Logically speaking, Xiao Ling should have asked, "How did you know I was here?"
So Huan Xuan could continue: "If it were me, I would choose this place too."
He had already prepared the answer, but she refused to ask and just looked at him with smiling eyes, as if she knew what he wanted her to ask and what he was going to answer.
Huan Xuan took a sip of tea, put down the cup and asked, "Why did you send me away?"
After waiting for her answer, he suddenly smiled and said, "You are worried about me."
Sui Sui smiled and said, "Yes, I'm worried that you'll be a burden to me."
Huan Xuan raised his eyebrows consciously.
Sui Sui's smile deepened.
Huan Xuan immediately realized that he had been fooled by this liar again: "Really? I think General Xiao seems very happy to see me."
Sui Sui did not refute, and there was no way to refute. Even she herself did not know what to be happy about. The moment she saw that hand, the fleeting joy deceived her.
She just curled the corners of her mouth helplessly. This man was like a lone wolf. Even if he was injured and looked pitiful, he would pounce on you and bite you as long as you were a little soft.
Sui Sui glanced out the window and saw that the huge lantern wheel that rose several feet above the ground had begun to turn slowly, and the crowd burst into thunderous cheers.
She retracted her gaze and asked Huan Xuan, "How many men did you bring with you?"
Huan Xuan said: "Guan Liu brought a hundred people to guard the Qinzheng Office Building, and I followed thirty people."
Sui Sui nodded: "I should have brought your Luan Hai here earlier."
Huan Xuan immediately corrected her: "Your chaotic sea."
Sui Sui finally couldn't help asking him, "How did your knife end up in Luoyang?"
As soon as Huan Xuan thought of the swindling shopkeeper in Luoyang and the swindling jade, he became furious and said with a stern face, "I'm short of money."
Sui Sui took a look at the jade-colored brocade clothes on him and nodded thoughtfully: "You are really short of money. You are wearing the same clothes twice when I saw you."
Huan Xuan finally managed to hold back his anger and said, "It's the same body. Last time it had a cloud crane pattern, this time it has a small nest pattern..."
Before he could finish his words, he caught a glimpse of her smiling at him with her eyelids raised. Huan Xuan knew that she was teasing him again, and immediately pursed his lips tightly.
Sui Sui saw that his face was red with anger, so he chuckled, glanced at the clepsydra, picked up the sand beside the couch and said, "It's almost midnight, let's go."
Huan Xuan then stood up.
The two walked side by side towards the lantern wheel.
The emperor would go up to the lantern tower in front of the Qinzheng Building at the auspicious time of 11:30 pm to release sky lanterns. After releasing the lanterns, he would return to the Qinzheng Building to watch singing and dancing and acrobatics. He would return to the palace after midnight. The prince had only the fleeting opportunity before and after the lantern release to take action.
The Jinwu Army was on guard duty in front of the Qinzheng Tower, with soldiers displaying their weapons and surrounding it in three layers inside and outside. It was so crowded that just bribing the Yingyang Guards would be enough to accomplish the task.
Sui Sui guessed that the prince would find a way to cause a disturbance and fish in troubled waters. He had learned from the lesson of the last autumn hunt and this time the plan was very detailed. Her hands had not been able to find out the detailed plan. She was not sure and did not want to involve Huan Xuan, so she sent him to the south of the city. If things went well, he could at least leave the city to avoid disaster.
Unfortunately, he still saw through it.
Sui Sui turned around and glanced at him, then said with a smile, "Don't hold me back later."
Huan Xuan raised his eyebrows, untied the sword from his waist, and snorted coldly in response.
…
The Qinzhengwu Building was magnificent and brightly lit, with palace maids dressed in brocade and silk holding golden plates and silver cups as they shuttled back and forth between the gauze curtains.
The whole building was filled with burning charcoal and the air was filled with the sweet fragrance of spring, without any sense of the chill of the spring night.
The emperor stood in front of the railing and looked at the lantern wheel and the mountain of lanterns in front of the building.
The lantern wheel is 20 feet high, wrapped in silk and decorated with gold and silver, and hung with lanterns. As the lantern wheel slowly rotates, it emits thousands of rays of light. The lantern mountain is taller than the lantern wheel. The mountain is made of bamboo and wood, covered with green brocade, and decorated with flowers and trees made of silk and satin. A seven-story exquisite pavilion is built on the "mountain", reaching into the sky. Thousands of lanterns illuminate the fairy building like a glazed fairy palace. Golden bells and jade bells are hung on the eaves of each floor, ringing in the wind like the sound of immortals in the sky.
The top floor of the pavilion is not eaves tiles, but a huge seven-treasure lotus sky lantern.
After a long time, he would climb up the "Fairy Mountain" and light the Seven Treasures Lotus Sky Lantern with his own hands, watching it slowly rise into the sky, and praying for the country and people of Dayong.
Facing this magnificent and prosperous scene, even the emperor felt his heart surge with excitement.
There was a sound of footsteps behind him. The emperor turned around and saw that it was the crown prince and the crown princess.
The prince's face was shining with a strange light under the illumination of the lanterns. His eyes were particularly bright tonight, and he was completely different from the nervous look he had before.
He bowed to the emperor and said, "Aye, the auspicious time is almost here. Please help me up the stairs."
