miss Gu's academy?"

Gu Wangyu, a lady from a wealthy family, naturally didn't care too much about the soil quality, so she simply took out a map from her pocket and said as she looked at it, "Let me think about it."

Ning Yunxiao nodded and gave another order: "Leave two teams to continue searching Qingshui Garden. The rest of the people will disperse and search the academy for any soil similar to this red mud."

Everyone responded and dispersed.

Jiang Lige stayed and looked at the academy map with Gu Wangyu.

Jiang Lige’s idea was very simple. He hadn’t been able to find anyone for such a long time. If Jiang Boxuan was still in the academy, his hiding place would definitely be difficult to find.

Instead of following the main group and searching around like a headless fly, it would be better to take a good look at the map of the academy.

The Imperial College covers a huge area, and Jiang Lige and Gu Wangyu were dazzled just by looking at the map.

After looking at a map, Jiang Lige finally stopped his sight at a place called "Bai Niao Garden".

Jiang Lige pointed to the garden on the map and asked Gu Wangyu, "Does this place attract many people?"

Gu Wangyu finally woke up from his dream and said excitedly, "Yes, it's the Bird Garden! There's red mud here! It's a remote place, and because of the noise of birds and animals, students don't often go there except during painting classes."

Upon hearing this, Jiang Lige immediately stood up and called Ning Yunxiao, "Your Highness, let's go to the Hundred Birds Garden!"

"good ."

A few people made a prompt decision and led a team to rush towards the Bird Garden.

As expected, there were more footprints with red mud near the Bird Garden, and the footprints were of different sizes, which meant that there were many people trying to deal with Jiang Boxuan.

Thinking of this, Jiang Lige couldn't help but quicken his pace. Entering the Bird Garden, a strong fishy smell hit him in the face. Facing the gate was a house with closed doors and windows. Inside, there were many figures, obviously quite a lot of people.

Jiang Lige and his group moved very quietly. Apparently, the people inside had not yet realized that they had been surrounded by a large force. A slightly complacent voice came through the door.

"His Highness Bo Xuan, you're just a poor, abandoned man by the Emperor of Nanchu. How dare you act so arrogantly in front of me? Your sister is even more ignorant. The daughter of the guilty Queen of Nanchu, how dare she call herself the Crown Princess of Shengling? In my opinion, she's just a slut who can sleep with anyone!"