Chapter 49 The Most Audacious Person
On the night of the Lantern Festival, the entire Imperial Street was ablaze with lights, teeming with people. Lanterns of all shapes and sizes hung throughout the street, creating a bright river of lights that stretched as far as the eye could see.
Taking two steps outside, Yun Kui's eyes were immediately drawn to the dazzling array of stalls.
Those rabbit lanterns, sugar paintings, and clay figurines that adults think only children would be interested in were full of novelty and fun for her.
When she was a child, she lived with her uncle and never had a rabbit lantern of her own. If she said "I want one," she would only be met with glares and insults. Even if she just looked at it longingly with an envious expression, her aunt's curses would immediately reach her ears.
She dared not want it, dared not think about it, and even once thought that wanting it was wrong. This fear and cowardice haunted her entire childhood.
She actually felt sorry for the Ninth Prince, probably out of empathy, because her aunt told her that she was also a child born from her mother's adultery, a child who should never have been born, so what right did she have to make demands?
Her aunt said that the family had spent all their money just to support her, and that she had to be sensible and filial. But later she found out that the money had all been gambled away by her cousin. What her aunt meant by being filial and sensible was that she should become the old rich man's concubine to earn a large dowry to pay off her cousin's debts and allow him to marry a beautiful girl in town.
She didn't want to. She wanted to escape, to escape to a place where no one knew her, so that even if she became a beggar on the street, children would still throw her leftover candied hawthorns.
Once she enters the palace, no matter how bad her situation becomes, no one will point fingers and call her a bastard. She can also gradually save up some gold and silver to build a better future.
Seeing that she was staring intently at the sugar painting vendor on the street, the Crown Prince said, "If you want it, buy it. Who knows when you'll be able to leave the palace again?"
Yun Kui slowly came to her senses, "Then I'll buy it?"
The crown prince stared at her slightly reddened eyes and said softly, "Mm."
Yun Kui touched her purse and smiled shyly: "This servant only brought one two-tael gold ingot. Ordinary vendors probably won't be able to make change. What do you think, Your Highness?"
Her little scheme was obvious to him, and the Crown Prince said helplessly, "I am not so stingy as to be stingy with even a sugar painting."
Yun Kui immediately smiled, her eyes crinkling: "Thank you, Your Highness! Would Your Highness like some?"
The prince said, "I will not eat."
Seeing that Qin Ge was about to report something important, Yun Kui went to queue up herself.
Qin Ge bowed to the Crown Prince and whispered in his ear, "I asked the craftsmen who knew about it. The Qiandumen Lighthouse was built with substandard materials and lacked key structural support. The wind is strong on the roof tonight, and the tower will definitely collapse in no more than an hour."
The Crown Prince's expression immediately turned cold: "Have the manpower arrangements been made properly?"
Qin Ge nodded and said, "I have made all the arrangements. In half an hour, the opera will start at Shuijingtai to attract all the people under the lighthouse. The officers and soldiers of the patrol battalion have also been secretly deployed to ensure the safety of the people and avoid casualties."
The Crown Prince said in a deep voice, "You go and keep an eye on it yourself."
Qin Ge immediately accepted the order and went to carry it out.
After Yun Kui finished making the sugar painting, she returned and saw the Crown Prince's cold expression. She couldn't help but step forward and ask, "Your Highness, what happened?"
The crown prince turned his head, "This has nothing to do with you, you..."
Before she could finish speaking, the prince's gaze fell on the sugar painting in her hand. It wasn't the usual flowers, birds, insects, or fish, nor was it a historical figure; rather, it resembled...
Cao Yuanlu looked at the sugar painting, then at his own prince. The nose and the lips were so similar!
"Miss, is this sugar painting of His Highness?"
Yun Kui twirled the sugar painting in her hand, blinked, and said, "I don't know. I asked the stall owner to draw a handsome man for me to eat. He just poured some sugar on it and the sugar figure was formed. Do you think it looks like His Highness?"
