Chapter 301: Chapter 302: Earthquake
The butler hesitated for a moment but couldn’t help asking.
"About Prince Zhao... should we send someone over with a New Year’s gift?"
This time, Princess Rouwan finally reacted.
She raised her head, her gaze falling coldly on the butler.
"He was the one who caused the Lord Duke’s death. Why should I send him a New Year’s gift? Does he deserve it?"
The butler shut his mouth and left silently.
The entire Duke Zhen Country Mansion was lifeless and gloomy.
In contrast, the Prince Zhao Mansion was much more lively.
When night fell, Hua Manman took out the firecrackers she had prepared long ago and started playing with them in the courtyard.
After a firecracker was lit, she leaped high into the air and scurried away in a panic, accidentally bumping right into Prince Zhao’s arms.
Li Ji raised his hands and covered her ears.
The firecracker exploded with a series of CRACKLES and POPS.
But because her ears were covered, all those noises seemed to fade away.
She looked up, her gaze meeting Prince Zhao’s dark eyes.
Those dark eyes were like a midsummer night’s sky, holding thousands of galaxies and an affection that was almost overflowing.
Hua Manman gave him a brilliant smile.
"Happy New Year’s Eve."
Li Ji smiled back. "Happy New Year’s Eve."
Before going to sleep, Hua Manman remembered to hand over the pouch she had prepared.
She had made this pouch by hand. The craftsmanship was much better than the last green one. It was made of bright red satin and embroidered with a green pattern.
’Still that killer red and green combination.’
Li Ji couldn’t help but ask, "Why did you have to embroider a green flower?"
’Just how badly does this woman want me to wear something green?’
Hua Manman explained, "It’s not a flower, it’s a bamboo shoot. Aren’t bamboo shoots green?"
Li Ji stared at the pouch for a long time, but he really couldn’t see how that green blob was supposed to be a bamboo shoot.
He couldn’t understand. "Why a bamboo shoot?"
Other people usually embroider flowers, plants, or maybe little animals on their pouches. At the very least, they might embroider a few words.
This was the first time he had ever seen someone embroider a bamboo shoot.
’Even a bamboo leaf would have been better!’
Hua Manman explained with a straight face.
"Because I feel that bamboo shoots suit you particularly well."
’This damn man is so harsh with his words, constantly launching indiscriminate ’bamboo shoot attacks’ on friend and foe alike. He’s truly the undisputed Bamboo Shoot King!’
Li Ji, who heard her inner thoughts: "..."
’This woman is far too humble.’
’When it comes to being harsh, how could he possibly compare to her?!’
Li Ji took a deep breath. "Forget the bamboo shoot. Why is the pouch made of red fabric?"
’Red and green is really an eyesore!’
Hua Manman said righteously, "It’s the New Year! Red is festive!"
What else could Li Ji do?
She was, after all, the Princess Consort he had gone to great lengths to marry. He could only accept it.
Hua Manman held out her little paws. "You’re supposed to get gift money for the New Year. Where’s mine?"
Li Ji was already prepared.
He placed a heavy gold ingot in her hand.
He actually had many other valuable things, but knowing her, she would probably prefer shiny gold.
Hua Manman was overjoyed, holding the gold ingot, unable to put it down.
A gold ingot this heavy had to be at least ten taels.
"Thank you, Your Highness!"
’So much money! It’s enough to buy lots of pretty dresses and tasty food.’
...
In the dead of night, Hua Manman was sleeping soundly when she suddenly felt the bedframe beneath her move.
She groggily opened her eyes.
Li Ji was already awake.
He felt the bed beneath him and realized it was actually shaking.
Not only that, but the other furniture in the room was also trembling slightly.
It was an earth dragon turning over!
Li Ji immediately pulled Hua Manman up.
"Wake up, wake up! It’s an earthquake!"
The word "earthquake" jolted Hua Manman wide awake.
She hurriedly put on her clothes and shoes and ran outside with Prince Zhao.
By the time they reached the courtyard, they found that everyone else in the Prince Mansion was also awake, each one looking panicked with disheveled hair.
Chen Wangbei hurried over to Prince Zhao.
"Your Highness, it must be an earth dragon turning over. What should we do?"
Hua Manman quickly said, "We need to find an open area and stay there."
There was a Training Ground in the back courtyard of the Prince Mansion. The terrain there was flat and very open.
So, everyone went to the Training Ground.
There was nothing on the Training Ground, so everyone could only stand there stiffly.
Although it wasn’t snowing, the cold wind was biting, feeling like a knife scraping against their skin.
Li Ji pulled Hua Manman into his arms and wrapped her completely in his outer coat to keep her warm.
After the initial panic, Hua Manman had gradually calmed down.
She could feel the ground beneath her feet trembling, but the tremors weren’t strong. The earthquake’s magnitude was clearly low.
’An earthquake of this intensity probably won’t cause any major disasters.’
But to be safe, she had everyone remain on the Training Ground to wait and see.
The earthquake only lasted for about half an hour before it stopped.
Once they confirmed the ground had settled, everyone breathed a sigh of relief.
The winter night was too cold; staying outside any longer would likely lead to them catching a chill.
Hua Manman told everyone to go back inside for now, saying they would deal with everything else in the morning.
Hua Manman and Li Ji returned to their room to find that the tea set on the table had been shaken out of place, and a vase had fallen from a curio shelf, shattering into several pieces.
Everything else was as it was.
Hua Manman and Li Ji walked around the porcelain shards on the floor and sat on the bed.
They both let out a sigh of relief.
Thankfully, it was just a small earthquake and hadn’t caused much danger.
Li Ji touched her cold fingers.
"Let’s get some sleep."
"Mm."
However, having just experienced an earthquake, how could Hua Manman possibly fall asleep?
She curled up in Prince Zhao’s arms, her mind consumed with thoughts about the earthquake.
’Now that the earthquake has happened, what about the Imperial Ancestral Temple? Has it already collapsed?’
’Tomorrow morning, the Emperor is supposed to lead people to the Imperial Ancestral Temple to worship the ancestors. If he finds that it has collapsed, wouldn’t he be furious?’
’I have a feeling tomorrow will be anything but a peaceful day.’
Just as dawn broke, men from the Jingzhao Mansion knocked on the door of the Prince Zhao Mansion.
They were there to ask if anyone in the Prince Zhao Mansion had been injured in last night’s earthquake.
After receiving a "no," the officials from the Jingzhao Mansion left in a hurry. They still had to rush to the next household.
After breakfast, Li Ji and Hua Manman changed their clothes and took a carriage to the Imperial Palace.
Hua Manman looked out through the carriage window.
She saw that the buildings on the streets were almost all completely intact.
Last night’s earthquake had caused almost no significant impact on the people of Shangjing.
It was truly a blessing in disguise.
After being startled awake by the earthquake last night, the Emperor hadn’t slept a wink. His nerves were stretched taut.
An earth dragon turning over...
Especially an earth dragon turning over right under the Emperor’s feet.
This was tantamount to a warning from the heavens.
As the Emperor, he would be the first to bear the responsibility.
A Self-blame Edict would be unavoidable.
But right now, his biggest worry was still the damage caused by the earth dragon’s turning.
After a night-long investigation by the Jingzhao Mansion and the City Defense Bureau, the results were finally tallied. A total of five people were injured in the earthquake.
Four of them were injured from falling while panicking and trying to escape.
Only one person was injured by a collapsing structure.
...