The emperor glanced at him and said, "Take good care of the Crown Princess." Then he turned to the eunuch beside him and said, "Help me up the stairs."
The eunuch helped the emperor to walk upstairs. The prince was treated coldly by his father, but he did not show any resentment on his face. He walked cautiously and humbly behind the emperor with his wife, not forgetting to remind him: "The stairs are narrow, watch your step."
At 11:00 p.m., gongs and drums sounded in the tower, and the two heavy doors of the Qinzheng Tower opened abruptly. Guards holding painted flags and feather fans strode out of the doors with their heads held high. Guards wearing golden armor and holding swords and halberds escorted the emperor's sedan chair towards the mountain of lanterns.
The emperor rode in a sedan chair in front of the mountain and, supported by eunuchs, climbed up the mountain along the ladder.
The musicians played "Taiping Music", "Shangyuan Music" and "Pozhenzi". Amid the joyous and exciting music, even the emperor's body, which was suffering from illness, seemed to become lighter and more agile, and his steps became lighter and lighter.
He finally climbed onto the platform at the top of the lantern tower, and the huge lotus sky lantern was behind him.
He stood on the high platform and looked down, and saw a crowd of people, as dense as a colony of ants. He raised his hand to them, and the voices of "Long live" came to him like waves.
The emperor raised his head and looked southward along the lights that looked like a galaxy of stars. His sight seemed to pass through the city walls, thousands of passes, countless undulating mountains, and sink into the depths of the night. He held back his tears, for this was his vast land.
He turned around, took the torch from the eunuch, and lit the "wick".
The flame burned along the wick, igniting the oil pool in the lamp. The flames reflected his red face, and the "lotus petals" made of silk gradually swelled in the heat, and were about to leave the bamboo bracket.
At this moment, the thunderous cheers of "Long Live" suddenly changed their tone.
The eunuch, who was very prudent, could not help but let out a cry of surprise: "The lantern wheel is burning!"
The emperor's face changed and he looked towards the lantern wheel. Sure enough, the bottom of the lantern wheel was burning. The fire spread upwards along the lantern wheel, and the colorful silks were swallowed up bit by bit by the raging flames.
The lotus sky lantern finally left its bracket and rose into the night sky. The golden bells on the lotus petals jingled, but no one saw it and no one could hear it.
Everyone looked at the lantern wheel in horror.
The Qianniu Guards behind the emperor were the last to come to their senses. Even though the lantern wheel was made of bamboo, wood and colorful silk, the fire spread incredibly quickly, which showed that someone had tampered with it.
He shouted, "Protect the emperor to the stairs!" and immediately helped the emperor walk towards the stairs.
When I walked to the second floor, I heard a loud bang and heard someone outside shouting, "The lantern wheel has collapsed!"
The lantern wheel fell towards Daozhengfang, crushing a corner of the wall. The boiling lamp oil splashed everywhere, and the lanterns became the source of fire. Sparks flew everywhere, and the flames spread everywhere along the lamp oil. There happened to be a row of barns storing hay near the wall, which were soon ignited by the fire. The wind fanned the fire, and the neighboring houses were swept into the flames.
Almost all the people in Chang'an gathered near the Qinzheng Tower to watch the lanterns. When they saw the sudden change, they were all panicked.
At this moment, the crowd suddenly burst into shouts: "The murderer is hacking people!"
"They were armed with knives and axes and they chopped down anyone they saw!"
"Blood is all over the floor!"
Everyone was horrified. For a moment, they had no time to distinguish the truth from the false. They just wanted to get away from this place as quickly as possible and fled in all directions.
But the area was already crowded, and everyone was fleeing, instantly crowding the aisle. For a moment, there were exclamations and wailing everywhere. Sometimes people were squeezed to the ground, and even the children got up. The auspicious and peaceful Lantern Festival instantly turned into purgatory.
The crowd turned into a tide, rushing towards every gap.
The twelve guards of the Jinwu Guard had to allocate troops to evacuate the crowd, and the remaining troops had to resist the wave after wave of impact.
The emperor climbed up the mountain of lights in a panic and stumbled forward a few steps. He was immediately surrounded by guards who protected him.
"Send the emperor back to the palace immediately!" the leader of the Qianniu Guards said loudly.
As soon as he finished speaking, he heard an uproar from the crowd, and saw that the wall of guards surrounding the city was broken by the crowd.
The carriage was ready, but the exit was blocked, so they had no choice but to evacuate the people and wait for the storm to subside.
The Qianniu Guard Commander said in horror: "Your Majesty, please go back to the Qinzheng Tower."
The emperor nodded solemnly: "Okay."
As soon as he said this, he heard the guards shouting, "Stop the assassin! Protect the saint, the prince!"
Following this voice, the clanging sounds of swords clashing rose and fell all around.
The emperor's legs were naturally flexible, so he just did what he wanted at this moment. In the critical moment, he also took his dignity into consideration and just let the guards carry him.
But when the guards escorted him back to the building, they found that a group of people had cut off their retreat.
Qianniu Guards recognized their armor and weapons and realized they were from Yingyang Guards.
His heart trembled: "Wu Yue, what do you mean?"
Wu Yue said, "I have come to rescue you."
As he spoke, he swung his sword towards the emperor.