After saying that, he even took a bite out of the sugar figurine's head right in front of the prince.
The prince suddenly felt a dull pain in his head.
Cao Yuanlu was speechless; this girl was simply the most audacious person imaginable!
The group strolled along the street. Yun Kui carried a rabbit lantern in her left hand, and after eating a sugar painting and a candied hawthorn, she wanted to buy some melons, fruits, and candied fruits.
Whenever she wanted to buy something, she would first look at the Crown Prince's expression. If he didn't say anything, she would buy it without worry. Before long, Cao Yuanlu and Deshun were carrying bags full of things.
She felt quite embarrassed, so she used her own savings to buy a box of pastries for each of the master and apprentice as a token of her gratitude.
Cao Yuanlu winked at her, and Yun Kui knew that Eunuch Cao wanted her to buy a gift for His Highness the Crown Prince as well.
But what can she buy? His Highness the Crown Prince lacks nothing, and he's picky. He doesn't like the sweets and pastries outside. What can she buy for the Crown Prince with the meager amount in her purse without being disliked?
The prince subtly shifted his gaze from her, his eyes landing on the distant Qiandumen Lighthouse.
The Ministry of Works built the lighthouse every year, but every year they cut corners and used inferior materials. This year, they even used leftover inferior bricks and wood from previous years to get it over with. The officials in the Ministry of Works pocketed the lion's share and then exploited the workers layer by layer, so in the end they could only cut the materials used for the lighthouse and the wages of the craftsmen to the last drop.
The towering lighthouse, hundreds of feet high, exudes an aura of danger, yet the area beneath it is teeming with people, all still immersed in the festive joy of the New Year, completely unaware of the impending disaster.
Yun Kui saw the lighthouse in the distance and excitedly grabbed his arm, "Your Highness, let's go down to the lighthouse and take a look!"
The crown prince stopped her, saying, "Don't go."
Yun Kui stared at him blankly, as if she hadn't seen him with such a cold and ruthless expression in a long time. Even his icy voice gave her a long-lost feeling of unease.
"Was I too presumptuous and made him angry?"
Hearing her thoughts, the Crown Prince was momentarily stunned, then lowered the coldness in his eyes and reached out to take her soft little hand in his. "Let's go see a play."
The man's hot palm enveloped her tightly, and Yun Kui felt her heart pound even harder, especially the places he touched, as if they were about to ignite, with tingling sensations spreading like sparks through her blood.
It wasn't until the sounds of opera from the Water Mirror Terrace reached her that Yun Kui's restless thoughts slowly cleared up.
The touch of his palm was warm and distinct. She tried to pull her fingers back, but he hesitated to let go, his gaze fixed on the couple gazing at each other affectionately on the stage.
Yun Kui didn't think there was anything special about the play at first, until she heard the man on the stage call the woman "Jade Lady" and the weeping woman repeatedly call him "Thank you, my love." She vaguely felt that they looked familiar, and then she heard someone in the crowd shout: "This is the heir of the Marquis of Ningde and the Jade Consort from the palace!"
These words immediately caused an uproar.
"Wasn't the Ningde Marquis's mansion raided because of the ten crimes? Could it be that the Emperor discovered the affair between the Ningde Marquis's heir and Consort Yu?"
"I know that! The Xie family and the Yu family are related by marriage. The young master Xie and Consort Yu were childhood sweethearts. Later, Lord Xie became the emperor's brother-in-law and rose through the ranks, forcing the young master Xie to abandon the Yu family girl and marry another beauty. That's how Consort Yu entered the palace..."
"I don't know if you've heard, but the Ninth Prince is actually the son of the Heir Apparent Xie, and he's currently imprisoned by the Emperor..."
"Don't talk nonsense!"
"How can this be nonsense? The Marquis of Ningde is the emperor's brother-in-law, and his son is a favorite of the emperor. The fact that they are going to confiscate their property overnight shows that this matter is not simple..."
