Although Princess Anping was worried sick, she still did her utmost to keep her emotions in check before the others. "As long as you're all right," she said softly. Perhaps realizing she had just lost her composure, she turned to Zijuan. "Let's go back first. Little Hu, come to my room in a while. There's something I want to ask you in person."
"Yes!"
Wen Boyuan and Wu Jingshan both hurried over. Wu Jingshan put on a concerned expression. "Oh dear, Eunuch Hu, where on earth did you go? We had such a hard time looking for you.
" Inwardly, however, he was filled with disappointment. Why couldn't this eunuch have vanished from their sight for good?
Hu Xiaotian said, "I noticed something strange about the woman on the stage, so I followed her all the way to the southwest of the city, where I suddenly lost track of her."
"You were gone quite a long time, Eunuch Hu," Wen Boyuan said coldly.
Hu Xiaotian smiled. "It shouldn't have taken that long, but after I gave chase, I discovered there wasn't a single person at my side to help. General Wen had so many personal guards with him, yet not one came to support me."
"It happened without warning," Wen Boyuan said. "Our foremost duty was to protect the princess. Surely you understand that, Eunuch Hu. I thought your first response would be to protect her too, but I never imagined you would dare rush off in pursuit. Fortunately, nothing happened today. Had you met with some mishap, wouldn't that have been a pointless tragedy?" His meaning was clear: no one had told Hu Xiaotian to give chase. Their duty was to protect the princess, not him. If he had died, it would have been his own rotten luck, and