Chapter 332 Fire Burns the Granary

Yao Qingling nodded.

Of course I remember.

She spearheaded the reconstruction of Yongning Temple, but it was later taken over by the government. Later, Lin Shiyuan tracked down a batch of iron ore that had entered Yongning Temple, but the temple was heavily guarded, making it difficult to inquire.

As the person in charge, Yao Qingling was qualified to inquire about the matter, but after what happened to her, even if she were to inquire now, she would probably be refused access under the pretext of being "unclean".

"Are those iron ore stones related to Prince Xin?"

Lin Shiyuan nodded with a serious expression.

Yao Qingling pursed her lips.

Iron ore... and also, Prince Xin's love of money...

A sense of foreboding arose in her heart.

"Do you have any solid evidence against Prince Xin?"

This must be reported to the Emperor as soon as possible!

Lin Shiyuan said, "The Emperor and Prince Xin are brothers. When the Emperor and other princes were vying for power, Prince Xin was not involved. Afterwards, the Yellow River dam collapsed. Prince Xin had connections with the Zhou family, so he traveled all over the country and did not come to the capital for several years. His impression on everyone was that he was playful."

Lin Shiyuan did not stay in the capital for long, nor did he pledge allegiance to any faction. Although he claimed to be loyal to the emperor, there were many who were loyal to him.

Among these people, some saw him as a rival for favor, while others were loyal to Liu Bei but secretly loyal to Cao Cao.

Lin Shiyuan was very cautious. If he rashly revealed this information to the emperor, and it was relayed to Prince Xin by someone with ulterior motives, or to certain powerful factions, he would be put in a passive position.

"You mean you want to wait until you have more concrete evidence before presenting it to the emperor?"

Yao Qingling thought he would nod, but he remained silent.

Qingling frowned: "What are your plans?"

Lin Shiyuan grasped her hand and squeezed it firmly, saying, "Qingling, if one day I were to ask you to leave the capital with me, would you be willing?"

Qingling was taken aback: "Leave the capital? Why are you saying that out of the blue?"

She then remembered that Lin Shiyuan had said that fighting might break out again in the south.

Does he want to go back to the battlefield?

"But Prince Xin..."

It is definitely not a good thing for a prince to be involved in the private forging of weapons, especially within the capital.

If Lin Shiyuan stays in the capital, he can keep Prince Xin in check.

When Qingling was forced to close down, she only thought passively that she would quit when she could no longer work, but she never thought of leaving the capital.

Lin Shiyuan's expression was complicated: "Qingling, lately, your mind has been preoccupied with those idle gossips. But have you ever considered what that person's true intentions were behind this?"

Qingling was taken aback.

The painting was posted by Zhou Zhining in order to ruin Zhan Xingzhuo's reputation and give her a chance to vent her anger, thinking that she could completely possess Zhan Xingzhuo.

However, according to her later speculation, Zhou Zhining stole the painting from Prince Xin.

Prince Xin was a man who appeared carefree but was actually meticulous and cunning, like a venomous snake.

The reason why Prince Xin forgave Zhou Zhining for her mistakes several times before was not only because of the account books she had, but also for other reasons.

The more Yao Qingling thought about it, the faster her heart beat. She breathed slowly, trying to piece together the sequence of events bit by bit.

How could Prince Xin have allowed Zhou Zhining to steal her portrait so easily, without even realizing it?

When the incident broke out, Prince Xin remained calm and uninvolved, while Zhan Xingzhuo was driven to distraction by Yao Qingling.

Prince Xin used these people to drag Yao Qingling into a battle to protect her reputation, leaving her no time to think about anything else...

The more she thought about it, the more confused she became, unable to understand what Prince Xin was trying to do.

Just then, Xia Chan hurriedly brought Xiao Pingfeng over.

Qing Ling looked at Xiao Pingfeng, while Xiao Pingfeng frowned slightly and sized up Lin Shiyuan.

After all, in many people's eyes, Lin Shiyuan had already betrayed Yao Qingling. Was this bullying, taking advantage of someone's family?

But it doesn't look like it.

Yao Qingling, without bothering to explain, asked, "What happened?"

Given Xiao Pingfeng's composure, he wouldn't easily come looking for her at night.

Xiao Pingfeng said, "Miss, something happened at the dock. Shengdahe's warehouse caught fire unexpectedly."

