Qin Yuan was puzzled.
Hongye said, "This servant has been in here for so long, and I haven't seen the Marquis yet, is it...?"
Qin Yuan, wanting to tease her, laughed and said, "He went out a long time ago and is in the front yard."
Hongye couldn't believe it. "How could the Marquis have left without anyone noticing? I've been guarding outside the whole time, and I didn't see him go out."
Qin Yuan laughed and said, "You mustn't gossip about the Marquis behind his back. He's been caught doing it more than once or twice."
Hongye immediately fell silent.
Not long after, the little girl outside cried out, "Oh my god, everything over there is red! Half the sky is already bright. What happened? Is there a fire?"
Qin Yuan also came out and leaned against the railing, looking north. The bright red area was in the direction of the hostage residence.
Lord Gu is truly decisive and efficient.
In just over half an hour, the hostage residence was already engulfed in flames.
Hongye and Cuiming also came over to watch together.
Cui Ming said, "I don't know whose house caught fire. It hasn't rained for days, and the weather is dry. Be careful with candles."
Hongye added, "That's right. With such a huge fire, it might burn down the entire mansion. Rebuilding it would cost so much money and effort."
Qin Yuan just smiled.
Cui Ming said, "This place isn't very far from here. There must be quite a few powerful and wealthy families living in that area."
The two hadn't been through much together, so they couldn't say how much money it would cost, but they guessed it wouldn't be a small amount.
Qin Yuan thought for a moment and said, "That depends on how you want to repair it. If you don't have money, you can only repaint it and make do with it. A few dozen taels of silver should be enough. If you have money, you can rebuild it all. You need to hire good craftsmen for everything, from carving beams to painting rafters. The garden will also need to be rebuilt if it is damaged. It will cost at least a thousand taels and at most hundreds of thousands of taels of silver."
Speaking of this, Qin Yuan's heart stirred.
In her previous life, the Crown Princess smeared pepper paste on all the furniture in the Eastern Palace, hoping to bring her many children and good fortune in childbirth.
If the price of pepper rises... it will be a considerable sum.
Moreover, the Crown Prince's wedding was extravagant, and the subsidies from the Imperial Treasury alone were far from enough. So where did the money come from?
Hongye was speechless with astonishment.
"My goodness, so much silver?"
Cui Ming said, "And it will take a lot of effort to rebuild these things. It will take at least a year or two. The owner of this house will probably be heartbroken. The money will be spent like water."
Qin Yuan also sighed, "I wonder whose family it is?"
Some busybodies had already gone to the front yard to inquire, and after a long time they came back with the reply: "They said the hostage residence burned down."
"Haha, so it's his house."
Hongye laughed.
Gu Baozhu also ran over and said, "Third sister-in-law, do you know that the wild donkeys got their comeuppance? They even burned down their house. Where is my third brother?"
Qin Yuan felt a headache coming on whenever she saw her. She glanced at the sky and asked, "Why are you still running here at this hour? I've already changed into my nightgown and was about to rest. Your third brother is probably interrogating Yelü Xianyong."
Gu Baozhu stuck out her tongue and laughed, "Alright then, I'll go back first. Third Brother will be back at any time, so I won't stay here. Don't be afraid, sister-in-law, it's just a fire, it's far from here. There are so many people in the mansion, it won't burn here."
Qin Yuan laughed and said, "So you were worried about startling me. It's alright, we're just watching the fun here, we can't see anything, we're just chatting, we'll go to sleep in a bit. You should go back and rest too, you have martial arts practice tomorrow morning, don't you?"
Gu Baozhu responded and said, "Then I'll go back, Third Sister-in-law."
"Um."
Qin Yuan nodded.
After Gu Baozhu left, Hongye said, "Seventh Miss has become smarter. She clearly came to gather information, but she pretended to be concerned about our young lady."
Cuiming patted her on the shoulder: "You're so smart."
Hongye realized what was happening and fell silent.
Qin Yuan pretended not to hear, "Judging from the growing flames, it seems difficult to extinguish this fire. The Five Cities Garrison and the patrol battalion will probably be busy all night."
Cuiming then said, "We'll find out by asking the neighbors tomorrow."
“Yes, we’ll ask Sister Cheng for details tomorrow. It’s too late now, and I’m tired after two days of work. Let’s all go back and rest. Tomorrow we should discuss with the stewards how to prevent the fire.”
Everyone dispersed.
Cuiming secretly spat at Hongye and said, "What nonsense are you spouting all day long? You're practically saying that the Marquis set this fire."
Hongye quickly slapped her own face, feeling extremely annoyed.
"I was just talking nonsense."
Cui Ming said, "It's alright that you're doing this today because you're alone. But if you act like this when you're out in the world and cause trouble, who can save you? You might even drag others down with you."
Hongye pleaded, "Good sister, please give me more guidance in the future. You know me; sometimes I don't mean what I say."
Cui Ming said seriously, "Think before you speak each day, whether what you're saying will have any impact. Or count a few numbers first, and then open your mouth."
Hongye nodded in agreement.
Qin Yuan lay in bed, still thinking. Even Gu Baozhu and her maidservant thought the same thing, hoping that Lord Gu would do things more cleanly.
When I woke up the next morning, I touched my side.
Nobody's here.
The bedding didn't look like it had been used; it seemed the person hadn't come home all night.
Qin Yuan sat up and called for someone to come in and serve her.
Mo Zhu and Cui Ming came in, and Qin Yuan asked while washing and changing, "Where's Hong Ye?"
Cui Ming said, "Hong Ye went to see Steward Qian, Steward Han, and Steward Cao early on to discuss how to avoid the fire disaster."
Qin Yuan smiled.
They went to gather information.
Hongye returned at breakfast time. While eating with Qin Yuan, she said, "Last night, the Marquis led the guards of the manor to help put out the fire. The fire was too fierce."
Qin Yuan picked up a small tofu skin and meat bun, parted her red lips slightly, took a bite, chewed slowly, and looked at Hongye, signaling her to continue.
Seeing Qin Yuan's interest, Hongye continued, "I heard from Sixteen that the hostage residence was originally just an accidental fire, and it wouldn't have burned so badly. Who knows what happened, someone put kerosene at the back door of the hostage residence."
Qin Yuan swallowed all the steamed buns, drank some porridge, and then asked, "Have you found out who dumped it?"
"Sigh, how do we investigate? The police said they've been patrolling all night and haven't found anyone suspicious."
Cuiming asked, "Don't the people around here come to help? We're not exactly close to the hostage's residence."
Hongye said, "The surrounding families and the people from the Five Cities Garrison went there, and guess what? The water that was originally stored to protect against the fire was almost gone. Everyone brought buckets and other things to help, but they couldn't. The people from the Five Cities Garrison couldn't just watch the fire spread, so they asked the surrounding families to find a way to transport water to the Prince's Residence by cart."
That's really ruthless.
Qin Yuan then asked, "Were the houses next door affected?"
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