vstars Chapter 177: Fire in the Palace
Chapter 177: Fire in the Palace
When Yan Qing arrived at the city gate on horseback, it was already dawn.
When he was about ten steps away from the city gate, Yan Qing saw that there were a dozen soldiers at the city gate, and they were checking the carriages and pedestrians one by one.
They were holding two portraits in their hands. Yan Qing looked closely and saw that they were of Xiao Yu and He Zhang.
"The emperor actually searched the bottom of the cliff in just one night!" Yan Qing sighed.
Suddenly, as if he thought of something, he began to search to see if Yun Ting and Xiao Yu were nearby.
After searching for a while, I was relieved when I was sure they were not nearby.
Since we have already started searching here, we don’t know what the situation is in the mansion. Thinking of this, Yan Qing felt nervous.
He rode to the city gate and was stopped by a soldier. After carefully comparing the person in the portrait and confirming that it was not the same person, he said, "From today on, you can only enter, not leave. Are you sure you want to enter?"
What a pity! The emperor wants to catch the prince in a trap!
This emperor has such a vicious mind!
Yan Qing complained in his heart, but worried about the situation in the mansion, he still went into the city.
What happens next can only be discussed later!
Yan Qing tried his best to control the other horse and ran back to the palace. As soon as he arrived at the gate, he saw that it was open.
"not good!"
Yan Qing cried out in his heart, handed the reins to the servant, and ran towards Furong Pavilion.
When we arrived outside the courtyard of Furong Pavilion, we saw dozens of soldiers surrounding Furong Pavilion.
Yan Qing wanted to go in, but was blocked outside the yard by soldiers!
"What are you doing! I live in this mansion, why are you stopping me?" Yan Qing wanted to push away the people who were stopping him and break in, questioning them loudly.
The soldier drew his sword and put it against Yan Qing's chest, saying, "We have an order from above. No one is allowed to enter or leave until the search is completed!"
Yan Qing glared at the two soldiers who were blocking his way. The two soldiers looked at him calmly, neither humble nor arrogant, and showed no intention of giving way.
He turned around, exhaled angrily, and thought of the willow tree in the garden that was about 20 or 25 feet tall. Standing on it, he might be able to see what was going on inside.
Coming to the top of the willow tree, stepping on the willow branches as thick as fingers, Yan Qing held onto the tree trunk and looked towards Furong Pavilion.
Dozens of soldiers were seen searching room by room. One soldier was holding Xiao Yu's nightgown and examining it carefully.
"Why didn't you hide your clothes well!" Yan Qing couldn't help but complain at the top of the tree.
They took the clothes, but didn't arrest anyone. And judging by the direction they were searching, all the bedrooms had been searched, and now they had reached the upper room where the servants lived.
After searching Furong Pavilion, they searched the rest of the palace again, but it seemed that they found nothing.
Yan Qing let out a long sigh of relief.
After everyone left, Yan Qing returned to the bedroom to check the situation.
This sight made Yan Qing so angry that he almost vomited blood.
Some precious porcelain antiques in the house were shattered into pieces during the search.
"This group of damn things, how could a person hide in a vase? It's obvious that they did it on purpose!" Yan Qing squatted down and carefully picked up the broken pieces of a vase on the ground, feeling very distressed.
"How could it be possible that he was just looking for someone!"
In the quiet room, Yan Qing was startled when he suddenly heard the sound of people talking, and he looked towards the source of the sound.
When he looked up, Yan Qing saw Yun Ting, dressed in black, sitting on the beam with Xiao Yu, who was wearing pajamas, on his back.
Xiao Yu lowered his hands and closed his eyes.
Yun Ting carried Xiao Yu down from the beam and put him back on the bed.
Yan Qing saw Xiao Yu's slightly black lips and his eyes were tightly closed, and asked worriedly, "What's going on? What happened to the prince?"
Yun Ting frowned and said nothing, he just silently covered Xiao Yu with a quilt.
"What's going on? Tell me quickly!" Looking at Yun Ting's expression and silence, Yan Qing's heart tightened. He grabbed Yun Ting's collar and asked, his round eyes widening even wider.
"After the effect of the medicine wore off, the prince used his internal strength, and the cold poison invaded his internal organs. Uncle Lu said... he has at most one year to live." Yun Ting lowered his head and repeated Doctor Lu's words with difficulty without looking at Yan Qing.
"How could it be... Impossible..." His round eyes instantly turned red, tears rolled down his eyes, he wiped his tears and said, "Uncle Lu must have made a mistake! I'll go ask him!"
After saying that, he strode out of the bedroom.
At Pingyang Posthouse, the team has already set off, and He Zhang's position as leader is replaced by a deputy general under Han Feng.
The emperor was in a very bad mood because of Xiao Yu's matter, so the empress arranged two newly selected concubines to serve him.
Sitting cross-legged on the couch, with two concubines, one giving him a massage and the other singing a song, the emperor felt much better.
"Wan Baishui, go and ask how long it will take to get to Longhua Temple." After the emperor felt better, his voice became much softer, not as cold as it was in the morning.
"Yes, I'll go right away." Eunuch Wan smiled and bowed.
"Get out of the way! Urgent!"
The soldier shouted as he ran to prevent the soldiers walking behind him from blocking his way.
As soon as Eunuch Wan pushed open the door of the carriage, he saw a soldier riding a horse quickly coming towards him.
Hearing that it was an urgent report, Liu Fang led the soldiers and quickly came to the emperor's carriage to report, "Your Majesty, there is an urgent report from the palace."
The emperor's brows, which had just relaxed, frowned again. For some reason, he had a feeling that this was not a good thing.
"Stop the car! Bring the people here!" The emperor gave an order and the team stopped. The emperor waved his hand and drove the two concubines out of the car.
The soldier got on the carriage and knelt down carefully in front of the emperor to report, "Your Majesty, there was a fire in the palace at midnight, burning down several palaces, and Concubine Zhen of Chonghua Palace has passed away!"
The emperor's expression suddenly turned cold, his dark eyes staring straight at the soldiers on the ground, and asked, "Is Concubine Zhen dead? Have you found out?"
Feeling the pressure from the emperor's aura, the soldier knocked his head heavily on the floor and replied in a trembling voice: "Your Majesty, after the guards on duty put out the fire, they checked and found that there were a total of sixteen people in Chonghua Palace, including Concubine Zhen, not one less.
Maybe it was because of the fire in the middle of the night, so no one escaped. There were also people in other palaces who didn’t have time to escape, and the eunuch in charge claimed them all.”
The emperor angrily slammed the teacups and cakes on the low table, frightening Eunuch Wan and the soldiers kneeling on the floor.
"Have you found out the cause of the fire?" the emperor asked in a cold voice with a frown.
The soldier suppressed his fear and answered, "Before midnight, Lord Sima had the palace gates opened and he entered the palace. Someone saw him heading towards Chonghua Palace. Later, there was a fire and the palace was in chaos. Lord Sima has not been seen since."
Sima Changfeng is the emperor's secret guard. The token on his body is not restricted by any palace rules and he can go anywhere at any time.
The emperor clenched his fist against his forehead, his face as cold as ice, closed his eyes and said coldly: "Go, call Han Feng over!"