C106

"There's no other way. I can't just abandon him, right?" Xiao Qing suddenly put down her chopsticks and wiped her mouth. She glanced at the coffin in the mourning hall and sighed, "Dead. Since people are dead, I will write off everything that happened before. It's just that it's fine to stay here for one night."

Riko pursed her lips, feeling that these words did not sound like it. "Miss, did you discover something?"

Xiao Qingran lowered her eyes and nodded: "I have already confirmed many times that she was killed."

"Killed?" Riko was stunned. "If Second Miss is already like that, who would kill her? So, there's no need for people who have enmity in the past? "

"Indeed, from this we can narrow the scope. If it wasn't for personal grudges, then there must be some other reason. I haven't thought of that yet." Xiao Qingyi knitted her brows: "Did you find anything out when you went out today?"

"Other than the ceremony, I also asked the people who served Second Young Miss about it. All the servants said that they had done their best during the service, and …" Li Er paused for a moment, as if she was somewhat disgusted. "The aunt had messed around for an entire afternoon and let the master make the decision. She actually killed three servants just because she was so annoyed by the master. But I've clearly checked and confirmed that those three people are truly innocent."

"Then the mistreatment of the servants can be ruled out." Xiao Qing pursed her lips.

Actually, she had already ruled out this situation from the very beginning. Since she was sure that the handprint was done by a man, it was impossible for Yang Jing to send a man to be a personal attendant.

"Tsk, this matter is rather difficult to deal with." Xiao Qing Ran rubbed her temples with one hand.

There were only a few people who wanted to plot against him, and Su Qianxing was the most likely one. However, even if he knew who it was, it would be useless, because he could not guess his real motive for doing so.

"Miss, don't even think about it. You've been tired all day." Riko picked up her chopsticks and said, "Fourth Miss, have you gone to bed? Otherwise, you should go to rest as well. It'll be fine for Riko to guard here."

Xiao Qinglan shook her head: "I can't sleep, it's better to stay here and guard it with more peace of mind."

She stood up and stretched her limbs, "I'm just a little tired. It's true that I'm tired. You stay here and watch. I'll go out for a while. I'll be back in a bit."

"Alright, then Li Er will wait here for Miss to return."

Xiao Qingran nodded and walked out of the mourning hall towards the garden. As she was leaving, she did not notice a shadow flash in the corner not far away.

As the night wind blew, Xiao Qing Qing felt that her mind had cleared up a lot. The intermittent information started to spread out from her mind. She did not carefully comb through anything but let those things swarm out.

She wandered aimlessly like this for an unknown period of time. By the time she regained her senses, she had already reached the foot of the garden wall. She could vaguely see a shadow flash by.

Xiao Qing Ran's heart trembled. She was about to give chase with a cold gaze when she suddenly heard a commotion not too far away and someone was even shouting something.

"This is bad!" She could not care about anything else and hurried back as fast as she could. Along the way, she met many people carrying water bowls and walking towards the mourning hall. She pulled one of them to ask about the situation and found out that the shrine was on fire.

Li Er!

Xiao Qing felt that her heart was trembling as she rushed back after a short while. Zhao Ya was in the mourning hall directing the fire while Xiao Yan stood to one side.

"Where's Li Er?" As soon as Xiao Qing Ran came over, she was anxious to ask.

"That girl is still inside." Xiao Yan yawned, he did not care about the fire at all, "I just feel like this place is so stuffy that I want to go back and sleep. You actually managed to make a fire. Third sister, you really aren't careful."

With a simple sentence, he had placed the hat on Riko's head.

Naturally, Xiao Qing couldn't waste her time arguing with her, so she lifted her leg and rushed in.

Zhao Ya immediately called for someone to stop her, but she said with a caring tone, "Third Miss, what are you doing? The fire is so big that if you just barge in like this, what should we do? How am I supposed to explain this to the old master? "I know you're anxious, but you should be the one to handle the ceremony. Now that something so big has happened, even if you're afraid that the old master will blame you, you can't …"

Before she could even finish her words, Xiao Qing Ran coldly and darkly kicked the servant in front of her. With a cold killing intent in her voice, she said, "I don't care if you participated in this matter or not. If something happened to Li Er today, I will have both of you die with her!"

This was the first time she said such harsh words. Furthermore, with such a threatening gaze, Zhao Ya could not help but be shocked.

Xiao Qing's cold eyes swept across the servants around and those people lowered their heads. Xiao Qing ran her hand over the water bucket and poured it over her body. Then, she took big steps towards the burning mourning hall.

The door trembled twice but it did not open. It was locked from the inside.

Indeed, there was someone who wanted to plot against him. Riko would never lock the door.

