Like Old Madam Ren, Concubine Fang was also taken by surprise.

“You say she ran away?” Concubine Fang looked at the woman who had come to Yunyang City to report, her usually gentle tone rarely rising.

For some reason, sweat appeared on the woman’s forehead: “Yes, Concubine. We followed your instructions to first get her out of the residence, but this person was too cunning. In the end, we still let her escape.”

Concubine Fang looked at the shifting tree shadows outside the window, her expression somewhat inscrutable. The people around her didn’t dare speak easily.

After a long while, they heard her sigh very softly: “I was careless. She was never someone easily manipulated. Go search secretly. You must find her before the Eldest Madam’s people do.”

Seeing that Concubine Fang wasn’t holding them accountable for their negligence, the woman breathed a huge sigh of relief and said gratefully: “Yes, yes, yes. This servant will go immediately.”

After the woman withdrew, Concubine Fang’s beautiful willow-leaf eyebrows finally furrowed tightly.

Kang Shi had disappeared! These useless wastes who fail more than they succeed!

It wasn’t that she wouldn’t punish subordinates, but she wasn’t like other legitimate mistresses. She had few trustworthy people around her who could be useful, most of whom she had brought from her natal family. She was currently in need of people, so rather than punishing them one by one, it was better to let them redeem themselves through merit.

However, Concubine Fang still harbored a shadow in her heart. She had saved Kang Shi from the Ren family, yet Kang Shi still chose to flee. This showed distrust in her, and who knew what other troubles it might cause in the future.

When Xiao Jingxi heard his subordinate report that those dragon heads had gone missing, he was stunned for a moment, then the corners of his mouth curved slightly in what seemed like a smile, though his eyes remained deep and inscrutable.

At this moment, what appeared in his mind was the thoughtful expression on Ren Yaoqi’s face when she looked at those dragon heads in the river while they were sitting in the pleasure boat after disembarking from the large ship.

“It should be the Lei family who acted themselves.” Seeing that his master didn’t continue asking, the servant Tongde dutifully added another line.

Xiao Jingxi raised his eyebrows slightly: “You just watched?” His tone revealed no emotion.

Tongde replied meticulously: “Master previously said not to interfere in these matters. If Master wants to pursue the Lei family, this servant will immediately send people. We’ve been secretly monitoring their movements all along.”

Xiao Jingxi tilted his head slightly, then sighed, though the corners of his mouth were smiling: “Forget it. Let her be.”

Tongde detected some subtle complexity in his master’s words and couldn’t help raising his head, not understanding who the “her” in his master’s words referred to. Or perhaps it referred to the Lei family?

“Where is Tongxi?” Not giving Tongde a chance to speculate wildly, Xiao Jingxi seemed to ask casually.

Tongde said nothing. Tonghe, standing nearby, immediately replied: “Tongxi is cleaning the library. Does Master want to summon him now?” After a pause, Tonghe said carefully, “He’s been going to the library very frequently these past few days.”

Hearing this, Xiao Jingxi raised his eyebrows thoughtfully but said nothing.

Tongxi, or rather Dongsheng, was indeed in the library of Prince Yanbei’s mansion’s outer study at this moment. The library of Prince Yanbei’s mansion was very large, with five spacious rooms filled with bookshelves stacked full of books.

Dongsheng had a feather duster tucked into the collar at the back of his neck, but he was leaning against a bookshelf in the innermost room, holding a thick volume in his hands and frowning as he read it carefully.

Although he had told Ren Yaoqi that he hadn’t found any information about the Qu family, Dongsheng was a meticulous person. Recalling the slightly disappointed look in Ren Yaoqi’s eyes at the time always made him feel somewhat uneasy.

So after returning, he still used the excuse of cleaning to come to the library to check the local gazetteers of Yanzhou from the past several decades, fearing he had been careless in his previous searches.

Although this library set up in the outer courtyard of Prince Yanbei’s mansion was quite large with numerous books, it truly contained only books – used by the strategists living in the outer courtyard for reading. There were no secrets here, so Dongsheng could enter so easily and dare to come so frequently.

“Still nothing. How could there be no Qu family that Miss mentioned?” Dongsheng licked his right index finger with some saliva and kept flipping through the volume in his hands while muttering to himself.

His voice was very soft, basically just his lips moving. Even if someone were nearby, they wouldn’t hear what he was saying.

Unexpectedly, at this moment, a gentle voice said: “What are you looking for?”

Dongsheng was startled and immediately turned around, only to see Xiao Jingxi standing not far from him at some unknown time, and he hadn’t even noticed someone approaching.

After being stunned for just a moment, Dongsheng immediately placed the volume in his hands on the nearest wooden ladder while bowing to Xiao Jingxi: “Greetings, Young Master. This servant came to clean and casually flipped through some books.”

Xiao Jingxi casually picked up the volume that Dongsheng had been reading from the wooden ladder, smiled slightly, and looked at Dongsheng: “Local gazetteer?”

Dongsheng lowered his head.

Xiao Jingxi handed the book back to Dongsheng without making things difficult for him.

“Is Young Master here looking for a book? This servant can help you find it.” Dongsheng immediately said.

However, Xiao Jingxi said, “I happened to be passing by here. Knowing you were here, I came to find you.”

Dongsheng immediately lowered his head: “Young Master, please forgive me. This servant shouldn’t have left my post without permission.”

But Xiao Jingxi didn’t pick up on this topic. Instead, he asked thoughtfully: “Was it she who delivered the message to the Lei family?”

Although Xiao Jingxi didn’t specify who “she” was, Dongsheng understood. Remembering Ren Yaoqi’s instructions not to hide anything, he replied quite readily: “Yes, Young Master.”

Seeing him admit it so readily, Xiao Jingxi had nothing more to say.

Xiao Jingxi seemed to be asking casually. After asking this question, he walked to a nearby bookshelf and looked for books on his own.

However, Dongsheng, who had been watching his movements and expressions, hesitated for a long time before finally walking over and asking: “Young Master, have you ever heard of a family surnamed Qu? I heard they were a prominent family in Yanbei several decades ago.”

Hearing this, Xiao Jingxi looked at Dongsheng with some surprise, as if he hadn’t expected Dongsheng to ask him. He didn’t answer immediately.

Dongsheng honestly said: “This servant is investigating for Fifth Miss, but after searching for a long time, there are no clues. I don’t know if these local gazetteers are complete.”

The reason Dongsheng would directly ask Xiao Jingxi now was because Ren Yaoqi had instructed him that when dealing with masters like Xiao Jingxi, it was best to be straightforward, not to play tricks, to say whatever he had to say and not hide anything, otherwise the consequences would be severe. He felt that Xiao Jingxi’s attitude toward Ren Yaoqi was still quite good, at least currently there were no conflicts of interest.

Moreover, legend had it that this new master was extraordinarily intelligent and knew everything, so Dongsheng asked. Although he hadn’t been serving for very long, Dongsheng still had a feeling that if even Xiao Jingxi didn’t know something, then no one else would know it either.

All those who served Xiao Jingxi would develop this kind of blind worship to varying degrees during their interactions with him. This could be considered one of Second Young Master Xiao’s charms.

Xiao Jingxi was silent for a moment, as if thinking about the question, though this silence didn’t last very long.

“If the local gazetteers here aren’t complete enough, you probably won’t find complete ones anywhere else.” Xiao Jingxi’s voice still carried some lazy amusement.