In the evening, Prince Nanzhao and Song Huai returned to the palace and set up a banquet to invite Zhao Jingyu and Xie Nanjia to dinner.
The banquet was somewhat deserted without a hostess, but fortunately Song Huai was in a good mood. During the meal, he talked to the two about what he had seen and heard today. His attitude was as gentle and polite as before, and there was no sign of anything unusual.
King Nanzhao was also in high spirits, and did not seem to feel sad or regretful about the absence of his family.
Xie Nanjia and Zhao Jingyu did not show any abnormality and were very relaxed throughout. They congratulated Song Huai on his new identity, but did not mention a word about his previous frustration of not eating or drinking.
Now is the time to compete in acting skills. Whoever loses patience first will be exposed.
The meal ended happily in the harmonious atmosphere that everyone deliberately pretended to be. After seeing off the guests, the King of Nanzhao and his son, who had worked hard all day, washed up and rested early.
In order not to arouse suspicion, Xie Nanjia and Zhao Jingyu did not talk privately anymore and returned to their respective residences.
The night gradually became quiet, there were no stars or moon, and everything was silent.
At three o'clock in the morning, a fire suddenly broke out in Fengming Hall. The fire spread very quickly. In a short while, it spread from the main hall to the side hall, and soon to the back hall.
The sleeping people were awakened and ran around shouting, trying to put out the fire and save people.
Song Huai drank a lot of wine at the dinner and slept very soundly. The guards risked their lives to carry him out of the room and poured water on him to put out the fire on his body. Only then did he slowly wake up.
Seeing the flames rising to the sky, he was stunned for a long while before he stood up suddenly, grabbed the guard by the collar and shouted, "What's going on? Why did the fire start? Where are Miss Xiu'er and Mr. Zhao?"
The guard was stunned for a moment, and seemed to have just remembered the two guests. His eyes wandered and he said, "Your Highness, the cause of the fire is still uncertain. Miss Xiu'er and Mr. Zhao seem to be still in the back hall..."
“…” Song Huai opened his mouth and staggered towards the back hall.
"Your Highness, what are you doing?" the guard stopped him and asked.
Servants carrying buckets of water ran past them in groups. Song Huai snatched the bucket from one of them and poured it over himself: "What else can we do? Hurry up and bring the others with me to the back hall to rescue people!"
"No, Your Highness. The back hall is already on fire. It's too dangerous to go there now." The guards held him tightly and wouldn't let him go.
"Stupid!" Song Huai shouted, "Do you know who those two are? If anything goes wrong with them, none of us will be safe!"
"That won't work either. My duty is to protect Your Highness. I can't let you take any risks." The guard said in a very firm tone.
Song Huai was extremely anxious. He drew out the sword from the guard's waist with a clang and pointed the tip of the sword at him: "Human life is at stake, don't you know? If you don't let go, I will chop you off!"
The guard looked at him with a fearless look on his face and refused to let go no matter what.
Of course Song Huai couldn't really chop him down, and he was sweating profusely in anxiety.
"The prince is coming, the prince is coming..." someone shouted.
Prince Nanzhao hurried over, but before he even got close, he heard a voice: "Where is the prince? Where is he? Has he been rescued?"
The servant pointed out to him: "The prince has been rescued, but he kept clamoring to go to the back hall to rescue the second young master Zhao and Miss Xiu'er. But the back hall is now a sea of fire. Not to mention people, even birds can't fly over."
King Nanzhao breathed a sigh of relief, strode to Song Huai, snatched his knife, and rebuked him: "Now is not the time to act out of loyalty. Even if you want to save someone, you don't have to go into battle yourself. Have you thought about the consequences of doing so?"
Song Huai was so anxious that tears came out: "Father, the Second Young Master and Xiu'er are my best friends. I can't just ignore them. If anything happens to them, I won't be able to live!"
"Shut up!" King Nanzhao raised his hand and slapped him. "You are still my father's last hope. For the sake of your friends, do you even ignore your own father?"
“…” Song Huai stood there with his face covered, tears streaming down his face uncontrollably.
King Nanzhao sighed and consoled him, "My father is more concerned about the safety of the second young master Zhao than you are. You should go to a safe place with the guards and wait. My father will send someone to the back hall to rescue them."
Song Huai had no choice but to follow the guards out of Fengming Palace, looking back every few steps.
The flames shot up into the sky and illuminated half the sky. The fire-fighting team in the city received the alarm and all members rushed to the palace to put out the fire.
The people around were alarmed and came to help.
It was not until dawn that the sudden fire was finally put out. The magnificent and exquisite palace was burned beyond recognition overnight.
