Only after everyone else rushed to put out the fire did He Jingyan finally have a chance to find the Empress Dowager.
The two met in a quiet teahouse.
The Empress Dowager sat in her chair drinking tea, her expression somewhat unpleasant. Upon hearing He Jingyan enter, she didn't even lift her eyelids or utter a single word.
As soon as He Jingyan entered the side room, he knelt down before the Empress Dowager.
"Your subordinate has failed in his duties; please punish me, Your Majesty."
The Empress Dowager then slowly lifted her eyelids and said, "If you hadn't chosen to turn back back then, this great empire would already belong to me."
"Now, if the fire is not extinguished and the bodies from the Marquis of Anding's mansion are not found, you will have no reason to leave."
Upon hearing this, He Jingyan froze and quickly buried his head even deeper.
"Your Majesty, please forgive me! I have a reason that I must return."
The Empress Dowager slowly put down her teacup and looked at him seriously: "Oh?"
He Jingyan replied, "Because the fire came so suddenly, I thought it was set by Song Xizhi."
Upon hearing this, the Empress Dowager's eyelids twitched, and her expression changed slightly: "Song Xizhi?!"
"You hid Song Xizhi in the Marquis of Anding's residence?!"
He Jingyan nodded: "I hid her in the cellar in the courtyard. I thought she had escaped from the cellar, so I immediately went back."
The Empress Dowager's fingers tightened suddenly, gripping the teacup firmly: "And what was the result? How is Song Xizhi now?"
He Jingyan smiled and said, "It wasn't Song Xizhi who did it. When I got to the cellar, Song Xizhi was still unconscious, but there were too many people around to move her out."
The Empress Dowager heard this and finally breathed a sigh of relief.
"Your decision to hide Song Xizhi in the Marquis of Anding's residence is brilliant. Even if Pei Yunyi searched the entire capital, he still couldn't get into the Marquis of Anding's residence."
Upon hearing this, He Jingyan's smile became quite smug.
After drugging Song Xi in the carriage, he stopped the carriage at many shops and teahouses throughout the capital.
He had Song Xizhi and the puppet switch identities in a teahouse, leaving the unconscious Song Xizhi in the teahouse overnight.
Then he instructed people to secretly transport the real Song Xizhi to his room the next day, along with a servant from the Marquis's mansion who was purchasing supplies.
Every shop he set foot in would later be visited by many empty carriages he arranged to travel in different directions from the capital.
The carriage that had the accident left the city gates immediately after he returned to the Marquis's residence, heading north.
After about half an incense stick's time, he ordered another carriage to secretly take a woman and head south.
The second carriage stopped in many counties in the south, then obtained a fake household registration and a fake identity for the woman, and finally sold her.
Seeing He Jingyan's confident demeanor, the Empress Dowager finally nodded in satisfaction: "However, we still cannot be certain who was responsible for the fire at the Marquis's residence. We need to find an opportunity to move her out."
He Jingyan nodded: "I will do it immediately after the fire is extinguished."
…………
On the other side, Song Xizhi was awakened by a burst of thick smoke.
She slowly opened her heavy eyelids and saw a dimly lit cellar.
The cellar was very hot. The entrance seemed to be a mechanism made of black iron. Although the entrance had been sealed with cotton cloth soaked in water, thick smoke still kept seeping out from the gaps.
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