The Palace is on Fire 018

  The night had deepened, and the masters of the various palaces in the harem had all gone to sleep. The various palaces were also quiet, except for the eunuchs on night duty, only seeing the Forbidden Army's guards patrolling, the imperial palace was heavily guarded.

  In the quiet of the night, it suddenly lit up. The patrolling imperial guard looked at the red light in the sky not far away, his face turned solemn, and he dispatched a group to report to the commander, while another group rushed towards the direction of the fire.

  At this time, many eunuchs and palace people on duty at night also discovered the fire and shouted in horror: "Fire! Fire!"

  With this loud shout, the tranquility of the harem was broken, and all the masters of the various palaces who were originally sleeping soundly sat up with a start.

  The Moon Palace of Princess Taiping is on fire.

  Only the clear moon palace in the sky, the fire cloud is ignited by the cold wind, making the entire sky a wild dance of flames.

  Looking at the fierce flames, it was terrifying. Even Yunyou Palace, which is adjacent to Yuqing Palace, was in a state of panic. The third princess fled out with her hair disheveled, surrounded by a group of palace maids, and her soul was still unsettled!

  When the eunuchs led by the commander of the imperial guard were trying to put out the fire with a group of palace maids, the flames were too big and despite their best efforts, no one could rush in to rescue anyone except for two small eunuchs who were guarding the gate at night.

  Separated by heavy flames, only wailing sounds, screams, shouts of surprise, and crying voices came out from the fire.

  "Dream...dream..."

  "Your Highness..."

  Listening to that mournful cry, Yu Fei's emotions were stirred up to the point of madness. If it weren't for the eunuchs and palace maids risking their lives to hold her back, Yu Fei, who was deeply worried about her daughter, might have really rushed in to rescue the Grand Princess without caring about anything else.

  By the time the fire was extinguished, it was almost midnight. The Moon Palace had been reduced to ashes, and no one in the inner palace survived, including Princess Yuan Mengzhen.

  Yu Fei looked at the ashes of the Moon Palace, then looked at the bodies that were carried out by the Imperial Guards, all charred beyond recognition. She couldn't take the shock and fainted on the spot.

  "Your Ladyship... Imperial Physician..."

  Another scene of chaos erupted.

  The Moon Palace caught fire, and the Grand Princess as well as all the palace maids in the Moon Palace were unable to escape. Upon hearing this news, both Autumn Ning Palace's Ning Fei and Crimson Mei Palace's Mei Fei were shocked, but then they narrowed their eyes, as if something was not quite right!

  When the news reached Shizina, Qing Emperor had already gone to bed.

  Considering the matter was of great importance, he still entered the palace and reported the news to Emperor Xian.

  When he heard that the Moon Palace was on fire and had been reduced to ashes, and that Princess Taiping and a group of maidservants were unable to escape, Emperor Xuan's eyebrows furrowed into a knot.

  Shi Ze saw, his head buried a few more points lower, but continued to say: "The imperial physician said that Princess Yu was over-stimulated, her qi and blood attacked her heart, causing her to faint, but there's no serious harm."

  "Let Zhao Renming come and see me."

  Qing Di stood up, and the eunuchs beside him hurried forward to help him change his clothes.

  Shi Zhi said, "Commander Zhao has already apologized outside the palace." The Moon Palace was where the Grand Princess resided. Normally, she was quiet and rarely spoke. The servants in the Moon Palace were also personally arranged by Yu Fei. How could they suddenly start a fire? Moreover, this fire was so fierce that even the Imperial Guard couldn't put it out. He felt that the fire at the Moon Palace was truly unusual.

  In the palace of Jade, Princess Yu opened her eyes and after a moment of confusion, she let out a sharp cry: "Meng Er, my Meng Er, quickly, go and summon the Grand Princess to see me, hurry..."

  Next to him, Ji Gonggong knelt down straight in front of the bed and cried out: "Your Majesty... please restrain your grief."

  As soon as Ji Gong shouted, all the palace servants and slaves in the scene showed a sad face and knelt down to mourn the death of their master.

  Yu Fei trembled with sorrow and closed her eyes, tears streaming down like rain, wailing in anguish: "My Meng'er..."

  A series of announcements came from outside the hall: "Concubine Mei has arrived! Concubine Ning has arrived! Concubine Shan has arrived! Noble Lady Liang has arrived! Noble Lady Wang has arrived..."

