If not abolished

Chapter 221: On Fire (1)

"I have come here as you said. What should I do now?" Wu Yingyue's voice was trembling with nervousness. It was already midnight and the entire East Palace was silent.

"Wait a minute, the protagonist hasn't arrived yet. You can just hide next to Concubine Guo's palace first." The system replied.

Wu Yingyue obeyed and walked to Concubine Guo's palace, found a corner, and hid there quietly. In order to avoid being discovered, she had to squat there.

After waiting for a long time, her legs were almost numb, and she vaguely saw a figure swaying. Wu Yingyue stood up immediately, and the system reminded her: "Someone is coming, but wait a little longer, it's not the right time yet."

After listening to this, Wu Yingyue immediately stood up. She had been squatting for too long and had hypoglycemia. She quickly held onto the wall and shook her head before she recovered.

Wu Yingyue walked behind a pillar, wanting to see who it was.

She only saw a back figure, and it was not clear. From the looks of her clothes, it seemed that she was a woman, but her attire did not look like that of a palace maid or a female official. Who could she be?

Wu Yingyue asked without hesitation: "Who is this person? What does she want to do?"

"You also know this person, and you are very familiar with her... As for what she is going to do, you will know it soon..." Just as the system finished saying this, the woman finally turned her head, and Wu Yingyue finally saw her clearly.

"How could it be...how did she get out?" Wu Yingyue looked carefully at the person who came and found out that it was Qingluan who was locked up in the side yard.

"What's so strange about this? Even though she's locked up, who would really keep a close eye on her? Besides, it's the middle of the night now, so it wouldn't be that difficult for her to sneak out. As for what she wants to do, isn't it obvious?"

Wu Yingyue saw it clearly now. Qingluan took something out of her arms and opened it to reveal a flash of fire. Wu Yingyue immediately realized that it was a fire starter. She wanted to set fire...

"Do you want me to stop her from setting fire?" Wu Yingyue thought the system was asking her to stop the arson.

"That's not the case. She wants to light the fire, so she can do it. Once she does, you will have a chance."

"Opportunity, what opportunity?" Wu Yingyue hadn't reacted yet.

The system was almost speechless. How could there be such a stupid host? "The person living in here is the prince's former favorite concubine, Concubine Guo. If you save her later, can't you leave the laundry room?"

"That's true, but Concubine Guo has fallen out of favor. Will our method be effective?" Wu Yingyue also knew Concubine Guo's current situation.

"The Crown Prince is just too embarrassed to lose face now. He still has Concubine Guo in his heart. If something really happens to Concubine Guo, His Royal Highness the Crown Prince will still feel distressed, so it will be easy for him to regain her favor." The system explained to her one by one.

"Then should I follow her?" Wu Yingyue asked.

"Let's not do it. What if she finds out?"

"That's true." Wu Yingyue nodded in agreement.

Wu Yingyue could only wait quietly, but after waiting for a long time, there was no movement inside, which made her feel confused.

Wu Yingyue was getting anxious, "Why is there no movement? Could they have been discovered?"

"This shouldn't happen? Why don't we go in and take a look?" The system didn't know what was going on, so it could only suggest.

Just when Wu Yingyue and the others were about to go in to find out what was going on.

Qingyun Palace

"No, no, put it down... put it down..." Hu Shanxiang kept mumbling as if she had had a nightmare.

After a while, Hu Shanxiang suddenly woke up, half got up, and looked at Zhu Zhanji sleeping next to her in the moonlight. Normally, Hu Shanxiang should have slept on the outside, but since she became pregnant, Zhu Zhanji would not let her sleep on the outside, for fear that she would not sleep well and fall accidentally.

Now Hu Shanxiang suddenly woke up and felt a little thirsty. She wanted to get a glass of water, but this would inevitably wake up Zhu Zhanji. Just when Hu Shanxiang was struggling to figure out what to do, Zhu Zhanji suddenly moved. He habitually reached out to touch someone, but didn't touch anyone. He was startled and immediately opened his eyes and sat up in shock.

"Shanxiang..." Zhu Zhanji then saw Hu Shanxiang sitting up, "What's wrong? Are you feeling unwell?" Seeing that she didn't say anything, Zhu Zhanji was afraid that something had happened.

