c92 (1/2)

Chapter 92: Cold Palace Caught Fire

“Mistress!” The tightly closed doors were pushed open by Fu Ling with a fl.u.s.tered look. Without waiting for Qing Feng to reply, she had already headed to her side and softly said, “The Cold Palace caught fire!”

Caught fire? Qing Feng blanked out for a moment and thought about the person staying in the Cold Palace and her heart was taken aback. She immediately stood up and after thinking for a moment, she called out loudly, “Someone come! Someone come!”

“Your Ladys.h.i.+p?” Lan-er whispering voice could be heard from the outside.

“Lan-er and Shen Yao, come over here.”

“Servants are here.” Qing Feng’s tone was impatient and thus both of them dare not delay and ran into the room. They only saw the Little Prince was placed on the bed and before both of them could understand what was going on, they heard her Ladys.h.i.+p instructing them to “Take good care of the Prince.” After that she walked out towards the courtyard and Fu Ling also hurriedly followed.

Qing Feng walked away frantically, like she had forgotten the existence of Zhuo Qing. It was only a fire at the Cold Palace, why was Qing Feng this anxious? She was so anxious that she would rush there even when the child was running a fever. Zhuo Qing found it very strange and decided to follow along to take a look.

Qing Feng walked very quickly and Zhuo Qing had to jog to barely catch up. From not far away, they could see the smoke and the pungent smell gradually filled up the air. As the noises of people voices get louder, Zhuo Qing guessed that the Cold Palace was near. The weird thing was that Qing Feng who was rus.h.i.+ng all the way suddenly slowed down her pace and seemingly like she was in a casual stroll. Zhuo Qing did not make any noise and also quietly followed.

Seeing that it had gotten noisier in front, Qing Feng spoke, “Shouting for what?”

The smooth voice had a tad of impatience and a little laziness, in short, not at all an anxious tone. Zhuo Qing’s eyes slightly narrowed as she observed Qing Feng and watching the overall situation. There was a lot of smoke but there was not wave of heat. It could be estimated that the fire was not big or it had been extinguished.

Hearing the female’s voice, one eunuch jogged over and had wanted to scold the person but once he saw clearing the incoming person, that eunuch’s expression slightly changed before he immediately knelt down to greet, “Long live Imperial Concubine Qing.”

Qing Feng took a glance at him and asked, “Who are you?”

“Replying to your Ladys.h.i.+p, this servant is the Steward eunuch of the Imperial Household, Zhang Shun An.”

“Get up. This Cold Palace is in fine condition. How did it caught fire?”

“It is dry during the winter and usually no one manages the Cold Palace. There is a possibility of an unknown spark that lighted the fire. But your Ladys.h.i.+p need not worry as the fire did not grow big and reckoned had been extinguished.”

At this moment the smoke had dissipated a little and Qing Feng looked over. Other than the eunuchs and palace maids fighting the fire, she did not see anyone else. Where was Chen Zhen? Qing Feng was very worried but she spoke with an unforgiving tone, “How about the person in the Cold Palace? Burned to death?”

All the people who extinguished the fire stood at the side blankly. At that time they only cared about extinguis.h.i.+ng the fire and since there were no people of importance in the Cold Palace, who would bother about it. Now that Qing Feng asked, no one could answer. Zhang Shun An’s cold sweat kept flowing and just as he wanted to send someone to the Cold Palace to check, a dishevelled and filled with ashes female suddenly took a step forward and replied, “My mistress is sick and is currently in bedridden in the house.”

Qing Feng squinted her eyes slightly before she was able to clearly see the person covered in black. It was actually Wu-er?! As her heart got more worried and yet her face must be void of any reaction, Qing Feng coldly laughed and sneered, “Sick? What kind of illness can be this serious. Bengong want to go in and see.”

“Your Ladys.h.i.+p, the smoke here is just too much, you are of n.o.ble and precious status, it would be ideal…” Zhang Shun An quickly went up to dissuade but Qing Feng did not even bothered with him the slightest bit and just walked into the Cold Palace. Zhang Shun An wanted to chase after her but was stopped outside the doors by Fu Ling.

Zhang Shun An did not dare to speak more but his heart could not help by sigh. Forget it. The relations.h.i.+p between concubines were like beating a drowning dog. He had seen many of such instances.

Qing Feng went into the Cold Palace and Fu Ling diligently guarded by the main doors and it seems that no one else can think of entering. Zhuo Qing walked to the surrounding wall around the Cold Palace and her gaze landed on a few charred marks on the ground before she frowned uncontrollably.

It was about the same when she came in the last time and the house was empty. She looked around but did not see Chen Zhen’s shadow at all. Qing Feng started to get anxious and called out loudly, “Chen Zhen?”

“Chen Zhen?”

Qing Feng called out a few times and the curtain of the room at the northern side moved a little. Qing Feng looked over and Chen Zhen came out from it at the same time. That curtain was not big, if one do not give it a closer look, one will ignore it.

“It’s you?” Chen Zhen apparently did not expect that the person who came was actually Qing Feng.

Qing Feng sized her appearance up and found that she look a little haggard, the panic expression on her face was waning and there was nothing the matter with her body. Recovering her side, Qing Feng whispered, “The child?”

Chen Zhen hesitated for a moment before replying, “In here.” Finis.h.i.+ng, she turn around and open the curtains to entire the room. Qing Feng quicken her steps to follow.

The little area was empty and there was only an old wooden box place by the window. In the northern area there was a large window and the window paper was long spoilt thus the wind kept entering, making it very cold. But this air was much more refres.h.i.+ng than outside. Chen Zhen glanced at Qing Feng and was a bit hesitant but finally still gently open that unlatched wooden box. A skinny small child was lying quietly on a pile of clothes sleeping. That small thin body was almost completely covered by the clothing, leaving the small little face exposed. Qing Feng frowned, “Why is the child place in the closet?”

A flash of pain appeared on Chen Zhen’s face as she bowed her head and replied, “There were fire outside and I was worried that someone will come in and see him, so…”

There was such a huge smoke just now… Qing Feng asked, “Did the child cry or not?”

“In the beginning when there was a huge and thick smoke, he cried for a while but his cries were naturally not loud. After that, I carried him to the window and he stopped crying.” Seeing Qing Feng’s frown got tighter, Chen Zhen quickly said, “He really only cried for a short while! Those people were busy firefighting and should not have heard it.”