When the honor guards arrived at Jingyang Palace, the fire was put out.

The magnificent palace was almost ruined. Only dilapidated walls which were completely burnt black remained.

"Yunxi... Where is Yunxi?" Huanan Xin shouted.

Huanan Xin sitting in the imperial carriage was shocked, and then he suddenly stood up while shouting.

The captain of the Honour Guards knelt by the broken walls and lowered his head, feeling uneasy.

"Your Majesty, two bodies were burnt in the Main Hall. It should be Her Grace Concubine Yun and her maid..." The captain said.

"No, impossible... It's not her. I have told her not to leave me..." Huanan Xin said.

As Huanan Xin was stunned and said to himself, he turned pale.

Suddenly, Huanan Xin was dazed. He almost fell from the carriage.

"Your Majesty, be cautious. The dead can't get a life again. Don't be too sad. Please take care of yourself..." Liang Zhen said.

Liang Zhen quickly held Huanan Xin who was in a panic. But Liang Zhen did not expect Huanan Xin to slap him.

"D*mn it! You're the son of b*tch! Jingyang Palace was almost ruined. Why do you tell me so late? What the hell are you doing?" Huanan Xin said.

Liang Zhen was scared. He threw away the horsetail whisk and knelt. He kowtowed again and again.

"Your Majesty, please forgive me. Please forgive me..."

Liang Zhen was wronged.

Last night, he was on duty outside the Tailuan Palace. So, he knew that Huanan Xin slept with his concubines even if he didn’t see it.

When Liang Zhen knew that Jingyang Palace was on fire, Huanan Xin was having s*x with his concubines.

In that case, if Liang Zhen had rushed into the hall and told Huanan Xin what happened, Huanan Xin would have been disturbed. Then Huanan Xin might have killed Liang Zhen.

Now, Liang Zhen could not publicly state the real reason why he hadn't told Huanan Xin what happened.

Huanan Xin got angry, walking out of the imperial carriage. He pointed at the Honour Guards and eunuchs and shouted at them.

"It's your fault! You didn't put out the fire in time! I will kill you for her! Yunxi, I'm here. I'm here..." Huanan Xin said.

Huanan Xin was so sad. He shouted towards the sky, crying.

Huanan Xin could not believe that the woman he always loved throughout his whole life died.

Huanan Xin thought, "Why?"

"She is always pretty strong. There is something and someone that she cares about..."

Huanan Xin rushed to the dilapidated palace. But Noble Concubine Hui and the captain stopped him firmly.

"Your Majesty, please stop! It's so dangerous inside. The burned palace may collapse at any time. You must not put yourself in danger!"

"Your Majesty, I'm sorry for your loss. If Concubine Yun is still alive, she would not like to see that you're so sad. Your Majesty!"

"Stay away from me!" Huanan Xin said.

Huanan Xin was annoyed. He shouted and widened his eyes that were red from crying.

As Huanan Xin turned around violently, an internal strength came out of his body. Then those who stopped him were thrown away by the strength.

Noble Concubine Hui rolled on the ground and then lay prone, coughing blood.

Her flyaway hair came down and her eyes were full of tears. She looked at Huanan Xin who was extremely crazy. She wanted to show that she was wronged.

But Huanan Xin did not feel sorry for her. He walked towards Shi Yuanqing with anger in his eyes.

"You killed Yunxi, right? It must be you. You're jealous of her, so you managed to kill her! You talked me into drinking last night, so you had the opportunity to ask people to set the fire. Then you asked others to tell me what happened until dawn. Well, it must be you..." Huanan Xin said.

"Your Majesty, I didn't do so. Even if I were audacious, I wouldn’t dare to do terrible things like killing people..."

As Huanan Xin shouted at her and cursed her, Shi Yuanqing was stunned and sat on the ground awkwardly, moving backward.

She cried sadly. When she thought of asking people to assassinate Gu Yunxi at Yonglu Temple earlier, she felt afraid and bitter, her heart beating fast.

Huanan Xin continued to walk towards her and blame her. All of a sudden, he turned around and walked towards that captain.

