Chapter 171 – The old house is on fire

“Look, the gods are writing in the sky!” A child with a tuft of hair tugged at his mother’s sleeve, pointing to the sky and shouting.

Countless people looked up at the night sky and were struck by the spectacular and magnificent four big words. Even if the fireworks glowed in a flash, the scene would be engraved in the memories of all present.

“How many ‘Starting Fires Flying’ must be released in one breath, and how many people must ignite them at the same time!”

“There’s also something to be said for when it’s placed on the ground; it has to be a reverse engraving like an engraving, so that we can see the correct glyphs when it flies.”

An official stroked his beard and laughed, “The sea is calm and the river is clear, the time and the year are abundant, this is a good omen for a prosperous world ahahaha! I don’t know which Yamen of the Inner Palace is the handiwork of a strange mind.”

An attendant who was acquainted with him replied, “It is the Imperial Master’s own decree.”

“The Emperor is wise, to use human beings as pens and fireworks as characters to pray to the heavens for blessings, this act will surely move the heavens to bless our Great Ming with prosperity and peace of mind.”

More officials chimed in, “Yes, extremely, Your Majesty is wise, long live the emperor!”

The starting note Lang Linghu looked at the remaining shells of fireworks in the open space and muttered to himself, “The sea is calm and the river is clear …… Good is good, it is just that I feel that these words are familiar.”

Next to the royal historian Jia Gongji laughed: “Your honor must have written more day by day, see what words are familiar. By the way, where did the Holy Driver go, why is your honor not serving beside him?”

Linghu looked around the gate towers on both sides of the city wall and said, “His Majesty loves quietness, climbing high to enjoy the lanterns, and commanded that there is no need for us to accompany him. Right now also do not know in which city tower.”

“It’s good not to have to accompany the driver, go go go, no business today, enjoy the lanterns.”

When the two turned around, they were startled to see King Yu silently standing at the back, and they were busy saluting, “Your Highness is a thousand years old.”

King Yu brocade gold crown, arm holding a small son who is licking the sugar man, face hidden in the ghostly night and flame light intertwined indistinguishable, without a word turned to go.

“Father, father, lost ……” He walked so fast that it shook the candy man at the edge of A Zhaoyao’s mouth to the ground. Overdrive screamed anxiously in his arms, “Throw it!”

King Yu stopped and looked down at his son. A over ambitious heartbroken look at the broken candy man on the ground, small mouth flattened wow cry. King Yu was silent for a moment and said in a deep voice, “If you lose it, you lose it. Even if you pick it back up again, it will still be dirty, broken, and unappealing to the mouth.”

Shizi howled, “Overdrive wants a candy man ……”

“This one can’t be eaten.” King Yu touched Shizi’s little head, “Father will rebuy you a new one.”

“Is the new …… the same as this one?”

King Yu nodded, “Father will have the seller pinch an identical one for you, and we’ll start eating again, okay?”

Overdrive instantly collected his tears and was happy again.

King Yu raised his son, his face buried in his lapel, subdued a cavity of boiling emotions in the bottom of his heart, and said wordlessly: today is not yesterday, then start over, and pinch a brand new one for you.

Overdrive clutched his father’s head and urged, “Daddy go, new sugar man.”

–

“With a click, the railing Shen Qi was holding broke into two.

Subordinates are looking at the sky to marvel at the wonder of the word fireworks, hearing the sound of a startled, turned his head to look at him, “…… There is a change of events? Please Lord command!”

Shen Qi gritted his teeth, his face was hazy like hatred and anger, striding across the wooden bridge, leaving a group of unknown subordinates far behind.

He sprinted along the riverbank toward where the fireworks were rising, his destination not the square in front of the Noon Gate, but a few of the nearby towers that had the best viewpoints for watching the fireworks.

“–Stand still!” A cold, bright voice from the side droned.

Shen Qi pressed the knife and turned back, saw Jing Hongchou squatting on the green stone steps along the river, pinching a red lotus lamp in his hand. The water has a white lotus flower lamp, will float away from the shore, the wick of the lamp is placed in a folded paper, obviously the intention of sacrificing the dead.

Farther away, countless floating lamps illuminated the dark surface of the river. Jing Hongchu’s face was still sharp and hard like a sword blade under the shroud of the lamp flames.

He stretched the pinched and deformed lotus lamp in his hand, petal by petal, and placed it on the water’s surface, got up and asked, “What are you going to do when you’re covered in baneful aura?”

“What has it got to do with you!” Shen Qi had been harboring murderous intentions towards Jing Hongchou for a long time, but at this moment, he had no intention of entangling with him.

He was about to continue walking when he was stopped by the other party’s figure that abruptly floated in front of him.

