Help! The Frosty Noble's Son Is in Love With Me!-Chapter 339: The Motive Behind the Mastermind
At the front hall, the Empress, upon learning that the Northwest Palace was on fire, immediately stood up from her seat.
"What did you say?"
The person below looked anxious, "Your Majesty, the Northwest Palace is on fire!"
At that moment, not only did the Empress’s expression change, but so did the expressions of the noble ladies present; their families were also dressing in the Northwest Palace, and some had not returned yet.
Instantly, everyone became panicked.
"My daughter also went to the Northwest Palace to change clothes!"
"My mother is still inside..."
Everyone anxiously rushed towards the Northwest Palace.
Such a major fire disaster couldn’t be concealed from the Emperor; he also received the news and was utterly shocked. 𝕗𝗿𝕖𝐞𝐰𝗲𝕓𝐧𝕠𝕧𝗲𝐥.𝚌𝐨𝚖
At this time, smoke was already rising from the direction of the Northwest Palace.
"Quick, extinguish the fire!" The Emperor roared.
During the chaotic firefighting, Qu Fulan bumped into Pei Ji’an’s arms.
What a taste of fortune, she had truly experienced it.
"Why did you come only now!" Qu Fulan was both joyful and anxious, feeling aggrieved, and without concern for the situation at hand, she directly embraced him.
Pei Ji’an, upon seeing Qu Fulan, felt relieved, holding her waist with one hand, "We need to leave this place; don’t say anything for now."
He led her, turning left and right, until they reached a room and opened the door.
This place was secluded; he brought her inside and handed her the bundle in his hand, "Change your clothes first."
The stains were still on her, showing that the maid’s clothes hadn’t been delivered, and she had no clothes to change into.
Without saying much, Qu Fulan started changing clothes.
She had been running outside for a while, and the wet clothes on her felt cold against her skin when blown by the wind, especially since there was no coal fire in the room.
"Achoo! Achoo!" Sure enough, she immediately started sneezing.
Pei Ji’an had his back to Qu Fulan; hearing her sneeze, he frowned, "What happened earlier?"
While changing clothes, Qu Fulan explained what she could.
"There was a problem with that room; my clothes were intentionally wet to lure me in. I just entered and felt dizzy. Fortunately, I had medicine with me, took it immediately to feel better, and when I tried to leave, the door was locked from outside."
Recalling the situation, Qu Fulan became anxious again.
Especially when footsteps came from outside, she thought bad people were coming in, but a maid came to check the situation, and she hid behind the door and knocked the maid out with a vase, then hurried out.
Those who plotted against her couldn’t have anticipated she had an antidote; that’s why a maid came to check. If she had fainted, who knows what would have happened next.
Qu Fulan definitely couldn’t stay and wait, decisively ran out, just turned a corner, and bumped into someone, almost spilling the medicine. She thought she had run into a villain but fortunately looked up and withdrew the medicine.
Unless absolutely necessary, she wouldn’t use the medicine in the storage; it wouldn’t end well. Earlier, when the maid entered, she used the vase, but for a man, she’d have to use the medicine instead, otherwise smashing a vase without result would lead to trouble for her.
Qu Fulan finished changing clothes, sneezed several more times, likely catching a cold.
Pei Ji’an looked grim; his wife was plotted against, naturally, he looked grim.
"I will find out; I won’t let you suffer unjustly," he said.
Though in the end nothing happened, she owed it to her vigilance, but those who plotted from behind, he wouldn’t forgive them.
Qu Fulan felt things weren’t that simple; without anything happening, it was hard to investigate, and besides, this was the royal palace, not the Pei Mansion.
But she said nothing else; he must have his ways to investigate, best if he found out, and if not, she’d just act cautiously in the future.
"Just now, outside, they said there was a fire?" Qu Fulan, previously focused on escaping, hadn’t paid attention to the fire, but now realized.
"I had it arranged; one of your maids fell into the water, and another couldn’t find you with the clothes, predicting something would happen to you but couldn’t openly enter the women’s area, so I had to take a lower measure."
Qu Fulan was taken aback, not expecting he would go to such lengths for her; this was the royal palace, and being found out for falsely claiming fire was no joke.
"But this is the royal palace; what if they find out?"
"It really caught fire, though there’s a difference between a big and small fire; it won’t be traced back to me, don’t worry."
Qu Fulan stepped forward and embraced his waist, expressing everything without words.
"While things are chaotic outside, you should go out and join the women; I also need to go back." Pei Ji’an kissed her forehead.
Qu Fulan nodded, "Be careful on your way."
They parted immediately; Qu Fulan indeed hid among the women during the chaos, everyone busy watching the fire, paying little attention.
Indeed, as Pei Ji’an said, the fire wasn’t large, burning only in one room, reportedly not severely, with maids and eunuchs busy extinguishing the fire.
At that time, there were many people outside the Northwest Palace, including the Emperor and Empress, all ministers and ladies, watching the firefighting, seeing the fire finally put out, and Emperor and Empress were relieved.
At this moment, someone came from the Empress Dowager’s palace to inquire what happened; the Emperor, fearing the Empress Dowager might be troubled by hearing about the fire, affecting her health, said nothing was wrong, instructing the messenger not to spread false words.
This fire could be explained as a false alarm.
Though the fire was put out, the Emperor was still furious; such a well-disposed fire, if not understood, would keep him sleepless.
Investigations revealed that during today’s banquet, coal fires were prepared in each room of the Northwest Palace, placed beside tables. No one was in the room, and the excessive coal burning reached down the tablecloth, eventually causing the fire.
Judging from the situation, it was completely accidental.
But the Emperor didn’t accept this reason; what were so many maids and eunuchs doing? Why wasn’t the fire being watched?
The Empress was implicated as well; as the Empress, in charge of the royal household, such occasions should be handled with utmost caution, but a maid still neglected it due to lack of strict discipline.
The Empress willingly punished herself with three months of monthly salary, eating vegetarian meals for three months, and copying scriptures.
The Chief Eunuch was taken away for twenty lashes on the spot.
Other maids and eunuchs were not spared either, being punished accordingly, though no lives were lost—after all, this was Princess Zhuyu’s welcome banquet, the Emperor wouldn’t let such a banquet be stained with blood.
However, this welcome banquet ended as such; a fire, regardless of its size, ruined everyone’s mood, left no heart for continued enjoyment, with the Emperor being the first to leave, naturally followed by others.
Qu Fulan, during the return with Pei Ji’an, learned that after being splashed with hot soup, Xiao Shiqing had been splashed too.
Thus, she guessed the intent of those behind it.
The reason Pei Ji’an generated the fire incident was also due to this reason; initially, he heard her maid fell into the water, then learned her clothes were splashed with soup, needing change, which connected him to Xiao Shiqing, prompting his quick arrival, finding people guarding outside, unable to intrude, then sent someone to check.
Ruyin reported not being able to find her, forcing him to take a lower measure.
"But Xiao Shiqing didn’t appear in the women’s area ultimately." Pei Ji’an said; by the time he changed clothes and returned to the Emperor’s side, Xiao Shiqing was already there.
This made the development of events somewhat peculiar.
