Shan Jiangfei breathed a sigh of relief, finally confirming that this mission was not to the point of costing his life.
But when he turned around and saw the expression on the man's face, his heart began to beat fast again.
******************
Less than half an hour later, Xiao Nanhui climbed down from Jixiang's back in the corridor outside the side door of the palace, yawning, and immediately saw a young eunuch standing in the night holding a lamp.
She recognized the other person as the steward named Shan whom she had met when she entered the palace before, and she felt a sense of familiarity in her heart. But for some reason, the other person looked particularly serious and distant today. After the greetings, she had no choice but to remain silent in awkwardness.
Although she played only a supporting role in today's ceremony, she was exhausted. After the previous setbacks, she had wanted to drag Ding Weixiang to investigate the whereabouts of "Zou Sifang." However, around the time of the incident, tens of thousands of people within a hundred miles gathered at the altar and in the city. Even if the military camp was mobilized to investigate one by one, there would be no definitive results in a short time. Weighing the pros and cons, she had no choice but to give up for the time being and hand the tedious task back to Ding Weixiang, only instructing him to inform her if he had any new information.
When she returned to the villa, she was extremely cautious, fearing that Xiao Jun would blame her for getting involved in this mess, but in the end she found that he had not returned to his residence.
Just as she was tossing and turning in bed, someone came from the palace to summon her and asked her to "apologize."
This was the first time Xiao Nan had been summoned in the dead of night to apologize, and she even suspected it was the first time among all the officials in the Tiancheng court had been summoned. Unfortunately, Xiao Zhun wasn't around, so she couldn't even resort to a delaying tactic and could only obediently obey.
Shan Jiangfei hurried ahead, and apart from a few brief greetings when they met, he really didn't say a word more. This made Xiao Nanhui even more worried.
After all, she saved the emperor's life during this ceremony. Could it be that this foolish emperor is still holding a grudge against what happened in Lingxi and is now looking for a reason to silence her?
As he was thinking, he stumbled several times.
No candles were allowed in the palace on the day of the New Year. Occasionally, palace maids and eunuchs walking around would carry a cold lamp made of fireflies in their sleeves for lighting, like a ghost fire, making the surrounding atmosphere even more eerie and ominous.
After turning a few more corners, the surroundings became quieter and the eunuch's footsteps became lighter.
Xiao Nanhui raised his head slightly and found himself standing in front of a huge temple.
Although she had visited many deep mountains and ancient forests, she had rarely been to ancient temples. The only temple she frequented was the small Yongye Temple. The temple before her had a design and form she had never seen before. It certainly didn't look like the style popular in the past hundred years. The deities enshrined there probably weren't Buddha or the Heavenly King or Earthly Mother, but rather some older deity.
The eunuch stood at the entrance and reported to the inside, then signaled her to follow quickly.
As soon as you step into the hall, a warm and dry breath hits you in the face.
In the middle of the hall stood a huge carved copper furnace, with wisps of smoke emanating from the canopy inlaid with warm jade, and the huge belly was filled with red-hot charcoal. The heat emanating from the entire furnace pushed the coldness to the surroundings, carving out a warm area like spring in this huge hall.
Apart from the bronze furnace, the most eye-catching thing in the hall is the statue in the depths. There are about a dozen pitch-black pillars around the statue, each of which requires two or three people to hug. They rise tall and sink into the darkness of the roof, giving people a feeling of extending upwards to no end.
There were still no lights in the hall, save for the faint glow from the charcoal fire and the glazed palace lanterns lining the corridor leading into the hall. The lanterns still glowed coldly, not like ordinary lanterns, but like giant flowers.
The flowers were stacked layer upon layer, with delicate leaves curling gracefully underneath. It looked like some kind of orchid, but the center of the flower was twisting and spinning, like a whirlpool blooming in the darkness.
Flowers like this don't seem likely to appear in the real world. But why... do they look familiar?
Xiao Nanhui walked forward, gazing at the palace lanterns intently, and didn't notice that the eunuch had stopped ten steps behind him.
"General You like this palace lantern?"
The emperor's voice suddenly rang out in the darkness. Xiao Nanhui was startled and looked around before he saw the man sitting under the statue.
He was still wearing the black robes he wore for sacrifices during the day, and he almost blended in with the darkness around him.
It is rumored that the emperor dislikes light. She didn't realize it before, but now she has seen it for herself.
The previous guess came to his mind again, and Xiao Nanhui felt uneasy. He groped around on the ground and knelt down to pay his respects.
"Your Majesty..." She started to speak, but suddenly remembered that she was here to apologize, and quickly changed her words, "Your Majesty, your Majesty, is here to apologize. I hope Your Majesty will be magnanimous and show some mercy."
After a long time, the voice sounded again.
"Oh? What crime have you committed?"
Xiao Nanhui just felt a lump in his head.
That's not right! Didn't you ask me to come here? Haven't you figured out what crime you've committed?!
Poor woman, she hadn't asked the eunuch just now out of pride, and now she could only rack her brains, thinking hard, fearing she might accidentally step on the tiger's tail: "This, this... I acted rudely at the ceremony, broke the rules, and even lost the assassin. I have truly betrayed Your Majesty's trust."
There were a few crisp "clang" sounds.
Xiao Nanhui also shuddered.
A few pieces of broken jade were thrown in front of her, vaguely resembling the Ban sword that she had thrown out to hit the Liber bell.
"How dare you smash the things I gave you? What's your crime?"
Xiao Nanhui is another joke.
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