Chapter 172: The Situation Escalated

Chapter 172: The Situation Escalated

Bei Jingchu asked Haoyue to bring the freshly heated meals and headed to the side hall with them to find Zhou Huanjiu.

When they arrived, sure enough, the door was tightly shut.

The meal boxes left at the door this morning were still outside.

"No wonder Grandma’s worried—this feels like something went wrong."

She asked Changyan to open the door.

Changyan pushed, but it wouldn’t open.

The door was clearly locked from the inside.

Bei Jingchu rushed forward, banging on the door and shouting, "Jiu Jiu, open the door!"

"You have the guts to skip a meal, then have the guts to open the door!"

There was still no response from inside.

"What if something really did happen?"

Concerned, Bei Jingchu had Haoyue call someone to break down the door.

After a while, a few eunuchs arrived with an axe. At Bei Jingchu's instruction, they swung the axe directly at the door.

Just as the door creaked open, it was yanked wide.

Zhou Huanjiu opened the door, and the axe was heading straight for her head.

"This is bad!"

Before anyone else could react, Bei Jingchu jumped up, stood on her tiptoes, and used both her small hands to hold up the eunuch's arm.

The axe stopped just an inch away from Zhou Huanjiu's head.

Zhou Huanjiu froze, her voice shaking, "J-Jingchu, did I do something to upset you?"

Bei Jingchu's eyes darted around.

"Uh-oh, this is awkward."

"No, I need to turn the tables!"

Regaining her composure, she shot back, "Why didn’t you come out earlier? We’ve been knocking for so long."

"You only opened the door when we were about to break it down."

"And you even sent away the female guard assigned by His Majesty."

"Jiu Jiu, this is on you."

Jiu Jiu: ......

Even though she could hear Jingchu’s thoughts, Zhou Huanjiu glanced at the darkening sky and realized she really was in the wrong.

She scratched her dirty fingers, stained from the materials she was using, and muttered in a small, defensive voice, "I didn't notice."

"When I'm researching that stuff, it feels like I can't hear anything from outside."

"Is this what happens when you get obsessed with science?"

"This isn't going to work."

Bei Jingchu told the eunuchs to leave and pulled Zhou Huanjiu into the room, guiding her to the dressing table.

The reason being the other table was already piled high with the things she had been tinkering with, leaving no space at all.

Even the dressing table had quite a few items on it, leaving only a tiny sliver of surface for food.

Bei Jingchu was a bit disgusted. "Your room is a mess, like a dog's den. There's barely any space to move around."

Zhou Huanjiu:？

Hearing this from Jingchu felt a bit strange.

Haoyue, being very observant, carried the food box in and began setting out the food for Zhou Huanjiu.

Zhou Huanjiu quickly finished her meal and dove right back into her experiments.

Not stopping for a moment, it was clear she was working very hard for the goals she had set.

Satisfied that Zhou Huanjiu was alive and had eaten, Bei Jingchu left, feeling relieved, and closed the door without disturbing her further.

After walking just a short distance, she heard a loud boom from behind.

A few of the kids instinctively covered their ears.

Haoyue initially covered her own ears, but in the next moment, her two small hands were covering Bei Jingchu's hand that was over her own ears.

At that instant, Bei Jingchu realized something.

Unable to contain her surprise, she turned to see thick smoke and flames rising from Zhou Huanjiu's quarters.

"Heavens!"

"On the first try, and it's already this explosive?"

"Where's Zhou?"

"Where's my Zhou?"

"Is she gone?"

"Help! Someone's going to die!"

All those thoughts boiled down to one cry: "Help! There's a fire!!!"

A young eunuch rushed into the Imperial Study and whispered to Eunuch Jiang.

Hearing this, Jiang Zhixian was so alarmed that his legs gave out, and he fell to his knees.

Seeing this, the emperor stopped writing, a sense of foreboding washing over him.

Jiang Zhixian, trembling, spoke, "Your Majesty, something terrible has happened!"

"Renshou Hall is on fire!"

Beiheng was startled and shot to his feet, too flustered to notice his ink brush rolling off and smearing the words on the memorial.

A wave of dizziness hit him, and he nearly lost his balance.

"Is the Empress Dowager and the Grand Princess safe?"

His mother had just sent Chuer to Renshou Hall. With both the elderly and the young gathered there, they could have all been in grave danger.

Oh, right, and there was also Zhou Huanjiu, who he'd been paying attention to recently.

"What about Zhou Huanjiu?"

Jiang Zhixian looked at the young eunuch who had just come in to report. The eunuch knelt down.

"Please forgive me, Your Majesty! I saw thick smoke rising from Renshou Hall and came to report, but I didn’t find out about the conditions of the main occupants."

The emperor couldn’t stay seated any longer.

He raced to Renshou Hall faster than he had ever moved before.

Fortunately, when he arrived, the three people were all safe.

But he didn’t see Zhou Huanjiu—she had already been taken away for treatment.

"Father, you don’t know how dangerous it was!"

"Jiu Jiu was blown unconscious and carried out!"

"She has burns on several parts of her body!"

"Father, Jiu Jiu is seriously injured this time. It’ll take at least a hundred days for her to fully recover from such serious injuries."

"Since she was blown up, it could take even longer—maybe two or three hundred days."

"Maybe we should give Jiu Jiu a whole year off to recover."

Beijingchu felt that she was truly a princess who did what she said.

"I said I’d fight for a year’s leave for my friend, and I did!"

"This is what a real vacation looks like."

"A leave that’s not a full year isn’t even worth calling a vacation!"

The emperor was speechless for a moment.

What exactly did you promise Zhou Huanjiu without telling me?

A whole year off?

Such a good thing, I wouldn’t even dare to think about it.

But he was just envious for a moment before agreeing to the request.

Beijingchu was jumping with joy but was doused with a bucket of cold water by the Empress Dowager: "It’s Jiu Jiu who gets the year off, not you. You’ll still have to go to school every day and watch her relax. Why are you so excited, little one?"

Beijingchu calmed down.

"Right, what do I have to be happy about?"

Bei Jingchu calmed down and sadly hugged herself.

This made the Empress Dowager laugh even harder.

Seeing the Empress Dowager and Bei Jingchu's reactions, it was clear that while Zhou Huanjiu had been hurt, her injuries weren't severe.

Bei Heng felt relieved; it was good that his key advisors were safe.

Otherwise, who would get things done for him?

Not even the kids could be let off easy.

Back at the Imperial Study, Bei Jingchu mysteriously introduced gunpowder to the emperor.

Having known about it already, Bei Heng, not wanting to dampen the child's enthusiasm, feigned a look of surprise.

But Bei Jingchu saw right through him.

"Wow, Father, you're really hamming it up!"

Bei Heng: ......

Then, the little rascal, with who knows what on her mind, suddenly started praising him.

"Just like a seasoned emperor, you stay calm no matter what."

"You know how important gunpowder is, yet you stay so cool—my Father is awesome!"

This time, instead of scolding him, she actually praised him.

Bei Heng felt a wave of relief, almost moved to tears.

As the envoys were about to leave, a farewell banquet was held at the Liangyi Hall.

Bei Jingchu loved such occasions because she was called by Father and got to skip going to the Hongwen Hall.

What kid wouldn’t love skipping school? Anything feels like a party when you don’t have to go to class.

The envoy raised his cup and toasted, then asked, "It is about time, so when will Your Majesty of the Yue Dynasty give us a reply?"

Despite their words, the envoys looked confident.