Chapter 21 Incident

Seeing that she had washed her hands, Shi Jingning, who had been waiting nearby, came up and handed Qiandeng a food box. "County Lady, I saw that you didn't eat much for lunch, so I just made some delicious small pink fish and brought them to you."

Qiandeng originally loved the food he cooked, but now she had some reservations in her heart, so she was a little hesitant to take his food box.

When you lift the lid of the porcelain bowl, you will see glutinous rice balls half a finger long inside. One end has sesame eyes, and the other end is dyed light red. They are floating in the steaming clear soup, just like little white fish dragging their red tails swimming in the clear water. They are so cute.

If it were her yesterday, she would have scooped up a small fish in surprise to try the taste, but now she looked at the small fish floating in the cup, and couldn't help but look at Shi Jingning who was waiting in front of her.

Although he had brought food out from the kitchen, he had already dressed himself up when he appeared in front of her. His hair and clothes were clean and fresh. Just like his eyes that looked at her sincerely, he had a gentle and clear temperament.

The three fragments that Uncle Fu had hidden before his death appeared in front of her eyes again - could this man in front of her, who looked so clear and pure, and took great pains to prepare food for her, really have anything to do with Uncle Fu's death, or even her mother's death?

Seeing her holding the porcelain cup and pondering, Shi Jingning was surprised. Thinking of the strange behavior of the county lady when she hurried away last night, he tentatively asked in a low voice: "County lady?"

Qiandeng sighed and handed the porcelain cup back to him: "I don't have an appetite now, you can take it back first."

Shi Jingning silently brought it over, lowered his eyelashes and looked at the bowl of fish in his hand, and asked softly: "Then, County Master, is there anything you would like to eat? I just saw in the kitchen that the farm has just sent over a batch of deer, muntjac, roe deer, and rabbits. They are all very fresh..."

"No, I'm not hungry now. Let's talk about it later." Qian Deng interrupted him.

Xue Xiyang and Ji Linyou, knowing their old affection, both felt something was wrong and couldn't help but exchange glances.

Shi Jingning's face flushed slightly, and he looked at Qiandeng through his trembling eyelashes with slightly confused eyes. He lowered his head and replied softly, "Then... Jingning will take his leave first."

After saying that, he put away the porcelain bowl and food box and walked a few steps towards the kitchen. Finally, he couldn't help but turn around and said with a timid tone: "If the county lady needs anything, just tell me."

Qiandeng looked at his sensitive and pretending indifference, and her heart softened as she nodded.

When we returned to the warehouse, everyone was still cleaning the jewelry.

Aunt Yingluo looked a little puzzled, because after careful cleaning and searching, there was no trace of any flowers or trees in the basket of gold and silver jewelry that had just been found in the mud.

Not even one of the Nine-Tree Golden Flower Hairpins appeared.

"This is really strange. Could it be that there is still a batch of jewelry left in there?" Qiandeng and Aunt Yingluo walked to the edge of the cellar and looked down.

In the dark cellar, the sewage had been pumped out, leaving only a thin layer of silt. The cellar was indeed clean.

"Could it be that the flower tree, because it wasn't placed with the other imperial gifts, was scattered amidst the chaos of the army?"

Aunt Yingluo tried hard to recall how she hurriedly packed her belongings that day, but the incident happened so suddenly that she and her maids rolled up all the things and stuffed them into the cellar. How could she have time to count them?

Having no idea what to do, Qiandeng discussed with her two aunts and decided to inform the chief secretary and the court about the looting.

At this moment, there was a sudden noise from the east side of the yard, mixed with screams.

Everyone turned around and saw black smoke billowing from the direction of the kitchen. Then, flames rose. It turned out to be a huge fire.

Qiandeng immediately ordered people to seal the things properly and then walked towards the kitchen.

The kitchen is a place where open flames are often present, so there are large vats and ditches in the yard.

When Qiandeng arrived, the fire had already engulfed the kitchen. Everyone was carrying buckets of water to put out the fire. Most of the men in the backyard had arrived and joined in.

But the fire was so big that even if buckets of water were poured on it, the fire was only slightly reduced and could not be completely contained.

Qiandeng asked the cook next to her: "What happened? Why did the fire suddenly get so big?"

The cook's face was covered in dust and she stammered in fear, "I don't know. Lunch was already ready, and there was still some time before dinner, so we left the kitchen and went back to rest for a while. Who would have thought that when we came back, the kitchen was... on fire!"

Hearing her say this, Aunt Yingluo breathed a sigh of relief: "So, no one is in the kitchen? I'm glad no one is in trouble."

"Yes..." the other cook hesitated, "When I came to the animal pen to add fodder, I saw... Mr. Shi in the kitchen."

Qian Deng immediately asked, "When?"

"About a quarter of an hour ago..."

A moment ago, that was at noon, Shi Jingning was rejected by her.

Qiandeng looked at the sea of ​​fire before him, then at the people fighting the fire. All the other young men had arrived, only Cui Fufeng, Yan Penglai, and...

Her throat tightened slightly, and her voice trembled: "Look for... Shi Jingning."

Hearing her words, Ji Linyou, who was drawing water, suddenly shuddered: "He...he is not coming to the kitchen, right?"

He naturally remembered that Shi Jingning asked Qiandeng if she wanted to eat anything else because she didn't eat the pink fish he made. Did he go to the kitchen to tinker with the food later?

In disbelief and worry, Qiandeng asked people to go to the backyard to find Shi Jingning immediately, and the people who were fighting the fire in front of the kitchen also sped up their actions.

Daimao ran back from the backyard, breathless and pale. "Mr. Shi...is not in the backyard. His sister-in-law said that he gave them some pink fish and then went back to the kitchen with the food box!"

Everyone looked at the kitchen in front of them and was speechless for a moment.

Ji Linyou, who was standing by the ditch, immediately grabbed the felt blanket next to him, jumped into the water despite the severe cold, soaked himself whole body, put on the wet felt blanket, and rushed into the fire.

"Don't go!" Jin Tang grabbed him from behind and said anxiously, "Master Chen said it's going to collapse!"

Ji Linyou didn't know who Master Chen was, but he couldn't help but slow down his pace.

A terrible creaking sound was heard, and with a loud bang, the rotten kitchen beams behind them collapsed instantly, and hot sparks mixed with ashes rushed towards them.

Everyone around was screaming and fleeing in the flames, chaos reigned.

Only Qian Deng stood still outside the fire, raising his hands to block the flying ashes, ignoring the burning embers and remaining motionless.

The kitchen completely collapsed, and flames were still burning fiercely on the ruins.

Everyone worked together to scoop water to put out the fire. Even the water in the ditch was almost dry. Finally, before dark, the residual heat of the flames dissipated a little.

Jintang led the workers to lift the beams and pillars with crowbars, poured water to cool down the hot ashes underneath, and cleared away the rubble.

Qiandeng's plain clothes were stained with black ash, but she lifted the hem of her skirt and tried to enter the fire. Aunt Xuanji quickly held her back, unwilling to let her county lady enter such a place.

Qiandeng pulled back her sleeves, her voice trembling slightly: "Aunt, I want to go in and take a look."

Aunt Xuanji refused to let go: "County Lady, please let the servants take a look. What if there are still some flames in the fire? As the county lady, how can you enter such a place..."

Qiandeng shook his head and pushed her hand away.

Aunt Xuanji was anxious and wanted to stop her, but Ling Tianshui's voice came from behind her: "It's okay, let her in."

His voice was steady, yet inexplicably oppressive, causing Aunt Xuanji to drop her hands and look at him for help.

Ling Tianshui nodded to her and went inside with Qiandeng.