Song Huai's eyes were red from staying up all night, but in the end he never got the news that Xie Nanjia and Zhao Jingyu were out of danger. King Nanzhao told him regretfully that they could only go in to search for their bodies after the fire was completely extinguished.
Song Huai couldn't accept the "corpse" theory. With red eyes, he screamed at his father: "Impossible, they won't die. They are not ordinary people. They are chosen by fate and blessed by God. How could they die like this? I don't believe it, I don't believe it!"
"The chosen ones are also human, and the true dragon emperor will die. No matter what, they are still flesh and blood. How could they not die in such a big fire that burned for half the night?" King Nanzhao ignored his unreasonableness and forcibly took him into his study. After closing the door, King Nanzhao breathed a sigh of relief, "Son, we succeeded!"
"..." Song Huai paused, slowly putting away his sad expression, "Is this... successful?"
The father and son looked at each other and smiled knowingly.
King Nanzhao stretched out his hands and patted Song Huai on the shoulders twice: "Good son, father was right about you, you are indeed father's most promising son!"
"Shouldn't the most promising one be my eldest brother?" Song Huai said with a smile, "I'm just more obedient than him."
"You little brat!" King Nanzhao tapped his forehead. "Father likes obedient children. Not only are you obedient, you are also smarter than your elder brother. Otherwise, Father would not have given you this important task."
"But father, Zhao Jingyu died here with us. What if the emperor asks us for punishment?" Song Huai asked.
"What are you afraid of? Have you forgotten what your father told you before?" King Nanzhao said, "This is not our fault. It was Madam Wu who conspired with Song Ze to plot against you. After the conspiracy was exposed, she knew that she and her son would not be able to escape death, so she held a grudge and sneaked out of the dungeon and set fire to Fengming Palace.
The Second Young Master and Miss Xiu'er were unfortunately caught in the disaster. Even if the Emperor wants to hold someone accountable, he will hold Madam Wu accountable. At most, he will punish your father for lax supervision. But as a victim, you are completely innocent, and you and the Second Young Master and Miss Xiu'er are best friends. The Emperor loves you and will not vent his anger on you.
When the emperor's anger subsides in a while, the ministers will urge him to adopt a son. The King of Wei is finished. The King of Dongshan had only one clever son, but he was killed by the King of Wei. The King of Jin's sons are all idiots, and your two brothers are not worth anything. After all the calculations, aren't you the only one left?"
Song Huai was silent for a moment, then smiled from the bottom of his heart.
His most beloved father, the king, is such an old fox!
The princess said that everyone in the palace was living with a mask on. He thought that his father was not like that. His father simply changed his face. Even if you scraped it with a knife, you would not be able to find a single flaw.
Ever since he learned that Zhao Jingyu's guards had secretly come to Nanzhao, he has been uneasy. He always felt that Zhao Jingyu's purpose of coming to Nanzhao was not so simple. And what was Xie Nanfeng's intention in doing, as he was protecting Xiu'er and brought such an elite guard team to Nanzhao
So, after weighing the pros and cons again and again, he decided that no matter what the other party's purpose was, he had to strike first to avoid any further complications.
Now, his only regret was Xiu'er.
Since he was a child, Xiu'er is the only girl who has made his heart beat faster. She is also his savior. Conscience wise, he really shouldn't repay kindness with enmity.
But Xiu'er was too smart. If all of them were fine and only Zhao Jingyu was burned to death, with Xiu'er's intelligence, she would be able to quickly guess what happened.
So he would rather lose a beloved girl than take this risk.
After all, he is a man who is going to rise to a high position. For him, love is just the icing on the cake. It is good to have it, but it doesn't matter if he doesn't have it.
A loner is lonely, isn't he
The father and son rested for a while in the study, drank some water, and then returned to Fengming Palace to direct everyone to search for the bodies of Mr. Zhao and Miss Xiu'er.
However, after searching the front and back halls, they found nothing except the bodies of a few servants.
The father and son, who had seemed certain of victory, suddenly panicked.
"That's not right, father!" Song Huai was the first to come to his senses. "This fire has already spread throughout the city. Xie Nanfeng usually cares so much about Xiu'er, why didn't he come over to ask about it?"
After his reminder, King Nanzhao suddenly realized that something was wrong. His face changed drastically and he called his confidants to give orders to quickly close the four city gates and put all roads outside the city leading to the capital under martial law. He also dispatched personnel to search for Xie Nanfeng and his guards.
If Xiu'er and Zhao Jingyu were not burned to ashes, they must have escaped under Xie Nanfeng's protection.
(End of this chapter)