Chu Huanyan walked into the camp, her black hair simply tied behind her head with a piece of cloth. Her whole body looked dusty, and she had obviously traveled for a long time.

After listening to what Chu Huanyan said, Qin Li and the others knew that on the second day after Chu Huanyan's letter to Qin Li and the others was sent to the imperial city, Chu Huanyan felt uneasy, so she left the imperial city and rushed all the way here.

This journey was almost day and night, and the horse was racing very fast, with few resting moments. Only then did we arrive here today.

"Mother, what should I do over there in the Imperial City? Will there be any trouble if you are not in the Imperial City?" Qin Li asked worriedly.

With the empress being able to appear here, he seemed to have a backbone all of a sudden, but then he thought about it, in this situation, the empress left the imperial city again, just in case...

"Don't worry, I have made arrangements, and everything should be fine for the time being. Besides..." Chu Huanyan looked outside the tent.

Xianyue, who came with Chu Huanyan, immediately understood and went to guard outside so that Chu Huanyan could talk to Qin Li and the others.

"Furthermore, I had people falsely spread the news. Now most of the courtiers think that the emperor has been found and was only seriously injured. However, I came here this time because I was worried about the emperor, so I wanted to take care of him personally and accompany him at the same time. The emperor will return to the imperial city together."

Qin Li and the others understood what Chu Huanyan meant. At this critical moment, concealing the news could indeed temporarily stabilize the courtiers.

"Empress, then... what if the emperor is never found?" Qin Li still asked this question.

Of course he never wanted this to happen, but after searching for so long, there was still no news about the emperor.

The imperial city is far away, and as long as they don't send a message there, there are limited ways to get the news. The empress's lie may indeed be concealed for a while. But if it goes on for a long time and the emperor is not seen for a long time, he will no longer be able to hide it!

"I believe that the emperor will be safe and sound. If something really happens...this lie will be nothing compared to the chaos that will occur by then."

Chu Huanyan's words made Qin Li and Shen Chi feel a little heavier.

However, due to the arrival of Chu Huanyan, everyone who was originally worried felt a little more at ease.

Everyone seized the time and continued to search for Xiao Jinzhi more carefully, almost day and night.

Chu Huanyan went to the bottom of the cliff and stayed there for most of the day. He visited almost every place, and finally arrived at the edge of a cliff about five miles away from where Xiao Jinzhi fell.

"Madam, we also came to look for this place at that time. There were some trampled marks, but they were very light and there were paw prints. It looks like they were left by animals in the mountains. No one should have been here." Qin Li walked to Chu Huanyan and said.

"Not necessarily." Chu Huanyan shook her head, then pointed to the hillside beside her, "Look up there."

Looking in the direction Chu Huanyan pointed, Qin Li only saw some broken weed rhizomes. They seemed to have been broken for a long time, and the broken edges had withered.

"Mother, those may have been eaten by some herbivorous animals."

"If I'm not mistaken, that weed can be used as medicine." Chu Huanyan looked at a secret guard standing not far away and ordered him to find Shen Chi.

Today, Shen Chi went down to the bottom of the cliff with them. When he came over, he was walking in a hurry and holding a weed in his hand.

"I just discovered that there are a lot of medicinal materials under this cliff."

Just as he was talking, Shen Chi saw the hillside on the side, and then stepped forward in three steps and two steps at a time.

In addition to the weeds with only roots left, he carefully inspected some areas with only soil clods on the ground.

"Someone should have picked herbs here!"

"Are you sure?" Qin Li asked quickly.

Shen Chi nodded, "I have never been to the bottom of this cliff before, and I just discovered that the conditions under this cliff are very suitable for the growth of medicinal materials. This hillside alone has grown a lot. In addition to these that were taken away, there are also Some of them were dug away, leaving only the immature ones on the side." Shen Chi pointed at a bud as he spoke, "It seems that someone has specially cultivated the soil underneath, presumably to collect the medicinal materials nearby. It was loosened during digging, so I filled it with some soil.”

"If this is the case, does that mean that in addition to the emperor and the assassin, there are also herb collectors who have appeared at the bottom of this cliff. Is it possible that the emperor was rescued?" Qin Li's tone suddenly became excited. Quite a few.

It's all because he was too careless. He had seen this hillside before, but he didn't recognize any medicinal materials and only regarded them as weeds!

Chu Huanyan thought seriously and looked around again, "You just said that the traces left here are relatively light. Is it possible that when someone left, they deliberately cleaned the traces for fear of being discovered. But it is impossible to completely Make it without any trace, so it looks like an animal in the mountains has passed by?”

Qin Li's eyes lit up, it was really possible!

If he were just an ordinary herb collector, there would be no need to deliberately clean up the traces when leaving, unless he rescued someone and wanted to cover it up.

"Mother, I will immediately send someone to check if anyone is collecting herbs at the bottom of this cliff."

Chu Huanyan immediately stopped, "Don't do anything without permission. After all, this is just our guess, and there may not be anyone watching us in the dark. Once we look for the herb collector, if others find out, the news may be leaked. "

"Empress, what should we do?" Qin Li asked.

"The troops are divided into two groups." Chu Huanyan glanced at Shen Chi, "First, take some people and keep an eye on the bottom of the cliff to see if anyone else will come to collect medicine."

"Okay!" Shen Chi agreed.

"We pretended to be ordinary passers-by and went to the surrounding villages and towns, still in the name of looking for people, and then secretly paid attention to see if there was a doctor or someone who often dealt with medicinal herbs."

Although it is only a very subtle discovery, there is no way to prove that this guess is true. But after searching for so long, I finally made some new discoveries, which is still inspiring enough.

Chu Huanyan and Qin Li first went to several surrounding villages. They had already looked for these places before and didn't have much hope. I just asked secretly if anyone came here to collect medicine, and the answer I got was that there was none at all.

Afraid that someone was deliberately concealing it, Chu Huanyan secretly tested it with herbs. As a result, almost all the villagers who were tested thought they were weeds, and no one cared.

After excluding several villages, they went to a town farther away.

As soon as she arrived in the town, Chu Huanyan felt that this place was different from some of the towns she had visited in the past...

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