The prince loves me like his life, but I force him to rebel

Before the Lantern Festival began, someone had already placed explosives on the street corners in this area.

When there were many people at the Lantern Festival, they quietly moved these things to the street side. In order to hide from others, they disguised these things as hawkers' goods, put them in boxes, and covered them with colored paper and other items.

When the emperor threw coins and everyone was busy picking up the coins, several rockets were fired from the second-floor window of the inn, detonating the bombs and causing countless casualties...

"Today...you must be careful and safe."

"Brother Gu, don't worry." Seeing that Gu Nianzhi seemed to be hesitant to speak, Shu Huaiyuan continued to ask: "Brother Gu, do you know something that I don't know?"

"Not really."

Gu Nianzhi struggled for a few seconds. She didn't want to see a river of blood, so she finally decided to tell Shu Huaiyuan what she knew.

"Someone has piled explosives in the dark corner of the street ahead of time, but they may have been put out in the open now. When the emperor throws coins later, the inns on both sides will shoot rockets. You need to check the vendors on the street. If you encounter an unowned cargo box, be sure to pay extra attention."

Gu Nianzhi was thinking about how to avoid the explosion.

Shu Huaiyuan looked at Gu Nianzhi with a scrutinizing gaze.

Gu Nianzhi was afraid that he would not believe it, so he quickly explained: "It is better to believe it than not to believe it. Master, please believe me for once. If we start investigating now, it is not too late."

Shu Huaiyuan asked some more details, and Gu Nianzhi told him everything he knew.

Shu Huaiyuan had already turned around, but he turned back again, holding Gu Nianzhi's shoulders with a serious look in his eyes.

"Stay away, and it's best not to be at the scene. I can't guarantee that all dangers can be eliminated."

"I want to go with you, maybe I can help you."

"No. You can't have any accidents."

Gu Nianzhi is always conflicted.

If she didn't mention this, the casualties might be ordinary people in this world who had nothing to do with her. But when she told Shu Huaiyuan this information, given his temperament, he would definitely go to the most dangerous place.

He would have gone up to the city wall in person to protect the emperor, but now he had to be in the center of the possible explosion.

And in the last second before he left, he was still worried about his own safety.

Watching Shu Huaiyuan's quickly departing back, Gu Nianzhi's mood grew heavy. She could only keep comforting herself that everything she knew had been explained, and with Shu Huaiyuan's ability, he would definitely be able to resolve the crisis.

The lantern festival becomes more lively as the night goes on.

There are more people on the street.

Some people who had not gone out before have now crowded onto Suzaku Street.

Gu Nianzhi followed the crowd and unknowingly found herself near Duanmen again.

"The Emperor will be here in about half an hour."

“Everyone who comes here is waiting.”

"Last year, my neighbor Wang Erniu came early and stood in the right position, and he picked up more than a hundred copper coins!"

"That's nothing. I picked up two pieces of silver two years ago. They are much more valuable than copper coins..."

People who are far away want to get closer, and people who are already close will not leave.

Soon, more and more people gathered near the Duanmen Gate, and everyone was trying to squeeze into the center. After all, the closer they were to the center, the more money they could pick up.

Gu Nianzhi finally squeezed against the flow of people and reached the side of the street. From afar, she saw guards in plain clothes grabbing a few people from the inn and taking them to another place through the alley next to Suzaku Street.

"The one caught here should be the archer who will shoot the rocket later, right?"

Gu Nianzhi's eyes lit up—the explosion at the Lantern Festival shouldn't have happened, right?

Just as she was thinking deeply, a half-grown child rushed out from the side and bumped into Gu Nianzhi. Gu Nianzhi felt a gap around her waist and when she looked up, she saw that the child had stolen her wallet.

"Stop!"

The child dodged here and there in the crowd very flexibly, and Gu Nianzhi had to work very hard to catch up with him.

The child turned into the alley and somehow reached the river bank after several turns.

Gu Nianzhi didn't know where this kid got his stamina from. He ran so far without even breathing hard.

He stood about ten meters away from Gu Nianzhi, watching her panting with a smile.

"useless."

Gu Nianzhi knew that if he pulled his feet away, the child would continue running.

She could only stand there, in a stalemate.

While I was still thinking about how to get the money and Indigo back, the child threw the things far away.

Gu Nianzhi quickly took two steps forward and caught the thing.

She hurriedly opened her purse, and found that all the gold and silver inside were there, including the indigo wrapped in brown paper.

Is this kid sick? Is he just playing a prank on me?

Just as I was thinking about it, I heard a creaking sound of bearings rubbing against each other behind me.

Gu Nianzhi turned around and saw that it was Cen Yu who was pushing the wheelchair.

"Brother Cen?"

Gu Nianzhi was somewhat surprised to see Cen Yu under such circumstances.

Before she had time to think about why the child's behavior was so abnormal, she had to face the embarrassment of being seen through her miserable side.

"Brother Gu. What a coincidence."

"Brother Cen is here to see the Lantern Festival, too?"

"Exactly."

"Brother Cen, why are you here on the moat instead of on Suzaku Street when you're watching the Lantern Festival?"

Gu Nianzhi seemed to understand something and asked:

"That kid who stole my purse at first, couldn't he have been arranged by Brother Cen?"

Cen Yu clapped his hands, seemingly not surprised at all that he was exposed.

"I knew that Brother Gu was very smart. My little trick couldn't be hidden from your eyes."

"Brother Cen, why did you invite me here so much?"

Cen Yu raised the stone and said, "I want to know how Brother Gu's skill of skipping stones on water is going?"

"That's why?"

"Yes, that's why."

"You want me to call you now?"

Gu Nianzhi looked towards the river.

The scattered prayer lanterns floating on the river make the whole river look particularly beautiful.

"Let's do it another day. If these wish lanterns are knocked over, the wishes of the people who sent them out will not be fulfilled."

"Brother Gu is so wise, yet he actually believes in these superstitious things."

A piece of stone flew out of Cen Yu's hand. No one could see how many bubbles were splashed on the dark river surface. All they could see was that several lanterns on the river dimmed.

Gu Nianzhi turned around in surprise and asked:

"Brother Cen, why are you doing this? I hope these lanterns don't bother you?"

"If lighting a small lantern could make a wish come true, why would there be so many frustrated people in this world?"

Gu Nianzhi suddenly felt that although Cen Yu was wearing white clothes today like that day, he was no longer the young man in white clothes under the sun.

The words that came out of his mouth were so cold and ruthless, and a chill seemed to emanate from his whole body.

He was like two different people from that day.

Cen Yu raised another piece of stone and was about to move his hand when Gu Nian grabbed his wrist.

"enough."

Cen Yu raised her head and looked at Gu Nianzhi, with a hint of anger in her eyes.