As Er Niu returned to Prince Yan’s residence, the sky was still dark. Little Eunuch Le personally escorted it back.
“Where is the Prince?” asked the steward who received Little Eunuch Le, looking embarrassed. “The Prince has retired. If the Eunuch would wait a moment, this humble servant will go wake him.”
Little Eunuch Le quickly said, “No need. Just take good care of General Xiaotian. I must return to the palace to report.”
Tsk tsk, Prince Yan truly had a carefree heart. General Xiaotian was summoned to the palace in the dead of night, clearly something had happened, yet Prince Yan hadn’t even waited up and had fallen fast asleep.
As Little Eunuch Le finished his internal commentary, he looked around and realized Er Niu had vanished.
He was startled: “Where’s General Xiaotian?”
The steward smiled sheepishly, “General Xiaotian just crawled in there…”
This Er Niu, how could it crawl through a dog hole in front of an imperial eunuch? Where was the dignity of General Xiaotian?
Little Eunuch Le stared blankly at the hole the steward pointed to, somewhat dumbfounded.
To think General Xiaotian would use a dog hole…
After his internal musings, Little Eunuch Le took his leave.
The steward escorted Little Eunuch Le to the side gate. Once the eunuch’s figure disappeared into the night, he immediately sent word to Yuhe Courtyard.
Of course, Yu Jin wasn’t asleep at this moment.
Summoning Er Niu to the palace so late at night meant something had happened, and it was likely no small matter. There was an eight or nine in ten chance it was related to the Crown Prince. The reason he had someone tell the eunuch he was asleep was merely to put on an appearance of nonchalance.
Ahem, a necessary disguise was still needed.
“Er Niu is back?” Upon receiving the news but not seeing Er Niu, Yu Jin frowned and stood at the study door, giving a sharp whistle.
He had practiced martial arts diligently since his youth, and his breath was long and full. The whistle carried quite far in the quiet night.
Er Niu, who had just settled into its warm den, pricked up its ears to listen. Reluctantly, it got up to report to its master.
“What did you do in the palace?” Yu Jin vigorously rubbed the big dog’s head.
Er Niu twitched its nose.
“You found the item? What was it like?” Yu Jin said, gesturing to the shape of a meat bone.
Er Niu decisively cast a disdainful glance at him.
It was one thing for others to be foolish, but why had its master become like this too?
Yu Jin’s face darkened.
This dog dared to look down on him. He was just worried the dog wouldn’t understand, wasn’t he?
Er Niu began rummaging around the study, returning empty-mouthed to Yu Jin after a while, helplessly wagging its tail.
Without even a similar object, how was it supposed to communicate?
At this moment, a voice came from the doorway: “Er Niu is back?”
Yu Jin went to meet her, taking Jiang Si’s hand: “Didn’t I tell you to sleep first?”
“How could I sleep? Er Niu is—”
“The palace took Er Niu away in the middle of the night, surely to have it search for something. Unfortunately, Er Niu can’t speak, so we can only try to have it find a similar object.” Yu Jin glanced at Er Niu as he spoke, sighing, “Who knows what it was, it seems we don’t have anything like it here.”
However, upon seeing Jiang Si, Er Niu seemed to think of something and suddenly darted out, heading straight for the main house.
The couple followed, only to find Er Niu had jumped through the window of the west wing room.
Jiang Si and Yu Jin exchanged a glance, their expressions shifting slightly.
A Huan was still young, not yet of age to move to a separate courtyard, so she lived in the west wing room of Yuhe Courtyard.
What was Er Niu doing in A Huan’s quarters? Could it be that A Huan had that object?
Before they could enter, Er Niu returned, its mouth carrying an object which it placed in Jiang Si’s hand.
Jiang Si examined the object—it was a large clay figurine, also known as a mud doll.
Er Niu stuck out its tongue.
This thing was too uncomfortable to hold in its mouth, it hurt its teeth.
“Could it be that the palace wanted Er Niu to find a clay figurine?” Jiang Si looked down at Er Niu but saw it shake its head.
Yu Jin shook his head: “It seems it’s not a clay figurine. The one Er Niu found is just similar to that object, which means that object is human-shaped—”
The couple exchanged a glance, both their expressions changing slightly.
What kind of object was human-shaped and could cause such a stir in the palace?
“Let’s talk inside.”
The couple entered the main room hand in hand, leaving Er Niu bewildered for a good while.
It had rendered such a great service, only to be abandoned by the master and mistress as they walked off hand in hand.
Once inside, Yu Jin asked Jiang Si: “A Si, what do you think that object might be?”
Jiang Si glanced sideways at Yu Jin, smiling: “You’ve probably guessed too, that thing is most likely a voodoo doll.”
Yu Jin coldly laughed: “The Crown Prince has courted death this time.”