Zhang You, Cui Liu and Qiao Si changed their clothes first and smeared dust on their faces as a precaution. They disguised themselves as secret guards and, under the pretext of leaving the house to report to Li Guanghan, they ran out of the house openly without anyone noticing or stopping them.
Jingzhu Qiuyue casually changed the clothes of Qiao Si and the other two women on the three unlucky secret guards, and then threw them out from the back window on the west side of the house. There was no fire or smoke there, so there would be no harm to their lives. They just had to wait for the firefighters in the mansion to find them.
Given Qiuyue's personality, she didn't really want to leave them alive. When Qiao Si first formulated this plan, she suggested wiping them out completely to prevent them from doing anything bad.
But they are innocent after all.
Qiao Si and Zhang You didn't want to kill anyone in vain, so they just knocked them out and threw them in a safe place to confuse the audience.
That way, even if they discovered Qiao Si had escaped, they would have to wait until the fire was put out before they could find them. By then, they would have already set out on their way to Haizhou.
Jingzhu and Qiuyue were both skilled in martial arts and had impressive martial arts skills, so they easily escaped during the chaos. After settling matters here, they left and headed for the agreed location at the South City Gate.
Jiang Xiaorao had already prepared carriages and luggage for them, a secret that no one knew about. The three groups, keeping their time, rode out of the capital before the city gates closed.
By the time Li Guanghan learned of the late-arriving news, Qiao Si and the others had already fled the palace.
By the time Li Guanghan hurried back to Prince Han's mansion, Qiao Si and the others had already departed in their carriages. The fire inside the mansion was raging, and there was a cacophony of voices as people frantically tried to put it out. Li Guanghan stood outside the courtyard, watching the servants frantically rushing to and fro to put out the blaze. The glaring flames echoed with billowing white smoke, evoking long-forgotten memories.
The first moment he heard the news, he was indeed worried about Qiao Si's safety. After rushing back, he looked at the yard that had been burned beyond recognition, his nose filled with the strong smell of fireworks. He couldn't help but recall the figure of Yao Yusu trapped in the sea of fire.
Fear, panic, despair.
Filled with hatred, he just stood quietly at the door, without making any move to save anyone.
Why save?
Do you want to rescue him?
If he was indeed worried about Qiao Si at the beginning, now, he only felt secretly happy in his heart. Killing someone means paying with one's life. She was not the instigator, but she also indirectly caused all these tragedies and deserved to die as well.
This was an accident.
Even if Qiao Si died here, no one would blame him.
But the remaining guilt in his heart made him feel insidious.
She had clearly promised them that she would protect Qiao Si, but she deliberately did not save her and left her alone and helpless.
"Your Majesty! Your Majesty! Your Majesty!!!"
Jinlu called out to Li Guanghan loudly and urgently, his hands trembling slightly with his anxious concern. He held Li Guanghan's forearm with such great force that it awakened Li Guanghan, who was lost in thought.
After Jinlu heard the news, he rushed back to the palace. He eagerly looked for Xia He in the crowd, but could not find anyone around Qiao Si. His heart was beating rapidly because of intense fear.
Jinlu pulled a firefighter over and asked him about the fire. From the scattered words, he pieced together the cause of the fire and guessed that Xia He had met with an accident. He rushed in in disbelief to look for someone.
After searching around but finding nothing, Jinlu was pulled out by Jinfu and saw Li Guanghan staring at the sea of fire with an expressionless face, unmoved. Jinlu shuddered inexplicably, feeling as if he had fallen into an icy cave.
He looked like this when he first learned that Qiao San and Young Marquis Lu had unfortunately disappeared after leading the enemy away.
Jinlu didn't want to think about Li Guanghan's plans. He just wanted Xia He to be fine. He ignored the hierarchy and quickly stepped forward, grabbed Li Guanghan's arm and asked him to move.
The shouts finally aroused his sanity.
Li Guanghan looked deeply into Jinlu's eyes. In those eyes, there was a reflection of an indifferent person - it was himself.
Under the dancing flames, there was his figure watching indifferently.
The reflection in Jinlu's eyes hurt Li Guanghan.
Since when did he become so cold-blooded and heartless?
Li Guanghan suddenly withdrew his gaze and hurriedly ordered people to put out the fire. Under his calm arrangement, the efficiency of firefighting was improved and soon someone carried three people out.
Looking at their clothes, he thought they were Qiao Si, Jing Zhu and Qiu Yue. It was not until Li Guanghan squatted down and took a closer look that he realized they were his secret guards.
Li Guanghan didn't know whether he was surprised or happy, and he couldn't explain his feelings.
Jinlu noticed something strange and asked, "What? How could this happen? Aren't these the secret guards arranged by the prince? They are here, but where are the princess and the others?"
"Wake up! Wake up! Tell me, what's going on? Where is the princess? Where are her maids?"
Jinlu grabbed the bucket of water from a passerby who was putting out the fire and poured it all over them, waking them up completely. Jinlu couldn't wait to grab one of them by the collar and ask what happened.
"What? Here... Your Majesty?"
The man was still in a daze, talking incoherently. Facing Jinlu's anxious gaze, he was forced to recall what happened before he fainted, and said to them, "The princess had a poor appetite at night, so she asked her maid to prepare a midnight snack for her. Unexpectedly, a fire broke out in the yard.
When we discovered it, the fire was already raging. The leader went to find the prince to report the news, and we went in to rescue the princess.
As soon as I entered, I was knocked unconscious by the maidservant beside the princess. I don’t know what happened next.”
"Have you seen Xia He? The girl who always smiles?" Jinlu asked anxiously, scaring the man.
"Is he the one who is close to you?" They knew about the affair between Jinlu and Xiahe, so they asked this question.
"Yes, yes! That's her! How is she? Where is she?"
"She was one of the people who went into the kitchenette to prepare a midnight snack and soon after they went in, the kitchenette caught fire.
The small kitchen had been filled with a lot of clutter over the past few days, and the fire was so big that it spread throughout the entire house in an instant, leaving us no time to get in and save people. We only wanted to save the princess, and they..." The secret guard didn't have the heart to continue speaking the final words.
Jinlu didn't want to believe it. He stood up and rushed into the small kitchen that had turned into ruins.
"Jinlu! Don't be impulsive!"
"She's still in there! She's still waiting for me! I'm going to save her! Let go!"
"Jinlu! ...The fire is so fierce, even if you go in now, they won't be able to survive."
"I don't believe it! You're lying to me!"
"Stop messing around!" Li Guanghan frowned slightly and stood up. Based on what these people said, he had already figured out the general situation.
Qiao Si was not at the fire scene, and even her maid was nowhere to be found. So all this could not be an accident, but was done intentionally by Qiao Si. She wanted to escape.
"Qiao Xiting isn't here, and neither are her maids. The only possibility is that they staged this fire themselves in order to escape the palace."
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