The Prince of Jinnan was not in the palace. At this critical moment, Chen Qi's assassination was like a knife hanging over his head, and he was worried about who was behind it. He was delayed in the morning by something, and after lunch, he wanted to go to the Prince of Pinghuai's palace. However, the snowstorm was so terrible that it stopped him in the palace. Finally, when the snow stopped, he took a carriage out of the palace.
The carriage stopped in front of the main gate of Prince Pinghuai's mansion. Prince Jinnan got off the carriage and watched the gate of Prince Pinghuai's mansion open. There were some sedan chairs parked in front of the gate. I guess many people came to visit Chen Qi. There were more guards around Prince Pinghuai's mansion than before.
When the steward of Prince Pinghuai saw Prince Jinnan, he hurried over to greet him.
"Your Highness!" Wang Jiang chased after him from behind, panting.
When the King of Jinnan saw the servant beside Chen Anzhi, he asked unhappily, "Why are you here?"
"I have something important to report, which concerns the life and safety of the princess!"
King Jinnan's face changed, and he quickly walked to one side, warning coldly as he walked: "You'd better be careful with your mouth and your head!"
The steward of Prince Pinghuai's mansion only heard these two sentences. Prince Jinnan walked away to talk to Wangjiang, and he could no longer hear anything. He only saw the young servant kneeling down in front of Prince Jinnan.
"The eldest son is plotting to murder the princess' unborn baby and the crown prince. Your Highness, please return home as soon as possible to take charge of the matter!" Wang Jiang said urgently.
King Jinnan was stunned. The image of his eldest son Chen Shunzhi, who was well behaved, appeared before his eyes. He naturally did not believe Wangjiang's words and kicked Wangjiang on the shoulder: "How dare you!"
Wang Jiang did not dare to hide. His body was kicked and fell backwards. He endured the pain in his shoulder, knelt down again, and continued: "Every word I said is true! The eldest son should have set the fire by now, please return home immediately!"
King Jinnan still didn't believe Wangjiang's words. Shunzhi had always been an honest kid, so why would he suddenly act like this? He grabbed Wangjiang by the collar and lifted him up, angrily saying, "What's going on? Tell me right now!"
"I heard with my own ears that the eldest son was plotting with Youshi. Youshi hated the prince, and the eldest son wanted the prince's position. The two of them conspired to burn the princess and the prince to death!"
King Jinnan turned around and left, quickly jumped onto the carriage, and ordered the horses to gallop back to the palace.
Wang Jiang was still kneeling there, his head lowered and motionless.
When Fang Qingyi found him, he hesitated for a long time. But if Chen Anzhi died, Chun Xing would be free. Wang Jiang knew that if the matter was exposed, he would die without a burial place, but he was just a useless servant and had no other way to save her.
Wang Jiang pulled up the corners of his mouth and smiled with difficulty.
Even if there was great danger, as long as there was a slight possibility of saving her from suffering, he was willing to take the risk.
What's more, Fang Qingyi knew about his affair with Chun Xing, and she forced him to do something for her, otherwise she would tell Chen Anzhi about his affair with Chun Xing.
It's not a pity for him to die, but her reputation cannot be damaged. She will die...
Fang Qingyi needed a scapegoat. You Yuji didn't have such a deep motive, but Chen Shunzhi did. Chen Shunzhi was not favored to begin with, and the King of Jinnan would definitely punish him severely in his rage, and he might even kill him in anger. Even if he was spared, it would be enough to make him fall into an irreparable situation.
The Jinnan King was a man who cared about his reputation. Even if he believed that Chen Shunzhi was responsible, he would suppress the incident for the sake of the Jinnan King's Mansion's reputation and declare it an accidental fire. Of course, You Yuji was a reason Fang Qingyi gave to the Jinnan King. Didn't he want to divorce the You family? He could take the opportunity to push the blame onto You Yuji and get rid of her.
Look, how much she cares about the reputation of the Jinnan Palace. She is such a qualified hostess.
