Chapter 32: The Perfect Moment
<strong>Trantor: </strong>As Studios <i ss="_hr"></i><strong>Editor: </strong>As Studios
5:30 PM.
Prince Qi rambled on about the renowned sideshow troupe he had specially prepared. At the same time, Fang Minghe’s army was calling for the pce gate to be opened.
“Burn it, burn it hard!” Meng Fuyao ran about, calling for the guards of the Xin Pce. She kicked open a door and pulled the quilt away from a sleeping guard, exposing his naked bum and shouting, “Sleeping at this time? Go light some fire, 32 of them. I want all of you to burn this ce down, or I’ll personally kick all your asses out the door.”
More than 3,000 enemy troops were waiting outside the Qianan Pce for a signal from the Xin Pce to proceed with the n. The Xin Pce’s guards were aware that there was going to be a huge change that night. Despite it being a life and death matter, none resisted against her absurdly rebellious order. Instead, they speedily gathered whatever mmable substance and vegetable oil they could to prepare the fire torches…
The imperial concubines and pce maids of the Xin Pce were brought into empty rooms within the Sixth East Pce to hide. The number of empty rooms exceeded the number of concubines, so Meng Fuyao sent a batch of guards over to set all unused rooms on fire before seeking for shelter.
“Alright, that’s all we can do for now.” Meng Fuyao pped and smiled. “As long as the crown princees out, he’ll have the upper hand since his troops are already within the city, unlike Qi Xunyi’s, who would have to rush over from the outskirts. That way, when a battle really breaks out, Qi Xunyi’s bound to be disadvantaged.”
“Or he might not make it out,” Yun Hen remarked, worry evident in his eyes.
Meng Fuyao shook her head, smiling. “We’vee this far. If he’s unable to sense the crisis and take the chance to flee, he might just be better off dead.”
Yun Hen kept quiet, light flickering within his cold eyes.
A red light shed across the screen window behind him, and at the next moment, mes shot up in every corner. Since it was an arson attack, all it took was one second for everything within the Xin Pce’s perimeters to be thrown into chaos.
The windows were instantly misshapen, and the corridor pirs gradually started twisting. The bright, red mes rose to the clouds, adding a red hue to the ashen sky above the Imperial City.
Vague, rmed cries could be heard from the imperial guards standing outside the Xin Pce. Upon a signaling call, the main entrance was kicked open.
Meng Fuyao pulled Yun Hen into the underground passage before jumping in and closing the floor door shut. It happened half a second before the imperial guards barged in, which led to Meng Fuyao happily pulling out a V sign.
“Victory!”
…
6:00 PM.
After making an appearance at the feast, the emperor had left the princes to enjoy by themselves. Due to his illness, he had returned to the Qianan Pce’s pavilion to rest his royal body.
Qi Xunyi pped, signaling for the sideshow troupe to enter the hall. The leadingdy had a slender, snake-like waist, and her fair underbelly was exposed. She had on flowy, golden pants and a deep red tube top with embedded pearls, which enhanced the plumpness of her snow-white boobs. The proportion between her gorgeous chest and her waist was so perfect that she exuded an alluring wildness.
The princes were used to seeing reputable, conventionally-dressed upper-ss women, so this refreshing sight had them putting down their wine cups. Even the crown prince’s attention was caught.
Every member of the troupe moved skillfully during their performance. Halfway through it, more than 10 performers stacked themselves up, one atop another and each nting outward at a greater angle, to form a diagonal human tower. The audience watched on, so engrossed in admiring the artists’ strength and flexibility that they hadn’t noticed the human tower slowly inching toward the crown prince. They were just another head away from him.
The crown prince, too, had failed to notice because Qi Xunyi had taken something out from his sleeves, effectively robbing his attention. It was a diagram belonging to Xuanji Nation, with 36 rows and columns of Chinese characters. Reading them forward, backward, diagonally and vertically created different sentences, but what the sentences formed weren’t poetry but military strategies.
“Isn’t this the legendary betrothal gift that the crown prince of Wuji Nation had presented to his wife-to-be when he was 13 years old? It was said that there are 32 amazing strategies within, and it has been kept deep within the pce. How did you obtain it?”
“This is a replica of course.” Qi Xunyi grinned slightly. “I know you’re into the art of war and have spent a painstaking amount of effort to get it for you.”
“Wow, what a treasure!” eximed the crown prince, taking and studying it seriously.
Qi Xunyi raised his head, his eyes shing across the hall.
The coquettishdy immediately made a flip, her ample breasts rising like waves and her toes dotting the air consecutively. Her golden jewels sparkled and danced with the wind as she made her way up the human tower within a few seconds.
The tower was so tall that she could easily reach out to touch the ceiling, but upon reaching the top, the tower copsed.
“Ah!”
Cries filled the pce hall, and the human tower abruptly came to a stop.
Those performers had real skills and did not scatter from that intense movement. Instead, they fell toward the ground in a steep angle and caught themselves right before touching it. Thedy, bncing right at the edge, had her body upside down and her face right in front of the crown prince. Her ck hair hung down like a waterfall, sessfully blocking the view of a pce hall guard who was stationed in the middle, while her mild, tender dimples and me-red lipsnded beneath the crown prince’s eyes. Throwing a charming smile his way, it was as if she was waiting for him to reach out to touch her.