"You're the son of b*tch! You delayed and didn't try your best to save my beloved concubine. It’s all your fault!" Huanan Xin said to the captain.

Huanan Xin kicked the captain down and stamped on his strong body. He cursed him angrily.

"D*mn it! How dare you cause the woman I love most to die? You must be killed for Yunxi. Guards! Come here quickly to take them away! Kill all of them!"

No one responded to his order.

All people there were silent, lowering their heads, kneeling, and trembling. Only Huanan Xin shouted with anger.

"Your Majesty, you are crazy for that woman. You must stop!"

A toneless voice came slowly. As Huanan Xin heard the voice, a carriage came there through the palace path.

The woman in the State Landau was the Imperial Mother Xiao from Cining Palace.

One could see the phoenix-shaped shoes come out of the carriage. Then the Imperial Mother Xiao came towards Huanan Xin with the help of Tongjiang. Imperial Mother Xiao could know that Huanan Xin was angry and anxious from his appearance.

Imperial Mother Xiao turned sad for Huanan Xin while she was astonished before. She pulled his nightclothes and shook her head with a sigh.

"It's not proper for an Emperor to wear nightclothes in public..." Imperial Mother Xiao said.

Seeing that her son, Huanan Xin, calmed down slightly, she pushed away the maid who helped her, continuing to blame Huanan Xin.

"You should not kill others for that woman who doesn't love you. Because of her, all people in the Palace can't live a peaceful life. It's great for her to die." Imperial Mother Xiao said.

"Mother..." Huanan Xin said.

When Imperial Mother Xiao blamed Huanan Xin, Huanan Xin got hurt as if her words had turned into sharp steel needles which had been stabbing him.

Confronting with Huanan Xin who was resentful and looking into his red eyes, Imperial Mother felt extremely sad while pressing her chest.

"My son, you were witched by that woman before. Now, you must accept the reality!" Imperial Mother Xiao said.

She looked towards that captain.

"Did you ever find out the cause of that woman's death?" Imperial Mother Xiao asked.

Suddenly being asked by Imperial Mother Xiao, the captain didn’t dare to hide the truth. Then he lowered his head and answered her.

"Your Grace, the two corpses were found in the Main Hall with their bodies intact. They seemed not to try to escape from the palace. And a candlestick was placed on a charred corpse. So, we reach the conclusion that they set the fire in order to kill themselves." The captain said.

Imperial Mother Xiao asked Huanan Xin, "Do you hear that?"

Imperial Mother Xiao raised her delicate eyebrows, staring at Huanan Xin coldly and smugly. She wore a half-smile while Huanan Xin was extremely sad.

"My son, that woman died because she burned herself not because someone harmed her. You deprived her of her title and fed her with the most poisonous poison. She could not bear that, so she decided to get relief by killing herself." Imperial Mother Xiao said to Huanan Xin.

Imperial Mother Xiao added, "You should not blame others. It's you and your self-righteous love that cause her death."

Huanan Xin was shocked and was in great agony when he felt a headache.

He was speechless and stunned. Enduring the headache, he held his head with his hands and closed his eyes with tears dropping.

Huanan Xin thought, "Yunxi is dead..."

"She is indeed dead..."

"She really knew that I love her. But why did she disobey me again and again?"

"She would rather die than stay with me!"

Huanan He kept saying those to himself sadly. He could feel the pain in his heart clearly, but he couldn’t get rid of it at all. He was in great agony.

Huanan Xin broke down and suddenly fell to the ground in front of all people present.

He knelt on the ground and burst into tears loudly.

Others lowered their heads cowardly and said to Huanan Xin in chorus.

"Your Majesty, please take care of yourself."

Seeing that Huanan Xin cried sadly, Noble Concubine Hui felt miserable and crawled towards him with her knees. She held his trembling shoulders, sobbing.

Imperial Mother Xiao took the opportunity to comfort Huanan Xin.

"Noble Concubine Hui is considerate. She has been your concubine since she was a young girl and she has been obedient to you. She has never done anything wrong to you." Imperial Mother Xiao said.

