"Who started this fire?"
Kou Dan was taken aback by Consort Chen's question. She hadn't seen who set the fire, so how could she know who did it?
"This servant, this servant did not see it."
"Nonsense, would you have seen the arsonist?"
"I'm asking you to guess. Guess who started this fire?"
"This servant...this servant is stupid, this servant can't guess." Kou Dan lowered her head. How could she possibly guess?!
Even if she guessed it, she would never dare to say it, for falsely accusing her master would be punishable by a severe beating.
Consort Chen glanced at Kou Dan with displeasure. "Has the First Prince appeared near the Buddhist hall?"
"Your Majesty, rest assured, the First Prince has gone."
"Has anyone seen this?"
"The eldest prince kept barking as he searched for his little white dog, and many palace servants sweeping near the Buddhist hall also saw him."
"Well, that's good. My goal has been achieved." Consort Chen nodded in satisfaction. She didn't care who set the fire or whether the poison had been successfully administered. As long as she could frame the Crown Prince and implicate him, the matter was considered settled.
But who started the fire?
Who would want to harm the little princess?
The time she jumped into the well, it was said to be the Princess Consort of Jin. But now the entire Jin family has gone to the northern frontier. Could it be that there are still Jin's people in the palace, and Princess Dongping is still dreaming of becoming a princess?
Consort Chen shook her head and fell into deep thought.
...
The fire in the Buddhist hall is still burning, but the fire has been brought under control.
Yun Duoduo closed her eyes; she was finally free.
In her next life, she wants to be a butterfly, or even a little bird, soaring freely in the blue sky, unrestrained and carefree.
Jin Jinzhi carried Yun Duoduo out of the sea of fire, and looked down at Yun Duoduo in his arms.
The doll's head and face were covered in dirt, and the red embroidered quilt wrapped around its body was also filthy.
Once outside the Buddhist hall, he could see the doll in his arms more clearly. The doll was wearing a pink dress with pretty little flowers embroidered on the collar.
It turned out to be a little girl.
However, this girl looks like a piece of charcoal, all dusty and dirty; she's quite ugly.
Yun Duoduo was almost asleep when she suddenly heard someone say she was ugly, and she abruptly opened her eyes.
Who? Who said she's ugly?!
Her father was on the list of handsome men in Nanyang, and her mother was a top beauty in the imperial harem. With such strong genes, how could she be ugly?
She glared angrily at Jin Jinzhi, thinking, "This devil is really asking for a beating!"
If Yun Duoduo weren't completely exhausted, she would definitely have given this King Yama a vicious uppercut. Since she was already dead, she wasn't afraid of offending anyone.
Just as Yun Duoduo was puffing out her cheeks in a huff, she suddenly felt a chill, as the temperature plummeted. Her eyes slowly focused as she made out her surroundings.
Why does the Yama Palace look so much like the Imperial Palace?
Could it be that the King of Hell is a local tyrant?
"Princess, little princess!" The palace servants carrying buckets outside the Buddhist hall cried out in relief when they saw that Yun Duoduo was still alive with her eyes open.
"Great! The little princess has been rescued!" The fire in the Buddhist hall had been extinguished, and the palace servants were so exhausted that they collapsed on the ground, wiping the sweat from their brows.
"Thank God, the little princess is not dead, otherwise, we would all be buried with her!" the eunuch shouted as if he had been given a new lease on life.
Yun Duoduo listened to the sounds outside and carefully discerned everything around her. Gradually, she felt the fresh air.
Could it be that it wasn't the King of Hell, but a deity, a divine brother, who came to save her?!
She looked more closely at the boy who was holding her.
This young man had sharp eyebrows and bright eyes, exuding an air of arrogance. His eyes revealed a composure and depth beyond his years, as if he were a god descended to earth to inquire about the suffering of humankind.
"Waaaaah!" Yun Duoduo murmured softly, her mind asking if he was her god brother, but what came out was just a series of incoherent baby sounds.
"Princess, little princess..." Upon seeing Jin Jinzhi carrying the little princess out, the imperial physicians immediately surrounded her.
A group of elderly men with gray hair looked at Jin Jinzhi's charred hair and tattered clothes, and hurriedly took out their medicine boxes to clean her wounds and prepare to apply medicine.
The guards were cleaning inside the Buddhist hall, searching for anyone still trapped inside.
Yun Duoduo looked around but didn't see Aunt Xiang's gentle and familiar face. Where was Aunt Xiang?!
She panicked and burst into loud sobs.
Jin Jinzhi gently patted her back, "Don't be afraid, the guards have already gone to rescue the people inside, they will definitely be able to get her out."
Yun Duoduo stopped crying and looked at Jin Jinzhi with some surprise. He seemed to know what she was thinking.
Hearing Jin Jinzhi say that someone had gone to rescue Aunt Xiang, she immediately felt at ease.
In this embrace, she felt inexplicably safe and secure. She knew that the person who rescued her would protect her, so she snuggled closer to Jin Jinzhi and buried her little head in his chest.
It's cold outside, but my embrace is warm.
Jin Jinzhi looked at the person in her arms and curled her lips into a smile. This girl, after experiencing such a big fire, she stopped crying now that she knows she's safe.
"At least you have a conscience, knowing who your savior is!" Jin Jinzhi smiled and gently patted Yun Duoduo's head, tightening the quilt wrapped around her to keep the cold wind out.
"Where is the princess?! Where is my princess?!" Yun Beiye strode into the Buddhist hall, his palms sweating and his body covered in cold sweat.
Yun Beiye was discussing disaster relief with his ministers in the Zichen Palace when he suddenly heard Zhao Zhongquan say that the Buddhist hall was on fire.
Initially, he was worried that the Empress Dowager would have nowhere to worship Buddha when she returned to the palace, so he asked Zhao Zhongquan to quickly send people to put out the fire and find craftsmen to quickly enter the palace and repair the Buddhist hall before the Empress Dowager returned.
But then he heard Zhao Zhongquan say that his beloved daughter was also in the Buddhist hall. Yun Beiye immediately lost his composure and rushed to the Buddhist hall, dropping everything.
"Your subject Jin Jinzhi pays respects to Your Majesty!" Jin Jinzhi knelt down and bowed, handing the cloud-like object in his arms to Yun Beiye.
Yun Beiye watched as Yun Duoduo's eyes darted around, and his heart finally settled down. He patted his heart and reached out to hug Yun Duoduo.
[I was terrified! Thank goodness my daughter is alright!]
Looking at Yun Duoduo in his arms, whose face was black and gray, whose lips were purple, whose face was covered with snot and tears, and whose body was covered with fallen wood chips, Yun Beiye felt as if his heart was being torn apart.
Yun Duoduo felt herself being handed over and leaving the warm embrace. She glanced at Jin Jinzhi with some dissatisfaction.
Yun Duoduo then noticed that the little boy was only nine or ten years old. His clothes were burned, his arms and hands were scalded, and there was blood on his shoulder. It looked very painful.
Yun Duoduo felt both sad and angry at the thought that someone had used arson to try and kill her.
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