The Banquet Began

The sky has turned dark when the Emperor and his entourage finally went through the crowd of people in the City Square and safely entered the tower.

Qin Zhi Hao observed the situation around him and instructed the soldiers to be vigilant with their surroundings. It was rare for the Imperial family to come out and they all needed to pay extra attention to the safety. Once everything was ready, the Emperor walked into the hall along with the Empress and a few high ranked consorts.

The moment the Emperor entered, the ministers who came to join in the banquet stood up.

"Long live the Emperor." The words echoed throughout the room and the ministers all lowered their heads to a bow.

The Emperor took a seat at the stage and looked around at his subject. Only then did he let them be at ease. After exchanging a few words with a few of the ministers, the Emperor finally allow them to let the banquet to start.

With the sound of the loud gong, the banquet finally began!

Soon, servants dressed in soft blue dresses walked in with trays of food and wine for the Imperial family as well as for the ministers. The smell of delicious food wafted throughout the hall and with the Emperor's permission, the banquet began and the atmosphere in the hall liven up.

The large partition at the wall was removed, creating a large window for the Emperor and the others to look at the festivity atmosphere outside. The big stage was decorated beautifully with various colors. Lanterns of different shapes and colors were hung all around the stage.

At this time, the famous singer in Lantian, Wei Ran, appeared on the stage and started to sing.

Her voice was soft, melodious, and very soothing. The musical instruments were played to accompany her singing voice and the dancers behind her moved as gentle as flowing water.

As the hall where the Emperor and the others were seated was the same level as the big stage at the City Square, everyone in the hall had a clear view of what was going on the stage.

The princes and princesses sat at the lower stage as they accompanied the Emperor to chat and dine. The atmosphere looked absolutely harmonious at this time. However, among the attending princes, only Prince Yi was not seated along with his siblings.

At this time, he was in charge of the Emperor's safety and therefore would not have time to sit down and enjoyed his meal like everyone else.

In this tower, there was an array that would not allow anyone with martial arts to enter. Only the members of the Imperial Family knew how to disengage the array to enter and exit the tower safely.

As an imperial member, of course, Qin Zhi Hao was allowed to enter this tower without any problem.

The guards and the Chief of Commander who was usually in charge to guard the Emperor were not allowed to enter the tower. Therefore, Qin Zhi Hao was chosen to guard his father as he was proficient in martial arts.

Qin Zhi Hao stood at the corner to observe the situation in front of him.

The Emperor had asked him to find out the person who was involved with the two incidents regarding the lanterns, but so far, Qin Zhi Hao has not found anything useful.

His gaze swept through the hall and stopped at each person he had suspected.

For example, the Crown Prince. Although to the outsiders, the father and son's relationship was really good, Qin Zhi Hao knew that the Crown Prince had resented their father as he was often scolded in front of the ministers and the other princes.

The Crown Prince might be the firstborn of the Emperor and Empress, but it was not a secret that there are a lot of ministers who wanted him to be replaced. According to them, the Crown Prince was too weak and indecisive. They could not see him governing the country after the Emperor.

Then, there was the Third Prince, the Crown Prince's major contender. He made it no secret that he did not think that his brother was suited as the Crown Prince.

Before Qin Zhi Hao returned to the Capital City, he had heard a few stories of how the Third Prince had tried to sabotage the Crown Prince. The Third Prince was smarter than the Crown Prince and had a lot of supporters among the ministers. Most people were aware that the ministers wanted the Emperor to replace the Crown Prince with the Third Prince. However, the Emperor did not agree.

Knowing the Third Prince's ambition, how could the Emperor be at ease with this son? The Emperor was suspicious of the Third Prince and was worried that this son would someday stage a coup and took down the Crown Prince.

Then, there was also the Chief State Chancellor Li. Recently, the Emperor was worried about the balance of power in his court. According to his investigation, Chief State Chancellor Li had a lot of followers and could manipulate the other minister's opinion. His Majesty did not like this situation and had tried to balance the power in court. However, Chief State Chancellor Li was not an easy opponent.

Qin Zhi Hao was watching as the Emperor conversing with the Crown Prince when a eunuch approached him. The eunuch handed him a letter and left the area quickly.

His gaze darkened as he gazes at the bamboo tube. He hit the tube on his palm twice and two rolls of papers came out. Qin Zhi Hao picked up one of the papers and read the message. The soldier he sent to investigate the fire at the northern side of the city had come back with the report.

Qin Zhi Hao found out that the fire in the area was controlled and he need not worry about it as they were accidents.

His expression began to change as he read the second paper. Qin Zhi Hao quickly recognized the writing belonged to Officer Zhou Ming and the messages he delivered were very worrying.

According to Officer Zhou Ming, the incident in the south might not be an accident but instead, someone might use that incident to divert the authorities' eyes away from the western region.

His gaze grew frightening as Qin Zhi Hao found out that someone had deployed the Eight Squad who was supposed to look after that region to help with the fire.

The western region… The Emperor was supposed to use that route to return to the palace as soon as the festivity ended.