What exactly was this thing, that even Jun Beichen knew it mustn’t fall into Physician Gu’s hands?

Yingzi turned it over and over in his mind, and could only think it must be something related to the isolated island — that is, something related to Her Highness the Princess Consort — that would require such caution against Physician Gu and Prince Baxian!

Just as Yingzi was puzzling over it, Jun Beichen brought over a brocade box. It was clear from how carefully it had been kept that he had guarded the item with great care.

Yingzi personally opened the box and saw inside the four territorial maps of Great Zhou, Xi Jing, Xi Chu, and Dong Qin that had been in Jun Beiyue’s possession. And pressed beneath them all was, surprisingly, a silk handkerchief — and judging by the embroidery style, it wasn’t from Great Zhou at all, but seemed to be from Dong Qin.

Most crucially, this handkerchief was clearly something used by a woman of a certain age!

Yingzi shot Jun Beichen a suspicious glance, then hurriedly took the handkerchief out to examine it closely. When he turned it over, he immediately understood the item’s importance.

On the other side of the handkerchief was imprinted a totem and a musical note. The totem was small, but the note was large. The totem was exactly the one on Ziqing’s face, while the note looked like some ancient musical symbol — no matter how Yingzi looked at it, he couldn’t make sense of it!

Not understanding it didn’t matter — knowing its importance was enough!

“This… was this given by Guxi?” Yingzi asked hurriedly. The only person he could think of was Guxi on Yaoshun Island.

“No, this is what Beiyue traded to the Dong Qin Empress’s nanny in exchange for Bai Mengmeng.”

It had been that day when Jun Beichen personally sent Bai Mengmeng to Nanny Qin — otherwise, he wouldn’t have noticed the significance of this item at all.

“Nanny Qin…” Yingzi was startled.

“Precisely. Yingzi, I’m handing these things over to you now.” Jun Beichen spoke with great solemnity. Yingzi hurried to stand and receive them with both hands. “Thank you, Second Prince!”

Jun Beichen smiled faintly. “Hurry along now — I hope this helps.”

Yingzi didn’t delay any further and rushed straight to the Imperial Study. Of course, he only used it as an excuse — he handed over the Great Zhou territorial map, but kept all three maps of Xi Jing, Xi Chu, and Dong Qin for himself!

These three maps would be more than enough to win the favor of the two Meng clan elders.

In the days that followed, they simply waited for the arrival of the two Meng clan elders. Physician Gu and Sha Qiuzi continued to watch over Jun Beiyue day and night, while Situ Haonan and the others practically turned the entire capital upside down, yet still found no trace of Bai Mengmeng. This forced Situ Haonan to reconsider whether Bai Mengmeng was truly in the capital at all.

From Nanzhao to the Great Zhou capital, the journey could take as little as a month, or as long as two to three months at a slower pace. Time passed day by day. Perhaps, to young people, a month or two — even a year or two — wouldn’t amount to much.

But for the elderly and for a newborn babe, a month or two, a year or two, could bring about tremendous changes!

The little one in the world of poison beasts was nearly a year old now. He could crawl, and so had also learned to walk early. By now he could stand steadily and walk a short distance on his own, quite stably at that.

He wasn’t necessarily inseparable from his mother, but he was like a twin with the big foolish bear — wherever the big bear was, he was sure to be there too!

And he was always the one sitting on the big bear’s back. Occasionally, when he wasn’t feeling so lazy, he would even stand up on it!

At this moment, on a hilltop, the big foolish bear obediently sprawled its four limbs flat across the rocks. Seen from a distance, it looked like a giant bearskin, draped smoothly over the hillside.

The little one lay prone on the big bear’s back, squinting as he watched the nine-tailed white fox slowly approach. All around them, without anyone noticing when, a great crowd of various poison beasts had gathered.

Throughout the entire world of poison beasts, hundreds of poison beasts, good and fierce alike, regardless of size, all loved watching this little one. Wherever he appeared, a long trailing line was sure to follow behind him!

Of course, they never dared draw too close — only watching from afar.

The moment the four great poison beasts caught sight of the little one, all their airs vanished instantly. Even this nine-tailed white fox before them, which usually carried itself with such refined, high and mighty elegance, now crept forward on tiptoe like a weasel, clearly trying to make the little one laugh.

The little one propped his chin up with both hands, occasionally pouting his little mouth. His naturally deep, distant black eyes narrowed, taking on an extra measure of slyness.

Seeing this, the nine-tailed white fox’s heart lifted with delight. It had heard that the little one had recently been affected by his mother’s mood, and his temper hadn’t been very good.

If it wanted to play with him, it would have to check his mood first, wouldn’t it?

Lately, aside from the big foolish bear, among the four great poison beasts, only the Miser Beast had managed to make him laugh. The Henggong fish and the Howling Rabbit had tried and failed time and time again.

Seeing the little one’s attention drawn to it, the nine-tailed white fox performed even more enthusiastically, actually crawling forward and lying flat down!

As it lay down, its nine graceful tails all fanned out elegantly, making the little one giggle even more happily.

Soon, the nine-tailed white fox climbed up onto the big bear’s back and came face to face with the little one, nose to nose. The little one giggled without stopping, and the nine-tailed white fox felt truly satisfied and overjoyed.

It had succeeded! The little one was willing to play with it!

It tried to nuzzle the little one with its sharp, long snout, but who would have thought — the little one, with practiced ease, grabbed hold of the long snout with both hands. The ever-cunning nine-tailed white fox noticed nothing amiss and happily let itself be held, even cooperatively letting out a low, contented whine.

But who would have thought — even as it held on, the little one lazily stood up, dragging the nine-tailed white fox down along the big bear’s flank to the ground.

The little one certainly didn’t have the strength to drag the nine-tailed white fox — it was the fox that had willingly followed along.

Once on the ground, the nine-tailed white fox grew even more secretly pleased. Ordinarily, aside from Ziqing, whoever played with the little one, he never liked to leave the big bear’s back — that back could practically be called his cradle.

It hadn’t expected the little one would actually be willing to come down today!

But who would have thought — just as the nine-tailed white fox was secretly delighting in this, the little one suddenly yanked hard on its long snout, pressing the tip against the ground!

The originally cheerful nine-tailed white fox froze, and seeing the little one’s innocent, guileless smile, felt an inexplicable chill run down its spine.

What… did this mean?

Instantly, all the poison beasts around turned to look, and even the little foolish bear, who had been lying obediently flat on the ground the whole time, couldn’t help but glance over too!

This little rascal — could he be planning some new trick?

Speaking of a fox, its longest and sharpest feature was naturally its snout. The little one gripped the long snout with both hands and forced it hard into the soil!

At this, not just the big bear and the nine-tailed white fox, but all the poison beasts around — even the very lowest-ranked ones — all understood at once… the ever elegant, composed, proud and aloof nine-tailed white fox was in trouble!

The little one’s hands, after all, had limited strength, and could only press the fox’s snout a little way into the mud — yet the nine-tailed white fox didn’t dare move!

Its whole body went rigid, holding its lowered-head, downcast pose.

The little one clapped his hands, signaling the nine-tailed white fox to lie flat!

Lie flat even more?!