"Comrade Wanqing!"
Jiang Wanqing's attitude towards him could be described as bad, but the man not only didn't, he kept following her into the courtyard, like a mangy dog that she couldn't shake off.
"I'm here to help you, I won't cause you any trouble. If there's anything I can do for you, just let me know. Otherwise, I won't be able to explain to Director Zheng when I get back. Please have pity on me, considering how hard I work."
He even tried to use moral blackmail. Jiang Wanqing knew what he was thinking without even looking, and felt even more disgusted.
"Let me be frank, your presence is just causing me trouble. Didn't you see what people were saying outside? Are you more pitiful than me?"
She barely managed to refrain from swearing, but she was genuinely annoyed. When the person tried to argue back, she directly blocked them.
"Furthermore, people in our village who aren't here specifically on business have no idea what happened here. Since you went to town for an inspection, how did you know my house was on fire? I don't think my house is important enough to attract the attention of city people. Or do you have informants in the village?"
The man's eyes widened, a look of panic flashing in them. Perhaps he hadn't expected Jiang Wanqing to be so ruthless, or perhaps he was surprised by her intelligence. In any case, his palms began to sweat involuntarily.
"This...how could this be? Comrade Wanqing, you've misunderstood. Don't you know me? Don't you know Director Zheng? He's truly sincere towards you. Don't let him down."
The other party quickly calmed down and kept quiet about what needed to be said. As expected of someone sent by Zheng Yuan, they were quite capable. Unfortunately, their eagerness to clear their name only proved that they were up to something.
Jiang Wanqing scoffed, "I don't understand him, and he doesn't understand me. Otherwise, why would he send you here to cause trouble?"
"you……"
"You ungrateful wretch!" The man gritted his teeth, swallowing the four words he hadn't uttered. His expression was clearly not as good as before.
"Alright, I understand that you're in a bad mood because of what happened at home, Comrade Wanqing. I'll go back first today and come back later. I'm sure you'll need my help."
His smile didn't reach his eyes; his lips twitched, and it was unclear what he was thinking. Jiang Wanqing frowned as she watched him leave.
She had just turned around when she suddenly saw a furtive figure disappear quickly from the corner...
It's that rat from the gutter again, Jiang Jianwei. Tonight, she'll see what he's up to!
That night, Jiang Wanqing stayed in the burning house. Uncle Shuan advised her to stay at another house, but she refused.
She turned off the lights and went to sleep early that night. Before midnight, she heard rustling sounds outside the window. She quietly opened her eyes and, by the moonlight, saw Jiang Jianwei crouching and walking towards the wall in the large, reflective mirror.
He took out matches from his pocket, then a can of oil, poured it onto the pile of burnt wooden furniture against the wall, and lit it...
As the fire started, he quickly climbed over the wall and left!
Jiang Wanqing rolled off the bed and quickly grabbed water to put out the fire.
Looking at the pile of ruins, a fierce glint appeared in her eyes.
"Fire! Help put it out!"
"It's terrible! Everyone wake up! Help put out the fire..."
"People are burning to death! The fire is too big..."
In the latter half of the night, a series of noises and shouts rose and fell in Xiyang Village.
Jiang Wanqing was fast asleep when she heard the sound. She stretched lazily, got out of bed, rubbed her shoulders, and slowly went out.
Flames shot into the sky from the direction of Jiang Jianwei's new house. She smiled and said, "It's just a fire in the storage room, and you're already making such a fuss. Last time, when her parents' master bedroom was destroyed by fire, all I could say was that they were lucky to survive."
"Then let's go see what's going on." She twisted her neck, put on her clothes, and walked towards the fire scene.
Almost all the villagers rushed here to help put out the fire, and thankfully, after a lot of effort, the fire was extinguished.
Jiang Jianwei and his wife emerged disheveled, supporting each other. Their clothes were burned, and smoke choked their throats, causing them to cough violently.
"Cough cough..."
"Cough cough cough..."
"Jianwei, Xiuer's mother, are you alright?" the villagers asked with concern.
They looked up and saw Jiang Wanqing, who was unharmed in the crowd, and their eyes widened.
"How come you're perfectly fine..."
Jiang Jianwei thought he had misremembered. He had clearly set fire to Jiang Wanqing's house, so how could it have ended up burning his own? As a result, he spoke without thinking and blurted out the answer.
The others looked at him with suspicion: "What does this mean?"
"Yes, your house is on fire, so why can't I be perfectly fine? I'm sleeping soundly," Jiang Wanqing said with a smile.
Jiang Xiu's mother, whose voice was hoarse from the smoke, suddenly sprang to her senses, her reddened eyes fixed on Jiang Wanqing, and without thinking, she began to label her.
"It was you! It must have been you! You wanted revenge on us! So you deliberately set the fire to burn us to death!"
"ah?"
Upon hearing this, the villagers all looked at Jiang Wanqing in surprise, and some of them, lacking common sense, immediately pointed at her and questioned her.
"Wanqing, is what your aunt said true?"
"Hmph, fellow villagers, please use your brains. I've only been back from the capital for a few days. Why would I want to retaliate against them? Do they think they did something they're guilty of, and that's why they're afraid?"
She deftly deflected the question, and the others immediately understood, nodding in agreement that she was right.
“That’s right, he didn’t do anything wrong, so why would Wanqing retaliate against him?”
"A girl could not possibly be so heartless as to commit arson and murder."
"Yes, Jianwei and his wife were saying everywhere that it was Wanqing who introduced Xiuer to work in the factory in Beijing. If that's the case, their two families must have made up in private. Why would Wanqing set fire to the place?"
"That's right. On the day the Jian Guo restaurant caught fire, Jianwei even brought some wine over during the day, and the two of them had a heart-to-heart talk..."
"We can't say any more, otherwise, remembering what happened that day, everyone will guess something else," Jiang Jianwei's expression changed drastically.
He turned around and slapped his wife across the face: "Don't talk nonsense! Find out the facts before you speak."
"Jiang Jianwei, how dare you hit me!"
Seeing the couple about to tear each other apart in a pathetic manner, Jiang Wanqing curled her lips in a mocking smile.
"We need to find out the truth. How come my house caught fire right before yours? Maybe someone is targeting the Jiang family. Who set my house on fire, and who set yours on fire tonight?"
Jiang Jianwei and his wife exchanged a glance, their eyes darting around. Just as they were about to speak, Jiang Wanqing's next words nearly scared them to death.
"Fortunately, I've made some progress on my end. I found something the arsonist left behind next to the pile of firewood."
"Really, Wanqing? Show us what it is. Maybe we know each other."
The villagers all knew that the fire had nothing to do with them, and with a "let's watch the show" mentality, they immediately urged Jiang Wanqing to hurry up.
She gave Jiang Jianwei and his wife a meaningful look and raised an eyebrow.
"Okay, I'll go get it right away."
"etc!"
Jiang Jianwei called out to her, swallowing hard in fear. Fortunately, his face, blackened by smoke, concealed his guilt, and everyone assumed he was just scared after escaping the fire.
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