The Virtuous Wife

Chapter 56: Fire at Midnight

It was already the end of September. Chrysanthemums in September are the most attractive, especially for some literati, who often write poems and paint about chrysanthemums!

That evening, Jingyi was concentrating on reading a medical book left by He Daozi at the table. She was the only one left in the huge house, and there was not even a maid to serve tea and water.

A black shadow flashed by, and Siqin was already standing next to Jingyi. She took out a stack of papers from her arms and handed it to Jingyi.

Jingyi took it, looked at it carefully, and chuckled: "I didn't expect that Third Aunt is so rich. She has lent out 10,000 taels of silver in just two months since returning to Beijing!"

Siqin smiled and said: "Since the last incident, Liu has been much more cautious and put all these loan certificates in the new clothes she made. I waited until they fell asleep, lit aphrodisiac incense, and then stole them out."

"Didn't alarm others?"

"Miss, don't worry! I just don't understand why Miss didn't act earlier?"

"Earlier? Their third family just moved to the old house yesterday. We acted today, which is already fast!"

Siqin was stunned, obviously not digesting what Jingyi said.

Seeing that she was a little confused, Jingyi smiled and said, "Last time she lost her money, she didn't dare to say anything, but she couldn't figure out whether it was someone from the Hou Mansion or someone from her own yard who did it. This time, when they moved, my mother only sent someone to clean the old house and put a lot of furniture in her place. But from the time they left the house to the time they settled down at night, no one from our Hou Mansion came forward to help. If something happens again, do you think she will still suspect the Hou Mansion?"

Siqin suddenly realized, "Young lady is still thoughtful!"

Jingyi shook her head, "It's not that I'm thoughtful, but that Liu is really too hateful! Yesterday Yuanxi sent someone to say that she actually found some ruffians and wanted to harm and insult me ​​and my mother when we left the house! If I don't deal with such a wicked woman, how can I wait for her to harm me?"

Jingyi stood up and cut a section of the candle wick with scissors. "These loan certificates are the reasons why Uncle San reluctantly let her stay in the Su Mansion. Now that these reasons are gone, how do you think Uncle San will punish her?"

Siqin shook her head, "With Su Cheng's temper, I'm afraid he will divorce Liu. If I had known this would happen, I shouldn't have let her stay!"

"No!" Jingyi sighed softly, "If Liu was really divorced, then Su Cheng would not be easily driven out of the Hou Mansion today. At least, he would have to wait until he married a wife and settled down for a while before he could move out of the Hou Mansion. As for now? You see, Liu's fate is probably even more miserable than being divorced!"

"More miserable? What could be more uncomfortable than being divorced by the husband's family?"

"Liu is not a good person! How much anger has she suffered from Liu over the years? How many times has she been forced to have an abortion? If she hadn't been good at disguising herself and flattering, how could she have had the chance to give birth to Jingrou? You see, Liu is going to completely turn things around this time! She will never let Liu have an easy life!"

Siqin sighed, the fight in this wealthy mansion was really fierce! It was really a bloodless killing!

Jingyi looked back at Siqin, and then looked at the vouchers on the table, "Give all these vouchers to Yuanxi. If they belong to poor families, destroy them, and if they belong to some gamblers, let him find a way to deal with them! Now that Uncle San doesn't have these vouchers for loaning money, I am relieved. Uncle San should not have anything that will threaten the Hou Mansion!"

Siqin nodded, took the vouchers and put them in her arms, and disappeared into the night again.

Jingyi looked at the direction where Siqin left, but her face was very uneasy. Her eyebrows were furrowed, and her eyes also showed some worry. The favorite concubine named Ziji was indeed secretly raised by Duke Dingguo in a villa. Although the wife of Duke Dingguo had recovered from her illness, after this incident, she seemed to have given up on Duke Dingguo. She ate vegetarian food and chanted Buddhist scriptures all day long and rarely left the house.

Jingyi opened a locked small drawer on her bed and took out the news about the Yu family that Yuanxi brought her. She had read these news for no less than a hundred times, and always felt that something was wrong, but she couldn't tell.

At this time, in the dead of night, Jingyi once again carefully pondered every word on it. Wondering if she could find something from it?

After an unknown amount of time, Jingyi's eyes tightened, staring at the passage on the paper, thinking.

