White Fence Dream

Chapter 226: Banquet
"Prince Zhou, why are you here? What happened to the King of Chu?"

"I just saw His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu in the palace. He was drunk and wanted to go to the Taiye Lake. I saw that his eunuchs and palace maids couldn't hold him up, so I helped him."

Zhou Jingyun said, looking at the eunuchs and guests who gathered around.

"I was afraid that he would jump into the water, but I didn't expect His Highness to just look at the water, sit quietly by the pool, and then lie down and fall asleep."

As he spoke, he looked down at Li Yu who was lying beside him and smiled slightly.

"I slept soundly."

The people around were stunned again.

Zhou Jingyun looked up at them, as if he had just noticed everyone, and asked: "What's wrong? Is the banquet over?"

These words instantly made the stunned people lively.

"Something just happened!"

"His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu is here. Just now the princess thought he... ahem, got into trouble."

Hearing this, Zhang Ze, who was standing outside the crowd, withdrew his gaze, turned around and walked away.

"Zhongcheng, why don't you take them away to question them?" The imperial guard followed and asked in a low voice.

Zhang Ze sneered: "Why ask? Everyone has seen them here, and we also saw that Li Yu was not in the warm room."

That’s right, they didn’t catch him at the scene, and they couldn’t get anything out of him after the incident. The guard frowned and said, “It’s not easy to interrogate the people on Princess Jinyu’s side…”

Since Miss Zhu was deliberately plotted against by Princess Jin Yu, she would definitely not allow anyone to interrogate her own people.

They couldn't try Miss Zhu and Madam Zhu either.

When he said this, a eunuch ran over and whispered something to Zhang Ze.

Zhang Ze looked gloomy and nodded: "I know what happened."

The eunuch was a little surprised. He was just relaying what Miss Zhu had just said about her meeting with Empress Yang. He felt confused and didn't know whether it was true or not. However, Zhang Ze said he knew what was going on.

What's going on? Is this really a ghost?

But Zhang Ze didn't say anything else.

"Tell the queen not to do or say anything." He just said.

The eunuch replied, "Yes," and then asked, "Wouldn't the Minister of Justice go over and take a look? Your Majesty has dismissed everyone."

Is the banquet over now? Yes, the emperor is in no mood to have a feast now that the deceased queen has come.

"Go to the palace gate," Zhang Ze said, "and get the list of people to be present at the banquet."

……

……

In the dim vision, people were coming and going in the Linde Hall, but they were not gorgeous guests, and there was no sound of drums and music. There were only bare-chested craftsmen and the clinking sounds of repairing the palace.

"It was I who suggested to Your Majesty that the Linde Hall be rebuilt."

"They all accused me of wasting money and manpower."

"But it's beautiful, isn't it?"

Hearing the question, Bai Li withdrew his gaze and looked aside.

The person was no longer standing closely against her shoulder as before, but was swinging on the swing, her red dress fluttering.

"It looks good." Bai Li said.

The man on the swing laughed: "I thought you were going to say it's just wood and stone, all the same."

Bai Li also laughed: "Everything is different, how can it be the same?" He looked towards the Linde Palace again.

Before following Li Yu into the imperial city, she had thought that, given Bai Ying's caution, the imperial bell would definitely be hung in the Linde Hall, so how could she avoid alarming the imperial bell?

Then find a Linde Hall without an imperial bell.

So the moment Li Yu drank the wine and was helped up by the eunuchs and palace maids, she called out Jiang Mian'er.

She brought these people into Jiang Mian'er's dream and returned to the Linde Hall decades ago.

The truth and the false, the real and the unreal, are exchanged and weaving a big dream.

You have to wake up from a dream. When you wake up, some people’s dreams will be shattered.

The person on the swing came over, her red skirt fluttering like clouds and gauze: "Little girl, you have ruined your sister. She will never be the queen in her life."

Bai Li looked at her and smiled: "How could this be my fault? It should be the emperor's fault."

The people on the swing laughed, "That's right." She was about to say something, but suddenly swung higher, "My old Linde Hall is going to fall apart."

The person on the swing swung over and collided with her.

Along with the collision, the light and shadow shattered.

Bai Li opened his eyes suddenly. The old Linde Hall without the imperial bell disappeared, and the real Linde Hall appeared before his eyes, with eunuchs and palace maids running around.

The palace maids wore double buns and pink skirts, white makeup and thin eyebrows, and looked uneasy. "Sister, where is Princess Jinyu?" Bai Li stood up beside the pillar and asked.

The palace maid passing by was startled and let out a short scream. When she looked closer, she realized it was also a palace maid...

"I was so scared, I thought I saw a ghost." The maid muttered, then looked at Bai Li, who looked unfamiliar, "You..."

