TRBDM -Chapter 165 Explosion

Even though it was summer, the bed was covered with a thick mattress.

Lifting the mattress, it was immediately clear that something was unusual.

This bedboard was different from an ordinary one—unusually thick, with a door-like section in the middle, complete with a latch.

Jiang Yueling tilted his chin, signaling them to open it.

When the guards lifted the board, they found that beneath it was indeed hollow. A short wooden staircase led down to a secret chamber.

The princess’s guards brought over a firestarter and led the way into the hidden room.

The wooden stairs were sturdy and made little noise under their feet.

Once everyone entered, they discovered that the chamber was more than just a simple hideout—it was another world entirely.

Oil lamps were hung on the walls, and when lit one by one, the entire room was revealed.

Calling it a secret chamber was almost a misnomer—it was more like an alchemy lab.

Inside were all kinds of medicinal herbs, along with furnaces for concocting elixirs.

Various medicinal recipes were spread across the tables.

Jiang Yueling flipped through a few and asked, “Has the coroner found his senior yet?”

The coroner’s senior was a poison expert and would definitely be able to identify the toxins in this chamber.

“They’ve found him; he’s on his way to the capital.”

“Go wait at the courier station. As soon as they reach the capital, bring them here immediately.”

“Yes.”

Before long, one of the princess’s guards spoke to Jiang Yueling: “Master Jiang, I must return to report to Her Highness the Princess. Farewell for now.”

“Mm.”

Jiang Yueling continued searching the chamber with the remaining guards.

The secrets hidden in this room were far too important, and there was much to be done.

That night, for some reason, Zhao Jingrui couldn’t sleep soundly.

He kept waking from restless dreams.

Shaking his head, he closed his eyes again, only to awaken as soon as his consciousness drifted into a haze.

Something was wrong.

A sense of unease gripped him. He felt as if something had happened.

He had just met Concubine Ling today, and Liuxiao Palace was fine.

Could it be something at the residence?

His heart raced uncontrollably, making sleep impossible.

Suddenly, he sat up, dressed quickly, and mounted his horse, heading toward the mansion.

There wasn’t a sliver of moonlight tonight; dark clouds hung overhead, brewing a storm.

The horse’s hooves clattered on the ground as lightning flashed across the sky.

The rain came down in torrents as expected.

Zhao Jingrui was soaked, barely able to open his eyes, but the horse kept moving faster.

Finally reaching the mansion, he dismounted. There was no time to tie the reins; he dashed straight to the main gate and pushed it open.

Thunder and rain drowned out all surrounding sounds.

Wiping his face, Zhao Jingrui headed straight for the bedroom.

Whoosh!

Lightning flashed again, and in the alternating brightness and darkness, he noticed that the bedroom door was wide open.

Someone was inside!

Damn—it was the secret chamber!

Zhao Jingrui sprinted forward. Upon entering, the scene before him froze him in place.

The mattress he had carefully disguised was tossed onto the floor, and the secret door he had meticulously designed lay wide open.

Someone had discovered the chamber!

Zhao Jingrui felt his entire body go numb, his hands and feet trembling uncontrollably.

He cautiously approached the secret room’s door and noticed faint candlelight flickering inside, accompanied by indistinct voices.

Covering his mouth, he stepped back a few paces, careful not to make a sound.

What should he do? What should he do?

If the secret of the room were revealed, not only he, but the entire Liuxiao Palace would be doomed.

He curled up in the corner, clutching his head, his mind muddled like mud, while the thunder and lightning outside seemed to strike him with every flash.

Panic had made him numb.

He didn’t know how many bolts of lightning had struck before he suddenly stood up.

When he had set up the secret room, he had installed gunpowder at the entrance to prevent exposure.

As long as he killed them all and buried everything inside the room, no one would ever discover what he had done.

In an instant, Zhao Jingrui’s entire demeanor became utterly cold and ruthless. He found a tinderbox inside the house and silently approached the secret room door.

The gunpowder’s fuse lay in the middle of the stairs. He stepped down carefully, one step at a time.

The torrential rain and thunder masked the sound of his footsteps.

The gunpowder was hidden within a movable brick wall, a secret only Zhao Jingrui knew.

He felt along the wall and suddenly pressed inward. The stone brick sank, revealing a cavity where a bag of gunpowder could be concealed.

Inside the secret room, Jiang Yuelin was bent over, studying the formulas written on paper. Some were recorded in the Northern Frontier script—he could barely recognize a few symbols, but could not understand the medicinal effects.

Suddenly, his ears twitched.

Amid the heavy downpour, he heard the faint sound of the brick wall shifting.

Jiang Yuelin followed the sound and suddenly saw Zhao Jingrui, igniting the fuse.

Zhao Jingrui’s face was mad with fury, glaring at Jiang Yuelin: “You’re all going to die!”

With that, he lit the fuse and sprinted out. Once outside the secret room, he quickly shut the door and locked it.

Having done all this, Zhao Jingrui stepped out into the courtyard, waiting for the secret room to explode.

“Die! All of you die! Every single person in the Dachong Dynasty deserves to die!”

“Hahaha! Once you’re all dead, my mother and I can finally return to the Northern Frontier.”

Zhao Jingrui laughed in a disturbingly eerie way. At this moment, the mask he had worn for over twenty years finally shattered without restraint.

No one knew just how much he hated the people of Dachong.

Because his mother was from the Northern Frontier, and he inherited the Northern Frontier features, he had been bullied by the other princes since childhood.

Even the eunuchs and palace maids would openly mock him as a barbarian from the Northern Frontier.

His grievances had no one to confide in. Even Consort Ling could only urge him to endure.

He had done nothing wrong—why should he be treated this way?

Later, Zhao Jingrui learned compromise and flattery, forcing himself to join the Third Prince’s camp, strategizing for him in exchange for safety.

But deep down, he never accepted that he was a prince of the Dachong Dynasty. He was a Northern Frontier prince, stranded in the imperial palace of the capital. Sooner or later, he would return home!

“Die! All of you, die!”

His eyes turned red as he laughed maniacally in the storm.

Bang!

The explosion came as expected!

After a long while, once the rumble of the blast had completely stopped, Zhao Jingrui entered the bedroom.

A massive cloud of dust drifted everywhere; Zhao Jingrui covered his nose as he stepped inside.

Once the dust settled, Zhao Jingrui looked around. The bedroom had been utterly destroyed. The bed had completely collapsed in the explosion, and the secret room was blocked by various debris and fallen stones, with no way to enter.

Zhao Jingrui curled his lips into a grim smile: “Whoever got this far… if you wanted to meet the King of Hell early, I’ll help you.”

He glanced around, knowing he couldn’t stay here. Picking up the tinderbox, he set fire to the tattered bed canopy.

“Burn it all, burn every trace.”

Although Zhao Jingrui regretted the items in the secret room, compared to his life, they were nothing. At worst, he could rebuild it elsewhere and continue collecting.

The only pity was that the formula for the lethal shot was inside—it was now out of his reach.

But at this moment, he couldn’t think about that.

All that mattered was that they would die!