"But you blamed her for a woman who got married for a second time. Such being the case, you should calm down. There mustn't be no Empress to manage the imperial harem. You should find a good day to announce that Noble Concubine Hui can be your Empress."

Noble Concubine Hui looked at Imperial Mother Xiao secretly. She was happy inside, but she pretended to be humble. She said to Imperial Mother Xiao obediently while lowering her head.

"Your Grace, thank you very much. Being the Empress is not the most important thing now. We should give the priority to Sister Yun since she was gone. Now that she had been the concubine of His Majesty, we should bury her properly."

"I don't have the energy to take that into consideration since I am old. You can do it at will." Imperial Mother Xiao said.

Imperial Mother Xiao glanced at her sullenly. She thought Noble Concubine Hui did not grasp the opportunity and only wanted to ingratiate herself with Huanan Xin.

After Imperial Mother Xiao got on the carriage, the honor guards of Cining Palace left there quickly.

...

After the death of Gu Yunxi, all things in the Palace became lifeless.

All things appeared to be dead as soon as the fire was put out.

At dusk, the sky turned grey.

It was rainy. The rain was heavier than that in summer. The rain did not stop until the evening. People thought that the rain did not come in time to put out the fire.

Leshuang came to Miaoyin Hall quietly through acrobatic jumping. He seemed to be weightless, standing on the corridor quietly.

He looked towards the inside of the room through the half-open window. And he saw the room lighted by the candles.

The girl who he missed was sitting on the bed and was holding a small lantern that he gave her with both hands. With her blind eyes open, she mumbled mournfully.

"Big brother, where are you? Are you fine now?"

"When I was a little girl, my parents always told me that good people will be safe. You saved me before, so you're a good person. You will not be killed by bad guys."

"Big brother, I'm blind. From now on, I will no longer be able to light the lantern and stand high waiting for you. I'm sorry."

"I miss you. I want to see your face with my own eyes again..."

Leshuang's eyes were red from being moved. He turned around to look at the heavy rain. He thought to himself.

"Ying'er, don't cry. All trouble will be solved soon. I'll be your eyes and hands..."

"Who? Who is standing there?"

On the other side of the corridor, Noble Concubine Hui was in panic and stared at Leshuang who was in a raincoat with a bamboo hat. She yelled in a sharp voice.

Beside Noble Concubine Hui, Hongjing hurried to ask guards to come there in a panic. But Leshuang asked her to stop.

"Wait. I'm the one who Counselor-in-chief Shi is looking for." Leshuang said.

After he took off the bamboo hat, his handsome face appeared.

"Is that Her Grace, Noble Concubine Hui, outside? What happened? Who are you talking to?"

Hearing the noise outside the room, Ying'er asked curiously.

Leshuang put his index finger on his lips, which meant that he did not want Noble Concubine Hui to tell Ying'er he was there. Seeing that, Noble Concubine Hui nodded. She said to Ying'er who was in her room.

"Nothing happened. I'm talking to the officials of the Etiquette Bureau. Dear Ying'er, be good and go to bed peacefully." Noble Concubine Hui said.

Noble Concubine Hui walked towards Leshuang and then led him away from the window. She said to him in a low voice.

"Lord Le, you are still alive!" Noble Concubine Hui said.

Leshuang smiled.

"Counselor-in-chief Shi said that he would find me no matter I am dead or alive. I didn’t dare to die."

"You are well-informed." Noble Concubine Hui said with surprise, covering her mouth.

"Why do you come to Miaoyin Hall tonight? What are you going to do?" Noble Concubine Hui asked.

Leshuang said to her with cunning eyes.

"I want to tell you that I would like to help Counselor-in-chief Shi defeat Yue Xilou. But there is a premise..."

Noble Concubine Hui narrowed her beautiful eyes slightly. She said to him directly.

"What's the premise? Tell me."

Leshuang sneered.

"After we defeat Yue Xilou, I want Counselor-in-chief Shi to help me to be the Commander-in-chief of the Eastern Depot!"