A powerful blast of air surged toward the window where the children stood. Sheng Shixu and Jiang Xingran instinctively lunged toward the little girl, grabbed her, and rolled nimbly with their momentum, carrying Jiang Yingcheng safely away from the window.
Jiang Qiuyu and the other two were not so lucky. The window panels flew open and knocked all three to the floor. They struggled back to their feet and immediately looked toward the little girl.
Jiang Yingcheng looked rather dazed, but Jiang Xingran and Sheng Shixu kept hauling her forward without pause, so she did not lose her chance to escape.
"Stop standing there!" Jiang Xingran shouted. "Run!"
Shaking Light Hall was not as spacious as Cloudbrook Hall, but its interior was long and narrow, and reaching the rear courtyard from the main hall required passing through a winding corridor.
The rear courtyard was small and had not been maintained as carefully as the front courtyard. Ordinarily, no one went there deliberately except the palace maids responsible for sweeping and cleaning. The particular spot they were in saw even fewer visitors.
When they arrived that day, they had not seen even a single attendant palace maid. Only now, thinking back, did they realize that Noble Consort Rou's people must have dismissed all the palace maids in advance.
They scrambled toward the front courtyard, but had barely taken a few steps when the door behind them gave a sharp creak- and was pushed inward from outside.
Then came a series of footsteps that sounded in no particular hurry.
Those footsteps were very soft, but to the children, they sounded like heavy drumbeats amplified countless times, each one exploding in their minds as though striking their very souls!
A fine sheen of cold sweat broke out across their backs. In their extreme