Not only the palace guards but the others also saw how the fire on the torches moved crazily and they shuddered in fear. They wondered what really happened... This phenomenon was really confusing to them!
'How eerie!' All of the people there thought of the same thing.
"Why... why is the fire moving out of nowhere?"
"There's no wind ah~!"
"What does it mean? The calm before the storm?"
There was another round of murmur from the audience which broke the silence.
Feng Yong Rui pretended to be panicked while he was observing his surroundings carefully, wanting to know who was targetting him. He heard the clue from Ah Man about the eunuch's appearance. Judging from what he said, there were several eunuchs who had the same traits as the explanation and the third prince's personal eunuch was one of them.
Was it really the third prince?! However, they never had a grudge before. Feng Yong Rui felt that this matter was really complicated. He glanced at the third prince but didn't find anything weird from the latter. The third prince was famous for being irresponsible and the way he acted in unbridle manner. He only loved women and drink. At this moment, he behaved as usual --- he looked so scared that he almost peed his pants. He really was a coward just like the rumor.
Feng Yong Rui squinted his eyes and saw that the third prince really didn't seem to fake his reaction. If he was acting, he was really hiding deep ah~! It would be too scary if that was really true. He searched where the third prince's eunuch was, but he wasn't here in the banquet. It made him feel slightly curious. Where did the eunuch go?!
However, it was hard to find out about it at the moment. Because of this event, it could be said that they were in a lockdown. Feng Yong Rui sighed, wondering whether his subordinates had finished saving Rong Qiu or not.
He didn't only stop at the third prince, but he was busy paying attention to everyone one by one. However, he forgot to look at a place where the mastermind sat down because he would never guess that 'that person' was the real mastermind. Thus, he missed the clue.
Yao Ling smirked inwardly when the fire on the torches started to move because she knew that this meant the others were ready and it was time to start the next segment of their performance. However, she still pretended to be afraid just like the others while didn't dare to move rashly. It wasn't the time to make people feel suspicious of her.
The Han Emperor indeed had taken a glance towards her and found that nothing seemed weird from Yao Ling who was staying on the stage. At one point, he saw that she wanted to stand up and found her fellow performers, but she was stopped by the palace guards. Thus, she could only sit back down alone at the stage, looking so delicate and endearing.
Yao Ling counted inside her mind slowly while her heart was beating faster due to her nervousness and excitement...
One...
Two...
Three...
*Poof*
*Poof*
*Poof*
When the count reached three, the torches that the palace guards brought were suddenly diminished once again --- all at the same time. It was beyond everyone's imagination how it could happen, however, they didn't dare to make a sound anymore no matter how scared they were. After all, the Han Emperor had already warned them just now.
Yao Ling closed her eyes and she tried to feel the qujin using her hands. She had tried to learn to play it while covering her eyes with black clothes so that she could play in the darkness --- just like at the moment. She started to play a song --- an eerie one. Once people heard the music, they suddenly got gooseb.u.mps all over their body. The sound of the music was sad, indistinct, and frightening at the same time. That music made them feel that they were waiting for the appearance of a ghost and honestly, it was very scary.
The music seemed to come from the stage, but no one dared to look directly there. They were afraid that they would see something that shouldn't be seen ah~!
However, someone broke the taboo by bravely trying to see the source of the music. Suddenly, one of the Han Emperor's concubine yelped in surprise while pointing at the stage with trembling hands. "Look... Look at the..." Before she finished talking, she fainted due to her fear.
People were curious about what happened and they quickly looked at the stage, forgetting that they should be afraid. After all, their curiosity was bigger than their fear. They... they were amazed at what they saw. The previous beautiful woman who played the qujin looked so s.h.i.+ning on the stage despite the darkness due to a small lotus lamp --- it directly lightened up her face. She looked so beautiful, but suddenly something changed.
Something was flowing fluidly on her face. Her previous white face was full of blood at the moment and it didn't look like the appearance of a human anymore. She looked like a ghost! Her lips became paler, unlike her previous red lips.
When they took a look at her qujin, it was also stained by blood and the blood didn't stop flowing from her body. No matter how they looked at it... that woman suddenly turned into a ghost ah~!
The women wanted to scream, but they were afraid that the ghost would turn her attention from the qujin and choose to look at them. They didn't even try to make sense whether it was really a ghost or not.
The Han Emperor gasped and yelled, "There's no ghost! I don't believe that it's really a ghost!" He yelled at the guards and said, "What are you waiting for? Ki..." His words were choked on his throat when he was going to say 'kill that woman' because there was another ghost that appeared on the stage. The... the ghost was wearing a veil but... but she was walking really slowly while there was smoke all around her.
She had long black hair which reached her bottom and wore white clothing. The color of her skin was slightly bluish which made her look frightening as well.
The Han Emperor could not make out her face clearly, but he felt that the woman was somehow familiar. He squinted his eyes, trying to see her clearly. However, he couldn't seem to remember where he saw her. The Han Emperor didn't dare to look at the scary woman who played the qujin clearly and choose to pay attention to the woman who came the latest.
Some of the women had already fainted while the man could only point at the stage while trembling.
"That... That..."
"What kind of performance is this?"
The Han Kingdom people were believers of ghosts and the afterlife, this was the reason why they didn't dare to do anything to the two ghosts on the stage. Feng Yong Rui approved of their plan because of those reasonings as well. They wouldn't dare to do anything rashly to those ghosts, besides, he already took away their kingdom's Shaman. The latter was the only one who could ruin their plan.
"Prince... Prince..." The ghost pointed at the Han Emperor while calling him Prince.
Everyone was in confusion. Why did the ghost call the Han Emperor as Prince?! Some of them started to laugh --- it must not be a ghost ah~! How could a ghost call the wrong name ah~?!
"This must be a show ah~!"
"True... True..."
"Psst... Stop talking! If she hears something and chases you, it will be fatal ah~!" One of them gave out a warning.
Everyone quickly started to calm down once again, waiting to see what the ghost would do next.