The acid in her stomach kept churning. Su Qingwen's eyes suddenly turned red. Helplessly, she grabbed the clothes on her chest and gasped for breath.
"Are you okay?" Hua Yueye beside her gently patted her on the shoulder and asked softly.
"I'm fine." Su Qingwen forced herself to suppress the nausea and stood up rather reluctantly. She lowered her head, immediately took out a fire starter, quickly lit it, and stared down at the corpses.
They were still wearing the military uniforms they had on when the accident happened. Apparently, it was the Prince of Rui who had brutally killed them and then hidden the bodies here.
"Hua Yueye, look, I was right, wasn't I? It was the Prince of Rui who killed these soldiers." Su Qingwen was a bit excited and immediately reached out to shake his arm.
"Calm down first. We can't tip off the enemy." Hua Yueye sighed and put his arm around her shoulder. "Let's get out of here quickly and then figure out what to do next."
Su Qingwen squinted her eyes and just looked at Hua Yueye in front of her. She couldn't help but think that this guy wouldn't still be trying to excuse the Prince of Rui at this moment. That would be too much. It seemed that the Prince of Rui was getting more and more insolent.
Just as she was thinking, Hua Yueye pulled her out of the secret passage and quickly walked back. "Qingwen, we've been gone for so long. It will surely arouse others' suspicion. Later, change into your nightclothes and act as if nothing has happened. Do you understand?" Hua Yueye looked back and seriously instructed.
"Understood." Su Qingwen wiped the cold sweat off her forehead and then followed Hua Yueye to a guest room. Seeing that there were clothes for her and Hua Yueye there, she couldn't help but ask in surprise, "How did you prepare everything?"
"You're as stupid as a pig. If I hadn't made proper preparations, you might have been stabbed into a sieve." Hua Yueye forced a smile and sighed helplessly.
What? Su Qingwen was stunned. She blinked her eyes and couldn't help but think that maybe Hua Yueye was playing the fool to catch the wise. He had been pretending to sleep all along and had already made all the plans.
"Did you do all this to protect me?" Su Qingwen curled her lips and looked at him playfully.
"Dream on. You've been looking absent - minded lately. It's an eyesore, so I just secretly kept an eye out." As if his secret had been exposed, Hua Yueye's face suddenly turned red. He coughed awkwardly, and even his earlobes turned red.
"Change your clothes quickly. Don't ask any more questions." Hua Yueye gave her a cold look, picked up his clothes and walked away.
Holding the nightclothes, Su Qingwen was daydreaming. Hua Yueye was really funny. He clearly cared about her but refused to admit it.
After they changed their clothes, they hurriedly rushed to the place where the fire had broken out. They saw that the Prince of Rui's house had been burned beyond recognition. The once - fine attic had become just a few rickety columns. It was impossible to tell what it had originally looked like. It was a pitiful sight. Groups of servants were rushing back and forth to put out the fire. It took a long time before they finally managed to extinguish it.
Ning Yunqing and his group were also nervously helping to put out the fire. Especially Li Ruhua, who was crying her heart out.
"Your Highness, there's no sign of the Emperor here," the butler reported tremblingly, his face full of fear.
Hua Xue'er's eyes were as red as a rabbit's. Her face was as white as paper. "What should we do? Could he have been burned to ashes in the fire, not even a bone left?"
Hearing this, Su Qingwen couldn't help but laugh until her stomach cramped. Hua Yueye, on the other hand, was so angry that his face turned pale. He quickly walked up to Hua Xue'er and said, "Can't you say something good about others?"
Hearing this, everyone looked over in surprise. When they saw that Hua Yueye was fine, Li Ruhua raised her eyes in surprise and quickly walked up to them. She asked in shock, "What on earth is going on?"
Wasn't it supposed to be that stinky girl Su Qingwen who was caught as a thief and then fall into despair? Why was she with Hua Yueye?
"As you can see, I couldn't sleep at night with Concubine Xian, so we went out for a stroll. What? Do you have any objections?" Hua Yueye put his arm around Su Qingwen's shoulder and said quite calmly.
"What?" Li Ruhua was sure she wasn't seeing things, but why would Hua Yueye say such a thing? She raised her eyes in shock and asked in disbelief, "But I clearly saw..."
"Even if there was a thief, it doesn't necessarily mean it was Concubine Xian. She's been with me all the time." Hua Yueye squinted his eyes and warned the woman in front of him, hoping she would be careful with her words.
Meeting his gaze, Li Ruhua immediately shut up. She nervously lowered her head and had no choice but to admit defeat.
Hua Yueye actually protected that woman whole - heartedly. It was really ridiculous.
"Your Majesty, there was a fire just now. Are you okay?" The Prince of Rui glanced at Hua Yueye, his eyes full of concern.
"I'm fine." Hua Yueye shook his head, and as usual, gave the Prince of Rui a gentle smile. Then he walked over and looked directly into the Prince of Rui's eyes. "Father - in - law, I have something I'd like to talk to you about."
"Okay. All of you leave." The Prince of Rui nodded, indicating that the irrelevant people should leave.
Su Qingwen gave the two of them a meaningful look and followed the others to the door. Shen Lingyun was walking behind her. When no one was paying attention, he secretly stuffed a cloth strip into her hand.
She was startled and was about to look back, but then she suddenly remembered that there were too many people around. It wasn't suitable for this kind of whispering. So she steadied her mind and quickly hid the cloth strip.
At this time, Hua Yueye and the Prince of Rui were looking at each other, both silent, as if in a stand - off.
"Father - in - law, I have a question for you. Why did you renovate the house this time?" Finally, Hua Yueye couldn't hold it in anymore and asked first.
"It's nothing. A fortune - teller said the feng shui here was bad, so I wanted to change it." The Prince of Rui was quite calm. He curled his lips and just said it directly.
"Alright." Hua Yueye squinted his eyes, his gaze deep as he looked at the Prince of Rui's legs. He flipped his fingers, and a small pebble shot out.
The pebble wasn't big, but it would hurt a lot if it hit someone. If it hit the Prince of Rui, there would surely be a bruise.
The Prince of Rui's knee was hit and he accidentally staggered a bit, but there wasn't much of a reaction. His expression didn't show much pain either.
"What just happened?" The Prince of Rui squinted his eyes and looked up.
"Maybe something flew in and hit you." Hua Yueye said, his face suddenly changing. He had just wanted to test if the Prince of Rui's legs were okay, but unexpectedly, it seemed that the man really couldn't move.