  Mei Fei and Ning Fei led some of the higher-ranking consorts and noblewomen from the harem over.

  Looking at Yu Fei's mournful and painful appearance in the inner palace, Mei Fei and Ning Fei exchanged a glance and stepped forward to comfort her.

  But their consolation only made Yu Fei cry even harder, becoming more and more grief-stricken.

  Until——

  "The Emperor has arrived!"

  Yu Fei alone remained sorrowful, while the other consorts and concubines in attendance hastily retreated to either side before turning around to pay their respects to the newcomer: "Your servants pay homage to Your Majesty."

  The emperor's face was cold and stern, he walked quickly over, without even acknowledging the greetings of the many concubines, and went straight to the bedside.

  Yu Fei saw him, just like a drowning person seeing the lifesaving straw, and rushed into his arms crying without any image: "Your Majesty..."

  The Emperor sat down on the couch, his face solemn: "I have already ordered Zhao Renming to investigate the fire at the Moon Palace."

  "Your Majesty, you must do justice for me. I don't believe the fire in the Moon Palace was an accident. Someone must have deliberately harmed me and my Dream. Your Majesty, you must investigate and find out who killed my Dream, and that person will be cut into a thousand pieces."

  The imperial consorts present listened to Yu Fei's undisguised, crazed hatred and each of them felt a jolt in their hearts, secretly wondering if someone was indeed plotting against the Grand Princess.

  Who wants to harm the Grand Princess? And why does he want to harm the Grand Princess?

  ……

  The Wangfu in the dead of night was quiet and deserted, devoid of any human presence.

  In his bedroom, King Hui was not lying on the bed, but sitting in front of a desk, tightly grasping a ball of paper.

  It was a letter from Empress Dowager Cui, sent out of the palace this morning. In the past 15 years, it was the first time that she used the secret passage in the deserted Cold Palace to send him a letter. However, the content of the letter was not what he had expected.

  No matter whether Yuan Wuyou is arrogant or self-conceited?

  At such a young age, he can say such things, it's indeed shocking, even he has to admit that Yuan Wuyou has really piqued his interest, he is very curious about what makes Yuan Wuyou dare to be so arrogant and claim that he will help him fight against the heavens!

  "Manager Li, something's wrong..." A servant rushed in frantically, startling Little Li who was dozing off on the couch in the outer room.

  Xiao Li rubbed his forehead, giving the newcomer a displeased glare. He put his finger to his lips and made a soft "shh" sound, cocking his ear to listen to the occasional coughs coming from inside, feeling slightly more at ease in his heart.

  "Are you courting death, disturbing the king? I'll have you beaten with a board. Speak up, what's going on that you're so startled?"

  I recalled the rumors I heard outside earlier, my face changed slightly, and I quickly covered my ears with both hands and whispered a few words to him. Xiaolizi's face also changed upon hearing this: "Is the situation true? What time did the fire start?"

  I bowed my head heavily: "After hearing the rumor, I even ran out to ask around, and heard that at about 4 or 5 o'clock, the fire in the palace was raging, and it wasn't until midnight that the fire was extinguished."

  Xiao Li looked at the tightly closed inner room, thought for a moment, and then waved his hand: "You go down first."

  Xiao Lizi tidied up his clothes and walked to the door, knocking gently: "Wang Ye, I have something to report."

  After a moment, King Hui finally spoke up: "Enter."

  Hurriedly rushing to the side of King Huai, Xiao Li Zi said in a low voice: "Your Majesty, the Moon Clear Palace is on fire, the flames are raging fiercely, the Moon Clear Palace has been reduced to ashes, and the eldest princess and many palace people were unable to escape."

  The king's hand paused for a moment, and a strange light flashed in his cold eyes: "When did this happen?"

  "It was around one o'clock."

  The king remained silent, but he smoothed out the crumpled paper in his hand, read it over, took a new sheet of paper, pondered for a moment, and then a faint smile appeared at the corner of his mouth as he wrote rapidly with his brush.

  After finishing writing, King Hui sealed the envelope with wax and handed it over to Xiao Lizi: "Deliver this letter to the Cold Palace."

  Xiao Li is making a sound, but hears...

  "Give Yuan Wuyou no worries, let the messenger wait in the Taihui Hall for a stick of incense." King Huai said coldly.

  Xiao Li Zi looked up in surprise and then immediately lowered his head respectfully and replied: "Yes."