The public was abuzz with discussion, and the poignant, life-and-death scenes of the two lovers on stage quickly attracted a great deal of attention.
Compared to the lighthouse that could be seen every year, people were more interested in the royal secrets that were right in front of them, and people came in twos and threes to join in the fun at the Water Mirror Terrace.
Before long, the Shuijingtai was crowded with people. Many people didn't even know what was going on. They just saw that there were a lot of people and squeezed their way over to join in the fun. The area under the Qiandumen Lighthouse, which should have been the most bustling place on the Imperial Street, was now only occupied by a few people.
Yun Kui was escorted by the Crown Prince to a secluded spot near the Magpie Bridge. Listening to the lyrics being sung on the stage, she couldn't help but feel a little worried.
"Didn't His Majesty seal off Chaoyang Palace on New Year's Eve? How did the news get out of the palace? Someone's already setting up a stage for a play so quickly. Won't everyone know about it after tonight?"
The prince held her hand tightly, but his gaze was fixed on the distance, as if he hadn't heard what she was saying.
Yun Kui followed the Crown Prince's gaze and saw the lighthouse swaying slightly in the wind. For a moment, she thought she was seeing things, but then her face turned deathly pale: "Your Highness, that lighthouse..."
Before he finished speaking, the Crown Prince's eyes narrowed, and he immediately raised his hand to signal the soldiers of the patrol battalion in the shadows to go to Qiandu Gate to evacuate the people.
At this point, shouting and yelling could easily create panic and cause a stampede. Before the lighthouse collapsed, the officers and soldiers could only forcibly drive them away on the grounds that it was not safe to stay under the tower for long.
Once the people dispersed in twos and threes, dozens of soldiers quickly set up a barrier two people high, completely obscuring the area within a ten-zhang radius of the lighthouse.
Before anyone knew what was happening, they heard the majestic and magnificent lighthouse suddenly emit a desolate and piercing creak in the fierce and cold wind high in the sky. Immediately afterward, the sounds of bricks and stones peeling off and wooden beams tearing followed one after another, and the huge dragon and tiger lanterns that entwined the tower swayed precariously in the cold wind.
A terrified, shrill voice suddenly rang out from the crowd: "Is this tower going to collapse? This tower is going to collapse!"
The sound was like a drop of water falling into a boiling oil pan, instantly causing quite a stir.
Looking into the distance, everyone could see the towering lampposts swaying in the wind, with rubble constantly falling from the tower and the supporting beams emitting terrifying tearing sounds.
Before everyone's eyes, the magnificent lighthouse collapsed with a deafening roar! In an instant, it was as if the earth had split open, with flying stones, lanterns, and timber flying everywhere, and the collapsed lighthouse instantly burst into flames.
Exclamations and collisions were inevitable among the crowd, but fortunately most of the broken stones and wood chips were kept out by the barriers, and only a small amount of wood chips and dust flew towards the people watching the play below the Water Mirror Platform.
The patrol officers and soldiers hidden in the shadows immediately went to put out the fire, while the Crown Prince's personal guards were responsible for calming and evacuating the people to prevent them from being trampled and injured.
Yun Kui watched helplessly as the hundred-foot lighthouse collapsed before her eyes. She had only one thought in her mind: if she had insisted on going to play under the lighthouse, she would probably be buried in the ruins by now!
She snapped out of her daze and looked up at the man blocking her way.
De Shun, standing behind her, felt the same way, her heart pounding with fear and lingering unease. Cao Yuanlu knew that the Crown Prince had sent people to keep an eye on the Ministry of Works before the new year, and that His Highness had made preparations for the collapse of the lighthouse today. Fortunately, everything turned out alright.
However, at that moment, more than a dozen men in black, wielding knives, leaped out from the chaotic crowd.
The leader shouted, "The Crown Prince is cruel and inhumane, indiscriminately killing innocent people. Today, we will act on behalf of Heaven to punish this scoundrel and restore order to the world!"
Before Yun Kui could react, she was pulled into the man's warm, firm embrace.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
