Su Feiling was much calmer than Zhong Shi, and immediately shouted to the servants in the courtyard, "Quickly, put out the fire!"
The servants were all carrying buckets and basins to put out the fire, but as Su Xuening said, the eldest branch of the family was weak and had few servants. The fire was spreading so rapidly that their water was simply a drop in the ocean.
Seeing that they couldn't put out the fire, Su Feiling anxiously shouted, "Quickly go to the second room and call people, tell them all to come and put out the fire."
"Yes." A servant responded, immediately dropping the bucket and going to the second room to call for help.
More and more people gathered in the courtyard to watch the commotion. The noble ladies and young women from Yaochi Palace had all arrived, but they were too weak to lift anything and were naturally unable to help put out the fire.
After waiting a while, the servant who went to fetch help came running back, panting: "Second Miss, none of the servants from the second branch of the family are willing to come and put out the fire!"
The servant's words caused everyone's expressions to turn strange.
Su Feiling had forgotten about this incident. Panicked, she glared at the servant and said, "What nonsense are you talking about? How could the people from the second branch of the family refuse to come and put out the fire?"
The servant immediately looked aggrieved: "This servant would not dare to lie. The fire at Jingxue Pavilion has been burning for more than an hour. An hour ago, we went to the second branch of the household for help, but no one from the second branch was willing to come and put out the fire. Just now, this servant went to call for help again, but they still refused to come and put out the fire. Second Miss, you can see for yourself that everything this servant said is true and I would never dare to utter a single falsehood."
Upon hearing the servant's words, the noble ladies and young women who had come to watch the spectacle immediately began to whisper among themselves.
"What Miss Su said was indeed true; the servants of the second branch of the family really refused to come and put out the fire!"
"Yes, such a big fire could be seen by people outside the capital. It's impossible for the people in this prefecture not to know about it. If they wanted to put out the fire, they would have come long ago. How could the fire have been allowed to burn like this!"
"The Lingxiao Pavilion of the Su family's young master also caught fire before. They asked for help everywhere, but no one came to put out the fire. As a result, it burned all night. If someone had put out the fire, could it have burned all night?"
"This fire started in a really strange way. I think some people are reaping what they sowed. They didn't harm others, but they harmed their own sons."
When Su Feiling saw that everyone was starting to question whether the fire was caused by their second branch of the family, she opened her mouth to defend herself, but Su Xuening was one step ahead of her and knelt down in front of Xuan Yuanpeng: "Your Majesty, the eldest branch of the Su family is weak and unable to put out the fire. The second branch of the Su family is watching the fire die without offering any help. I beg Your Majesty to send the Imperial Guards to put out the fire."
Su Xuening's two sentences made Su Feiling's face turn ugly, Su Muyao feel flustered, and even Su Fei felt guilty.
Seeing the raging fire, Xuanyuan Peng couldn't just stand by and do nothing: "Someone, put out the fire!"
At Xuanyuan Peng's command, the Imperial Guards who had been waiting outside the Yong'an Marquis's residence all rushed in to put out the fire.
The fire at Jingxue Pavilion was too large, even worse than the previous fire at Lingxiao Pavilion. Although the Imperial Guards numbered over a thousand, they were unable to extinguish the fire in a short time.
“Yuan’er…” Zhong Shi sat on the ground, her voice hoarse from crying.
Just as the Imperial Guards were fighting the fire, Cen Jinfeng arrived with the yamen runners from the Shuntian Prefecture.
"emperor."
Upon seeing Xuanyuan Peng sitting in the courtyard, Cen Jinfeng quickly stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Your subject greets Your Majesty and Consort Su."
Xuan Yuanpeng gave Cen Jinfeng a meaningful look: "Cen Qing, you've arrived just in time!"
Cen Jinfeng broke out in a cold sweat under Xuan Yuanpeng's gaze and quickly bowed, replying, "I heard that the Yong'an Marquis's residence has caught fire again. I was very worried, so I brought people to come and see."