"I'm from the Prince of Chu's Palace." Bai Li said hurriedly.

"Prince Chu's Palace, go there quickly." The maid said, pointing in a direction and whispering, "The princess is very angry."

Bai Li thanked him and joined the crowd leaving the palace.

……

……

Zhang Ze stood at the palace gate. The night was slowly falling. The palace lanterns and torches were lit in advance, as bright as day, illuminating everyone who passed through the palace gate.

People had different expressions, some were uneasy, some were excited, and some were numb. Every face was stopped by the guards to be checked.

This caused another round of whispers.

"What are you investigating? Are you investigating ghosts?"

“Is it really haunted?”

Zhang Ze didn't care about or pay attention to these words. He listened to the guards reading out people's names and quietly looked at the faces of people passing by.

The guests who came to the banquet were actually very simple, just parents with their children, four or five people at most, and no maids or servants, until Princess Jin Yu and her entourage arrived.

Princess Jin Yu had a gloomy expression on her face, and the palace maids and eunuchs around her lowered their heads and trembled with fear.

There were four eunuchs carrying a sedan chair, on which Li Yu was sitting, still sleeping.

"Your Highness, Your Highness, are you okay?"

A palace maid followed quickly beside, holding onto the sedan chair and asking in a low voice with a concerned look on her face.

Zhang Ze's eyes passed over her, and the next moment someone stood over to block his view.

Zhang Ze narrowed his eyes.

Zhou Jingyun.

"Is Your Highness okay?" Zhou Jingyun asked, looking at Li Yu on the sedan chair, and then at the palace maid beside him with a concerned expression.

The maid said timidly: "I don't know, he hasn't woken up yet."

Zhou Jingyun looked at Princess Jin Yu in front of him and said, "Princess, please ask the imperial physician to take a look."

Princess Jinyu turned around from the sedan chair, raised her eyebrows and shouted, "I've drunk too much, it's embarrassing enough!" Then she looked at Zhou Jingyun, "Prince Zhou, when did you care so much about us Li Yu? I thought you disdained to associate with us royal family, otherwise you would have rejected my invitations again and again."

Zhou Jingyun said: "Princess, you misunderstood. It was just an unfortunate coincidence."

Princess Jin Yu sneered, "Okay, I'll pick a suitable time to invite the prince to come, but forget about today." Then she scolded the palace maids and eunuchs, "What are you still dawdling about? Hurry and return to your palace!"

The eunuchs carrying the sedan chair quickened their pace, and the palace maids did not dare to say anything more, but followed quickly with their heads lowered.

Princess Jin Yu's eunuchs also hurriedly shouted at others to make way. Princess Jin Yu sat on it with a sullen face and did not stop the eunuchs. When she saw Zhang Ze standing in front of the city gate, she sneered again: "Zhang Ze, why are you guarding the palace gate to investigate? Such a big imperial city, there are ghosts and monsters in broad daylight, why don't you go and find out who is causing trouble!"

Zhang Ze bowed and said: "I will do my best."

Princess Jin Yu ignored him and walked out of the imperial city quickly with a sullen face.

Zhang Ze stood up and looked at their backs, then turned around and saw Zhou Jingyun approaching.

"Prince." Zhang Ze smiled, "I have helped His Royal Highness the Prince of Chu a lot this time."

Zhou Jingyun said, "Your Highness the Prince of Chu is safe and sound, so why would you ask for help?" Then he leaned closer to him and whispered, "Something happened at the banquet, Zhongcheng, go and see if Lady Bai needs any help."

Zhang Ze looked at him and suddenly whispered, "Have you seen her?"

Zhou Jingyun was slightly stunned. What does that mean?
"Who?" he asked directly.

Zhang Ze looked at him without saying anything. He just waved his hand, indicating that he could leave.

The carriage from the Prince of Chu's Palace arrived. Princess Jin Yu had already gotten on and left. The eunuchs were busy carrying Li Yu onto the carriage.

Bai Li stood by the car and looked back. The night had already enveloped the earth. The imperial city was brightly lit, and countless people were rushing in. It was unclear where Zhou Jingyun was.

"Your Highness is lying down." said the eunuchs.

Bai Li nodded to them and got into the carriage. The curtains were lowered and the carriage swayed forward.

"Ali." Li Yu's voice murmured.

Bai Li looked at him. The young man was lying in the carriage with his eyes closed. He looked a little flustered and his hands were raised in front of him.

Bai Li held his hand and whispered, "I'm here."

His tense hands relaxed, Li Yu murmured something, his brows softened again, a smile appeared on the corners of his mouth, and he fell asleep again.

I'm having a checkup, under general anesthesia, so no update tomorrow~