Su Xiaoqi, seeing the Grand Princess directly expose the Crown Prince's true intentions, was startled.
However, thinking of the relationship between the Grand Princess and the Crown Prince, she quickly felt at ease.
The Grand Princess was the younger sister of Prince Duan, so naturally, she stood on his side.
With the Crown Prince plotting rebellion, the Grand Princess's side would have more room to maneuver.
The Grand Princess suddenly stood up, saying, "No, I must go into the palace."
Su Xiaoqi quickly advised, "Your Highness, if the Crown Prince truly intends to do this.
Going into the palace at this time is likely dangerous."
After all, the Crown Prince was not alone.
He had a powerful backing in the palace – Noble Consort Huang.
Once the Crown Prince decided to act against the Emperor, Noble Consort Huang would surely act in the palace.
The first step would be to seal off the palace and prevent any court officials from entering to foil their plans.
Upon hearing this, the Grand Princess became even more restless, pacing anxiously in the room, "Then I must go into the palace even more. Father Emperor is in such a state now, I fear..."
Su Xiaoqi said, "Your Highness worries too much, the Emperor still has the Imperial Guards."
Although the palace might appear calm on the surface,
the reality could already be a storm brewing.
If the Grand Princess went, she might not achieve anything and could even trap herself.
"Yes, yes, yes, the Imperial Guards, the Imperial Guards." Reminded by this, the Grand Princess's spirits lifted. She immediately sent someone to find Ji Chenggang of the Imperial Guards.
In front of Su Xiaoqi, she directly curtsied.
Ji Chenggang, having just been summoned, was still unsure of the situation and awkwardly dodged her bow.
"What is the meaning of this, Grand Princess?"
"Lord Ji, save my father Emperor." The Grand Princess solemnly requested.
Ji Chenggang was stunned for a moment, then immediately understood. He supported the Grand Princess, "Grand Princess, rest assured, your subordinate understands."
Ji Chenggang did not delay at all. After acknowledging the Grand Princess, he turned and left.
Su Xiaoqi breathed a sigh of relief. Given Ji Chenggang's feelings for the Grand Princess, it was likely he could secure the palace.
As long as Emperor Xingzhao was safe, the Crown Prince could not succeed.
However, with the situation so urgent, Su Xiaoqi could not stay any longer. She reminded the Grand Princess to be careful in the coming days and not to let the Crown Prince's faction find any opening.
The Grand Princess agreed and had Madam Xu escort her out.
Upon returning, Su Xiaoqi immediately informed Shen Yun about the events at the Grand Princess's manor.
Shen Yun tapped on the table, his voice a little hoarse, "It seems they are moving things forward."
The information he had previously gathered from various sources indicated that action would be taken at the end of the first lunar month.
However, the news had leaked too quickly.
To prevent the matter from spreading, the Crown Prince's faction would definitely choose to act sooner.
This way, their hope of waiting for reinforcements from the Northern Territory to suppress it would come too late.
And the commander of the Five City Patrols, it was still unknown who he was loyal to.
Upon receiving the news, Shen Yun left immediately.
He had to inform Prince Duan of this matter immediately so that he could guard against it and resist if necessary.
In Great Liang, the New Year was not truly over until after the Lantern Festival.
The Lantern Festival, also known as the Shangyuan Festival, had always been the most important festival in Great Liang.
This was because after this festival, the imperial court would reopen its doors and resume official business.
This also meant that the officials' holidays were over.
On this day, both the imperial palace and the common people would hold grand lantern festivals.
Various kinds of lantern displays were set up along Zhengyang Street and Zhuque Street.
There was also a long street of flower lanterns along both banks of the Yuan River.
From a distance, the lit flower lanterns looked like a long fiery dragon stretching along the major streets of the capital.
As this was the first time they were seeing such a spectacle, Shen Yun brought Su Xiaoqi and his family out to admire the lanterns.
However, at the beginning, Shen Yun was called away by the suddenly appearing Wang Enze.
"Does Master Wang know the reason?"
Wang Enze said with a relaxed expression, "Oh, it's because the Emperor has been feeling much better lately and specially took the dragon carriage out to admire the lanterns.
He is currently seated at the Stargazing Tower and has sent this official to summon Scholar Shen."
