After rebirth, she became the favorite of the powerful minister.

Hong Lan didn't ask any more questions, nor did she say anything else. She just stood there silently, watching the servants in the yard running in and out with basins and buckets of water, shouting and yelling, watching the raging flames being suppressed and covered up little by little, watching the courtyard that was intact before being reduced to a blackened shell.

The sky was already turning pale.

The black skeleton stood there, like a huge monster with its mouth open to devour human souls.

The servants retreated muttering, wondering how the fire could have gotten so bad. Yes, it had just rained two days ago, and it was late at night in the cold winter. How could the fire get out of control so quickly? Hong Lan gathered her messy hair and finally squatted down slowly, hugging her knees.

Lin Mu walked around the burning house again, making sure it wouldn't catch fire again, and then he stepped forward to report, "Madam, a lot of kerosene was poured all around the house, which is why the fire spread so quickly."

Yuan Ge was not surprised at all. He just lowered his head and looked at the woman squatting on the ground with her head buried in her knees. The woman's shoulders shrugged slightly, and the suppressed sobs leaked out little by little, like the roar and whine from the depths of her soul. Yuan Ge looked at Song Wenyuan, sighed deeply, and asked Lin Mu, "Who poured the kerosene? Did anyone witness it?"

"We asked when we put out the fire just now, and they all said they had never seen it." Lin Mu shook his head and also glanced at Hong Lan. He hesitated for a moment and finally swallowed what he wanted to say. He then said, "It's too late, everyone has gone to bed. Our people are interrogating the two brothers of the Wang family next door, and indeed no one noticed it." After saying that, he glanced at Hong Lan again. If there was anyone who was most likely to have discovered something, it would be this person.

Yuan Ge naturally understood what he meant and shook his head almost imperceptibly. "In that case, let's first interrogate the two Wang brothers and tell them that I don't like their previous answers. If they continue to talk nonsense like this, there are many things in the medicine garden that can make people speak the truth, but most of them will not feel good. Let them think about it before speaking."

Lin Mu nodded and said yes, then he picked up the men, one in each hand, and went away for interrogation.

Half a night passed in a flash, and it was almost dawn. Yuan Ge was about to persuade Hong Lan to rest for a while, but he saw her looking up, her eyes red, and she pulled the corners of her mouth into an extremely ugly and weak smile, "I have never thought of betraying him. I have been planning for him for so many years. Even though I know he has no intention of loving me, I have never thought of abandoning him, even now... I just feel wronged."

"I feel wronged that he misses me and guards against me like this."

Yuan Ge lowered her eyes and looked at her. In fact, she didn't quite understand Hong Lan's mood and feelings of being willing to die like a moth to a flame without regrets, and she also felt that it was not worth it. However, she knew that she couldn't persuade her... Although she was a little disappointed, she didn't know how to persuade her after all, just like you can never wake up a person who pretends to be asleep, you can't pull back a moth that is determined to fly into the fire.

"Let's go back to the next room and rest. It's almost dawn." Yuan Ge patted the other person's shoulder and said softly, "Hong Lan, I feel a little sad for you... I don't think you would end up in this situation. You should be free and easy, bright and dazzling."

"I have talked to you a lot these days, and I have been looking forward to you talking to me... Now it seems that you have already made up your mind, so I will not try to persuade you."

Hong Lan was slightly startled, and the smile on her face quickly froze. She understood what the other party meant, which was to put it more directly, "If you don't accept the toast, you will have to drink the penalty wine." She was guilty, and Wen Qian could respect her choice and stop asking questions, but the government would not. If she gritted her teeth and kept silent, she would only be tortured.

"Okay." Hong Lan responded in a low voice. Her face, stained with soot, looked gentler than usual, with a hint of the sickly Xizi.

Yuan Ge patted Hong Lan's shoulder again and shook his head. When he turned around, he heard the woman behind him call out, "Young Madam."

Yuan Ge looked back and saw that Hong Lan was probably numb from squatting. She propped up her knees with her hands and half-raised her body but then stopped moving. Her hunched back made her look several years older, like a beauty in her twilight years. She refused the help of the guards behind her, stood up straight after a while, looked at Yuan Ge, and said cautiously and gently, "I'm sorry for the trouble you have caused these days."

For some reason, Hong Lan always had a vague premonition that this might be the last time she and Wen Qian would see each other... She was not a hard-headed person, but she had made up her mind and could not change it no matter what. She had felt resentful and had vowed to teach him a lesson. She even thought that at worst, the jar would be broken and no one would want to live! But... when those words came to her lips, she felt uncomfortable and could not say a word.

She thought that she probably could not withstand the methods used in the imperial prison as rumored, and was afraid that she would die in Zhixuan Mountain.

Well... after all, it's closer to him.

After Hong Lan finished speaking, she bowed slightly and followed the guards out the door and back to the courtyard next door - her treatment as a distinguished guest ended here, and from tonight onwards she would be a prisoner in the imperial prison.

Yuan Ge stood where she was, watching the other person walk away calmly with her back straight, her face covered in smoke and dust, her messy hair looking like a few strands were burnt, like a messy bird's nest that had not been built yet. But even so, her charm was not diminished at all, and she was simply moving in the eyes.

"I first met her at Zuihuanlou." Yuan Ge recalled with a smile, "I went to Zuihuanlou to find a few girls to trip up my sister-in-law. It was still early and Zuihuanlou was not open yet. I only saw Honglan standing at the corner of the stairs. She was dressed in gorgeous clothes and was calm and gentle. She was so elegant that even the hands of famous artists could not paint her. I felt that she must be a wonderful person... I always thought she was a sober and free-spirited wonderful person."

"The more sober a person is, the more likely they are to go down a dead end. Because they themselves understand the truth, and anyone's persuasion is useless to them." Song Wenyuan tightened the laces of the other person's cloak, then took her hand and walked back step by step. The noise had passed by then, and at this moment, the only sound in Zhixuan Mountain was the sound of the wind, and it was very quiet.

Yuan Ge nodded, lowered his head and walked step by step. After a few steps, he couldn't help but called out, "Song Wenyuan..."

After hesitating for a moment, he didn't say a word of plea. He just smiled when he met the other person's gaze, "Nothing... I was just thinking, if I were in your shoes, and you wanted to take my life like this, I would definitely not risk my life to protect you like this."

The little girl's thoughts were all written on her face. How could Song Wenyuan not see through her hesitation? But since she didn't say anything, he just pretended not to know. Hearing her words, he smiled and rubbed her head, "That day will never come."

Take her life? How is that possible!