0p0 Chapter 160 The Search for Clothes
Chapter 160 The Search for Clothes
Little Swallow frowned, pacing back and forth in the palace, muttering, "Who did this?! How dare they so blatantly disrupt the princess's grand ceremony!"
Little Swallow sat to the side, tears welling in her eyes, and cried out in a sob, "Your Majesty, what should we do! If we can't find that dress, how can I attend tomorrow!"
Little Swallow quickly went to Little Swallow's side, gently hugged her, and comforted her, "Princess, don't be afraid! Little Peach has already gone to the storeroom to look for something suitable to tide you over. I will also find out whoever is behind this and punish them severely!"
At this moment, Hongzhou and Dilireyao rushed over. Hongzhou asked anxiously, "Your Majesty, the wedding dress still hasn't been found? This is terrible!"
Little Swallow looked at him and said helplessly, "We still haven't found it! It's driving me crazy!"
Dilire Yao stepped forward and said gently to Xiao Xiao Yanzi, "Gege, don't cry. Even if we can't find the dress for the time being, we can think of other ways. We will definitely not let you embarrass yourself at the ceremony."
The little swallow sobbed, "Really? But I'm still so worried!"
Hongli also rushed over, his face still grim. He shouted, "I have ordered Su Peisheng to lead men to search the palace thoroughly! Hmph! Whoever did it, I will not let them off lightly!"
Su Peisheng returned to report, hurriedly bowed, and said, "Your Majesty, this servant and his men searched all the nearby palaces, but we still couldn't find the ceremonial robes! The ceremonial robes in the storeroom that could be used in emergencies have all been tampered with by someone, and they are all somewhat damaged!"
Hongli angrily exclaimed, "This is outrageous! What are these palace guards doing?!"
Little Swallow gritted her teeth and said, "It must have been someone plotting this all along. How utterly despicable!"
Just then, Lin Yuhang entered the palace. He said to Xiao Yanzi, "Your Majesty, I have heard about this matter and think that someone must have deliberately sabotaged it. I am willing to help to search more carefully and perhaps we can find some clues."
Little Swallow nodded and said, "Thank you for your trouble, brother. Now we can only have more manpower and not let any clues slip by."
Lin Yuhang then led a few attendants to search a secluded part of the palace. Before long, he found some scraps of cloth behind a flowerbed, which looked like fabric from a formal dress. He shouted, "Your Majesty, come quickly! We've found something here!"
Everyone rushed over, and Xiao Yanzi picked up the tattered cloth and her eyes turned cold: "Hmph, as expected, someone did this on purpose, ruining the dress and leaving it here. But we can't be sure who did it!"
Hongzhou said, "Let's search around here some more; maybe we can find more clues."
The group dispersed to search again. Suddenly, Dilireyao spotted a jade pendant in a corner and exclaimed, "Come quick! There's a jade pendant here. It doesn't look like something from the palace!"
Everyone crowded around, and Xiao Yanzi carefully examined the jade pendant, murmuring, "This jade pendant looks somewhat familiar, but I can't quite remember where I've seen it before."
Hongzhou said, "Could it be that the person who ruined the ceremonial robes accidentally dropped it? Let's take this jade pendant and ask the people in the palace. Maybe we can find out who it is."
Hongli nodded and said, "That makes sense. Su Peisheng, take this jade pendant and go to each palace to quietly investigate. Be careful not to alert them."
Su Peisheng replied, "This servant obeys the order and will act with utmost care."
Meanwhile, the concubine was restless in the palace. Rong Momo advised her, "Your Highness, don't worry. The dress is completely ruined. They definitely won't be able to find a replacement for a while. Tomorrow, Princess Huanzhu will only embarrass herself."
Na Fei was still somewhat worried: "But what if they discover something and trace it back to us?"
Rong Momo sneered, "Your Majesty, rest assured, this old servant is careful in her work. Although the jade pendant was accidentally dropped, no one knows that it belongs to us."
Xiao Tao returned from the storeroom, dejected, and said, "Your Majesty, we've searched the storeroom for all the dresses we could find, but they either don't fit properly or are too badly damaged to be usable!"
Little Swallow was extremely anxious, but she forced herself to remain calm: "Never mind the dress for now, the key now is to find the person behind this, and we can't let them continue to cause trouble."
After pondering for a moment, Lin Yuhang said, "Your Majesty, I think we can start with this jade pendant and ask the guards at the palace gate if any suspicious people have been coming in or out recently. Perhaps we can make a breakthrough."
Xiao Yanzi thought it made sense, so she and Lin Yuhang walked towards the palace gate together. When they arrived at the palace gate, the guards saw that it was the Empress and hurriedly bowed.
Little Swallow asked, "Has anyone suspicious entered the palace recently, or acted strangely?"
The guard thought for a moment and replied, "Your Majesty, the people coming and going these past few days have all been regulars. However, yesterday evening, I saw a young eunuch from that concubine's palace hurrying out of the palace. He looked rather suspicious. I didn't think much of it at the time, but I wonder if it's related to this matter."
Little Swallow's eyes lit up: "Hmph, it seems that the concubine is even more suspicious. Let's go back to the concubine's palace and ask her clearly!"
The group hurried to the concubine's palace. When the concubine learned that the empress and others had arrived, she secretly thought something was wrong, but she still tried to appear calm and went out to greet them: "Your Majesty, what brings you here so late at night?"
Little Swallow stared straight at her and said coldly, "Then, Your Highness, I won't beat around the bush with you anymore. Are you aware that Little Swallow's dress has gone missing?"
The concubine feigned surprise and said, "What does Your Majesty mean? How could I possibly know? Someone must be deliberately framing me!"
Little Swallow took out the jade pendant and questioned, "But this jade pendant fell from someone in your palace. How do you explain that?"
When the concubine saw the jade pendant, her expression changed slightly, but she still tried to argue, "This...this jade pendant looks ordinary. There are many similar ones in the palace. How can you say it's from my palace? Your Majesty, please don't wrong me!"
Little Swallow retorted angrily, "Hmph, you dare to argue! I will definitely investigate this thoroughly and find out the truth. If it really was you, I will not let you off easily!"
The concubine was flustered, but she still stubbornly insisted, "Your Majesty, you have no evidence and cannot arbitrarily convict me!"
With the two sides at an impasse, will the truth about the missing dress ever come to light, and will Little Swallow's investiture ceremony as a princess proceed smoothly?
This chapter concludes here. Stay tuned for the next chapter.