Chapter 553: Chapter 553: The Monks Discovered the Princess was Missing

"I heard that you’ve recently been helping the little emperor?"

His reference to the ’little emperor’ elicited a genuinely annoyed glare from Madam Ji.

"Speak properly!" she chided. "Such disrespect towards His Majesty... be careful he doesn’t find out and punish you!"

Upon hearing this, Ji Youcheng inadvertently rubbed his nose and quickly changed his tune.

"When you assist His Majesty, does that mean you have opportunities to meet His Majesty directly?"

Ji Youlin was slightly perplexed. "Third Brother, you wish to meet His Majesty?"

"I’m asking you! Don’t turn my question back on me! Just tell me, can you meet His Majesty directly or not?"

Ji Youlin nodded. "I can! If I wish to meet His Majesty, I don’t have to go to the Palace. I can just have Seventh or Eighth deliver a message to His Majesty in the Palace, and he will find an opportunity to come out of the Palace to see me!"

Hearing Ji Youlin’s words, Ji Youcheng immediately asked, "So, you mean you can’t enter the Palace directly?"

"Of course not!"

There are definitely spies from other nations in the Palace. I am secretly helping Great Han develop powerful siege weaponry. If those spies were to find out, my life would be forfeit.

"If you can’t enter the Palace directly, then this is troublesome."

"You want to enter the Palace?" Ji Youlin saw through his intentions from his expression.

"Actually, it’s not impossible for you to enter the Palace for an audience with His Majesty!"

"You have a way?" Ji Youcheng’s eyes lit up, and he quickly looked at Ji Youlin.

"Aren’t you the owner of Bright Moon Pavilion? Fashion a Token, hang it on your chest, and write on it: ’The owner of Bright Moon Pavilion is here, seeking an audience with His Majesty!’ I believe His Majesty will immediately send the Imperial Inner Guards to drag you in!"

As soon as Ji Youlin said this, he felt a chill run down his spine and had a sudden bad feeling.

"You brat, you’re courting death!"

Madam Ji watched as her third son chased her sixth son around the Courtyard, beating him. A strange sense of comfort welled up in her. Her children had always been scattered, one here, one there; she rarely saw scenes of them running all over the Courtyard.

"Third Brother, I was wrong, I was wrong! Mother, save me! Mother..."

Ji Youlin cried for mercy as he ran, and then vanished in a flash.

Ji Youcheng ground his teeth in anger. "That kid has been useless at everything since he was little, but he’s number one when it comes to escaping!"

"Alright now," Madam Ji said. "If he couldn’t run fast, his life would have been forfeit long ago."

"But was he really too fast for you? He can’t practice martial arts, and because of his fear of heights, he can’t use lightness skills; he can only run a bit faster. If you really wanted to chase him, could you not catch him?"

Madam Ji mercilessly exposed her third son. "Why do you want to go to the Palace to seek an audience with His Majesty?"

Ji Youcheng relayed the news that Zhao Fei had brought back.

Madam Ji pondered for a while and finally asked, "How does your lightness skill compare to Xiuxiu’s?"

"I’m not the least bit inferior to her!"

In reality, his lightness skill was inferior even to Seventh Ji’s. Within the Ji Family, he only ranked third, and that was without even counting Xiaosuisui!

"Since your lightness skill is good, hurry to Qixia Temple and find the Empress Dowager. His Majesty has a team of Inner Guards hidden in the shadows, and currently, only the Empress Dowager can deploy them."

Ji Youcheng froze for a moment upon hearing Madam Ji’s words.

"What are you waiting for?" Madam Ji urged. "If you delay any longer, and Xiaosuisui and the others succeed, but your reinforcements don’t arrive and mess things up, you might not get your gold back."

The moment Ji Youcheng heard he might not get his gold back, how could he delay? He immediately sprinted towards Qixia Temple.

「Meanwhile, at Qixia Temple,」

The expressions of Old Monk Liao Kong and the Abbot were extremely grim. They had been giving counsel to the Empress Dowager and Xie Pan’Er for a full two hours. The young monks outside had sought an audience several times, but were blocked by the Imperial Palace guards and that Nanny Xiao. As a result, they didn’t receive the news in time that the Eldest Princess had escaped and the Daoist Sect disciple locked up on the back mountain had also disappeared. Even more infuriating, not a single member of the Ji Family could be found.

No! Actually, there was still someone from the Ji Family at Qixia Temple, but this particular person couldn’t be moved for the time being.

"The Ji Family has truly made a bold move! The secret chamber of Mingwu Building, a place filled with countless Mechanisms, was actually breached by them!"