Zhao Zhi’s complexion immediately changed, and the look in his eyes suddenly became very violent, “How is she?”
“I… I don’t know.”
How could the servant boy dare to tell the truth, even if he had ten lives, he would not dare to tell the crown prince that miss Ming Zhu could not be saved, and that she had burned to death in the fire. Zhao Zhi, with big steps, hurriedly got out of the palace. He thought it was just a small incident, that the fire had not been that big, and that maybe they were panicking over nothing.
Zhao Zhi grabbed the coachman’s whip, turned over and got on the horse. He slapped the whip hard on the horse’s back, all the way to the residence, he kept galloping, he couldn’t wait even one moment.
His heart was getting heavier and heavier, a bad premonition was spreading in the bottom of his heart.
When the intendant saw the crown prince hurrying back, he raised his eyes and saw at one glance the harsh look on his face, his heart told him it was bad.
“Your Highness ……”
He originally wanted to say something to calm the crown prince, no human would be able to bear the bitter sight of ruins.
The crown prince walked extremely fast, the intendant had yet to speak, that the man had already walked far ahead.
Zhao Zhi swallowed his saliva, “Where is she? Has she been scared?”
No one dared to answer his questions, and no one dared to make a sound. Everyone seemed like a mute, they were shutting their mouths tight to stay safe.
Zhao Zhi’s cold eyes swept over them, the way he was looking at them was no better than if he was looking at dead people.
There was a young maid who couldn’t stand it, she was so scared by the suffocating atmosphere that her body started shaking and her complexion turned ghastly pale.
Her kneecaps went limp and she fell down straight on her knees, while sobs spilled out of her throat, uncontrolled.
These low sobs pierced the quietness on the surface.
Zhao Zhi stared at her with cold eyes, his voice sounded like he was extremely furious, “What are you crying for?!”
The little maid held back her cries by gritting her teeth, not daring to make another sound.
Zhao Zhi walked past them and went on forward, after crossing a long corridor, he pushed open the courtyard door and saw the burned ruins, with nothing left.
He froze.
The silence was like death.
After a long time, Zhao Zhi finally found his voice back, “Where is Ming Zhu?”
The intendant breathed deeply and took the initiative to step forward, “When we found out about the fire, the fire was already very big, it was really impossible to enter, miss Ming Zhu …… she ……”
“She was still inside, and she hasn’t been saved.”
For a long moment, Zhao Zhi did not have a reaction, he was standing straight like a pine tree pensively in the empty courtyard, his eyes gradually turned bloodshot, and one could hear the sound of bones being dislocated from his clenched fists. He opened his mouth, but his throat felt like it was being filled with a stream of tears and he was unable, for a long moment, to even speak.
The sky was spinning and the earth whirling, his head felt dizzy and swollen. The buzzing sound resonating in his ears made his head hurt very much.
Zhao Zhi’s bloodshot eyes lifelessly stared at the ruins in front of him. When he opened his mouth, his throat felt like it was being cut by countless knives, it was filled with the smell of blood. He asked, “She hasn’t been saved?”
“Your Highness ……”
Zhao Zhi raised his hand, as if he did not want to hear him speak anymore. He moved his feet, but they were so heavy that it was almost as if he couldn’t lift them. Under the sun, his ghastly white face had the appearance that only the living dead had. The acute pain in his chest forced him to stop his steps several times.
Not without hardships, he managed to get to the ruins, where he stumbled and fell on both knees.
His knees happened to fall on a wooden plank which was half-burned. The sharp wooden spikes teared through the fabric of his clothes and pierced into his flesh. The pain was excruciating.
The intendant reached out to help him get up, but was pushed away by Zhao Zhi.
Staggering, he got back up on his feet, but collapsed again on the ground before he could even take two steps forward.
Behind him, yet again someone else could not restrain their cries, they were wiping their tears and whimpering.
The look in Zhao Zhi’s eyes was violent as he turned around to look, his eyes were red as if they had been injected with blood, he lowered his voice and said, “Whoever dares to cry again will have their tongue cut out.”
This warning finally made people shut their mouth.
Zhao Zhi was digging the ruins with his bare hands, his hands were full of fresh blood as well as fine bloody cuts, but it seemed like he was unable to feel the pain.
The intendant couldn’t help but say, “Your Highness, they’ve already looked through it.”
There was really nothing left but ashes.
Zhao Zhi seemed not to have heard him, he kept digging with his hands full of bruises, unwilling to stop.
“Your Highness, the fire was really too big.”
So big that there was nothing they could do, it really burned the entire building to the ground, the blazing fire surrounded it on all sides, even the gods could not have saved her.
At dawn, nothing was left but ashes scattering in the air.
Zhao Zhi coughed a few times. He swallowed back the blood in his throat. The sun fell on his lifeless, somber face, making his skin appear even whiter.
He felt like he was having a nightmare, a nightmare that he couldn’t wake up from.
Snapping back to his senses, he raised his head and looked at them expressionlessly, “How did the fire start?”
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