"No, Your Highness, I'm just a little thirsty, and I wanted to get a glass of water, but it's not convenient for me to go out, and I'm afraid of waking you up..." Hu Shanxiang might be pregnant, and she couldn't control her emotions, and she sounded aggrieved as she spoke.

"This... please stop crying. It's my fault. Next time you're thirsty, don't worry about me. Just kick me up. I'll go get you some water." Zhu Zhanji said as he went down in the dark to get some water.

Because it was too dark, he didn't notice that it was full, and hurriedly brought it to Hu Shanxiang.

Hu Shanxiang was indeed thirsty, so she drank the drink right away.

"Don't be anxious, take it slow, do you want more?" Zhu Zhanji asked.

"That's enough. Thank you, Your Highness." Hu Shanxiang drank the water and felt much better.

"What's there to thank me for? You're having a hard time now, and I can't bear it for you. I'm just helping you do what I can." Zhu Zhanji felt so distressed when he saw that she had recently started having morning sickness. He even wanted Hu Shanxiang to not have any more children after this one.

“That’s how pregnancy is.”

"Can you fall asleep now?" Zhu Zhanji saw that her eyes were clear and was afraid that she would not be able to fall asleep for a while.

"I can't seem to fall asleep." This couldn't be blamed on Hu Shanxiang. She slept a lot during the day, and if she woke up for a while at night, she couldn't fall asleep. "Your Highness, don't worry about me. You have to go to court tomorrow. You should get some rest."

"It's okay, I'll accompany you. Let them prepare tea next time. This way, if you are thirsty in the middle of the night, you can't drink cold water." Zhu Zhanji thought that if there is such a situation in the future, he must be prepared to deal with it. Today was really rushed.

"Today is a special case. It's not like this usually. I don't know if it's because I dreamed of someone lighting a fire that made me thirsty." After Hu Shanxiang came to her senses, she carefully recalled the dream she had just had.

"Light the fire. Why would I have such a dream out of the blue?" Zhu Zhanji felt it was magical when he heard her say that.

"I don't know either. It was so real, as if it really happened. In the dream, I kept persuading her not to set the fire. She was about to put out the fire, but I don't know what happened. It seemed like there was someone else there, and I couldn't see clearly. Later, the fire still started, and then I woke up." Hu Shanxiang didn't know why she had such a dream.

Zhu Zhanji hugged her and comforted her, "Don't be afraid, it's all a dream, it's not real, okay."

"Ah."

Just as the two were hugging each other to comfort each other, they suddenly heard someone shouting, "There's a fire! There's a fire! Help!..."

"Did you hear it? I seemed to hear it..." Hu Shanxiang suddenly raised her head from Zhu Zhanji's arms.

"I heard you. You stay here first and don't move. I'll go out and take a look." Zhu Zhanji put on a coat and went out.

Several palaces were awakened and the lights in each room were lit up.

Lingzhi and the others were also woken up and immediately came in to light the lamp. "Don't be afraid, Concubine Crown Prince. The fire is coming from Concubine Guo's residence in front. It's still far from here. His Highness has gone out to check the situation. Let the servants accompany you."

"How could there be water in Concubine Guo's residence out of the blue? This isn't a dry season when water is most likely to appear," Hu Shanxiang was puzzled. Moreover, she just happened to have a dream about a fire, and then a fire really happened. It was too coincidental.

"It's late at night, maybe someone accidentally knocked over the candlestick or something. What if it was an accident?" Yan Nan guessed.

"That's true." This reminded Hu Shanxiang of the fire that happened when she deliberately knocked over a candlestick. She remembered reading a book before, which said that fires were very easy to occur in the palace, and many of them were man-made. If there were things they didn't want the people above them to know, setting a fire was the easiest way. The three main halls had caught fire several times.

I just don’t know whether this time was an accident or man-made. Hu Shanxiang didn’t know what happened before, and now she can’t sleep. Zhu Zhanji hasn’t come back yet.

Lingzhi and the others advised her to rest, "Princess Crown Prince, you are still pregnant. Rest first."

Hu Shanxiang shook her head, "I'm not sleepy, don't worry, I'll wait for His Highness to come back."

Zhu Zhanji didn't dare to stay outside for long, for fear that Hu Shanxiang would miss him, so he came back after a while.

"Shanxiang."

"Your Highness, what's the situation outside?"

"The fire has been brought under control. Don't worry. Concubine Guo has also been rescued."

"That's good."