Jinghong Tower

Chapter 436 Murder Night
Although it was already confirmed that Jing Chongguang and his son were hiding in the palace, Mingming still asked Ruyan and the others to find out the news just to be on the safe side.

There is no espionage in the palace, but there is one in the Regent's Palace.

The guard's name was Wang Dalong. He was a personal soldier brought by Jing Chongguang from Nanjing. Jing Chongguang trusted him very much. However, there is an old saying, "A little bit of rice is a favor, a peck of rice is a grudge", which could not be more appropriate for guards.

Perhaps it was because he came to Fuzhou, where he no longer had to fight and lived a comfortable life, or perhaps it was because he was away from home and felt lonely and empty. In short, for one reason or another, Wang Dalong became addicted to gambling and owed the gambling house one thousand taels of silver.

Although Jing Chongguang was cold to his wife and children, he was still good to his subordinates and generous. He would never be stingy as long as his subordinates asked for money.

But this guard was unlucky. Although he tried to hide it, Jing Chongguang still found out that he owed gambling debts.

At that time, he was furious because Emperor Yonghe went to the gambling house, and the guard happened to be caught in the crossfire.

Jing Chongguang could not use force against Emperor Yonghe, but he could decide the life or death of a guard.

He vented all his anger towards Emperor Yonghe on this guard.

In front of many guards, Jing Chongguang personally whipped the guard ten times.

The guards were thick-skinned and strong, and ten lashes of whip would not kill them, but they made him lose face.

Moreover, Jing Chongguang did not pay the money for him, and he had to face the debt collectors with his torn body.

When Ruyan came to Fuzhou, she brought two younger brothers and two younger sisters with her.

These two younger brothers are carefully selected talents, and even their names are catchy.

One is called Zi Han and the other is called Zi Xuan.

Zi Han and Zi Xuan had been keeping an eye on Wang Da Long's movements. They learned that he had been whipped ten times for nothing but didn't get even one or two taels of silver. They were very angry. Zi Han even pawned his ancestral jade pendant and used the five taels of silver he got to buy gold medicine for Wang Da Long.

Wang Dalong was grateful and burst into tears. At this time, Zixuan's younger sister Mu Xi came and said that she knew a big sister who could get money.

In short, after all the operations, Ruyan became Wang Dalong's creditor. Every time he provided information, he could offset part of the loan.

In fact, after providing the first piece of information, Wang Dalong knew that he had fallen into a trap, but what could he do? He still gambled, and his gambling debts kept increasing.

Now Big Sister Ruyan has come to him again.

Wang Dalong did not hesitate and took action that day.

Qiao from the Regent's Mansion was once a concubine in the harem of the King of Qi. Such an experience means that she is an ambitious woman.

Like master, like servant. Qiao had a maid named Xiaohong who always wanted to climb into Jing Chongguang's bed. Unfortunately, Jing Chongguang's mind was on state affairs and he never paid attention to a little maid.

The guard was looking for Xiaohong.

Xiaohong was moved.

The prince is now alone in the palace, and he must be feeling very lonely, without even someone to warm his bed.

What's more, there are so many concubines in the harem. Now that the emperor is missing, those concubines are actually widows. His prince has always liked to seduce the emperor's women, and that's how he seduced his own princess.

Xiaohong told Qiao her idea.

Ever since Jing Chongguang brought his son into the palace, Qiao has been so angry that she gritted her teeth because Jing Chongguang only brought his son but not her.

Although she knew that there would be no danger in the palace as long as Jing Chongguang was not there, Qiao was still unwilling to accept this. Why should she be thrown aside like waste?
Xiaohong's worries are also her worries.

Judging from one’s own experience, those vixen in the harem must be vying to climb into Jing Chongguang’s bed.

But Qiao would not dare to let her break into the palace and compete with those vixen.

There were so many women in the King of Qi's harem, why was she the only one who came ashore in the end? It was because she was smarter than the others.

Mrs. Qiao's eyes fell on Xiaohong's face. This girl was getting more and more beautiful as she grew older.

Qiao knew exactly what Xiaohong was thinking, and she also knew why Xiaohong came to say these words to her.

She snorted in her heart and said, "Then I will do as you say, Princess."

"Go to the palace to see the prince for me. Alas, the prince doesn't even have a servant by his side. How can I feel at ease? And there is also the prince. The prince cannot live without someone."

