That night.

Dark as ink.

The dogs in Jiangzhou City are very restless tonight.

Jiang Xiaobai's howl caused all the dogs in the city to bark wildly.

It's destined to be a sleepless night.

At midnight.

Tianxiang Tower was engulfed in flames.

The sky above Jiangzhou City was illuminated red by the firelight.

"Fire...fire...Tianxianglou is on fire..."

"Fire! Quick, put out the fire!"

Exclamations of surprise came from outside the door.

The night watchman struck his gong and spread the word.

Tianxianglou is located in a bustling area, closely connected to a large cluster of shops.

Shops are closely connected to each other, and houses are connected to each other.

If one house catches fire, and the wind is strong, it might spread to other houses, causing collateral damage.

The government dispatched a fire-fighting team.

Many shops in Wuyi Lane are located in the east of the city, and the Tianxianglou restaurant that caught fire was also in the east of the city.

This has caused great anxiety among many people.

Everyone organized their servants to help put out the fire.

Prefect Cui took the lead, sending his yamen staff and fire brigade first.

Madam Cui, not to be outdone, followed closely behind with her servants.

Her family also has a shop in the east of the city.

Jiang Miaomiao was pulled out of bed by her mother and handed to Qiao'er, who instructed her, "Qiao'er, Miaomiao likes to run around, so please keep an eye on her for me."

Jiang Miaomiao: ……

He lifted his sleepy eyes and stared blankly at his mother.

Ugh! I can't even get a good night's sleep if it doesn't concern me.

I'm so sleepy!

Qiao'er patted the little head that was perched on her shoulder. "Don't worry, Auntie. Leave my little sister to me. I'll take care of her."

The courtyard was noisy.

Wuyi Lane is not far from the east of the city, and they were afraid that the fire would spread to this area.

The maids and servants hurriedly carried, fetched, and filled water...

Although there weren't many maids and servants, under the mother's organization, they still managed to fill the ten water vats in an orderly manner.

Aunt Xiuxiu wiped her sweat and angrily cursed, "Sister, tell me, who is so wicked? Why did they have to burn down Tianxiang Restaurant for no reason, and even drag others down with them... I don't know if they have a grudge against Tianxiang Restaurant or against the people of Jiangzhou..."

They have a grudge against Tianxiang Tower...

Xiuxiu suddenly stopped talking, as if she had remembered something.

Staring wide-eyed at Lu Qingyao, she asked, "Sister, could it have been that idiot Qi Caiwei who did it?"

Aside from Qi Caiwei, she couldn't think of anyone else who would be so stupid and vicious; burning down the house was still somewhat unexpected.

If it's out of personal vengeance, what kind of person burns down someone's shop instead of their house?

The shop that burned down was one that was about to go out of business and close down.

She never expected those two women to be so crazy.

Lu Qingyao rolled up her sleeves and sighed softly, "When will this cycle of revenge end! This is more like something she would do. Her face was slashed by Madam Qin, so the enmity is bound to be huge."

In the past, Qi Caiwei relied on her beauty and her father being a high-ranking official to try every means to embarrass her and take her place.

At that time, Jiang Yunze outwardly helped her, but he didn't cause any major trouble.

Now that her most prized possession—her appearance—has been ruined, what will happen when she gets back and finds out about Tao Tao's existence...?

I wonder if the sky will collapse!

However, Xiuxiu is really amazing; she was even able to find out that Madam Qin liked to eat purple rice noodles and had body odor.

People are starting to suspect she might be hiding under someone's bed.

Jiang Miaomiao stretched and yawned repeatedly.

My mind is much clearer now.

Suddenly, I remembered what I had seen and heard during the day, as well as what my mothers had just said.

beggar, kerosene, Aunt Mei...

Yeah!

The fire at Tianxianglou was caused by Mei Gu.

She woke up quickly after dozing off.

She slid off Qiao'er's arms and ran back to her room, taking out an earring from her small cloth bag.

She put the earring into Chiu Chiu's mouth, "Okay Chiu Chiu, take it to Tianxiang Tower, take it to the fire scene..."

Evidence of a crime should remain at the scene of a fire.

The little girl tilted her head and thought for a moment, "Earrings aren't enough, it would be nice to have a handkerchief."

At this time, the handkerchiefs were all embroidered by themselves, and some even had the girl's name embroidered on them, making them easy to identify.

The Jiangzhou social circle of wealthy women is neither small nor large; by using a two-pronged approach, one can identify the owner of a handkerchief simply by comparing the stitches.

The scene of the fire was chaotic.

Chiu Chiu recognized Madam Qin at a glance.

It circled around her head once, and taking advantage of her momentary lapse in attention, it threw the earring behind her, then turned and flew back.

This night.

Qi Caiwei didn't sleep well; it was very noisy outside.

But she felt extremely happy inside.

Although they didn't disfigure Wang's face, they burned down the shop and estate that her family cared about most.

That was somewhat gratifying.

Anita Mui is very careful in everything she does, and she is even more cautious in this kind of matter.

There will be absolutely no flaws revealed.

The thought of leaving Jiangzhou tomorrow, leaving this wretched place, is daunting.

She got a little excited.

The money she sent back was quite effective; her husband agreed to let her go back, and the people he sent to pick her up were probably halfway there.

But she couldn't wait; she longed to return home.

However, to her utter surprise, while the Tianxiang Tower burned down, the manor below the Qingyun Temple remained untouched.

Little did they know that the servants who carried the sacks were actually martial arts masters.

There were guards inside the estate, and King Jing's men were also monitoring it from the outside.

The beggars' whereabouts were exposed as soon as they arrived at the village.

He had barely taken out his tinderbox when he was captured.

This night.

The fire in Jiangzhou is huge.

Although the fire was extinguished in time and controlled properly.

Five or six shops were still burned down...

The houses that were burned down belonged to wealthy local families, and those people went to Prefect Cui in tears to complain.

"My lord, you must find the arsonist. That heartless wretch must be torn to pieces."

"Sir, putting everything else aside, my shop had quite a lot of fine Shu brocade, and now it's all gone..."

“I had quite a few fine Ru ware porcelain pieces in my shop, and now they’re all broken…”

"My shop is full of calligraphy and paintings by famous artists... Good heavens, damn it..."

Prefect Cui was in a real bind. He ordered his subordinates, "Investigate! Investigate thoroughly! Who has the audacity to set fire to my Jiangzhou City? If you find out, punish them severely!"

Judge Qin's face was ashen; he was so angry his heart ached.

He echoed Prefect Cui, "Investigate! Investigate! Find out and tear that man to pieces!"

Tianxianglou was a contact point that he had painstakingly built. Without this place, he would have to build another business to transport grain and money out.

This will delay things for quite some time.

The officers found traces of kerosene in the broken wall.

Madam Qin found a white jade earring at her feet; it was of ordinary quality.

It looks familiar, but I can't quite place it right now.

The officer found a handkerchief in the corner, with a rose embroidered on it.

……

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