She increased the force under her feet, and with a stomp, the door fell to the ground. Xiao Qing walked into the door frame that was only an empty shelf, and with a single glance, she hit Riko who was unconscious on the ground.

"Li Er!" She quickly stepped forward. Her first reaction was to reach out and touch her neck. She discovered that she was merely knocked unconscious and did not have any life threatening feelings.

Xiao Qing heaved a sigh of relief, but she didn't directly drag Ri-er out. Instead, she strode over to the coffin and grabbed Xiao Xi Yu by the shoulders, dragging her out of the coffin. Only then did she quickly return to Ri-er's side and bring both of them out completely unscathed.

Other than the entrance, she didn't know when Xiao Zhi had arrived. However, she didn't have time to say anything as she handed Xiao Xiyu over to the servants and instructed, "Go find some ice cubes and seal Second Miss's body in ice."

The sky was not cold to begin with, and if he were to add to the heat, the corpse would probably be ruined if he were to drag it out any longer.

After obtaining Xiao Zhi's permission, the servants quickly took Xiao Xi Yu away. This time, Zhao Ya was smart enough to not let anyone tell Li Jing about the situation, otherwise, things would get troublesome again.

Xiao Zhi's expression was ugly as he looked at Xiao Qing Ran. He completely ignored her actions of rushing into the sea of flames and instead reprimanded her: "Xiao Qing Ran, shouldn't you give father an explanation about this matter?"

"What does father want to hear?" Xiao Qingran chatted with him but did not raise her head. Instead, she carefully placed Li Er on the ground and pressed down on her chest.

Although this person was fine, he must have inhaled a lot of smoke in the mourning hall.

"I heard from your Third Aunt that the mourning hall is on fire because of you, the maid?" Xiao Zhi said coldly.

Xiao Qing's hand that was pressing down on Ri-er's chest paused. A trace of coldness flashed in her eyes but she did not immediately speak. Instead, she continued the action until Ri-Er's somewhat reaction caused her to exhale a mouthful of impure air. She finally calmed down and replied, "Father, do you think so as well?"

"Miss?" Riko knitted her brows with a pained look on her face.

Seeing that she had opened her eyes, Xiao Qing carefully helped her up: "You might not have any strength left in your entire body right now, but you will be fine tomorrow."

"Mm …" Riko nodded as if she wanted to say something, but when she saw that there was someone by her side, she could only swallow her words.

Xiao Qing Ran was completely relieved as she helped her stand up. She turned her head to look at Xiao Zhi and said calmly: "Third Aunt said that it was my maidservant who accidentally caused the mourning hall to burn. Is there any evidence?"

Zhao Ya didn't expect her to return the question back to her and was momentarily at a loss for words.

Xiao Yan let out a cold snort and said, "When the Spirit Hall is on fire, she was the only one inside. Who else could she be inside? Could it be that Second Sister got up from the coffin and set a fire herself? "

Xiao Qinglan said in a deep voice: "That doesn't mean that others are deliberately setting the fire."

"What is it? Is Third Sister trying to quibble for your maidservant? "You have to rely on evidence to prove your words. Since you said that someone intentionally set fire to them, why don't you take someone out for us to see. Is this nonsense not a lie?" Xiao Yan said in a strange tone, "So what if what you said is true? Your servant girl is guarding the mourning hall, and since you have followed father's instructions to conduct this ceremony, it is your responsibility to do the job well. "

Xiao Qing Ran's eyes darkened and did not say anything. In fact, she did not even need to say anything. Even if there really was evidence, her father would not side her over, let alone the fact that they had no way of defending her.

Daddy, Second Sister died so miserably that she couldn't even live peacefully after death. She is your biological daughter, so you must uphold justice for Second Sister, not to mention Second Sister is the legitimate daughter-in-law of the Zhao Family. If the people of the Zhao Family were to find out, they would definitely be unhappy.

Xiao Zhi's face darkened. It was obvious that he had heard her opinion. "Xiao Yan'er is right. We cannot let this matter go so easily."

"Miss, I'm willing …" Riko took a step forward and was about to accept the charge.

She reached out her hand to block him. With a smile, she proudly said: "Indeed, I should have taken responsibility for this matter. If Father wanted to punish me, just come at me."

It didn't matter what they wanted to do. It wasn't impossible for her to handle such a small matter, but if someone wanted to touch her, that person wouldn't even be able to!

"Miss!" Rio'er was well aware of her young mistress's temper. She was so anxious that she wanted to charge forward.

Xiao Qingyi only coldly glanced over and sternly said: "Get down!"

Riko's body stiffened as she came to a halt.

Ever since she was young, she had followed the young miss. No matter how much she had learned, she had never learned one thing — disobedience.