Outside the fence.
Liang Jingzhuo led the officers and soldiers waiting there.
The sea of fire before his eyes seemed to be his most proud masterpiece.
Suddenly, the shouts from inside the western part of the city stopped abruptly. He was secretly delighted.
He thought that they must have felt that they were doomed and had lost all desire to survive.
Those commoners were just commoners. It was as easy to kill them as to crush an ant.
It was a pity for Miss Shen of the Shen family, though. At such a beautiful age, she had ruined her own life by meddling in other people's business.
What a pity!
Just then, Xiao Wang suddenly rushed over with his guards.
Liang Jingzhuo quickly concealed the smug look in his eyes.
Fortunately, the commoners had stopped shouting.
Even the heavens were helping him.
However, even if Xiao Wang had heard the shouts, he had already come up with a countermeasure.
"Lord Liang, what are you doing?" Xiao Wang frowned as he looked at the sea of fire in the sky.
Liang Jingzhuo replied calmly, "Your Highness the Crown Prince, the epidemic has been brought under control. I thought that since so many patients had lived there before, there must be a lot of sick qi.
To prevent the epidemic from breaking out again, I ordered to burn this place clean."
In this way, he could also ask the emperor for some money on the pretext of rebuilding the western part of the city.
"What about the commoners inside?" Xiao Wang asked.
"Your Highness the Crown Prince, please rest assured. I have already ordered the transfer of those sick commoners," Liang Jingzhuo answered calmly.
"Is there no one inside?" Xiao Wang asked suspiciously.
Liang Jingzhuo nodded.
Xiao Wang's eyes sharpened as he looked at the sea of fire again.
In the air, apart from the roar of the fire, there was no other sound. It seemed that the commoners inside had indeed been transferred.
But why did he feel so uneasy?
Just then, Xie Jingchu rushed over on horseback in a hurry.
"Why are you here?" Xiao Wang looked up and asked.
Xie Jingchu dismounted from his horse. His expression was solemn. "Ruan Jiu is missing!"
Hearing this, Xiao Wang's breath caught in his throat.
Liang Jingzhuo set fire to the western part of the city, and just at this moment, Ruan Jiu went missing.
Could it be...
Liang Jingzhuo saw the exchange of glances between Xiao Wang and Xie Jingchu. He was afraid that they would become suspicious.
So he quickly said to the officers and soldiers beside him, "Are you deaf? Didn't you hear that Miss Shen is missing? Hurry up and look for her!"
Then he said to Xiao Wang, "Previously, the epidemic was raging, and there were many villains causing trouble in the city. Maybe they were eyeing the wealth of the Shen family, so they kidnapped Miss Shen!
But Your Highness the Crown Prince, please rest assured. I'll send someone to look for her right away!"
After hearing this, Xiao Wang's eyes darkened.
Presumably, Liang Jingzhuo wouldn't dare to commit arson and murder right under his nose.
But Xie Jingchu didn't think so. He coldly asked Liang Jingzhuo, "Why did you hurry to burn this place in the western part of the city today, Lord Liang?"
Liang Jingzhuo felt a vague sense of uneasiness when he saw Xie Jingchu's sharp eyes.
He calmly replied, "Young Master Xie, you don't know how dangerous this epidemic is. It's not easy to stabilize the epidemic. We can't let it spread again."
Liang Jingzhuo spoke plausibly.
But Xie Jingchu always felt that there was something fishy about this matter.
Seeing Xie Jingchu's skeptical look, Liang Jingzhuo continued, "The most important thing now is to find Miss Shen as soon as possible. If Miss Shen is kidnapped out of the city by the thieves, it will be a disaster!"
Hearing this, Xie Jingchu became worried again.
So he immediately mounted his horse and was about to rush to guard the city gate.
Seeing this, Xiao Wang also understood that this matter couldn't be delayed any longer. He immediately turned around and was about to lead his men to go there together.
Liang Jingzhuo finally let out a long breath.