Xiaohong was overjoyed. The guard brother was right. As long as she told the princess what she was thinking truthfully, the princess would get what she wanted.

Xiaohong entered the palace happily.

The princess sent two guards to escort her into the palace, and Wang Dalong volunteered to go with them.

That night, Ruyan received a message from Wang Dalong that Jing Chongguang and his son were living in Tingsongyuan.

"Do you know Tingsongyuan?" Ruyan asked Mingming.

Mingming nodded: "I know Tingsongyuan, but I have never been there. It's hard for that old bastard to live there."

Although Tingsongyuan is in the harem, it is not where the concubines live. It used to be the Buddhist temple in Prince Fu's mansion. Later, when Emperor Yonghe moved in, the Buddha statues in the temple had been taken away, and it was empty. It did not look like a place where mortals could live. At first, it was empty and no one lived there. Later, as more and more people came to the harem, two beauties who had just entered the palace were arranged to live here.

However, they both fell ill within a few days of moving in. No medicine could cure them, and they died less than a month after entering the palace.

Everyone said that they must have angered the gods by living here, so a ritual was performed in the palace at that time. From then on, no one dared to live in Tingsongyuan anymore. Even if people passed by here in broad daylight, they would take a detour.

Ruyan was surprised: "Jing Chongguang is quite brave."

If you were really brave, you wouldn't have to hide in the palace.

The next night, Mingming took action.

Just as she said before, she did not allow Ruyan and others to enter the palace with her. In her words, if they went, they would just cause trouble.

But Ruyan knew clearly that Sister Mingming didn't want them to take risks together.

She insisted on going to the palace together, her eyes were as sharp as a knife: "I have the final say here, do you want to disobey my order?"

The order from above was indeed for everyone to listen to Mingming's orders. Ruyan bit her lip and said, "Sister Mingming, when this mission is completed, I will treat you to a tour of West Lake."

Mingming smiled: "Just don't treat me to West Lake vinegar fish."

According to the plan, she entered the palace alone, while Ruyan, Zihan and three others waited outside the Jushui Gate, waiting for support.

Before leaving, Ruyan handed Mingming a specially made firework: "Here, this is a distress signal. When we see this, we will rush in to save you."

Mingming Ruyan snorted, "With your mediocre skills, we don't know who will save whom when the time comes."

But she still took the firework and put it in her arms.

She turned to leave, but suddenly thought of something and said to Ruyan, "There is a box under my pillow. The things inside were bought by Commander Zhong. If you have a chance to meet him, please give it to him for me."

Ruyan wanted to say, I don't know that Commander Zhong, but before she could open her mouth, Mingming had already turned and left. After a few ups and downs, she had disappeared. Having lived in the palace for more than half a year, although Mingming hardly interacted with the women in the harem, it did not mean that she would not wander around.

She was familiar with the roads in the harem, and even with her eyes closed, she could find Tingsongyuan.

She also knew the palace guards' night patrol times and routes.

But she still made sufficient preparations, because the owner of the palace now was not Emperor Yonghe, but Jing Chongguang.

In order to save his life, Jing Chongguang will definitely change many rules.

Sure enough, Mingming guessed correctly. Jing Chongguang did change the rules and the patrol route of the guards was changed.

After the guards had gone far away, Mingming came out from the shadows. In front of them was Tingsong Courtyard. Lanterns were hung in front of the gates of every palace courtyard, except Tingsong Courtyard which was pitch black.

Mingming took a deep breath and jumped onto a big tree.

From the tree, she could see the entire view of Tingsongyuan.

Because this place used to be a Buddhist temple, the layout of the houses is different from that of other palaces. There is only one main room, and two east and west wing rooms each. The two beauties died here.

At this time, the main room was dark, while there were lights in the east and west wing rooms. However, it was impossible to be sure which room Jing Chongguang lived in, but it was definitely in the east and west wing rooms.

Suddenly, a flash of light appeared in a corner of the yard.

Mingming's brows were slightly frowned, but fortunately she did not rush in. It was the light reflected by the moonlight falling on the sword.

I don’t know how many guards are hiding in the darkness.

Mingming took out a firecracker from his backpack, lit the wick with a flint, and threw it towards a roof.

The firecracker fell, hissing twice, and then there was a loud bang!
The guards hiding in the dark rushed out, but unfortunately these guards were all from the palace, not the Regent's Palace.