The paper read: Yu, the eldest daughter of the Yu family, was sent to her uncle in Shandong to be raised since she was a child because of her poor family. Her uncle had only one son. When Yu was fifteen years old, a fire broke out in her home. Her uncle, aunt, and cousin all died in the fire. She was the only one who escaped and was rescued by a neighbor! After wandering for several months, she returned to the capital. Two months later, she was molested by a local rogue one day and was rescued by Su Jin. Later, the Yu family sent Yu to the Su Mansion as a concubine to repay her kindness!

Fire? She was the only one who escaped?

Jingyi narrowed her eyes and raised her head suddenly! Could it be? But this doesn't make sense! What did she come to the Su Mansion for? At that time, Su Wei was just a child and had not made any achievements. What else in the Su family is worth taking such a risk?

Prince An's treasure? But the time is wrong! The Prince An Rebellion was ten years ago, when Emperor Kangzheng had just ascended the throne. Prince An was two years older than Emperor Kangzheng, and was only 28 years old at the time. But Yu married into the Su Mansion thirty years ago! Prince An was not even born at that time! But Yuanxi once said that he had found out that Yu had been involved with Prince An back then!

Jingyi felt like she was in a maze and couldn't find her way. She had a hunch that there was definitely some connection between Yu and Prince An, and Yu must have had some plans when she married into the Su Mansion! But it had been thirty years, and Yu had given birth to a son and a daughter for the Su family, and there was nothing wrong with that!

Jingyi stroked her forehead with her hand, she must have overlooked something!

Jingyi glanced outside, it was already late. She locked all the news again, then extinguished the candle, leaving only a night pearl on the desk still glowing quietly.

Siqin came back and saw that Jingyi had fallen asleep, so she jumped onto the beam and lay on her side.

After about half an hour, Siqin, who was about to fall asleep, suddenly opened her eyes, she gently lay on the beam, staring at the window.

After a while, someone gently pried open the window with a dagger, then turned over and entered the house. The man was wearing night clothes and a black veil on his face. She carefully searched the room for a while, but found nothing, so she turned and walked towards Jingyi who was lying on the bed.

Siqin's eyes tightened, and she clenched the sword in her right hand, staring at the man in black below without blinking.

The man in black slowly approached the embroidered bed. He looked left and right, but found nothing. He then looked at the locked small drawers on Jingyi's bed. The man in black walked forward slowly, thinking about opening the small drawers on her bed. Then he heard footsteps outside.

The man in black was startled and jumped out of the window and quickly disappeared into the night.

Siqin jumped up and chased him out.

There was a hurried sound of footsteps outside: "Miss! Miss!" Haitang called out urgently.

Jingyi opened her eyes and asked sleepily, "What's wrong? It's still dark, are you calling me up?"

Haitang pulled Jingyi up and said anxiously, "Miss, please get up quickly. Furong Courtyard is on fire."

"What?" Jingyi was shocked and became much more energetic.

"Please explain it clearly! Why did Furong Courtyard suddenly catch fire?"

Haitang replied while changing her clothes, "I'm not sure. I just heard someone outside shouting for help!"

"My mother's yard was not set on fire, right?" Jingyi asked worriedly.

"It shouldn't be. Miss, put on another cloak!" Before Haitang finished speaking, Jingyi ran out of the house. Haitang stamped her feet anxiously and followed with a cloak.

Furong Courtyard is behind the main courtyard, and the main courtyard is naturally where Gu lives. Jingyi looked at Gu, who was surrounded by several maids not far away, wearing an outer robe and looking anxiously at Furong Courtyard.

"Mother! Are you okay?"

"Yiyi is up too! It's okay, there shouldn't be any problem with mother's yard, but this Furong Courtyard." Gu said with some regret.

Jingyi looked at the raging fire in front of her. Although it was under control, Furong Courtyard might not be saved. In the middle of the night, if the night watchman in the yard was lazy, wouldn't the fire burn to mother?

Jingyi shuddered when she thought of this! This fire was definitely not an accident! If Furong Courtyard could be burned, mother's yard could also be burned! Is this a warning from those people?

No! Jingyi looked around, "Mother, do you still have anyone left in your yard?"

Gu was stunned, and seeing Jingyi's inquiring eyes, she reacted all of a sudden. "Madame Liu, take a few people back to the yard to have a look."