Feng Linyuan, why aren't you here yet...
Bai Zheng leaned against the wall, her back stiff as she slowly slid down until she was sitting on the cold ground.
Hearing that the person inside had gone silent, Bai Sheng felt a rush of pleasure.
"Alas, it's really a pity. Your beloved Marquis won't even be able to come and collect your body in time! Ahahahahaha... Go in peace! When you get to the underworld, remember to apologize to my poor child! Apologize! Hahaha..."
Bai Sheng threw her head back and laughed wildly, her body swaying unsteadily due to her excitement.
Thankfully, Bai Zheng was inside the room and couldn't see Bai Sheng's face at all. If she had, she would surely have been disgusted.
At this moment, Bai Sheng's face was extremely distorted with excitement. The rouge on her cheeks made the originally pale parts look even more bloodless.
Her cheeks were deeply sunken, and her eyes were bulging wide, showing no trace of the beauty she once had. Instead, she looked like a man - eating monster.
Zhuo Lingxiao beside her couldn't help but feel disgusted.
Bai Zheng gave a faint bitter smile. Her hand hanging by her side accidentally bumped into an oil jug lying on the ground.
This feeling...
She paused, her eyebrows slightly knitted.
It was asbestos cloth!
Bai Zheng's eyes suddenly lit up.
If she remembered correctly, asbestos cloth was heat - resistant, non - flammable, water - resistant, and acid - resistant.
This... This was the raw material for fire - proof cloth!
Bai Zheng covered her mouth, almost crying out in surprise.
Presumably, in order to safely store these precious sesame oils, the Ministry of Works official had someone wrap several layers of asbestos cloth around the oil jugs.
It just so happened that Bai Sheng wanted people to think that everything was an accident. It was the servants who didn't place the oil jugs stably, causing the oil to spill out. She herself had unfortunately gotten lost and brought a spark in, which had caused the fire. So she simply didn't deal with the oil jugs.
Come to think of it, Bai Sheng, a noblewoman of Yongding, had only learned strategies and tricks on weekdays. Even though she was well - versed in knowledge, how could she recognize asbestos cloth!
It seemed that fate was on her side.
Bai Zheng was shocked. She stood up and started to frantically peel off the asbestos cloth from the oil jugs, planning to make a fire - proof suit to wrap around herself.
At the same time, she tried again to ask Bai Sheng, who had stopped laughing outside and was about to throw a fire starter, "Elder sister, since I can't escape now, let me die knowing the truth! How on earth did you persuade Young Master Zhuo?"
Hearing the noise inside, Bai Sheng thought Bai Zheng was struggling out of fear and became even more complacent. She looked up at Zhuo Lingxiao beside her, who was already completely impatient, and replied with a smile, "It's all because you're too capable, my good sister!
You married the Marquis of Dingyuan. If you were useless, they wouldn't have done anything to you. But you single - handedly opened those five profitable shops and became the Marquis's capable assistant.
Do you think they could bear it?"
Bai Zheng didn't stop her hands, but she secretly took note in her heart.
It seemed that the fact that she was the person behind those five shops had still been revealed. She must investigate this matter carefully when she got back.
Through the curtain, Bai Sheng clearly felt the struggling movements of the person inside the room. She shouted, "Stop struggling, my good sister. Sister will send you to see grandfather right away!"
After saying that, Bai Sheng held the fire starter in her hand, her face full of smiles. She put it to her mouth and blew hard again. The fire starter immediately turned scarlet.
She tilted her body slightly, lazily raised her hand, and the fire starter was thrown in an elegant parabola and landed on the window paper.
With a "hiss" sound, the fire starter touched the oil on the window paper and immediately caught fire.
Following the path of the sesame oil, it quickly spread into a fire dragon.
"Hahaha, hahaha... Child, mother has avenged you. Mother has finally avenged you! Hahaha..."
Bai Sheng turned her head and stared fixedly at the growing fire, smiling ferociously and brightly.
It wasn't until Zhuo Lingxiao couldn't stand it anymore and pulled her away.
Hearing the madwoman's laughter gradually fade away, Bai Zheng quickened her movements.
Guided by the sesame oil, the fire spread extremely quickly. It had already reached the inside of the room, and thick smoke was billowing.
But she didn't have time to be afraid. She just whole - heartedly covered herself with all the asbestos cloth she had peeled off.
Thankfully, the sesame oil sent by the Ministry of Works official this time was enough, which meant that there was a sufficient amount of asbestos cloth wrapped around the oil jugs. It was barely enough to wrap Bai Zheng's whole body.
She stood up, intending to rush out with the protection of the asbestos cloth.
However, at this time, the room was filled with thick smoke, and she could hardly see the path in front of her.
As soon as she stood up, the scalding and choking thick smoke rushed in through the gaps in the asbestos cloth. Every time Bai Zheng took a breath, she felt as if her respiratory tract was about to be burned.
She began to feel dizzy. She tried to take a step forward, but her legs lost strength, and she suddenly fell to the ground.
Thinking that most people trapped in a fire died not from being burned but from suffocating due to the thick smoke, Bai Zheng's consciousness began to blur.
"It seems that I really can't escape this time. It's really a pity. But being able to experience this era and meet Feng Linyuan, this life is... enough."
She forced a smile with difficulty.
The thick smoke gathered more and more, and the fire was raging. In a daze, she seemed to hear the sounds of people screaming and running outside.
But she was gradually running out of breath. Her eyes were half - open and half - closed, and finally, she fainted.
...
On the other side, Feng Linyuan suddenly felt a sharp pain in his heart for no reason.
He had been like a headless chicken, searching half of the Third Prince's Mansion. Although he had been almost flying on the eaves and walking on the walls the whole time, the Third Prince's Mansion of Feng Jingxuan was simply too big. Searching room by room was extremely labor - intensive.
Since he found out that Bai Zheng was missing, he had already ordered all the informants he had placed in the Third Prince's Mansion to search for her, but there was still no news of Bai Zheng.
Instead, the sounds of fireworks kept coming into his ears, sometimes far and sometimes near, making his heart feel extremely irritable.
He walked out of another room where the search was fruitless and leaped into a courtyard full of trees, rockeries, and stone piles.
Suddenly, a graceful figure walked in the distance.
He stopped.
At this time, almost everyone in the Third Prince's Mansion had received the news and rushed to watch the fireworks early. How could there still be someone coming from the side courtyard?
Thinking of this, he squinted slightly and stared intently at the figure.
It was actually Bai Sheng. She was walking towards him with a smiling face and in a good mood from behind the rockery. Just as she was about to reach him, suddenly, another figure quickly flashed by in the dark corner.
Feng Linyuan recognized him at a glance - it was Zhuo Lingxiao!
Remembering how Zhuo Lingxiao had tried his best to delay him just now, his pupils shrank, and he took a step forward, intending to chase after them.
Just then, Bai Sheng stretched out her arm and grabbed his sleeve, blocking his way.
"Is the Marquis looking for Zheng'er?"
Hearing Bai Zheng's name, Feng Linyuan fixed his eyes on her, pulled back his sleeve, and looked at Bai Sheng with a cold expression.