"The murderer escaped from here. Did you see him when you came over?" Ye Qingqing asked.
The alley where the incident occurred is a one-way street, so the murderer could only escape through the next alley, which was in the opposite direction from the old man's. Ye Qingqing frowned. There were only a few houses in that direction, and the Hu family happened to be there as well.
The old man shook his head. "I didn't come over immediately after I shouted. I found a brick nearby before coming over because I was afraid I couldn't win. I probably missed it."
"Then they fled this way. There aren't many families around here. Could the murderer still be hiding here?" someone said in surprise, and everyone's nerves tightened again.
Ye Qingqing said helplessly, "What's the panic? There are so many of us. Even if one of us is the strongest, it's still just one person. Are you afraid we can't beat him?"
Thinking about it, everyone realized that there were more than ten of them, so even if the other side had three heads and six arms, they wouldn't be afraid. They relaxed.
Ye Qingqing wanted to look further ahead. She had a feeling that the murderer was still nearby and hadn't gone far. If she didn't find him, she would ask Wuchen to help her ask. That unlucky girl had been very arrogant lately. She would get cocky even when asked to do something small, and her words were more hurtful than stabbing someone in the back. Ye Qingqing was too lazy to ask that brat for help unless absolutely necessary. She felt that she could find the murderer herself.
But after walking only a few steps, someone shouted, "Fire!...Oh no! Whose house is on fire!"
Everyone was startled and looked in the direction of the fire. Sure enough, flames were shooting into the sky and thick smoke was billowing out. It looked like it was inside the alley, but no one knew which house it was.
"It can't be my house, can it? Oh dear, I'm going to die! My daughter-in-law is still at home recovering from childbirth, and the old woman is taking care of her..."
The old man who had led the way slapped his thigh and hurriedly ran back. The others also forgot about the murderer and rushed back to their homes to check the situation. Ye Qingqing frowned. First, Pingping had an accident, and then a fire broke out inexplicably. She felt as if there were hands manipulating all of this behind the scenes.
She intuitively felt that the fire was caused by someone, and it was even very likely that the same person who caused the fire was the same one who killed Pingping.
"I'm going to die... Call the fire department quickly! My wife, daughter-in-law, and grandson are upstairs... I'm going to rescue them..."
The fire did indeed start at the old man's house. His surname was Ma, and he was a kind-hearted man who had retired a few years ago. He lived here with his wife and his youngest son's family. His older children had all bought houses and moved out, but his youngest son hadn't bought one yet and lived with his parents. A while ago, his daughter-in-law gave birth to a big, healthy grandson, and Ye Qingqing even ate some of their red eggs and fermented rice.
Grandpa Ma's hometown and Lin Shufang's place are not far apart, and their customs are similar. When a child is born, people give red eggs and fermented rice wine to their neighbors. In the past, this was only done for grandsons, but later it was changed to be done for both grandsons and granddaughters, to show that boys and girls are equally precious.
For several days in a row, it was sunny and dry, without a single drop of rain. Grandpa Ma's house was an old-style building with wooden floors, doors, windows, and most of the furniture. Several houses were connected together, so once the fire started, it spread rapidly and became uncontrollable.
"Wow..."
The faint sounds of babies crying and adults screaming could be heard. There were more than a dozen families living in the building, and almost every family had someone in their house. A few clever people managed to escape, but at least a dozen people were still trapped inside, mostly children and the elderly.
"My mom and my daughter are inside, don't stop me... I need to go in..."
"My wife and son didn't get out..."
...
Several men cried out in grief and anger, wanting to rush in to save people, but the raging fire blocked their way. The fire was so big that they wouldn't be able to get out even if they went in. The others held back the few men who were about to go crazy, and couldn't just watch them die.
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