Forty-six go water

  The sky had completely darkened, and Ma Yinniang was walking on the shaded path leading to her own courtyard when she suddenly felt that the atmosphere around her was eerie.

  Her voice, devoid of any emotion and cold, continued to echo in her ears. She thought about the sentence: "If she doesn't die, must we die?" and couldn't help but shiver with fear.

  Where did she learn such a vicious heart, her heart was trembling with anxiety, feeling no peace of mind for half a moment.

  It was quiet all around, even the sound of her own breathing and that of the two girls behind her could be heard clearly. She felt increasingly frightened and couldn't help but turn back to urge: "Why aren't you walking faster?!"

  The two girls exchanged a glance and hastily followed, suddenly hearing the sound of shouting voices coming from not far away.

  It seems very confusing.

  Ma Yinniang turned her head and looked back, only to see that in the direction of De'an residence, flames were shooting up into the sky.

  It's started!

  She felt as if the ground beneath her feet was shaking, and her throat was so tense that it was both itchy and dry, almost to the point of vomiting.

  She really took action!

  Madam Ma remembered Gu Yan's entrustment to her, but she hastily turned around and scolded the two anxious maids: "What are you looking at? It's already chaotic enough on New Year's Eve, aren't you satisfied with that?! Go back to our own place!"

  The two maids did not dare say anything more and could only suppress the doubts in their hearts, each supporting her as they returned to her room.

  The house is on fire!

  The Wang family was sleeping soundly, when they suddenly heard a huge commotion outside. Just as they were about to shout out and ask what was going on, Jiang Mengyu and Qingyin rushed over with panicked faces to help her open the curtains: "Madam, it's flooding at Old Madam's place!"

  "What?" Wang was shocked and stunned, half a moment later she reacted, while being helped by Meng Yu to put on her clothes, she asked: "How can the water come in for no reason?! Has the Long family's house been flooded?! Where are Wu Niang and Xu Niang?!"

  Meng Yu knew what she was asking, so she hastily replied: "They've arrived. The people from the Zhang family are currently leading others to put out the fire. Wu Ayi and Xu Ayi have already escorted the old lady to the main wife's quarters."

  Wang heard that Mrs. Gu was fine and let out a sigh of relief, then asked: "And Second Master? Has he heard the news?"

  Meng Yu and Qing Yin exchanged a glance, half a moment later, she looked up and replied: "The second master doesn't seem to be in the mansion today. The person sent to Xiu Yue Pavilion came back and reported that... Liu Niang said the second master is not here."

  Not here?

  Wang's mouth curled up with some sarcasm. Who doesn't know that Second Master Gu Boqi has been lingering in Xiu Yue Pavilion every day recently, as if he had lost his soul? And who doesn't know that during this grand festival, even if Gu Boqi had the biggest guts, he wouldn't dare to run outside and fool around.

  How can it be absent?

  She coldly smiled and dropped the topic, then asked: "Have you reported to the other old masters and mistresses?"

  Meng Yu nodded: "Yue Tong and Hua Yan have both left."

  Wang did not speak again, hastily put on his good clothes, wore wooden clogs and hurried to the Xiyu Pavilion.

  Mrs. Gu was obviously badly frightened, the older one gets, the more timid they become.

  As soon as she saw her coming, Old Lady Gu frowned and shouted: "Poisonous woman!"

  Although the king's family no longer flatters her, this submissive and weak temperament has become a habit. When she heard her shout, she suddenly felt panicked, as if her soul had been frightened away, and could only hastily lower her head and stand by, her voice as thin as a mosquito: "I don't know why mother is like this?"

  The old lady became more and more enraged, and it was easy to get angry and faint. Seeing Wang's face full of grievances and confusion, she slammed the thing in her hand towards Wang's face.

  "You think you're from a noble family, but you have such a vicious heart! You actually...you actually want to kill me!" Old Lady Gu was still fuming with anger, her somewhat stout body agilely getting up from the kang, pointing at Wang Shi and crying: "Although I've been strict with you, I've never wronged you, how could you harbor such evil thoughts!"

  Wang was scolded and stood there stupidly, not knowing what the old lady meant for half a moment. It wasn't until something suddenly hit her forehead that she felt a sharp pain, picked it up carefully, and took a cold breath.

  It was actually her earrings!

  It was the pink pearl earrings that her third brother had specially brought back from the Western Regions for her thirtieth birthday, said to be the mermaid's tears that the pearl people had spent all their minds on and could hardly meet. At that time, this birthday gift was sent with great ingenuity and preciousness, and because her third brother disappeared shortly after going to the Western Regions as an envoy, she had always kept the earrings like a treasure, never taking them out to show others.

  But how did it run to the old lady's place now?

  Old Lady Gu saw that she was stunned after seeing this thing, so she laughed extremely and scolded her: "It's a good idea to hit me, hoping to burn me to death, you can control the family business? You're dreaming! Even if I die, I'll be watching you from heaven! A woman who will not die well! You will not die well!"

  The old lady got angrier and scolded more harshly, the big ladies who had been watching the commotion with some interest also felt a chill in their hearts and involuntarily retreated several steps.

  Just as they were talking, Gu Yun rushed in from outside and cried out to Old Lady Gu: "Mother!"

  Old Mrs. Gu saw her coming and felt even more frightened and wronged, her face sinking as she said: "What are you crying for? If I were to be burned to death today, you can cry later!"

  As soon as he finished speaking, several more people came in intermittently from outside.

  It turned out that several daughters-in-law had arrived, as well as the eldest son and the third and fourth sons. Old Lady Gu could tolerate others, but when she saw her third son standing in front of her, she couldn't help but burst into tears: "Xing'er! What kind of sin have I committed to bring such a disaster upon myself? In the past, I couldn't scold or reprimand him, but now he's actually harboring such malicious intentions and wants to burn me to death!"

  San Lao Ye Gu Bo Xing has always been a gentle person, seeing the situation he softly comforted her for a while, and then advised: "Second Aunt is not that kind of person."

  The words had barely left her mouth when Old Lady Gu cut her off with a snort: "She's not that kind of person, am I wrong to suspect her? Now we have the earrings she was wearing right here, and the autumn orchid from her room says she sent someone to buy kerosene. You say it wasn't her, could it be this old bag of bones harming herself?"

  The Third Master saw his mother so angry that he had to hold back his thoughts of speaking out in rebuttal, and repeatedly made bows and apologized, saying: "Mother, please calm down, I didn't mean it."

  It seems that only Lao Wu and Lao Da still have themselves in their hearts. Mrs. Gu glared at him angrily, stamping her cane and sternly questioning Madame Liu: "Where is your husband? I've encountered such a big thing, but he doesn't even come to see me. Does he still have me, his mother, in his heart?"

  The fifth lady was still completely confused, and when she heard her mother-in-law's harsh words, she was shocked first, and nervously said: "The fifth master hasn't come back today, I think he must have been delayed by something."