The guards at the Regent's Palace were experienced and knew that the loud noise came from firecrackers, but the guards at the Imperial Palace did not know that.

Then, there was another loud noise, and this time the guards reacted.

"It's on the roof, go up and take a look!"

Several figures rushed onto the roof first, and what they saw were firecracker tubes that were still smoking.

"Damn it, it's actually a firecracker!"

"What kind of firecracker is this? Why is the noise so loud?"

Of course the sound was loud. It was specially made. Zi Han and Zi Xuan learned how to make firecrackers before coming to Fuzhou. Whether it was this kind of firecracker or the fireworks that Ruyan gave to Mingming, they were all specially made by them. They could not be bought on the market, and their origins could not be traced.

A guard was so angry that he kicked the discarded firecracker tube away.

But at the moment the firecracker tube flew up, something with sparks fell out of the tube. The guards next to it saw it and were stunned. Before they could react, the sparks quickly burned. Then, there was another bang.

This time, the sound was not too loud, at least not as loud as the previous two sounds.

The guard cursed: "What a piece of shit, it can still make a sound!"

Before he could finish his words, he smelled smoke, which made him cough.

The guard who had just kicked the firecracker tube also kept coughing with him.

The guards below didn't know what was going on, so they shouted up, "What's going on?"

Suddenly, someone shouted, "Oh no! There's poisonous smoke!"

Yes, there was poisonous smoke. Although it was night, you could still see the smoke billowing.

Where does the smoke come from so late at night? It must be poisonous smoke!
The guards were choked to the point of tears and blurred vision. They wanted to hold their breath to prevent themselves from being poisoned, but they could not help coughing. After a few coughs, they accidentally inhaled a large amount of poisonous smoke.

In the west wing, Jing Chongguang also heard the noise outside. He kicked Xiaohong, who was massaging his legs, away and stood up.

"What's going on? Go out and take a look!"

Two guards came out in response, and Jing Chongguang scolded, "You are making a fuss about nothing."

Before he could utter the word "strange", he felt a chill on his neck. He subconsciously reached out and touched it. It was sticky and it was blood!

He saw the maid who had just been kicked by him covering her mouth in horror, her eyes wide open, as if she had seen the most terrifying thing in the world.

Jing Chongguang was stunned, blood gushed out from his neck, his body swayed, and he fell to the ground.

Xiao Hong fell to the ground and moved backwards little by little: "Don't kill me, please, don't kill me, the prince is not in this yard, I will tell you where he is, please don't kill me."

Mingming smiled indifferently, turned around and left.

She knew where Jing Chongguang's son was; he must be in the Queen's palace.

Firstly, the queen is a woman, so it is most appropriate for her to take care of the young prince;
Secondly, there is a secret passage in the Queen’s Palace, which leads directly to the former bedroom of Emperor Yonghe.

It's actually safer there than the haunted Tingsongyuan.

But Jing Chongguang died too easily, and I clearly felt something was wrong.

She didn't stop and quickly left the house.

The guards outside were in a mess. In fact, it was just ordinary smoke, which could make people cry, have runny noses and cough constantly, but it would not take people's lives.

It's just that these guards didn't know, and they were not ordinary people. Even if they had never encountered it, they had definitely heard of poisonous smoke and fog. Now seeing the inexplicable smoke, they instinctively thought it was poisonous, and when they coughed, they would inhale some of it more or less, so they thought they were poisoned.

Mingming ignored them and took advantage of the chaos to leave Tingsongyuan.

The two loud noises just now had attracted the guards in the palace. Hundreds of guards ran over here. Mingming turned around and hid behind a big tree. She saw the guards running past her and heard the gate of Songyuan open, and they rushed in.

Mingming walked forward quietly. She chose a place with shadows from trees. It was easy to hide her in the darkness.

The noise just now has alarmed the entire harem. The concubines in each palace sent eunuchs or palace maids to see what was going on, and almost all the palaces opened their doors a crack.

The place we were going to was obviously the Queen's palace.

The queen lived in Laiyi Palace, which was the largest palace in the entire harem, even larger than the emperor's bedroom.

In fact, the small palace in Fuzhou does not occupy a large area, about the size of a prince's palace. Therefore, it did not take long to reach Laiyi Palace.

Along the way, she was thinking about Jing Chongguang who had just died.

She had seen Jing Chongguang, but only from a distance. She was not sure whether the dead person was the real Jing Chongguang.