A guard rushed in to report: "There is a torrential rain in the east. The river has suddenly swelled, breached the dam, and the water is rushing in, breaking through the walls, and is flooding into Guanju Courtyard!"
Guanju Courtyard is located on the east side of the entire Marquis's residence.
The old lady's eyes widened. How could this be!
It only rained briefly, and the rain stopped very quickly!
How could the river have reached the point where the floodwaters burst through the dikes and breached the walls?
She suddenly remembered that when she was young, she had encountered a torrential rain on the road. It was very heavy, but after the carriage had traveled a hundred paces, she found that the road was very dry, and it had not rained at all in that place!
So, could it be that it's been raining all along in the east, and a cloud just happened to drift over the Marquis's residence, causing it to rain only here for a short while?
But that doesn't make sense either. The river to the east has always been well-managed, and even with several days of continuous rain in the summer, it's impossible for it to breach the dikes.
Because this area was inhabited, the imperial court attached great importance to it.
Moreover, it is springtime now, and even if it rains in the east, it cannot last long enough to cause the dam to collapse.
But now the walls have been torn down, waves of water are rushing toward Guanju Courtyard, and the fire is burning fiercely, illuminating the whole area, which everyone can see clearly.
Is someone helping Ye Qingxue?
Did they know in advance that she wanted to burn Ye Qingxue and Ye Cunsi to death in Guanjuyuan, and then dig up the river dam?
Who could it be? The more the old lady thought about it, the more terrified she became.
Perhaps the collapse of that wall was also man-made? The river couldn't possibly have washed away the walls of the Marquis's residence!
It started raining again, and it was a downpour. Everyone quickly took shelter in the pavilion.
The fire gradually subsided, revealing the charred wooden frame inside. Rainwater stirred up wisps of smoke on the wood, but it was no longer the choking smoke.
The old woman gradually calmed down. Even though the river was flowing from the east and the rain had extinguished the fire, the fire had been burning for so long that the people inside were already dead.
Whether it's river water or rainwater, it all comes too late.
The old lady rallied, trembling and excited, and said, "The fire is out! The fire is out! Quickly go in and see if there are any survivors. Try your best to save everyone. God bless my Marquis's mansion!"
The image of kindness must be preserved.
How could the old lady of the Marquis of Zhongyong's mansion be someone who hoped for her eldest daughter-in-law, granddaughter, and grandson to be burned alive?
Therefore, the old lady became particularly agitated.
"Be very careful. If there's a corpse, don't step on it. Carry the body out intact!" the old lady instructed, sounding utterly exhausted.
Only if the bodies are intact can she determine which one is Ye Qingxue, which one is Madam Zhou, and which one is Ye Cunsi.
Once she confirms that these three people are corpses, she can live a worry-free life for the rest of her days.
Min Xiuxian glanced at the old lady and thought to himself that the old lady was, after all, a woman. The house was burned to such an extent that even if the fire was extinguished, what difference would it make? The people inside would definitely be charred and wouldn't survive.
However, he didn't say anything. The person was dead, and his sister and nephew had avenged themselves, so there was no need to offend the old lady anymore.
Even if Ye Qingxue and the others were not dead, he would still want the Marquis's mansion to hand them over to the Min family for punishment!
The Min family will not let them live.
Of course, his visit to the Marquis's residence tonight wasn't entirely for Min Yingying; he had other tasks to complete.
Only a small fire remained burning, posing no threat to lives. Many guards, holding umbrellas and torches, rushed inside.
The old lady and Min Xiuxian and others waited in the pavilion for the bodies to be carried up one by one.
But the guards brought them some very alarming news.
"Madam, we haven't found the body!" the guard said.
The old woman was stunned. What did she mean by not finding the body? "Could they have all been burned to ashes? Impossible! The beams are still there. It's impossible that not a single skeleton was left. Keep looking!"
But one guard after another rushed over, all saying that not a single body had been found, not even a burnt limb.
"That's impossible!" The old woman's kindness almost crumbled, her expression turning somewhat ferocious.
"With a fire that big, do you think they just vanished into thin air? There were so many people inside, surely at least one body was left! Dig them out, even if you have to dig three feet into the ground!"
The rain had lessened considerably, and the old lady stepped out of the pavilion. Granny Wang held an umbrella for her as she walked into the Guanju courtyard.
The people behind thought about it and had no choice but to follow.
Min Xiuxian, along with his family, followed closely behind the old lady into Guanju Courtyard to investigate.
However, as soon as the group entered the courtyard, the guards who had gone in to search for the body came running out one after another, their faces filled with panic in the dim light.
Seeing this, the old woman had a bad feeling, but she was still furious and shouted, "What are you doing? Have you seen a ghost? Even if it is a ghost, it is dead and cannot harm the living!"
A guard knelt down in front of her with a thud, "Young Miss... Young Miss, they're out."
A guard added, "They came out from underground..."
The old lady had thought that when the fire was raging, Ye Qingxue would lead everyone to hide in the cellar.
But that can only preserve the body intact after death; it cannot save the life.
Such a large fire would not only generate extremely high heat, but also produce thick smoke, making it impossible for the people hiding in the cellar to breathe.
They will suffocate.
Therefore, even if Ye Qingxue and the others hid in the cellar, she did not believe that the fire would not kill them.
But now, the guards are saying that Ye Qingxue and the others have come out from underground. What does that mean?
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