Chapter 54
Moyu was at his wits' end, cornered by two young attendants. He couldn’t shake the unease in his chest—after all, the young master had explicitly forbidden him from following.
Though the young master had claimed he wouldn’t leave the estate, the An Manor was vast. If he were to stumble, get hurt, or worse, hatch some new mischief, Moyu would never bear the consequences.
"Don’t worry, lads," Moyu said hurriedly. "I’ll take you to find the young master and the two gentlemen. He mentioned bringing them to the storeroom to see the dowry left by Miss Li—some rare treasures, he called them. Perhaps they were so engrossed they lost track of time. Let’s go look for them together."
The two attendants quickly thanked him and followed Moyu toward the storeroom.
When they arrived, the door was slightly ajar, but inside was eerily silent—not a single voice to be heard.
Moyu’s heart lurched. He raised his voice and called, "Young Master? Young Master Jiang? Young Master Xie? Are you in there?"
He called several times, but only echoes answered. No reply came.
Panicked, Moyu shoved the door open and rushed inside.
The storeroom was dimly lit. His eyes swept the room, but no figures were in sight—only a massive canopy bed standing in the center and a pitch-black coffin nearby. No sign of anyone.
"Young Master?" Moyu’s voice trembled as he called again.
Still no response. Moyu assumed his master must have taken the two young gentlemen elsewhere.
Yet after scouring the entire manor, the three of them still hadn’t found a trace of their missing charges.
"What do we do now?" The Jiang family attendant wrung his hands, utterly lost.
"Could the young masters have already returned home?" The Xie family attendant ventured hesitantly.
Moyu’s heart sank further. His own master wasn’t in the manor either.
"I’ll ask the gatekeepers," Moyu said after a moment’s thought.
Surely, if they had left, someone would have seen them.
But the gatekeepers insisted they hadn’t seen the three young masters depart.
"This is a disaster! How could I lose track of the young master? How will I explain this to the master and mistress?" The Jiang family attendant fretted.
"Steward Liu! The young master is missing!" Moyu spotted the steward passing by and immediately grabbed his arm.
"Nonsense! How could the young master disappear out of thin air?" Liu Ming’s face paled with alarm.
Moyu had no choice but to recount everything the young master had done that day.
Liu Ming’s composure shattered. He immediately ordered every servant in the manor to search—especially near the lake and wells, every corner scrutinized.
He also sent attendants back to their respective households to check if the young masters had sneaked home.
But after combing through the manor, there was still no sign of them. A creeping dread settled in—had someone with a grudge against the prince secretly abducted the children?
At that thought, Liu Ming urgently dispatched someone to summon Xu Heming.
Meanwhile, Xu Heming arrived home just in time to see Xie Jincheng and Jiang Hanhai rushing toward the An Manor in equal distress.
"Greetings, Prince An!"
"Greetings, Prince An!"
Both men bowed respectfully.
"Marquis Yongning, Minister Xie!" Xu Heming returned the courtesy, though his own anxiety simmered beneath the surface.
He couldn’t fathom what fresh trouble Xu Qingshi—that troublemaker—had stirred up this time.
How could copying the Book of Rites at home lead to him spiriting away the sons of other noble houses?
"Your Highness!" Moyu nearly burst into tears at the sight of his master.
"Enough. Tell me—did they mention where they were going today?" Xu Heming sighed. He was just as worried, but now wasn’t the time to panic.
They needed to find the boys, and fast.
"Your Highness, the young master said he was taking the two gentlemen to see Miss Li’s dowry. I checked the storeroom, but no one was there." Moyu’s face was ashen. Serving the young master meant not only copying the Book of Rites but also enduring the constant terror of his sudden disappearances.
"Have you searched everywhere else in the manor?" Xu Heming frowned.
"Your Highness, we’ve had people scour every courtyard, but there’s no trace of the young master or the two gentlemen," Liu Ming reported hastily.
Xu Heming’s stomach twisted.
Where could three children have gone?
Without another word, he decided to inspect the storeroom where Li Zhiwei’s dowry was kept himself.
The door was still slightly open. Inside, as he recalled, there was only Li Zhiwei’s canopy bed and a coffin.
If the children were truly here, they should be easy to spot.
Xu Heming stepped inside, determined to find any clue.
Xie Jincheng and Jiang Hanhai followed closely. Though equally frantic, they understood that Prince An’s own child was among the missing—his urgency mirrored theirs.
Entering the storeroom, Xu Heming’s gaze immediately went to the canopy bed. No one was there—not even beneath it, as he checked thoroughly.
Xie Jincheng did the same, confirming the absence.
"There’s no one here," Jiang Hanhai murmured, scanning the room.
After all, three children, however small, couldn’t simply vanish into thin air.
Xu Heming remained silent, his eyes sweeping the dusty room—long neglected, with traces of neglect everywhere.
Then, his gaze caught something: tiny handprints on the coffin lid. Upon closer inspection, he realized the lid was slightly ajar.
Xu Heming hurried over, examining the fingerprints more carefully.
Just as he leaned in, a small hand suddenly emerged from inside the coffin.
"A hand—a hand!" Jiang Hanhai, standing behind Xu Heming, stammered in fright.
"They must have been here—look at these prints," Xu Heming muttered, though his voice carried unease.
Xie Jincheng, hearing this, quickly circled around the coffin.
Jiang Hanhai blinked, and the hand was gone. He rubbed his eyes, convinced he’d imagined it.
"Wait—Your Highness, why is this lid open?" Xie Jincheng asked, puzzled.
"Perhaps they came here out of curiosity and opened it," Xu Heming replied, though the explanation felt flimsy even to him. But with his son involved, nothing was impossible.
"Those little rascals," Xie Jincheng sighed, shaking his head. His own son was just as mischievous—this was entirely plausible.
Xu Heming moved to close the lid—but then, a loud thud echoed from inside.
"What was that?" Xie Jincheng startled.
"It came from the coffin," Jiang Hanhai said, his voice shaky but certain this time.
Xu Heming and Xie Jincheng exchanged glances. Without a word, they each took a side of the coffin lid, silently agreeing to push it open together.
They peered inside—
And immediately exhaled in relief.
Yet the sight left them torn between laughter and exasperation.
What in the world was this?
"What—what’s inside?" Jiang Hanhai asked nervously.
As a scholar, he had no courage to approach, especially after the dramatic display from the other two.
"Marquis Yongning," Xu Heming said dryly, "there’s a treasure in here. Would you like it?"