Shen Yun's heart tightened. He thought to himself that at such a sensitive time, the Emperor was actually out to admire lanterns.
They had only focused on sending people to guard the imperial city, but they had not dispatched troops to the banks of the Yuan River.
What would happen if unrest broke out?
He could not think further and turned back to greet Su Xiaoqi.
He also signaled her to go back after watching for a while.
Su Xiaoqi saw that the situation was not right and felt an increasing pressure. She had no mood to watch the lanterns and called for everyone to return home.
Shen Mingzhu said with some regret, looking at Su Xiaoqi, she whispered,
"Sister-in-law, we just came out, and Erdan is home for a rare visit... he hasn't seen a lantern festival yet."
Su Xiaoqi looked at Shen Zhao and then at Zhao Shi.
Both of them had a hint of regret on their faces.
But neither of them spoke.
This clearly meant that the decision rested with her.
As she was hesitating, she heard the sound of horseshoes approaching.
It was Yu Changfeng from the Duke of Yu's manor.
He was acting on his grandmother's orders to invite Zhao Shi and Su Xiaoqi's group to the Chun Ya Tower, which Madam Wen had already booked, to admire the lanterns.
These prime viewing spots for the lantern festival had been booked a month in advance.
Su Xiaoqi, being her first time, did not know this, and by the time she knew, it was too late to book.
However, the Duke's manor had no such issue, as people would reserve spots for them without needing to book.
Su Xiaoqi originally did not want to stay. She felt that something was very wrong today.
Moreover, when Shen Yun left, he had instructed them to hurry back.
If they stayed now, and the Crown Prince chose to cause trouble at this very moment...
Before she could fully process her thoughts, she suddenly heard a loud "boom."
"Ah... this is bad, this is bad, the Stargazing Tower ahead has collapsed, collapsed!"
"Ah, someone's killing people, someone's killing people, there are assassins, assassins are killing people!"
Amidst these shouts, the people watching the lanterns became chaotic. Those who had squeezed into the center rushed outwards.
The area around Su Xiaoqi's group was initially quite spacious.
With this change, it immediately devolved into a mess.
People jostled each other, becoming more chaotic and more crowded...
Su Xiaoqi's heart trembled. The Stargazing Tower, she remembered Wang Enze saying that the Emperor was admiring the lanterns there.
Her heart pounded, and she instinctively wanted to jump out of the carriage and head to the Stargazing Tower.
But Yu Changfeng stopped her. He pointed to a large crowd surging towards them and said, "Don't go, you can't go."
At the same time, he shouted for everyone to quickly follow him.
"Quick, quick, it's chaotic ahead, come with me to Chun Ya Tower, otherwise you'll be knocked down and trampled to death."
The sounds of explosions at this moment were particularly terrifying, causing everyone to panic.
Those inside were desperately trying to squeeze out.
However, the road was only so wide.
There were also many carriages stuck in the middle, making it impossible to move for a while.
As for them, who were on the outer perimeter, there was still space to move.
If they delayed any longer, they might not be able to leave at all.
Su Xiaoqi looked at the crowd surging like a tide and her heart trembled.
She knew that even if she tried to push her way in, she probably wouldn't be able to get in.
Because the crowd would only push her outwards.
"Mother, Mingzhu, Erdan, quick, let's go. Zhang Yu, Zhang Dian, quickly protect them and get out of the carriage."
At this moment, there were more and more people, and sitting in the carriage would only slow them down.
Moreover, the horses might be startled and overturn.
Therefore, the sooner they got out of the carriage, the better.
Fortunately, although they were women, children, and elderly, they were all agile.
Soon, with the help of Yu Changfeng and his group, they got out of the carriage and ran towards a three-story building nearby.
But because of the chaos on the street, there were many nobles inside Chun Ya Tower who had closed the gates for their own safety.
Even when Yu Changfeng shouted that he was a guest with a reserved seat, he still couldn't get the door opened.
Meanwhile, the crowd surged, suddenly accelerating.
If it was at a normal speed before, it was now a life-or-death escape speed.
Pursuing them were a group of people in black masks.
They wielded long swords and, regardless of age or gender, hacked at anyone they saw.
The distance between them was not far, and the door here was still not opened.
Everyone was in a panic, screaming in terror at the flashing cold swords under the lanterns.