Jing Hong chased after him, “If it has to do with my lord, it has to do with me. I see that your eyes are fierce, if you want to go crazy you should find another place to send it out yourself, don’t rush at my lord.”

Shen Qi asked, “You didn’t see the fireworks in the square?”

“See.”

“You can’t read?”

“…… The sea is calm and the river is clear!”

Shen Qi looked at him with a look of rotten wood, ”The name of Lord Su that you serve is Yan, the character Qinghe. This firework is clearly a high-profile display of love, can’t you see? In front of the whole city, nakedly declaring ownership, warning certain people who have other intentions not to get their hands on it, who can make such a stroke, can’t you guess?”

Jing Hongchou indifferently said, “So what if you can see it? He is the emperor, do you still want to go up and rob him openly?”

Shen Qi laughed coldly: ”Do you think I’m a brainless desperado like you? Whenever you plan something, you must know yourself and your enemy before you talk about planning and arranging. If you don’t even want to find out the enemy, you should really be in his bridal chamber as Gao Shuo said, sticking to the bed and being a rack for hanging clothes.”

“Who is the enemy?” Jing Hong chased after him and asked rhetorically, “At one time, in my opinion, you were the enemy, King Yu was the enemy, and both the Emperor and the Crown Prince were the enemy.”

Shen Qi mocked, “What about now, do you not see me as a robe?”

“Today, Lord Su’s enemies are my enemies. He wants to be crowned as a minister, and those who stop him from rising to the top of the clouds are his enemies; he wants to return to his homeland, and those who break his peaceful life are his enemies. On the contrary, those who are useful in realizing Lord Su’s heart’s desire, I should tolerate his existence.”

“You tolerate me?” Am I not the one who tolerates you again and again for the sake of my mother?

Jing Hong chased after him and nodded, “Right. Lord Su was poisoned by you, and I originally wanted to find a gap to assassinate you as soon as I returned to the capital. But now I realized that you are useful to him. In official matters, you can be Lord Su’s aid, while in the eyes of those heavenly nobles, you are the front-runner who draws fire.”

Shen Qi pulled the corners of his mouth and laughed out an eerie bloody aura: “Good, good calculation, so it’s not a piece of wood, I underestimated you before. You said this to my face, is it to make an alliance with me?”

“An alliance can’t be called, after all, you and I don’t trust each other, we look at each other and will stab each other in the back at any time.” Jing Hongchou said gently, “But at least for now, I can see that you are on Lord Su’s side.

“King Yu has insulted His Excellency, and His Excellency has told me ‘not to strike openly’, so even if his martial arts skills are high, I will find an opportunity to strike in secret. The crown prince is still young, the eyes of the adults looking at him are still with a few moments of concern of the teacher, so far it seems to be able to hold. As for the emperor …… I have not been in contact with him, I can not feel the bottom. But at least at present he can reuse adults, adults let go of the chest to realize the ambition, the eyes are with light. If there is a day in the future, this luster because of the emperor’s suspicion, suppression and rabbit death and dog cooking and extinguished, it is time for me to take action.”

He said many words in one breath, his tone flat, but it set off waves in Shen Qi’s heart.

Shen Qi’s fingers rubbed the metal studs on the hilt of his sword, as if he was in deep thought, and finally said, “There’s a saying you said correctly, Qinghe’s enemies are my enemies.”

But there’s one more thing: All those who stand in the way of my being with him for the rest of my life are my enemies. The Emperor is, the Crown Prince is, King Yu is, and of course you are.

“The storm is coming to the capital, do you smell that earthy odor in the air?” Shen Qi asked hoarsely.

Jing Hong chased slightly stunned, remembering the secretive movements of the floating sound, the unknown meaning of the blood lotus mark, the slain Wala emissary, and even attracted the wrath of Lord Su, the rumors among the marketplace to discredit the Crown Prince ……

He nodded slowly.

“No matter who this storm is directed at, it will reach Qinghe, who is standing too far forward.” Shen Qi said.

“I will guard the lord.” Jing Hong said after him.

Shen Qi grunted indignantly, “If not for the Emperor’s strict defense of me, where would you have gotten your turn.”

Jing Hong chased after him, “He can’t just defend you alone, four imperial guards guard the front yard, I can only go through the window.”

The two men fell silent together, both seeming to have their hearts in the right place.

Jing Hong chased frowning, “Lord Su will …… return to the house this night?”

“You’re not pretending to be generous, how come you’re nervous again?” Shen Qi sneered again, “So I still have to go over. As for you, just keep putting up your river lanterns. Putting up a thousand or ten thousand more red lanterns wishing for marriage is just delusional.”

