He Yunze shuddered, even forgetting to breathe.

He opened his mouth, wanting to shout, but found that he couldn't speak at all.

He didn't know why, but a feeling of fear and sorrow suddenly welled up inside him. He pulled his clothes tighter around himself and staggered toward the door.

He Yunze made so much noise in the bedroom that Shuangxi, who was guarding the door, could hear him.

He hurriedly opened the door and ran into the house, where he saw He Yunce's anxious expression.

He Yunze gestured wildly and used sign language towards Shuangxi for a long time, but Shuangxi felt upset and couldn't understand what it meant.

It wasn't until He Yunze pulled him to stand by the windowsill that Shuangxi exclaimed in surprise:

"Fire! Fire!"

"The Marquis of Anding's residence is on fire! Everyone, hurry and put it out!"

Shuangxi's loud shout finally made the servants in the Marquis's mansion stand up and look towards the fire.

As people gradually ran towards the fire, Shuangxi suddenly realized something and said to He Yunze:

"Master... the place where the fire started seems to be the Buddhist hall where the Second Young Mistress resides..."

He Yunze's eyes narrowed sharply, and he gripped Shuangxi's arm tightly.

When news of the fire at the small Buddhist hall where Song Ruoan was staying spread, Song Xizhi, who had already gone to bed, suddenly woke up.

She exchanged a glance with Pei Yunyi: "How could a fire suddenly occur out of nowhere?"

Pei Yunyi frowned slightly and got up from the bed: "Let's go take a look together."

The two put on their clothes and headed towards the Buddhist hall that very night. When they arrived at the hall, they found that the fire had almost completely destroyed it.

Black smoke was still billowing from the sky, and the ground was soaked with water. Several nuns knelt on the ground, mournfully chanting Amitabha Buddha.

The scene before them was in complete chaos. Marquis An Ding and Madam He, both wearing cloaks, stood in front of the Buddhist hall.

Both of them had been up all night after hearing the news about He Yunce, and their faces darkened even more when they saw this scene.

The old nun in the Buddhist hall, seeing their faces like that, felt both frightened and worried, and so she cried out:

"Tonight's fire was all because Song Ruoan threw his own life away!"

"She fell asleep while kneeling, knocking over the oil lamp, which is why the fire got so big!"

Upon hearing this, Song Xizhi slowly walked to the side of Marquis Anding. She looked at the huge dark circles under his eyes and comforted him with a few words.

He also prescribed a calming medicine for both him and Madam He, and instructed the servants to decoct it.

Despite his exhaustion, Marquis An Ding was not planning to leave. However, upon hearing Song Xizhi tell him to go back and keep Huang Suyi company, he sighed heavily and went back with Old Madam He.

As they watched the Marquis of Anding leave, the old nuns, feeling the gazes of Song Xizhi and Pei Yunyi, cried even louder.

Pei Yunyi frowned, interrupting the crying of the group, and asked simply, "Where is Song Ruo'an? Is she the only one who didn't escape?"

Several nuns trembled at Pei Yunyi's voice, and then the leader hurriedly spoke again:

"She...she committed a crime, and the second young master won't let her eat or drink. She's been starving for many days, and even without this fire, she wouldn't have survived much longer..."

"And after the fire started, she didn't have the strength to run, so she couldn't get out..."

No sooner had the nun finished speaking than a loud commotion erupted from the Buddhist hall.

The fire had been extinguished, and several servants rushed into the Buddhist hall, where they discovered a completely charred corpse.

The charred corpse was thus carried to Song Xizhi's front.

The body was completely charred black, and the charred body was curled up, making it impossible to recognize the original appearance of the corpse's owner.

Song Xizhi and Pei Yunyi exchanged a glance, both noticing the seriousness in each other's eyes.

Master Rihua also rushed over at this moment. Seeing the situation before him, he knew what had happened, so he ordered people to go back and get the autopsy tools.

After Song Xizhi and the divine physician Rihua examined the charred corpse, they could only confirm that it was a female corpse.

Judging from her pelvis, she has never given birth and is around twenty years old.

Judging from the contents of the corpse's stomach, it had not eaten for many days and was indeed burned to death in a fire.

But apart from that, there's nothing else to see.

Pei Yunyi listened silently to the voice of the divine physician Rihua, then raised his eyes to meet Song Xizhi's gaze.

He understood the solemnity and worry in Song Xizhi's eyes.

"It's alright. Just to be on the safe side, I'll send people out to search for any trace of Song Ruoan."

"Logically speaking, Song Ruoan has no relatives or friends and no powerful backers. It would be impossible for her to orchestrate such a scheme."

Song Xizhi knew that this man wanted to comfort her, but after hearing his words, she finally nodded.

After settling everything at the small Buddhist shrine, the two returned to the courtyard, exhausted.

In the following days, Pei Yunyi continued to send more people to search for Song Ruoan's whereabouts. Even Song Xizhi sent out his personal guards to see if they could find any clues.

However, after searching for several days, not a single clue about Song Ruoan came up, making Song Xizhi wonder whether Song Ruoan was hiding well enough, or whether he was just being paranoid.

That day, the two sat together on a soft couch reading a book and started talking about this matter.

Pei Yunyi looked at the faint worry in Song Xizhi's expression, reached out and smoothed the furrowed brow of Song Xizhi, placed a kiss on her forehead, and spoke reassuringly.

My dear reader, there's more to this chapter! Please click the next page to continue reading—even more exciting content awaits!