After all, this was the imperial palace—and it was already quite late. Shen Jingshu couldn't stay too long.
They had exchanged nearly all they needed to say, and soon after, both departed separately.
Yun Chuhuan stumbled out from behind the rockery, rubbing his legs that had gone numb from crouching for so long. But far from tired, he was brimming with excitement.
"Fifth Sister, did you hear that just now? Weren't they basically saying that Father Emperor wants to make you Crown Princess?"
"What nonsense is that?"
Yun Shu's mouth twitched.
Others might not know the truth, but how could she not? Emperor Xuanwu had forbidden the Crown Prince from marrying Shen Jingshu precisely because of what she herself had once said—that close blood relations should not intermarry.
If anyone was innocent in all this, it was her.
Granted, she had just been silently griping in her head that the Crown Prince didn't show her the respect of even naming her as a potential rival. But all she had ever wanted was for him to at least mention her name when dismissively listing the other "candidates."
She had never intended for him to take her seriously enough to treat her as an actual threat.
Why was everyone so eager to conjure imaginary opponents?
Yun Shu was thoroughly exasperated.
But before she could dwell on that, a more immediate concern arose—
The two lanterns that Xiao Anzi and Ting Xue had brought earlier had both been extinguished when she'd snuffed them out.
And there were no other lanterns lit nearby.
Which meant they now had to grope their way forward through complete darkness—for at least seventy or eighty meters.
Yun Shu stood there in silence.
Of course. She and the Empress's son must be astrologically incompatible.
A path that would normally take less than two minutes to walk had now cost them a full ten.
When Ting Xue and the others finally managed to borrow flame from another lantern and reignite theirs, both Yun Shu and Yun Chuhuan let out matching sighs of relief.
"Finally, we're out!"
Yun Chuhuan looked around, then frowned.
"But… did we take a wrong turn somewhere?"
"We did?"
Yun Shu blinked in confusion.
She had always been a bit directionally challenged.
To someone like her, the path one takes and the path one returns on never look the same—and the difference between how things looked by day and by night was as vast as heaven and earth.
She glanced around, lost.
"You sure?"
"Princess, we definitely took a wrong path," Ting Xue confirmed after scanning their surroundings with her lantern. "But not by much. We're just slightly off course. A few more steps and we can circle back easily."
"Why circle back so soon?"
Yun Chuhuan now recognized where they were. A spark of excitement lit up in his eyes.
"Fifth Sister, why don't we just keep walking this way for a bit? Up ahead is Zhaixing Tower. If everything had gone according to plan tonight, once the banquet ended, Father Emperor was supposed to take everyone up to the tower to watch the fireworks together."
"Now that everyone else has left, we'll have the best view all to ourselves!"
"Father Emperor isn't going. So the fireworks probably won't be set off either, right?"
"Then we just tell them to set them off."
Yun Chuhuan said this as if it were the most natural thing in the world.
"It's just a few fireworks. Even if they set off the entire stock, it wouldn't cost much."
Yun Shu fell silent.
Was this really about the money?
She sighed.
"What I mean is, with so much going wrong tonight and the banquet ending in such haste, Father Emperor is likely in no mood for festivities. If he sees us off to the side setting off fireworks, wouldn't that seem… inappropriate?"
"But Father Emperor isn't here. How would he even know we're lighting fireworks?"
Yun Chuhuan gave her a puzzled look.
"It's not like Father Emperor has clairvoyant eyes."
Yun Shu: "...?"
He might not have clairvoyant eyes, but surely he could still hear the booming sounds of fireworks exploding in the sky?
"Enough overthinking. The Longevity Festival is supposed to have fireworks. If Father Emperor isn't available to enjoy them, shouldn't we take the initiative and light them for him?"
Yun Chuhuan spoke with such conviction that before Yun Shu could argue further, one of his remarks happened to strike a chord with her—
The Longevity Festival is supposed to have fireworks.
Everything that had happened at the banquet tonight, Emperor Xuanwu had cut it short deliberately to prevent too many people from learning what had transpired. He had ordered everyone to return home early.
And anyone who wasn't a fool would keep their mouths shut afterward.
But for the many in the capital who weren't invited to the palace tonight, they still expected the traditional fireworks on the Longevity Festival.
If there were none, rumors and speculation would inevitably begin to circulate.
To avoid unnecessary trouble, the fireworks had to be set off.
Yun Shu no longer objected. She followed Yun Chuhuan up to Zhaixing Tower, the highest point in the entire palace.
If not for the fierce northwest wind biting at her face, she might even admit that viewing the imperial palace by night from such a height was quite an interesting experience.
She turned her back to the wind and rubbed her hands together, pulling her cloak tighter around herself.
"Why haven't they started yet?"
"Any moment now."
Yun Chuhuan leaned out over the edge to check below.
"They're lighting the fuse!"
"Really?"
Yun Shu turned back around to face the cold wind, lifting her gaze skyward.
Pop!
There was the sound of a small explosion, sparks shooting through the air—and everything around her seemed to brighten.
But... where were the fireworks?
Yun Shu stared blankly at the star-filled sky.
Had the fireworks… turned invisible?
"Fifth Sister, what are you doing? Look, quick!"
Yun Chuhuan turned around excitedly, wanting to marvel with Yun Shu at the beautiful display.
Only to find her staring straight up at the heavens, completely ignoring the fireworks.
Puzzled, he tugged her sleeve.
"If you want to stargaze, do it some other time! Stars are there every night, but fireworks—these don't come by every day!"
"Hmm?"
Yun Shu allowed herself to be pulled back to attention. Her eyes shifted, and only then did she notice the shower of sparks dancing below.
It looked an awful lot like the iron flower shows she'd seen in the modern day—or more accurately, like someone welding metal.
Yun Shu: "...?"
No wonder Yun Chuhuan had confidently said Imperial Father wouldn't be able to see their fireworks from afar.
It wasn't a lie.
She blamed all those misleading period dramas. They had almost made her forget that those colorful sky-bursting fireworks in modern times were a relatively recent invention.
In ancient times, fireworks bloomed on the ground.
So... what was there to look at?
Had tonight followed the intended schedule, and Emperor Xuanwu had led the entire court to Zhaixing Tower to watch these... things—
Wouldn't it have been awkward?
Yun Shu's secondhand embarrassment almost kicked in on his behalf.
"Are the fireworks going to last long?"
She shrank her neck into her cloak, thoroughly unimpressed with this "ground-level, super-miniature version" of fireworks, and could only think about returning to Fengyang Palace to rest.
"The wind is biting cold."