Yao Qingling's eyes widened: "Fire?"

She immediately remembered that when Sheng Dahe took over the warehouse from Boss Shi, the warehouse had been burned to a crisp.

Boss Shi almost went bankrupt because of a warehouse fire. He managed to recover some of his losses by selling the warehouse and doing business with Sheng Dahe.

How long has it been since another fire broke out?

"What's the situation now?" Yao Qingling couldn't wait any longer and quickly walked outside, telling someone to prepare a carriage as she went to the dock to take a look.

Because Hui Ba Fang and the rice shop are closed, a lot of goods are in the warehouse.

This fire could burn away half of Yao Qingling's fortune!

Yao Qingling wished she could be at the dock right now and put out the fire.

Xia Chan moved quickly, and soon Qing Ling put on a cloak and got into the carriage.

Lin Shiyuan held her hand, saying nothing, just staying by her side and offering her support.

Because it was late at night and there were no obstacles, the coachman drove the carriage very fast.

Even before the carriage got close, flames could be seen burning fiercely in the distance, and thick fog rose into the sky.

The locals near the dock all went out to watch the excitement, making it difficult for carriages to get in.

Yao Qingling was extremely anxious. She got off the carriage and ran towards the dock, blending into the crowd.

Lin Shiyuan held her arm and led her to dodge left and right, moving faster than others.

Upon arriving at the dock, the situation became even more chaotic. With no government officials in control, many people took advantage of the chaos to rush in and snatch goods that others had managed to salvage from the fire. Meanwhile, those who should have been focused on fighting the fire and rescuing the goods were simultaneously pouring water on the fire, trying to salvage the goods from inside, and even fighting with the locals to get their goods back.

Everything is in complete chaos.

Xiao Pingfeng ran to the dock without stopping. He rushed in, grabbed the cargo bag from the shoulder of the man closest to him, kicked him away, and slammed the cargo bag forward, knocking down another person who had stolen it. Then he punched a third person...

Xia Chanlouyue, along with the coachman, rushed in to put out the fire and save the goods.

Looking at the chaos before her, Yao Qingling felt a fire burning in her heart.

Flames danced in her pupils, and her fists clenched tightly.

Where are the government officials?

Where are the firefighters?

The fire has burned so badly, and there's been such a huge commotion, yet no one has come to help?

She turned and left.

His face was as dark as black ash.

Lin Shiyuan drove the carriage and took her to the Gao residence.

Prefect Gao was sleeping soundly with his wife in his arms when he was woken up by the gatekeeper. He was furious, but when he heard that Yao Qingling had come to see him, he gave her face and left.

Yao Qingling immediately burst into tears, saying that her goods had been burned and begged Magistrate Gao to send people to put out the fire.

It took Prefect Gao a moment to realize what had happened, and he grumbled as he ordered people to put out the fire.

"Sir, the fire at the dock is very large. The money management personnel are not doing anything about it, the fire brigade seems unaware of it, and the military command has not gone to maintain order. Don't you find this strange?"

Yao Qingling was furious.

In fact, her question was also asking why a similar tragedy had occurred before, when no one cared and they watched helplessly as a perfectly good warehouse was burned to the ground. Prefect Gao must know that someone was involved in causing this fire.

The fact that another fire broke out less than a year later further suggests that something is amiss.

Prefect Gao had gotten to his position because he knew some of the inside story, but he was just pretending not to!

Prefect Gao's eyes darted around as he stroked his beard. "Madam Yao, what could be so strange about this? It was a warehouse back then, teeming with rats. Those rats would gnaw on things and run around everywhere. They chewed on candles, gnawed through oil drums, and that's how the fire started."

"Besides, it's late at night and everyone's asleep. You know how people at the Military Command and the Customs all like to slack off..."

Qingling took a deep breath and interrupted Magistrate Gao's various "reasons," "Lord Gao, are you saying that there is a powerful figure behind this, making those people turn a blind eye and let the fire burn the granary?"

“Hey, you said it yourself.” Magistrate Gao raised his hand to stop her.

The prefect's wife was displeased that her sweet dreams had been disturbed. Seeing that Yao Qingling, a woman, had come to a man's residence in the middle of the night, she said with displeasure, "Madam Yao, don't you ever think about the people you offend?"