Fang Qingyi laughed loudly while standing in the sea of fire. The flames were blazing all around her, but she felt as if she was in an ice cave, and she felt cold from the inside out. Her blood-stained hands were especially cold, and they were almost frozen.
She laughed and then tears started falling.
"Why, why..." Chen Anzhi covered his abdomen which was bleeding profusely and stared at Fang Qingyi in disbelief.
Is the person in front of me really Fang Qingyi
Is she really the gentle, considerate cousin who truly treats him and gives everything for him? Those sweet and warm days and nights seem to be still in front of him. Why did she become like this? Is she possessed by some evil spirit
Chen Anzhi couldn't believe it.
The drug made Chen Anzhi weak and dull, and the huge blow made him unable to even tell where he was.
Fang Qingyi lowered her head, tears falling on her blood-stained hands. Her hands trembled, and the dagger she was holding fell. In order to get rid of her status as a concubine, she had done everything.
There was no turning back for her!
No, I can't leave the dagger here. She picked up the dagger and hid it in her sleeve again, and the blood stained her white sleeves.
The lantern that had fallen from the rafters was still burning.
Fang Qingyi stared at the burning red lantern, with crazy flames in her eyes. She picked up the lantern and threw it at the princess.
The princess was doused with wine, and the burning lantern fell on her back and then fell to the ground, but the moment of collision was enough to instantly set her body on fire.
"Mother!" The devastated Chen Anzhi finally reacted. He rushed towards his mother with his remaining strength and tried hard to put out the fire on her body.
Fang Qingyi shuddered and closed her eyes, not daring to look.
But even if she closed her eyes, she could still see her aunt's gentle smile towards her. Reason told her that she couldn't stay here any longer, so she turned around and ran into the inner room.
In the inner room, there is an inconspicuous back door.
In the evening, a fire broke out in the palace and was soon discovered. The servants rushed to put out the fire. However, Fang Qingyi had doused the fire with flammable wine in advance, which made the fire more fierce, the heat wave burned the sky, and it was terrifying.
Chen Shunzhi also got the news quickly. Hearing that the princess was also in Anxiang Courtyard, he took his coat and hurried over. When he arrived at Anxiang Courtyard, he realized that not only was the princess there to celebrate Fang Qingyi's birthday, but Chen Anzhi and Chen Lingyan were also there.
The firefighters were noisy.
Chen Shunzhi stared at the sea of fire in front of him.
His wife, Lin, also hurried over. Seeing the huge fire, she was also shocked. Her face turned pale and she subconsciously took a step back. She calmed herself down and turned to look at Chen Shunzhi.
Chen Shunzhi looked at the sea of fire in front of him and thought a lot in an instant. If the princess and the prince were both buried in the sea of fire, then he...
Chen Shunzhi's hand hanging by his side trembled.
Although there was a lot of noise in his ears, his heart suddenly became quiet at this moment, as if he was the only one in the world.
Although the princess was not close to him, she never treated him harshly in terms of food, clothing and daily expenses. She allowed him to study and take over some of the farm businesses in the palace. When he was sick as a child, the princess would come to see him in person, invite doctors for him, and bring him candies...
He thought of Chen Anzhi again.
His younger brother is only two years younger than him. Although they don’t spend much time together when they grow up, they climbed trees and fought crickets together when they were young... Although he always took the blame when his younger brother made a mistake... He knew from a young age that his younger brother had a different status from him, and his younger brother did often act superior, but Chen Anzhi was his younger brother, a blood brother!
And there is Lingyan.
He recalled the time when he was very young, standing in front of the cradle and looking at the sleeping baby. The princess said gently, "Shunzhi will have a younger sister from now on."
Chen Shunzhi closed his eyes, and all the storms in his eyes stopped in an instant.
Chen Shunzhi pushed away the huge temptation.
A servant who was putting out the fire passed by Chen Shunzhi carrying a bucket of water. Chen Shunzhi snatched the bucket from his hand, poured the water over himself, and then rushed into the fire to save people.