She was so close. Her slim and long fingers could touch his throat with a simple stretch.
…
6:15 PM
There was a chaotic mess outside of the Xin Pce, where over 3,000 guards had gathered, attempting to charge into the hall and rooms while subduing the fire.
Fang Minghe’s main force, on the other hand, had met with an obstacle. They were about to open the city gate when they got disrupted by the sudden emergence of a team of soldiers. Its leader, dressed in a snow-white robe and had cherry-red lips, dered that Fang Minghe was pretending to act on an imperial order and that the pce gate mustn’t be opened. Without further interaction, the team consecutively killed a few spies who were in charge of opening the doors, causing the army of 50,000 people to be stuck outside the city gate.
…
6:15 PM.
Qi Xunyi turned his body eagerly toward the crown prince, to discuss the listed strategies and to block him in the process. At that moment, he threw thedy dancer a signaling nce.
Thedy dancer raised both hands swiftly.
“Report!”
A high cry threw off the perfect moment.
“The Xin Pce’s on fire!”
The crown prince’s head jerked up, along with the withdrawal of thedy’s hands.
The rest of the audience did the same. When they looked out from the Qianan Water Pavilion, they spotted countless red dots blossoming within the pce grounds. mes were dancing wildly, gradually forming a sea of red and expanding outward. As for the Xin Pce that was located the furthest away, it was basically wrapped in galloping red waves. The rising smoke resembled clouds that were tinged with sunset hues, illuminating the whole of the northwestern skies.
Outside of the Xin Pce and its surroundings the mes looked like small heads that marched inward like migrating ants. The sight left the witnessing princes in shock.
After taking into consideration the deste location of the Xin Pce and the abruptness of the fire, it did not make sense for the imperial guards to arrive so quickly, unless… they had been there all along.
What did that signify? A horrific possibility immediately came to the minds of the princes, who had been born into respective royal families and raised to study pce politics and tactics.
The audience turned their gaze toward the crown prince, who appeared calm and deep in thought. Only the observant ones noticed that he was gripping the diagram so tightly that his fingers had turned white.
He turned toward Qi Xunyi, whose face was void of colors. Without waiting for any response, the crown prince put the map aside and flung his sleeve downward.
Thedy dancer, who was in midair, mmed onto the ground and slid a meter forward, a mouthful of fresh blood spurting out from her mouth.
“The pce’s on fire, and this girl’s still swaying about, how annoying,” the crown princemented, lifting his sleeve and ordering, “Guards, bring me there.”
“Crown Prince!” Qi Xunyi called out before standing up. “It’s His Majesty’s birthday, and ording to Taiyuan customs, the emperor’s son must remain here. You’re not going to act against it, are you? I’ll go.”
“Third younger brother,” the crown prince responded with a warm smile. “It’s an urgent matter, so I’m sure Father will not me me. You did remind me, though, that you’re the second oldest. I’ll leave you to take care of the younger brothers we have here today.”
At that, without waiting for an answer, he hurried down the steps and was quickly escorted out of the east pce.
Qi Xunyi fell into a daze, clenching his teeth in silence. A long timeter he shot a meaningful nce to someone outside the pavilion, who then rushed off to inform Yan Lie and Fang Minghe.
Qi Xunyi pondered over the unexpected situation again and again, not understanding how a fire could’ve started and even rming the crown prince. He felt something wasn’t right, and hence, he excused himself from the crowd.
Amid his frustration, a trusted aide approached and whispered something.
Qi Xunyi’s eyes lit up, and he turned around, forcing a smile. “I’ll go get changed. Please make yourselves at home.”
He walked toward a side hall at the backmost part of the Qianan Pce, which was heavily guarded.
Qi Xunyi sped into the hall, and the doors behind him closed shut. The courtyard was extremely quiet since no one was allowed to enter his secret territory.
He stopped before a quiet room and let out a deliberate cough.
Inside the room stood a man, admiring the paintings on the wall with his hands cupped behind his back. He had a mask on, but it did not rob the brilliance from his eyes. Like two bright reflections of the moon found on a water surface, they glistened so peacefully yet profoundly.
…
6:30 PM.
Qi Xunyi had just entered the side hall when a screen on the left side shifted slightly. A pair of eyes could be seen, darting about in a quicksilver manner, resembling two pairs of mercury.
The ck eyes made a few more rounds when someone behind gave a small push. A sneaky individual appeared in full view, out from the door, followed by a youth whose face was pale and eyes as cold as night.
“What is this ce?” Meng Fuyao scanned her surroundings with her ck, mercury-like eyes.
Yun Hen frowned as he scanned the ce. He, too, couldn’t recognize it very well. Many of Taiyuan pce’s hidden passages had no exits, and after much exploration, the two youths had chosen this path since it had no specific marks on it. Judging by the decoration in the room; however, it seemed that they had arrived in the center of the pce.
He stood still, suddenly making a hand gesture.
“Someone’s talking.”
Yun Hen peeked through the long curtains, half-covered, into the master bedroom. There were litmps inside, and he saw a pair of shadows, one belonging to a person with loose robe and graceful posture.