Xuanyuan Peng didn't want to settle scores with him at this moment: "Since you're already here, then take some people to put out the fire."
"yes."
Cen Jinfeng agreed and immediately directed the constables to help put out the fire.
Cen Jinfeng stood next to Xuan Yuanpeng and secretly glanced at Su Xuening.
His eyelids had been twitching ever since he heard the drum sounding for petitioning the emperor. Knowing that it was this Miss Su who had filed the petition, he was even more anxious, like an ant on a hot pan.
He was worried that Miss Su would file a complaint with the emperor because of the fire at Lingxiao Pavilion, and he had been paying close attention to the situation of complaints in the palace. But as he waited, he heard that the emperor had made an errand for the Marquis of Yong'an.
He had only just learned that the Yong'an Marquis's residence had caught fire again, and immediately felt that things were far more complicated than they seemed. Fearing that he would be implicated, he immediately led his men over.
Seeing Miss Su's calm and composed demeanor, he had a premonition that this was no accident.
Just as Cen Jinfeng arrived with the Shuntian Prefecture yamen runners, Su Renyi, knowing that Xuan Yuanpeng had come to the Yong'an Marquis's residence, also hurriedly rushed back from the city's guard camp.
On the way back, Su Renyi learned that Su Xuening had taken Su Yun'an to beat the Dengwen Drum to appeal to the emperor, and he immediately panicked so much that his legs went weak. When he heard that Jingxuexuan had caught fire again, he broke out in a cold sweat and wished he could rush back to the Yong'an Marquis's mansion to beat Zhong Shi to death.
This stupid woman burned down Lingxiao Pavilion, and then she went and burned down Jingxue Pavilion too. What a crazy woman!
When Su Renyi rushed to Jingxue Pavilion, he found Xuan Yuanpeng and Consort Su there, along with a courtyard full of women. He immediately stepped forward and bowed, saying, "Your Majesty, I pay my respects to Consort Su."
Xuanyuan Peng glanced at him with a stern face: "The Yong'an Marquis's residence was flooded, why is Su Qing only returning now?"
Su Renyi looked ashamed: "Your Majesty... Your Majesty only just learned about the fire at the Marquis of Yong'an's residence."
"Really?" Xuan Yuanpeng clearly didn't believe him and reminded him with a suspicious look, "The fire at Jingxue Pavilion has been going on for more than an hour."
“Your subject…” Su Renyi broke out in a cold sweat under Xuan Yuanpeng’s gaze.
Before Su Renyi could finish his explanation, Consort Su chimed in, "Your Majesty, Commander Su is on duty today. Even if something happens at the Marquis of Yong'an's residence, he cannot leave the camp without permission."
Xuanyuan Peng immediately snorted coldly: "So, you're saying I should reward him for his dedication to duty?"
"Your subject dares not!" Su Renyi immediately knelt down in fright.
Xuanyuan Peng frowned and asked.
"Tell me, how did Jingxue Pavilion catch fire?"
Su Renyi looked completely innocent: "I just returned and know nothing about the fire!"
Whether it was intentional or not, Zhong Shi, who was crying and shouting, seemed to only now notice that Su Renyi had returned, and immediately cried out to him, "My lord, our Yuan'er is still in the fire!"
Su Renyi was instantly shocked: "What? How come Yuan'er is at Jingxue Pavilion?"
Thinking of his son's temperament and realizing he might have asked the wrong question, Su Renyi stopped asking and anxiously shouted, "Quickly, put out the fire!"
Seeing that only the Imperial Guards and Shuntian Prefecture officials were putting out the fire, Su Renyi frowned and said unhappily, "Why are there so few people? Where are the people from our Yong'an Marquis's mansion!"
Su Renyi was really bringing up the very thing he didn't want to talk about.
Su Xuening sneered: "All of us from the eldest branch are here. Second Uncle asked about the servants of the second branch, didn't he? Second Uncle is really good at teaching them. The fire has been burning for an hour, and not a single one of them has come to put it out!"
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com