Lin took a long breath, her eyes moistened, she quickly suppressed the moisture in her eyes. The next moment, she looked at Chen Shunzhi rushing into the sea of fire, and her heart tightened again, worrying about Chen Shunzhi's safety. She hurriedly directed the servants in the mansion to put out the fire.
Before You Yuji arrived, she had already seen the sea of fire from afar.
She stood in front of the Anxiang Courtyard, looking at the sea of fire, frowning. She suspected that this was not an accident at all. During the Chinese New Year, people like to set off fireworks and firecrackers, and fires occasionally occur, but how could it burn so badly in such a short time
The two maids beside the princess fell to the ground and cried.
You Yuji learned from their intermittent sobbing that the fire broke out after they followed Fang Qingyi's maid to the kitchen to help.
In other words, Fang Qingyi is also in there
If the fire was not an accident but man-made, Fang Qingyi should have left herself a way out.
You Yuji turned around immediately and walked quickly to the back door. The mansions of the royal palace usually have back doors, but in winter, in order to keep out the cold, the back doors will be built with bricks and stones outside the door to prevent the cold, and will be opened in spring.
The way to the back door of Fang Qingyi's residence in Anxiangyuan was not easy to walk. You Yuji walked forward with one foot deep and one foot shallow in the thick snow between the cracks of the wall. The snow was almost up to her knees.
She finally made it around to the back door.
Sure enough, the wall behind Fang Qingyi's residence had been demolished long ago. However, You Yuji didn't care and looked at Si Que in surprise, who shouldn't be here.
"You..." You Yuji was extremely surprised.
"Why did you come here just now?" Si Que said lazily, flipping a copper coin between his fingers.
Fang Qingyi left herself a way out by pouring flammable alcohol on the other sides of the house except this one.
In winter, the back door was built with a wall, and the firefighters outside thought the fire was just an accident. Besides, the back door of Fang Qingyi's house faced the rockery, and there was only a narrow path passing through. The firefighters didn't think of rushing over to tear down the wall before breaking in to put out the fire.
You Yuji rushed to the back door, looked inside, and asked anxiously: "Why are you here?"
Si Que did not answer, but bent down and brushed the snow off You Yuzhi's knees.
You Yuji gently pushed Si Que and said, "Go and call someone over!"
After saying that, she picked up the snow on the ground and rubbed it on her clothes quickly, then rushed into the house through the back door.
Si Que looked at You Yuji's back in surprise and frowned. He had no relatives or friends, and he was not very friendly to her, so why would he go in and save her? It was really incomprehensible to a person with such bad behavior like him. If he rescued someone, it must be because the coin he tossed landed on the front side.
Thinking about this, Si Que casually threw a copper coin. The copper coin fell to the ground, landing in the snow. Si Que frowned, too lazy to bend down to brush the snow to see whether the copper coin was right side up or wrong side up, and walked along the path to call for help to put out the fire.
The room was already very hot. The inner room was better. When You Yuji pushed open the door and looked out, the outer room was already a sea of fire. She looked around the room and vaguely saw a few people lying on the table across the sea of fire. She hesitated for a moment, carefully avoiding the flames burning everywhere, and went forward.
Because she couldn't get pregnant, she envied others who got pregnant. She was even more soft-hearted towards pregnant women.
The burning pain on her back briefly woke the princess up from her coma. She opened her eyes in pain and looked at the raging sea of fire in fear. Her vision was blurred by the fire, and she vaguely saw You Yuji's figure appear in the sea of fire, holding something to wave away the raging flames, walking towards her like a god descending from the sky.
The princess' eyelids became heavier and heavier, and she closed her eyes again.
You Yuji struggled to get to the square table. The fire was so big that she only had time to see Chen Anzhi lying on the princess' back. Both of them smelled like they were burning. She tried to push Chen Anzhi away, but he was very hot.
She finally saw the princess' back clearly and couldn't help but gasp. Without thinking too much, she hurriedly picked up the princess with great effort.
"Mother! Anzhi! Lingyan..." Chen Shunzhi's hair was burnt and he kept shouting.
The author has something to say: The second update will be after 12 o'clock, please read it when you wake up~