He secretly thought that when the western part of the city was burned to ashes, who would know that Miss Shen was inside?
But his joy didn't last long.
A crude arrow flew out directly and fell to the ground.
Qin Yuan immediately exclaimed, "Fourth Master, look!"
Xie Jingchu immediately dismounted and picked up the arrow on the ground.
Xiao Wang's expression was solemn. How could there be arrows shot from inside?
He looked at Liang Jingzhuo with a sharp look in his eyes and asked, "Didn't you say that there was no one inside?"
Liang Jingzhuo suddenly panicked. Why did something go wrong at this critical moment?
He stammered an explanation, "May... Maybe there was still one or two patients left inside..."
Seeing Liang Jingzhuo's evasive eyes, Xiao Wang said coldly, "Is that so?"
As soon as he finished speaking, several more arrows flew out one after another.
Some of the arrowheads were still hanging with something.
Xie Jingchu immediately stepped forward to pick them up. After a closer look, he found that they were actually pieces of clothing.
Although some of them had been burned by the fire, he could vaguely see the words "Help" written in blood on them.
Xie Jingchu's eyes instantly became solemn.
He picked up the cloth and examined it carefully.
This kind of cloth was not from Shuozhou. It seemed to be...
Thinking of this, Xie Jingchu gasped. His eardrums were pounding, and his fingertips were trembling.
He staggered and almost lost his balance.
"A Jiu... A Jiu is inside!"
Xie Jingchu tightly held the broken lapel in his palm and was about to rush into the sea of fire.
Fortunately, Qin Yuan was quick - witted and grabbed Xie Jingchu.
He shouted, "Fourth Master, you can't do this!"
"Let go of me! A Jiu is inside! A Jiu is inside!" Xie Jingchu roared desperately.
At this moment, the sea of fire in the sky had swallowed up the last bit of Xie Jingchu's rationality.
Even if he just suspected that Ruan Jiu was in danger, he didn't dare to take the risk!
He desperately tried to break free from Qin Yuan's restraint.
"Fourth Master, please calm down first!"
"A Jiu is inside. How can I calm down!"
Qin Yuan endured Xie Jingchu's punches on his body but still didn't let go.
"Fourth Master, even if Miss Biao is inside, with such a big fire, you can't get in! Since there are still arrows shot from inside, it means that Miss Biao must still be alive! We should put out the fire first!"
Qin Yuan's words instantly woke Xie Jingchu up.
Right!
Ruan Jiu must still be alive!
At this moment, he didn't care about the etiquette between the monarch and his subject. He roared at Xiao Wang, "Hurry up and send someone to put out the fire!"
With buckets of water being poured, the raging flames gradually turned into small flames.
Before the thick smoke had dissipated, Xie Jingchu couldn't wait to rush in.
"A Jiu!"
"A Jiu!"
Xie Jingchu kept shouting as he looked around.
Finally, Ruan Jiu also heard Xie Jingchu's voice.
She looked up and saw that Xie Jingchu's white robe was already blackened. He seemed to have become much haggard.
The moment he saw Ruan Jiu, Xie Jingchu immediately rushed over.
He tightly held Ruan Jiu in his arms and didn't want to let go for a moment.
Ruan Jiu smiled with tears in her eyes. She knew that Xie Jingchu would definitely come to save her!
"A Jing, I can hardly breathe," Ruan Jiu complained coquettishly.
Hearing this, Xie Jingchu immediately loosened his arms.
The corners of his eyes drooped. He looked so aggrieved that he seemed about to cry.
"You scared me to death!"
Ruan Jiu took Xie Jingchu's hand and said softly, "Now you know that it's safest to keep me by your side, right?"
Xie Jingchu pursed his lips but couldn't bear to blame her.
Anger, fear, uneasiness, and dread all melted into a pool of spring water and were kneaded into his eyes.
He surrendered.
For the rest of his life, no matter how thorny the road ahead was, he would never push Ruan Jiu away again.