“Second Young Master, you haven’t slept all night and must be tired. Let this servant help you go inside to rest for a while.” Facing the maid’s words, Li Shimin waved his hand: “I’m not tired. Go brew me another pot of tea.”

After the maid withdrew as instructed, he called over Duan Zhihong: “Make another trip and tell those people to work harder and search again. Whoever can find Third Young Master will be rewarded with one hundred strings of cash.”

Just as Duan Zhihong was about to leave, Li Shimin called him back: “Wait, the guards mentioned that Xuanba had met someone called Ajin. Have them ask around everywhere to see if there are any leads. Also, don’t tell Father about this matter yet, so he won’t worry.”

After Duan Zhihong left, Li Shimin rubbed the Hetian jade pendant in his hand, murmuring: “Xuanba, where are you? Why haven’t you returned?”

At this moment, a servant came in saying: “Second Young Master, the Governor has sent someone requesting you to come to the study immediately. Also, Miss Jiang from the music pavilion has come again.”

Li Shimin took a light breath and put away the jade pendant: “I understand.”

After calling someone to wipe his face, Li Shimin walked outside. Jiang Caiping was waiting anxiously outside. Seeing Li Shimin emerge, she quickly asked: “Second Young Master, did you find him?”

“Not yet, but I’ve already sent people to search again. There should be news soon.”

Jiang Caiping urgently grasped Li Shimin’s sleeve, saying frantically: “Second Young Master, you must find Third Young Master – nothing can happen to him.”

“Xuanba is my blood brother. Even if I have to search all of Honghua Prefecture, I will definitely find him.” After comforting Jiang Caiping for a while, Li Shimin went to the study.

Li Yuan was assigning duties to several county magistrates below, including Magistrate Qin. After dismissing them, Li Yuan frowned: “Xuanba has disappeared, hasn’t he?”

So he knew after all. Li Shimin sighed inwardly and answered truthfully: “Yes, Third Brother has been away from the residence for two days and hasn’t returned yet. Your son has already ordered everyone available in the residence to go out and search for Third Brother’s whereabouts.”

Li Yuan frowned: “Why wasn’t I told about such a major matter?”

“Father has been busy these days with conscription and prefectural affairs. Your son couldn’t bear to add more troubles for Father. Besides… the situation is still unclear. Perhaps Xuanba just encountered friends or skilled martial artists and got excited about sparring, losing track of time. You know Xuanba is obsessed with martial arts.”

His words somewhat eased Li Yuan’s worried expression, and he nodded: “Send out our personal troops as well – we must find Xuanba as quickly as possible.”

“Your son understands.” After Li Shimin agreed, Li Yuan said: “I’ve already received His Majesty’s secret edict. His Majesty didn’t blame us for the conscription matter – that’s resolved.”

“Congratulations, Father.” Saying this, Li Shimin continued: “The people in the prefecture have all praised Father’s benevolence and love for the people since hearing of the memorial Father submitted to His Majesty. I believe that even if His Majesty came in person, his prestige in Honghua Prefecture would be far inferior to Father’s.”

Li Yuan nodded: “One Honghua Prefecture is still far from enough for us. I wonder how Jiancheng’s progress is going.”

“Father, your son has heard that because of this conscription matter, several more places have raised rebellions, though they were quickly suppressed. But this shows that His Majesty is increasingly losing the people’s hearts.”

“A centipede dies hard; moreover, His Majesty is still far from dead. This matter concerns not only our Li family’s lives, but also the peace and stability of countless common people, so we absolutely cannot be careless.”

“Your son understands.” Coming out of the study, Li Shimin immediately dispatched the hundred-plus personal troops stationed in the military camp. For a time, all of Honghua Prefecture was searching for Li Xuanba, but he seemed to have vanished into thin air – he couldn’t be found anywhere. However, they did learn of one unexpected piece of news: in that abandoned empty village outside the city, a great fire had somehow started, burning for a full day and night before finally being extinguished after destroying over ten houses.

Li Shimin was concerned about Li Xuanba’s safety and didn’t go personally, only sending Duan Zhihong to investigate and see if he could find the cause of the fire.

Until sunset, there was still no news of Li Xuanba either in the city or outside it. However, there were some leads about that Ajin – someone recognized him and said he was likely a fisherman from outside the city. But when they came to report, the city gates had already closed. Unless it was urgent military business, no one was allowed to leave. They could only suppress their urgency and wait for the city gates to open before going out.

After the servant finished reporting about Ajin, he said: “Second Young Master, from last night until now, everyone has not closed their eyes and is exhausted. Could we… search again early tomorrow morning?”

Li Shimin rubbed his forehead wearily: “I was negligent. Let them all go rest and search tomorrow.” If there was still no news tomorrow, he’d have to ask Father to send soldiers to search house by house. The longer this dragged on, the more dangerous it would be for Xuanba – they had to find him quickly.

But he didn’t understand – Xuanba wasn’t an immature child, and his martial arts were even superior to his own. Unless he encountered expert ambushers, it was impossible for anything to happen to him.

Just as Li Shimin was thinking until his head ached, Duan Zhihong walked in with a grave expression. The former casually asked: “How did the investigation go?”

“Reporting to Second Young Master, because the fire was too intense and burned too wide an area, we can no longer determine the cause of the fire. However, this subordinate dares to assert that it was definitely man-made!”

“Why do you say that?” Li Shimin knew Duan Zhihong’s character well – unless he was completely certain, he would never use the word “definitely.” He must have discovered something, but that was an empty village that had been uninhabited – who would specially go there to set a fire? Could it be a madman?

“Because this subordinate discovered a charred corpse in one of the houses – that should be where the fire started.”

Li Shimin’s eyes flickered as he frowned: “You’re saying someone wanted to destroy evidence by burning the body?”

“Correct, but he forgot to clean the things on the body. This subordinate found this item on the corpse.” With these words, he presented a blackened object to Li Shimin. Because the surface was covered with a layer of charred material, it was impossible to identify what it was – they could only determine it was a hollow circle.

After carefully peeling away and wiping clean that layer of char, the true nature of the object was finally revealed. It appeared to be something like a jade ring clasp, with what seemed to be gold and silver ornamental pieces attached, though because of the fire, they had melted into a lump and the original appearance could no longer be discerned.

Li Shimin was initially quite calm, but after seeing the jade ring clasp clearly, his expression immediately changed drastically. He suddenly stood up from his chair, murmuring: “This is impossible, impossible!”

Duan Zhihong rarely saw Li Shimin lose his composure like this and quickly asked: “Second Young Master, what’s impossible?”

Li Shimin didn’t acknowledge him, only staring fixedly at that jade ring clasp, his hands trembling uncontrollably. Others might not recognize this jade ring clasp, but he knew it all too well, because… he had an identical one on his person.