Jing Hong chased after him and sneered back, “No matter how delusional, at least you can lie beside the adults and think.”

Shen Qi’s face turned green all of a sudden.

–

Zhu Hailin stood on the citadel next to the left gate of Que and reached out his hand toward Fubao, who had hurriedly arrived, “Bring it!”

Across dozens of feet of the square, the opposite side of the city building next to the right gate of Que only see the outline, even if the fireworks lit up the night sky for a moment, can only see one or two points of blurred silhouettes.

Fubo handed over a peep from a Western cleric who had passed into Daming not long ago.

Peep such as tube shape, tube body layer overlap each other, so that can be retractable, both ends with glass, with the view of the object of the distance as long as the length. Not only can peep at the sky, and can be taken miles away from things such as in the present, so it is also known as telescope.

Because of the scarcity of the number of incoming, extremely valuable, and currently only two pairs of the Imperial Palace.

Zhu Hailin will be peeping vertical in front of the right eye, aiming at the opposite side of the city tower, carefully discerning, not long to slap the railing, exasperated: “Fear of him cold, just ask people to add clothes, what do you do to unlock their own overcoat to drape, doing!”

Suddenly he called out, “Cover your face from head to toe, and hide your face in it for something good!”

Following that, he jumped straight to his feet, so angry that he threw the peep to the side. “Little master can’t, this is a rare thing.” Fubo rushed forward to catch it in fear.

“The opposite side is what is called rare! The cloak is not only tightly covered, it also turns over the waves, is it covering a person or a net of fish? Have you seen this spectacle?” Zhu Hailin’s face turned red with anger.

Fubo didn’t dare to say anything and shook his head repeatedly.

“Shameless!” Zhu Hailin cursed, “One moment he promised Little Master, but the next moment he threw it out of the window! Shameless!”

He was so angry that he was about to go downstairs and rush over, when Fubo suddenly called out with a sharp voice, “Little master! Master, look!”

“What are you looking at, little master’s eyes are going blind!” Zhu Hailin relented and yelled at him.

Fubo used a trembling hand to point in the direction of the palace, “Go …… away from the water!”

Zhu Hailin froze, turned his head to look out, and saw that the fire was in the sky, but he didn’t know which palace it was. He snatched the peep from Fu Bao’s hand, adjusted the telescopic tube body to the longest, and after a moment lost his voice and said, “–It’s Kun Ning Palace!”

“Mother!” He shrieked, clenching his peepers and nearly rolling down the steps of the Citadel.

“Young master slow down, slow down!” Fu Bao shouted from behind, following Zhu Hailin as he rushed down the city tower.

–

Su Yan was kissed legs soft gas short, want to withdraw but was repeatedly tackled, lips and teeth slightly away from and blocked, vague whimpering: “The emperor …… emperor enough, enough ……”

The emperor at the moment is the old house on fire, once the situation rises, the fire will be unstoppable. One hand supporting the cloak, one hand holding Su Yan’s back forward pressure, as if to rub people into their own body.

“Not enough.” He gasped sharply, turned to hold Su Yan’s earlobe, like a bitter summer people hold a piece of bone-piercing ice jade, can not extinguish the fire in the heart, can only bring more thirsty war chestnut, “hold my neck, hold tightly …… good boy, sit on my lap… …”

Su Yan stumbled a few steps along with him, bumped into a pillar, and slid down again on the low sill of the moonhole window.

The emperor held him towards his lap. Strange peaks rose, Su Yan’s heart was shockingly close, and he couldn’t help but grab the emperor’s shoulders, resisting, “No, Your Majesty, I don’t want to ……”

“Really don’t want to?” The Emperor guided his hand, stroking it through his dragon robe from his shoulder down through his broad chest to his tight waist and stomach, “Or don’t you want to be here?”

Su Yan was a little dizzy, his palm was like touching a gentle fire: “I really don’t want …… to serve the king with color, the emperor let me …… go.”

The Emperor sighed, “I have spared you several times, but how have you ever spared me.”

Su Yan wanted to say something else, but he heard a clamor under the city tower, faintly mixed with the shouts of “water, water”. He quickly calmed his mind and said, “Your Majesty, something seems to have happened down there, allow me to get up and take a look, then report back.”

Knowing that this would not come to pass, the Emperor let go of his hand with a sigh.

Su Yan lifted his cloak and got up from the dragon’s legs in a hurry, his head nearly hitting the window ledge, and walked over to the battlements to look down.

There was nothing different about the square, it was a few palace people shouting at the bottom of the steps of the city building, Su Yan followed the direction of their fingers and looked towards the palace and saw a line of fire rushing up to the sky.